ON EDUCATIONAL TRAINING FOR OVERSEAS LIFE. 353 
secondary school in Northleach, which is the centre of a thinly populated area with 
no industry but agriculture, and it is hoped that when the school is built it will be 
furnished with workshops where, after courses in wood and iron work, the boys may 
learn something about heat engines and the application of electric power. 
“It is believed that the sons of farmers and agricultural workers would find this 
kind of instruction very useful to them here in Gloucestershire, and it would at the 
same time do much to equip them for life in one of the overseas Dominions and no 
doubt to turn their minds to it.’ 
IV. OVERSEAS DOMINIONS. 
Inquiries have been made of the various High Commissioners or Agents-General 
of the overseas Dominions for any reports, or publications, dealing with the question 
of curriculum of their schools educating boys and girls who are likely to find 
occupations on farms, and in other rural occupations. They were further asked to 
express any known views held by those most interested in the matter, viz. the 
probable employers of immigrants, and those responsible for the general welfare of 
the community. 
CANADA.—A special committee appointed by the Minister of Education for 
Ontario, consisting of representatives of University Colleges, High Schools, Inspectors, 
and the Department of Education, recommended very drastic alterations in the 
eurriculum and public examinations of the high or secondary schools. Many of 
these recommendations have been adopted, and were in force in 1922. The inclusion 
of agriculture as an optional subject in place of physics and chemistry is one interesting 
feature of the new order. 
‘This is an entirely new departure,’ writes the Inspector of High Schools, in his 
annual report of 1921. ‘It is arecognition of the value of the study of agriculture 
as a means of mental training as well as of its practical value in Ontario, where 
agriculture is still the basic industry.’ 
A four years’ course of instruction in agriculture has been drawn up for the high 
schools of Ontario, and any student is given credit for this work if he desires it for 
_ entrance to the University, the Normal College, or the Ontario Agricultural College. 
: The chief difficulty in carrving out the scheme has been lack of qualified teachers, 
but it is anticipated that this will be a rapidly diminishing difficulty as the work 
develops in the high schools. In 1900, 1,322 pupils took up agriculture on leaving 
school, as against 3,142 who went into commerce. 
Agriculture has also been introduced into the public or elementary schools of 
Ontario, with very promising results. The Inspector of this work writes: ‘The 
introduction of classes in agriculture into the rural schools has already produced 
_ tangible results in a direction not at first expected. Through the use of school gardens 
as a part of the work of the school the interest of both pupils and parents has been 
_ awakened towards the improvement of the school grounds and buildings, and this 
7 aspect of education is having a particularly far-reaching effect and is no less important 
_ than the scholastic type.’ This work is aided by special grants from the Government. 
: In 1920 the grant was £15,000, in 1921 it was £16,000. 
NEW ZEALAND.—-In New Zealand, according to the report of the Minister of 
Education, in addition to an academic course, secondary schools generally provide 
courses with a commercial, agricultural, or a domestic bias. 
In the district high schools the courses are still more of a nature directly bearing 
upon the vocation shortly to be followed by the pupils, many of the schools providing 
a full rural course of instruction. The result is, agricultural science is taken by 71 per 
cent. of the boys and 23 per cent. of the girls, wood and metal work by 62 per cent. 
of the boys, needlework and cookery by 64 per cent. of the girls, in place of the more 
academic course. 
A letter received from the Director of Education for New Zealand further explains 
_the situation :— 
‘Tt is, of course, not possible for the Department to treat in any detailed or 
definite manner the broad issues raised by you as to the type of education suitable 
for boys and girls who are likely to seek a home in the Colonies. In general terms, it 
may be stated that the educational training appropriate for rural life in New Zealand 
is similar to that required for English rural life. While there are necessarily many 
points of difference between conditions in the respective countries, it is safe to affirm 
that these are more than balanced by the points of resemblance. 
1924 AA 
