CHAPTER III 



THE RURAL LABOURER 



IN my chapter on education I shall try to 

 make clear how unpractical is the training 

 given in our elementary schools, and in no 

 class is this more evident than among the 

 sons of the rural labourers. 



It would not be reasonable to expect a child 

 — considering the conditions — to get home 

 training of any value in our overcrowded cities ; 

 but in the country conditions are somewhat 

 different, and one feels that there should be 

 more opportunity than there is for the children 

 to learn at home. That they do not, is largely 

 due to the fact that the present generation of 

 parents, themselves products of our modern 

 education, are not capable of teaching them. 



Many persons connected with local education 

 still oppose the introduction of certain types of 

 instruction into the school, contending that this 

 instruction is best given in the home. This con- 

 tention may be true in principle, but the attitude 

 is harmful, nevertheless, to the very cause which 

 such persons have at heart. 



113 K 



