284 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 



1. MEMORANDUM ON CERTAIN ASPECTS OF EDUCATION IN 

 RURAL SCHOOLS. 



By Sir John Russell. 



The chief purpose of the education of a country child is to develop its character 

 and intelligence, to widen its interest, especially in the higher things of life, and to 

 keep alive the inborn curiosity and freshness of outlook that form so much of the 

 charm of youth and afford one of the easiest ways of approaching its best side. 



The second purpose is to give the child knowledge that will help it in the constant 

 struggle against Nature, which is the chief activity of the farm worker and the 

 gardener, and enters more or less into the life of everyone who gains his livelihood 

 in the country. 



The two purposes are quite distinct, but they are in no wise antagonistic : the same 

 subjects, the same facts and materials, almost the same lessons can serve for both ; 

 the distinction is rather in the spirit of the lesson and the perspective than in the 

 matter. The purpose of the teacher should be to give the child the richest, fiJlest 

 life of which he or she is capable, not to make the child a better labourer. In point 

 of fact, if the main purpose is achieved the second naturally follows. 



The Study of the Countryside in Sural Schools. 



In these days it is a commonplace to speak of the wonders of science, particularly 

 of such striking achievements as wireless telegraphy, telephony, and transmission 

 of photographs. It is not so widely recognised that science has extended its activities 

 also to the countryside and has produced many useful and remarkable things — such 

 as artificial fertilisers and new varieties of crops. But it has achievwl much more 

 than this : it has shown something of the abounding interest and wonder of even 

 the common objects of the countryside. One or two examples only need be given : 



A lump of earth is shown to be made up of small particles, each coated with a 

 jelly-like material and possessing certain properties easily demonstrated, even in a 

 village school, that link together much of the fragmentary and disconnected common 

 knowledge of the villagers. The site of the village ; the layout of the woods and 

 lanes in the district ; the distribution of wood, grass, and arable land ; the ease of 

 working the soil ; the course of the streams ; the position of the bridges and of the 

 stretches of water where paddling is possible. All these and many other things 

 well or partially known in the village follow direct from a knowledge of the 

 constitution of the soil, such as can be imparted to any child above the age of eleven. 



Again, the ploughing of farmyard manure into the land is bound up with some of 

 the most interesting modern scientific work in agriculture. Farmyard manure is 

 not itself a plant-food ; it is indeed harmful to plants. In the soil, however, it 

 undergoes a remarkable change ; it is converted into a highly efEective plant-food. 

 Science has shown that this change is brought about by a multitude of micro- 

 organisms which live in the soil, invisible to the naked eye but easily demonstrated 

 by simple experiments. The organisms are present in all soils and in dirt ; they 

 are very effective transformers, changing sweet milk to sour, making meat putrid, 

 causing wounds to fester, and generally producing those changes associated with 

 dirt in the larder, the dairy, or the home. 



Instances might be multiplied to show that the facts and phenomena forming 

 the background of village knowledge and experience are the effects of agencies or 

 of forces which can, in broad outline, be demonstrated to the child, and which, if 

 adequately presented, make up a story of absorbing interest and of the utmost value 

 for keeping alive and developing the native curiosity of the child, for training its 

 powers of observation and stimulating it to think about what it has seen. 



It has always appeared to me somewhat pathetic that the child who will, 

 presumably, spend his or her life in the country and probably work upon a farm 

 should know so little of the interest and wonder of the things aroimd him. I know 

 from actual experience in a country school how lively an interest can be aroused in 

 the children. When living at Wye, I used to give one lesson a week to the assembled 

 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th Standard boys and girls, and found them eager, alert, and 

 quick to grasp the points. 



The English countryside as we see it to-day is the resultant of the activity of the 

 human and natural forces, and it cannot be properly understood umless the human 



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