MANAWATU EVENING STANDARD Circulation, 3,200 Copies Daily. MONDAY, MAY 21, 1906. AGARICULTURE EDUCATION

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8193, 21 May 1906, Page 4

MANAWATU EVENING STANDARD Circulation, 3,200 Copies Daily. MONDAY, MAY 21, 1906. AGARICULTURE EDUCATION

r is satisfactory to note that the im•ortance of applying scientific methods o agriculture is beginning to be realised n this colony. The latest educational lUthority to move in the matter of jiving instruction in the theoretical virt of our farming industries is the )tago Education Board, which at its ast meeting adopted the following ■esolution That the Board at their iext meeting take into consideration the iropriety of recommending the appointneat of a competent person to specialise tgriculiure studies 111 our primary schools." In supporting this motion Ur T. Mackenzie made so admirable ind logical a speech that we have deasttre in bringing it umler the notice >f our readers, many of whom are ceenly interested in the subject of tgrieultural education. lie realised, he iaid, the difficulties in the way, but it seemed clear to him that education ioards must, take action m the first nstauce. The fir.st great dilliculty was n successfully, initiating the work-in )btaining a man qualified in all respects o begin tlje important duties of the tndertaking. " I think," says Mr Mackenzie, " the first step should jo the selection of a man for the •olony, whose first duty will be to nstruct our teachers, and they would ti turn be entrusted with educating ;he pupils. The man to take such •hurge should have a thorough seientiie and practical knowledge of agricul.ure, with all that that entails and mplies, and in addition be capable of mparting instruction. AYhether we lave within the colony (he nuin readv o fill the role remains to be seen. If , ioI, we .should select the most nearly jualified man we have, and send him . tbroad to learn the most up-to-date ' nethods, and also those points in vhich he himself may be deficient, i >ur system of education, instead | 1 )f making easy the path towards our 1 t i.K'kbone industries, actually diverts ! 1 nir youths and maidens to other i u-cupation*. At present the prices I n life are considered the civil service, ] clerkships, or the learned profes- i; nous. 'JUok over your prize-lists and s •'ou will find in every school the sue. i ■e>sful lads and lasses rushing f or d hose so-called genteel occupations, ti surely such a system is radically per- c sieiGtts. Fortunately, in some couuiry q Ustricts a more eommotisense feeling is U

now arising, and it u Wgittoiiig-to foe rarogmucd that genteel iinpeeuabsiiy in elite# iss not so xatisfaetory att robuti country occupations, and it i$ wit is a desire to check this city tendency that wc want to sec country pursuits inadtt more enticing and prominent in our school*. At an earlier age than *«• tec a the differentiation in favour of the real industries should hegirt, and in the country district* special reference to the occupations to be followed ,n after life should be adopted. For the ordinary round of city occupation she system in i'urcc may apply ail right. Xot so iu the country. In rural or raining districts you keep the fads at school, without the slightest trainmcf in geology, mmin/, plant or anima I life. The passive and reflective fa>-allies may be attended to, hut the active and creative are almost entirely neglected. The only taste developed has Wen a desire for a position in the Government':- service, and no general wt»*h to follow the real industries of the country. "We desire to niter tht^—first, Itj teaching nature .study in gardens attached to school:- ; next, central schools in country districts to which the ohh-r pupib ewld g Ut where more technical instruction couM be im parted, such a, the physiology of animals and plants, the nature and immures of soils and their requirement*, the part played by the atmosphere and bacteria, etc. You will thereby de vclop in the children the powers of observation and action, and while not for a mo inert professing to make finished farmers of them, will nevertheless start them in life with a store of knowledge that will be useful. In other words, we desire to put them on the rails for an agricultural life. The whole course i» directed mainly towards the teaching of elementary notions of agriculture and horticulture, but the agriculture will be such as a pupil will come across iu his daily life, and therefore will not be high-iiown, and above all it will be local. The whole gist of the matter is, strictly speaking, botany, zoology, and chemistry applied to agriculture, with a view of explaining and improving its current practices, and creating in children a love of country and country life. Wermont Farrant saul: " The best way to make a workman love his work is to make him understand it " ; and this we desire to do. At the moment the medical profession and the Press are condemning the system of cram in our .schools. Instances arc not infrequent of young people breaking down. That occurs mostty m girls from fifteen to twenty years of age, who are striving to matriculate or pass other examinations, and our medical men could lurnUh only too many instances of the evil effects of this test sweating. The fact is that our schools train lads to seek for anything in preference to hard work, and our girls for any occupation in preference to domestic emplayment, whether it be in their own or some other person's homes; whilst in the interests both of the colony and its inhabitants the best occupation that men can follow is wholesome outside work under healthy surroundings, and the women the occupation most closely associated with home life." This interest in agriculture is of quite recent date, but is still ; general throughout the colony. With the work it is proposed to do in the primary schools, there should go hand-in-hand some system of classes for those young men who have already adopted farming as their vocation. The establishment of .such classes, provided they are in places easy of access to farmers and their .sons, would be a truly progressive step in the history ot colonial education