April, 1921. 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE. 



EDITORIAL 



145 



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HIGHER EDUCATION. 



It lias beeu contended, by writers and thinkers 

 whose opinions should carry some weight, that edu- 

 cation is i'uudameutal to an advancing civilization. The 

 claim is — and it would appear to be almost axiomatic — 

 that as our sj'stem of teaching improves, as our know- 

 ledge widens and is carried further afield, and as new 

 principles are applied, so there is a gradual improve- 

 ment in the effieiene.y of the people. This improve- 

 ment is noticeable in the community as well as in the 

 race. We have progressive districts and backward 

 districts, the former introducing modern methods and 

 applying modem principles, the latter through ignor- 

 ance or disinterestedness, remaining years or decades 

 behind the times. 



How far is it necessary to carry educational .sj-stems 

 in the interest of community and national life? Many 

 a young man or woman has struggled through prim- 

 ary schools, high schools, colleges and universities, 

 carrying through them all a conviction that the more 

 knowledge they acquired the greater would be their 

 success in life. In most cases the money and the 

 efforts spent are not now regretted, but in some in- 

 stances these men and women feel that they are not 

 receiving an adequate return for their investment. 

 Their opinions are aggravated by the knowledge that 

 higher salaries are being paid both to unskilled labor 

 and to employees whose training and education are 

 less than their own. 



Too much condemnation is bad for any system. 

 Education throughout the ages has advanced civiliz- 

 ation ; lack of educatiou will, per contra, result in back- 

 wardness and inertia in a community or in a country. 

 Higher education, the knowledge and exi>erience gained 

 in university life, is a very necessary, if not an essen- 

 tial, addition to the training previously received. The 

 fact that the merits of higher education are being 

 questioned may be attributed to one of two causes — 

 either to the policies which govern the salaries of 

 trained experts, or to the experts themselves. If a 

 policy of promotion by the merit system is being car- 

 ried out, then the cau>se for any dissatisfaction maj- be 

 traced to the dissatisfied individual, M-ho is either in- 

 competent or unaggressive. If a competent man or 

 woman is not receiving adequate recognition or ample 

 scope for work, there must be something wrong witli 

 the piilic_\- wliicli governs diat jxisitioii. 



The criticism (jf higher education on the part of in- 

 dividuals, will ill the aggregate harm the .system. How 

 imicli iiiori' hanu will be done bv the criticisiu of a 



government ! A press statement issued early in April 

 made the astonishing announcement that an appropria- 

 tion of $672,000, sought by the University of British 

 Columbia to care for the twelve hundred students who 

 will seek admission this year, was pared to $445,000. 

 The result is that the University finds itself, (in addi- 

 tion to having to work under trying conditions as to 

 buildmgs and equipment) faced with the possibility 

 of having to restrict the number of students and of 

 meeting interference with its educational work. It is 

 further added that the curtailment of the University 

 grant met with the approval of the Provincial Premier. 

 It appears that the Hon. John Oliver is not a strong 

 advocate of higher education, having spent only a 

 brief part of his own youth in school and having made 

 a success of life despite that fact. 



Contrast this condition of affairs in British Colum- 

 bia with the condition of affairs in the Province of 

 Quebec where, as the result of the recent session of 

 the Legislature, each of the three universities of Laval, 

 McGill and Montreal were given one million dollars, 

 and where particular consideration was given to educ- 

 ational matters generally. The same daily press which 

 made the astonishing announcement in regard to the 

 Province of British Columbia, has this to .say of 

 Quebec: "The Government has done a notable thing, 

 which will be of the greatest possible benefit to the 

 province in the years that are to come, for the higher 

 education in any communit.v marks a pronounced effi- 

 ciency in every vital regard." 



As we go to press we learn that, in the Ontario Leg- 

 islature, Hou. R. H. Grant, Minister of Educatiou, 

 stated that arrangements had been completed for ade- 

 quately financing Toronto University, Queens Univ- 

 ersity and Western University. The amount of money 

 assigned to each of these institutions for the present 

 year is considerably larger than in 1920, when the 

 expenditure for education had increased by $1,600,000. 



ANSWERING A CRITICISM. 

 We have permitted our modesty to govern our pen 

 for three months. We have allowed three issues of this 

 new magazine to be printed without giving any indi- 

 cation of the reception accorded to it by its readers. We 

 would hesitate to give that information now were it 

 not for the fact that we wish to encourage further ex- 

 pression of opinion by placing before our readers a 

 digest of what has already been said. Publicity has 

 established itself as a business method adopted to ac- 

 complish quick results. The sooner we receive frank 



