A rORTNIGHTLY ItEVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



Vol. XVII. No. 430 



BARBADOS, OCTOBER 19. 1918. 



Pbick Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Agriciilf'iire in Antigua ... 



Agriculture in Barbados ... 



Agricultural Returns of 

 England and Wales ... 



Balata, Venezuelan Produe 

 tion of 



Btirbadns- Antigua Expedi- 

 tion from the State I'ni- 

 versit} of Iowa 



Bat Guanos of Porto Rico 

 .and their Fertilizing 

 Value 



Castor Seed 



Oi co-nut Cultivation in 

 British Guiana 



Department News 



Education, Conipulsorj ... 



Empire Resources, Impe- 

 rial Institute's Investiga- 

 tion in Development of 



Gleanings 



Insect Notes: — 



Cottxm Insects in Ariz- 

 ona 



Items of Local Interest 



Paqb. 



.. 330 

 .. 328 



Page. 



32!l Market Reports 



331 Notes and Comments ... 

 Nutshells and Fruit 



Stones, War I'se of ... 

 Orange Wine in the West 



Indies, Manufacture of 

 Figs and Soil Grubs .. 

 Plant Diseases: — 



Gray Mould of Castor 



Bean> 



Plant 'Quarantine 



Seeds. Breeding New ... 

 Sugar Industry: — 



Control of Sugar Prices 



by the International 



Sug.ar Committee ... 

 Filtration of Cane 



.Jiiics 



Food Value of the Su- 



i;ar-Cane 



Sugar-Carie in Costa 



Rico 32." 



323 

 327 



333 



328 



326 

 331 

 321 



335 



332' 



32<> 



328 

 328 



334 

 334 



33o 



324 

 324 

 324 



33(1; Velvet Beans, 

 331 1 to Pigs 



Feeding 



32.-. 



Compulsory Education 



*HE subject of education, the mistakes that 

 'have been made in educational systems in 

 ^the past, and the unprovement of sucti 

 systeiris (or the future, is one of the subjects that are 

 taking up a great deal of attention in every part of 

 the Empire. The new Education Bill just passed in 

 the Imperial Parliament seems to hold out a hope 

 that every child in the I'nited Kingdom will in the 

 future have an opportunity of being really educated. 

 Similar schemes and provisions are being brought 

 forward and enacted in all parts of the Empire. There 



seems, however to be a certain amount of misunder- 

 standing as to the meaning of education, and as to 

 the manner in which it may be conveyed. 



A fundamental error in this direction appears to be 

 that of holding that education must be more or less 

 compulsory. Now, strictly speaking, such a thing as 

 compulsory education, in a real sense, can never exist- 

 An article on this subject by Professor Jacks, in Land 

 and Water, July 11, 1018, puts this in a very striking 

 manner. He says truly that you can compel parents to 

 send their children to school, you can compel the 

 children, within limits, to learn lessons, but you can 

 never compel anybody to be educated. All education 

 is a joint operation of teacher and learner, and, unless 

 the learner \villingl\ contributes his share, nothing 

 that the teacher can do for him, or compel him to do 

 for himself, will make him im educated human being. 

 He can only be educated by his own connivance. All 

 real education therefore is by consent, and not by com- 

 pulsion. 



As the Professor points out, the woi-d education 

 carries a picture to the minds of most of us. of a 

 school— the teacher sitting at his desk and ruling the 

 situation with a rod of iron, and the children on the 

 forms submitting tt> the system imposed upon them, 

 and being punished if they refuse. In fact the notion 

 is (keply rooteil that education consists in imposing a 

 system upon those who in the Last resort must be 

 coerced inti' recoi\ing it. 



That is how the matter conies to be conceived 

 when we treat education, as we almost invariably do, 

 as a school in.asters problem. Fi¥idamental!y it is nothing^ 



