Education and Agriculture 



satisfactory, and that the present day labourer 

 is not nearly so good a man as was his father. 

 They would welcome any alteration in our 

 system of education, if once they were con- 

 vinced that it meant giving them youths who 

 could use their brains as well as their hands. 



On the other hand, the farmers who declare 

 that reformers are trying to teach agriculture in 

 school, and that it cannot be done, have much 

 more ground for their assertion. I fear that 

 even amongst so-called experts it is not always 

 clearly understood that agriculture cannot be 

 taught in school. No trade or industry can be 

 taught at any elementary school. But such 

 instruction can be given that the boy will be 

 prepared to take up and become proficient in 

 any industry. 



And that is the object which those who now 

 demand radical alterations in the type and 

 method of instruction given in elementary 

 schools have in view. 



Practical manual instruction must be given in 

 all schools; that will be the best preparation for 

 specialization at a later date. But that manual 

 instruction should take its bias from local con- 

 ditions — agricultural, if agriculture be the main- 

 stay of the surrounding population, just as its 

 character would be affected by mining or cotton 

 spinning, or any other industry closely related 

 to the lives of the neighbouring people. 



159 



