272 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 
8. There is need of some organisation to encourage overseas life, to link up the 
secondary schools with those societies which are able to look after the interests of the 
prospective emigrant. 
9. Whatever agricultural training a boy may receive at school, it should be em- 
phasised that the training is not technical such as is given in an agricultural college, 
and that it can be in no sense a substitute for a definite apprenticeship on a farm, 
whether in Great Britain or in one of the Overseas Dominions. 
10. Manual training as an educational instrument does not appear to receive the 
recognition it should in the majority of schools. Comparatively few have facilities 
for metalwork, and in the majority even woodwork is optional, and taken during 
out-of-school time, or, at most, in the lower forms only. 
In the present report the committee are able to present in more detail the work 
which is being attempted in certain schools of this country to arouse interest in farm 
life and in agricultural studies generally. In some cases, through the courtesy of 
the headmasters, the committee are able to give the syllabus of work followed and the 
time-tables of the classes affected (Section 5). 
Since the last report, additional information has been received from the various 
Overseas Dominions and this has been also incorporated (Section 6). Further con- 
sideration of the problems involved show that there are many practical difficulties 
in the way of a general adoption of agricultural studies even where plenty of land is 
available. These difficulties are briefly dealt with in Section 3. 
For urban schools, and in the absence of available land for experimental purposes, 
geography has strong claims to be treated as a useful substitute, and in any case 
affords a valuable means of opening the minds of boys and girls alike to the possi- 
bilities of life abroad within the Empire (see Section 4). 
Much misunderstanding of the claim of agriculture to be considered a proper 
study for schools arises from a misconception of its aim, method and content. The 
’ reasons for the inclusion of agriculture in the curriculum, and the interpretation to be 
given to the term Agricultural Studies as applied to schools, are briefly stated in Section 
1 and 2 below, leaving for a future report a more definite statement and explanation. 
of their content and method. 
I. AGRICULTURAL STUDIES—THEIR AIM AND PLACE IN THE SCHOOL 
CURRICULUM, 
(1) A sound education is the thing that matters most for the intending emigrant 
as it does for everyone else. But no education is sound that does not provide some 
handwork, especially for those types of boys who can learn little through any other way. 
Food being the first essential of life, there seems to be excellent reason why some- 
thing about foodstuffs, their production and comparative value, should be studied in all 
schools. 
Land cultivation and stock rearing provide material for study of considerable 
educational value. They give a widened outlook and enlarge the scope of general 
science teaching. Agricultural studies when they are directly connected with practical 
work on a farm introduce to some boys’ minds the only feature in the school curri- 
culum that can make them feel their work to be real and creative. They direct a 
boy’s attention to the possibilities of a useful calling in life; they tend to create a 
better understanding and a broader sympathy between town and country dweller. 
They can have great value as a factor in moral development, and in other ways be of 
definite national value. 
It may also be said that the early association with farm life and work, afforded 
by such training, is of considerable practical value, especially to those boys who 
choose farming overseas as their future career. 
(2) By agricultural studies is not meant ‘ teaching to farm.’ To attempt that would 
be a fatal error. What is meant is the use of the farm or garden as a laboratory and 
workshop in the study of physics, chemistry and biology. The farm, and garden, 
and stock may be as necessary to science teaching as are the ordinary laboratories 
and their apparatus. It should be emphasised that whatever agricultural work 
a boy may do at school it must not be considered in any sense a substitute for a definite 
apprenticeship on a farm whether in Great Britain or in one of the Overseas Dominions. 
It should have a vocational outlook, but must not take the form of vocational training. 
Its purpose is educational. This outlook gives vision and reality to study; creates 
interest and captures reason, but the educational purpose is to make use of the material 
for intellectual development, for growth of real understanding. 
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