46 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS, — SECTION III 



culture should have the greater weight in settling the subjects and details of 

 the school curriculum. But there is a third standpoint also from which 

 the matter can be viewed, viz., the nature and capacity of the child ; it will 

 be advisable, therefore, to premise the following general consideration, viz.^ 

 that a child's mind, as well as its body, passes through successive stages of 

 development, and that subjects of instruction which are adapted for one stage 

 may be quite unsuited for an earlier stage and may even, if prematurely 

 introduced, prove injurious to the child's healthy development and prejudicial 

 to the object it is desired to effect." 



It is clear that a good, sound general education is the first 

 requisite of a" school curriculum. The child must be able to under- 

 stand and use his own language effectively, he must develop the 

 faculty and habit of reading, if he is to make material progress in 

 any direction. It consequently follows that the usual subjects 

 of the curriculum, commonly known as Reading, Writing and 

 Arithmetic, must form the backbone of the education in rural as 

 in other schools. These subjects I need not discuss here : it is 

 in regard to the other branches which may be included in the 

 curriculum as well as to their adaptation to and correlation with 

 the former that any change of importance can be made. 



The children attending rural schools belong, as a rule, to the 

 farming community. ]\Iost of the boys will make their living out 

 of the land either from agriculture or from stock farming, or from 

 a combination of both ; while most of the girls will doubtless 

 also have their homes on farms. It is only reasonable, therefore, 

 that their education should, as far as possible, be brought into 

 close touch with their environment and be so directed that, if 

 possible, it will make them take a closer and a more intelligent 

 interest in their future work or surroundings. How far this object 

 can be attained in the schools is a matter to be carefully considered 

 and to be tested largely by experience, but there is little doubt 

 that much can be done in central schools by the introduction of 

 Nature Study or Elementary Agriculture combined with educa- 

 tional School Gardening, and by carefully prepared schemes of 

 Manual Training and Household Management. Personally I do 

 not believe that much definite instruction of a scientific character 

 could or should be given in Agriculture at such elementary schools, 

 and, as Lord Avebury has urged, specialisation should not begin until 

 the later stages of school life. A good general education is necessary 

 before a pupil can appreciate or receive advantage from the more 

 or less scientific or theoretical parts of any subject. At the same 

 time, children who are accustomed from their earliest years to 

 study natural phenomena by observation and by experiment, who- 

 are taught to watch the growth of shrubs and plants and flowers, 

 to note the ways of birds and insects, to appreciate the wonderful 

 changes which the seasons bring, and to take simple meteorological 

 observations, must take a more intelligent interest in the world 

 around them and must have a greater sympathy with the conditions 

 of agricultural life. It is indeed of great importance from the point 

 of view of a general education that the awakening intelligence of 

 children and their joy in life should be encouraged and be directed 

 to the varying aspects of Nature, and that they should thus be 

 taught habits of observation, enquiry and accuracy_of thought 



