Education and Agriculture 



welfare. For the country people this means that 

 it must be largely in terms of agriculture." — 

 Report of U.S. A . Commission on Country Life. 



Before I deal with education as it affects 

 agriculture I must briefly touch upon its past 

 history, leaving out as far as possible any 

 reference to subjects that are at all controversial. 

 Previous to Mr. Balfour's Education Act of igo2, 

 the " dual system " existed in full force, that is, 

 there were the board schools, and the denomina- 

 tional schools, and of the latter by far the greater 

 number were in the main under the control of 

 the Church of England. 



Our system of education had grown in a 

 most haphazard way into its then condition. 

 The church did her utmost for many years 

 to fulfil educational requirements, but our 

 population increased too fast and the task 

 became too great for her ; and more and more 

 board schools were created. 



On the whole the standard of education was 

 on the up grade, or, perhaps, viewing the prac- 

 tical results, it would be more accurate to say 

 that the cost of educating each child steadily 

 increased, till the Church of England could no 

 longer stand the financial strain. This is the 

 important point to remember, — the church 

 schools could no longer keep pace with the 

 board schools in the race for so-called educa- 



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