154 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



grow classes or courses specifically appropriate for the workers in the 

 various industries. 



In the view of the commission one reason why the farmers were 

 leaving the rural districts was to obtain a better education for their 

 children, and it pointed out that in all progressive countries educa- 

 tion was being adjusted to meet the needs of the children of the 

 rural population, to interest them in rural life and to qualify them 

 to follow it with advantage. Keen attention was also being directed 

 in these countries to means for the instruction and guidance of the 

 adult population. It also concluded that it was high time for Canada 

 to recognize the difference between the primitive conditions of the 

 undeveloped country and the complexities of advanced rural life in 

 a democratic civilization. The way to satisfaction and success in 

 rural life was by pooling the intelligence, the business ability and 

 the social spirit of the neighbourhood. 



Rural high schools and schools for fishermen and navigation 

 were recommended. 



The above commission was appointed in 1910 and reported in 

 1913. It visited 100 places and took evidence from 1,470 persons 

 in Canada, and it also investigated conditions abroad. It made 

 enquiry into the needs of existing industry in respect of labour and 

 the requirements of such labour in industrial training and education. 

 No action has been taken on the commission's report, but no doubt 

 this, in part, has been due to the war. 



More Comprehensive Educational System Needed 



The great value of the educational work now being carried out 

 in the splendidly equipped and organized agricultural colleges of 

 Canada, of which the Macdonald college, Quebec, and the Ontario 

 Agricultural college at Guelph, Ontario, are two outstanding exam- 

 ples, must not be overlooked. But this work, even when coupled 

 with the object lessons and propaganda of the boards of agriculture, 

 does not reach the majority of farmers and their children, and for 

 want of social organization in the rural districts much of the value 

 of education is lost. Some more comprehensive system is needed, 

 and the consolidation of the rural school must be an essential part 

 of any plan. The problems of development, as well as the science 

 of successful cultivation, need to be discussed by the older people; 

 and teaching in the arts of rural life, and in manual and vocational 

 training, must be given to the children in rural districts. It has 

 to be remembered that knowledge cannot be cultivated or enjoyed 



