M.— AGRICULTURE. 211 



brought to light some very interesting opinions about the possibility of 

 dealing with agriculture as a cultural subject in schools. In the first report 

 of the Committee presented at the Toronto Meeting occur the words : ' the 

 undoubted value of agriculture as an educational instrument has been 

 overlooked in the past.' In various parts of Canada the view has been 

 deliberately taken that the study of agriculture has definitely a cultural as 

 well as a vocational value. In nearly all the newer countries agriculture 

 forms part of the curriculum of the secondary schools, where, however, it 

 is regarded by many as more vocational than cultural, because of course 

 these countries are very largely rural, and depend more directly upon 

 agriculture for their existence. Now, although as I have indicated, the 

 Committee was concerned with the training of boys and girls who definitely 

 propose to go into farming overseas, these interesting opinions about the 

 value of agriculture as an educational subject emerge. One further 

 sentence may be cited. ' Overseas opinion ... is much better informed 

 and more advanced than in England, with the consequence that in the 

 Overseas Dominions a considerable body of experience has been accumu- 

 lated, which has led the way to a definite adoption of practical work on 

 the land, wherever possible, for the urban school equally with the rural 

 school.' That is an indication of the lengths to which they are prepared 

 to go in those countries where a considerable, or it may be an overwhelming, 

 number of their pupils go into an agricultural career. The case in this 

 country is, of course, quite different, but nevertheless I would urge that, 

 in spite of the small number of those who take up farming as a profession 

 at home, and in spite of the comparatively small number of those who go 

 abroad and do so in the Dominions or elsewhere, a study of agriculture 

 as a cultural subject is more than worth while because of the basal character 

 of the industry, the fundamental importance of its products, and the 

 particular position of this country with respect to the food supplies of its 

 people. The question naturally arises as to what is meant by the study 

 of agriculture in this connection, and, while it is a question to which it is 

 difficult to give a final answer, it is one to which a reply can best be given 

 by considering how this subject could be developed throughout the schools 

 and Universities. Nature study, illustrated and taught by means of school 

 gardens, forms an integral part of the teaching of most elementary schools, 

 and it is a matter for regret that in many preparatory schools this teaching 

 is not attempted. If this study be properly carried out, I think that it 

 meets the first demand which I would make that, in the elementary stage, 

 children should have some slight acquaintance with the plants and animals 

 with which they are surrounded and which supply them with the necessaries 

 of life. In the next stage, that of the public and secondary schools, formal 

 science is a definite part of the instruction provided and of the syllabus 

 for the school certificate and for admission subsequently to the 

 Universities. In my opinion, much of this science is too formal, too 

 broken up into separate subjects which appear to have little connection 

 with each other, and no connection at all with the facts and problems 

 of everyday life. Certain improvements have been made of late, and 

 the inclusion of General Science as an examination subject in the 

 University Local Examinations and in that of the Oxford and Cam- 

 bridge Joint Board are all steps in the right direction. Science for 



p2 



