386 PRACTICAL EDUCATION. 



a cow. if a family man, then the Education Department should 

 help him to get one of a good strain — for flesh and milk, so that 

 the children may become familiar with good points, and have 

 the ambition to raise only good stock wdien they farm on their 

 own account. With the milk, lessons can be given in butter 

 and cheese making". A small separator and press are not 

 expensive items compared with the work tliat can be 

 accomplished. Again, the schoolmaster might . as has been 

 done, keep a good stallion — have a few thoroughbred sheep. 

 Further there is the proper planting and pruning of trees. Look 

 at the wretched specimens of fruit trees along the line and on 

 many farms and see what may be done for improvement by 

 a little tuition. Then there is the growing of mealies, the 

 difference between double depth ploughing and shallow planting 

 — the scarifying of the ground so that the dew ma\- sink in and 

 yet give a minimum of evaporation afterwards. Potatoes, 

 tomatoes, vegetables all afford scope for developing the 

 intelligence and adding to the child's educational experience. 

 The schoolmaster can soon acquire this information at Holiday 

 Classes and the Education Department should make it worth 

 his while to becoine proficient. So much for the rural school, 

 but we must not forget the necessity of including the teaching 

 of the principles of hygiene. A great deal of care i> taken over 

 the raising of stock, etc., while too frequently the lunnan being 

 is neglected. 



In towns where the primary schools are large the boys should 

 get systematic manual training in some form of other, some 

 form of nature study and elementary science in addition to the 

 ordinary subject. Here again the three R's must not be driven 

 to death — to get mechanical accuracy without intelligetice. 

 The girls are kept level with the boys, by taking needlework, 

 cookery, hygiene and domestic science. \\'e cannot do better 

 than follow the example of Continental nation.^ by making 

 the connection between general education and technical 

 education as close as possible. Technical edtication should not 

 be set upon a pedestal, as something" distinct, btit should be 

 the adaptation of general instruction to the requirements of 

 new occupations. 



On a youth reaching" Standards \' or \'l opportunity 

 should be given him of either taking a classic or literary 

 course at college, or a mechanical and scientific coin"se in a 

 trade school, or a course at an agriculttiral college. 



We can learn much from the educational ri\alr\ between 

 Germany and France. Germany has gone solidly for training 

 the captains of industry, while France has made the artisan 

 its chief care. France is the home of the apprenticeship school, 

 which is the proper compliment to their primary school system. 

 one notable feature of which is that in the infant oi" sub-standards 

 objects, not books, are ttsed. The adroitness arid skill, which 

 distinguish the French artisan, are ttndoubtedly due to their 

 educational training". It is generally admitted that there are 

 fewer errors and sttperior skill is shewn where soiue knowledge 

 of principles and details is possessed by the operative. 



