CHAPTER VII. 

 THE EDUCATIONALIST. 



IT is an old saying that every Englishman thinks himself a 

 judge of a horse. This may perhaps partly account for the 

 prosperity of bookmakers. However this may be, it is 

 certainly true that most Englishmen are educationalists 

 and have theories on the subject of education, although 

 happily very few have an opportunity of putting their 

 theories to a practical test. 



It was, therefore, significant, as it was fortunate, that at 

 the very first meeting of the Club the subject of education 

 was introduced by one whose qualifications to deal with 

 it from an agricultural standpoint are indubitable. Sir 

 Daniel Hall inaugurated the Club with an address on "The 

 Training of the Rural Worker in the Operations of the 

 Farm." He remarked that the skilled men who were an asset 

 of incalculable importance were nearly all old or elderly, and 

 it was a common complaint among farmers that there was 

 little prospect that their places would be filled by the 

 younger generation. The problem was how to provide for 

 the continuance of this craft excellence in the future. At 

 that time (April, 1918) the Education Bill providing for 

 compulsory attendance at continuation schools was before 

 Parliament, and Sir Daniel Hall expressed the opinion that 

 it might prove to be of great value to Agriculture. He had 

 been astonished in Kent, when he had taught school children 

 for two or three hours a week, at their keenness and intelli- 

 gence, but four or five years later he found that their minds 

 had hardened and their intelligence had disappeared. 

 Having left school at fourteen they had received no further 

 mental guidance or stimulus. 



This wastage of human material, to which Sir Daniel Hall 



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