Education and Agriculture 



" Stay on the land," if they were convinced 

 that serious efforts were being made to increase 

 the future opportunities for their scholars. It 

 rests largely with the landowners and farmers 

 to see that these opportunities are increased ; 

 the landowners should provide more cottages, 

 and both they and the farmers should give 

 preferment to those youths who have done well 

 at school and have shown keenness in subjects 

 bearing upon a life on the land. 



We are a wonderful people for systematically 

 reversing the right procedure whenever we deal 

 with a problem ; we have made new codes, 

 altered school conditions in every way, but we 

 have left the foundation — the training of the 

 teacher — to the last. 



I see that I have myself written many pages 

 about education, and yet have not touched 

 upon the basis of education — the teacher. If 

 once we get the right type of teacher and 

 give him a free hand, a sound system of educa- 

 tion will almost evolve of itself; at all events, 

 it is certainly impossible to evolve a satis- 

 factory system if the training of the teacher is 

 not right. 



Just as the present training of the elementary 

 school child is not sufficiently practical, so is 

 the training of the teacher too academic. Our 

 training colleges often seem to exist chiefly with 

 a view to prepare candidates for the Oxford 



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