356 Tllli TRADES SCHOOL IN THE TRANSVAAL. 



only lie in a higher skill, a belter education and a more complete 

 trade training than the coloured races are capable of. Mere craft 

 practice, mere manual dexterity, the mere ability to repeat the 

 stereotyped process is insufficient in the European — the white 

 artisan must be able to write, calculate and read in the literature of 

 his trade ; anything less the coloured peoples can do and with 

 sufficient success to displace white labour. It is to provide that 

 necessary foundation for this improved trade training that trades 

 schools have been established. 



Having considered the trades school more or less from the 

 aspect of the dweller in towns, it will be well to consider briefly 

 what can be done for the rural population. The healthy develop- 

 ment of rural education on industrial lines as one of the conditions 

 which make rural life possible is of the utmost importance to 

 urban communities, since there is always a steady migration from 

 the country to the town. The object of the industrial education 

 given to children must be two-fold — its first aim should l)e — 



To inspire them with a love of country life and the desire not to 

 change it for the city or manufactories, and to inculcate the truth th'at the 

 agricuUural profession is the most independent of all and is more 

 remunerative than many others for industrious, intelligent, and instructed 

 followers. (22) 



As, however- — 



There must always he a considerable numl)er of people brought up on 

 the land who will look to making their living by other means than farm- 

 ing. ... It is desirable that those who wish or are forced to migrate 

 to the towns should, if possible, be able to qualify themselves to get indus- 

 trial employment before they leave the land. 



The second aim must be to ])rovide an industrial — 



Training in occupations which, though dependent on the farming- 

 industry have nothing to do with the actual cultivation of the soil or the 

 raising of stock. (23) 



The institution in the Transvaal which combines those two 

 aims is the Industrial School. If I were to criticise them all. 

 I would say that the agricultural side is in need of greater develop- 

 ment; that in addition to boys being instructed in trades with a 

 minimum number of hours per week in the vegetable garden and 

 at field culture, there should be boys definitely apprenticed to 

 farming operations with a minimum number of hours in certain 

 of the workshops. That would mean, of course, the deepening of 

 the instruction in agricultural subjects by talks from experts (24) 

 on cattle and poultry troubles, dairying, grading and co-operation, 

 bee-keeping, arrangement of farm-buildings, simple irrigation, 

 and so on; in other words, development in curriculum so tliat 

 the first aim of the institution is agricultural education : the 

 industrial school to become in fact the recognised " trades school" 

 for the farming industry. The good work of these schools to the 

 country at large cannot indeed be over-estimated. Again, it must 

 be clearly understood that I do not propose interference or over- 

 lapping with the curriculum of agricultural schools and colleges ; 



