THE FARM SCHOOL.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 8, Issue 447, 4 February 1919, Page 4

THE FARM SCHOOL.

Aqricultural Education and the Farming Community. (Paper by Dr. J. W. Mcllraith, Inspector of Schools.) One of the outstanding weaknesses of agricultural education in the schools is the almost entire lack of interest shown in the subject by the farmers themselves.

Now I think it may be said, without fear of contradiction, that if the parents of the pupils take no interest in the subject, then the interest of the pupils themselves will be but perfunctory. And it is true, as has been most generally asserted of late, that any knowledge acquired by pupils does not really become an animating, driving, and directing force in their lives, unless it is acquired under the stimulus of interest,, and not of compulsion; if this be true, then the absence of interest on the part of the parents is a most serious matter. It not only withholds from the pupils that wholesome inquisitiveness and desire to learn, but, what is worse, it infects them with the subtle contempt for school agriculture which lies at the root of the parents' indifference. Everywhere this contempt for the teaching of agriculture in schools is visible. School committees—most of them farmers —complain that they have nothing to do. Yet they allow school fences to fall into disrepair; they look calmly «n while cattle or rabbits bring to nought every effort made by teacher or pupil in the school grounds. Be the district struggling or prosperous, it makes no difference. Instead of the teacher being overwhelmed with offers, of assistance, and stimulated by the eager interest of the community in labours undertaken for its good, no one offers to put up a fence, nor to give a donation in tho shape of a building, netting-wire, manure, seed, etc., and what is infinitely worse, when in spite of their apparent meanness, the school has succeeded to some degree in carrying out experimental work, none of the farmers of the community ever set foot in the ground to behold the result of the school labours.

There are, of course, a few exceptions, but so very few as to bo quite negligible. For close on 20 "years of our most successful teachers Wagriculture did excellent work, yet he told ine that never had liia committee asked the garden plots For all the benefit that the teaching of agriculture derived from such organisations as Farmers' Unions and A. and P. Associations those organisations might as well, in 80 yer cent of the casrn, not exist at all. I put it to von toa;-hois-Djoa the F.IJ. visit your school regularly : say twice a year'? Doe. l , tho A. and P. Association, whose existence is duo to an enthusiasm for agriculture, rather than to an interest iu politics, fts is often the case in the F.U.—does the executive of the A. and P. Association pay your ground periodica! visits? Do they express appreciation of your efforts, converse with your pupils, indicate experiments they would like to see canied out, or give you some o.'The material means for making such experiments ? If they do not, then Ttwo questions must j give us serious thought. Are they worthy of the name of an A. and P. Association or a Farmers' Union, or I are you worthy of the name of a successful teacher of agricultural science The answer to both questions, I CDn- } fideDtly assert, cannot be an unqualified affirmative.

Now it will best suit our purpose if we assume that the fault lies chiefly with the public and not with you We may assume that jour presence here indicates successful work in the past, and ecthusiam for the future. Thus simplified, the problems may be stated thus: Here am I, a highlyqualified instructure in agriculture; what can I do to create in the community, not meroly a passive but an active interest in agriculture ? Now, it would first of all be well to ask yourself two ijuestions: —Do 1 regard agriculture as worthy of as serious attention as spelling, arithmetic or drawing ? And, secondly, am I aware of the exact proportion —as revealed by the Official Year Book - in which agricultural production 6tands to that of the rest of N-*w Zealand? Ami thoroughly conversant with the system of agriculture in vogue in those countries that are our greatest commercial competitors, such as Denmark, Canada, Argentina, Australia ? In short, am I teaching this subject from a resolute conviction of the importance of the subject in all its b' aiings, or em I teaching it merely because it in oik* of the subjects prescribed fur such a I school a? mine? Am I externally on the look-out for new methods of teaching the subject '/ Am 1 continually broadening and deepening my knowledge? Does my knowledge grow more extensive ilnoiigh I a moro profound scientific in.sigh! V j Does it grow moro exioriMve through j a hotter knowledge of agricul'ura! | conditions throughout 'ho world V i ll' yon can answer those <jues - i'>ns to j your own * iti-Jaclnm ami cieiii, j without doing violence to your inj telleetunl honesty, then you mi 1 .-- a lit

and proper person to go befuic n farming community, find com |-el its assistance lint roim>ml>' rto If- a living driving force \oii mu-t lo a growing fnice. Your must bo for over increasing. 110 who lias teased to bo nn ardent student- too c.tmmnn i; failing among teachers- must not expect to bo a successful teacher. Enthusiasm can be communicated only by enthusiasm : knowledge alone i:< sterile Well, f hen, granted you fulfill those conditions in a greater or a less degree, how can you draw tho community to your aid Though remember if jou arc nil you ought to be, you will not I'ing bo a voice in a wildnerness of indifl'erenco Iu the first place, you should get into living touch with the F.U. ana tho A. and P. As-o< iation. You

should ondoavour to arningo— and , this should not bo difficult, provided ' you are enthusiastic, and that your enthusiasm is tho result of profound knowledge of your subject-that representatives of the F.U. and A, and P. Association visit your school at least twico a year. Both bodies should contribute to your school in material, and in prize money. This I maintain would stimulate interest far better than a Government grant. There is no better way of stimulating the farmer's interest than letting him put money into a business. Government money is nobody's money. If you are one of the leading teachers of the district, you should be an ex-offkio member of the A. and P. Association. Tho president of your local institute should be exolficio a member of the executive of the Association; you, in your turn, should be able to contribute a paper to either, or each of these associations on some aspect of agriculture—say upon the results of your school's experiments, or some commercial or statistical aspect of agriculture ;in other words, you must show that you are not merely a teacher with a mere academic knowledge of the subject, as taught in school—you must know more about agriculture than the farmer himself. If you take dairy science as a subject, what about using your school as a testing place for the dairy herds of the district ? I know a pair of halftime schools where the teacher com- , mands such respect by his sincerity and devotion to his school, that the 1 settlers have built an extra room at ! the school, and equipped each with six Babcock testers and all other requisites. He is also freo to take from the local dairy factory as much sulphuric acid as he needs. On my visit in 1918, he told me that the local farmers now sell their dairy cattle on i the test supplied by thoir local school. In America, many of the pupils of 1 the high schools have plots of land on ' the farms at home. These they cultivate, as produce, dairy or fruit farms, on the lines they are instructed at school. They keep a record of their work, the instructor visits them once or twice a year (and thus meets the parents), and at the end a balance-sheet is prepared and the boys thus learn the economic side of scientific farming. The lessons learned by the parents, too, are extremely valuable ; though many of them find it hard to admit that they are beaten by their young sons. Than this, there is probably no better way of compelling tho interest of the farmer.

And now I havepraccically finished. I have stated ray rase strongly, but I hope not unfairly. I much regret my 'lability to be with you to-day. I heartily appreciate) the excellent work that is being done by our supervisor (Mr Kalaugher), and I am Hire he only needs your enthusiasm in the cause, to infect the whole agricultural community with a for scientific farming. How much that zoai is needed, this fact will evidcr.'>. .1 writo this from a rich agricultural district ; at the local A. and P. Show, the only special prizes given for school agriculture are donated by a fancy-goods dealer. Perhaps the following questions will serve as a kernel round which discus«iou may grow : Are the farmers interested in your school ? "Why not? Are your garden plots officially recognised and visited by the P.U. and A. and P. Association ''. If not, why .- Do individual farmers, on the executive of the F.U. and A. and A. Association donate material or prizes r If not, why '. ; Has the executive of either organisation ever addressed pupils 'i Are you a member of the A, and P. Association ? Do jon think you should be a member ? What do you consider the relative importance to tho farmer of a knowledge of scientific agriculture, correct spelling and formal handwriting ? What importance-judging from your timetable do you ascribe to them ? Do farmers of the district visit your school gardens, ask for advise and follow it ' Do you test any dairy herds'? Have any experiments or tests you have made influenced agricultural processes in your district ? Has the lack of interest displayed by the farming community affected the value of your work, either by discouraging you, or by making tho pupils indifferent ? Finally: Have the local farmers any faith in you, as a teacher of practical .scientific agriculture ? If hi.t, why not r If .-jo, huw do they show it '? And, if the methods tested and advocated by you were adopted throughout your district, what difference would it make to the groi-s leturn of produce ?