APPENDIX II 197 



In the past our education has tended too much to turn out 

 a disproportionately large number of clerks and unskilled 

 workers. 



When the fact is recognized that our present system of 

 education turns out a larger proportion of unskilled workers 

 than any other system of education, I think it will be granted 

 that to reduce in the future the number of unskilled workers 

 and to increase the number of skilled cultivators of the soil 

 will be to the national advantage. When, further, it is realized 

 that the total white agricultural population of the whole 

 British Empire is seven millions less than the agricultural 

 population of European Germany, it will be admitted that the 

 type of citizen, above all others, that we need, to secure the 

 future development of the Empire and the Homeland, is the 

 tiller of the soil. It must not be forgotten that fifty years ago 

 the land of the United Kingdom carried a far larger popula- 

 tion than it docs to-day, and that there is, therefore, ample 

 room for a large increase in our rural population. 



Of the new movements in education that have already been 

 put on foot, the most striking is the development of manual 

 instruction in the elementary school. Much has been done 

 during the past decade, but still in the vast majority of 

 elementary schools the manual method h;is yet to be intro- 

 duced. In theory it is admitted that instruction is only full 

 and complete w hich appeals to the manual as well as the mental 

 activities of the child, but it still remains to put this axiom into 

 practice in all our elementary schools. Too much lip service 

 is rendered : there is not sufficient whole-hearted effort 

 directed towards giving the rising generation that type of 

 instruction which we believe will turn out the most effective 

 citizen in whatever career in life he may choose. Simple 

 manual instruction could and should be given in nearly all 

 elementary schools under existing conditions and at a very 

 small cost. We must not wait for perfect equipment, we must 

 not wait for special manual in.struction rooms. Every local 

 education authority should concentrate on developing manual 

 instruction for boys and girls in all the schools within its 



