1921.] 



THE EDUCATION OF THE FARM 

 WORKER. 



W. E. Smith, M.P. 



" The present ijeneratlon would indeed he surprised if 

 they could foresee irhat science atid hr.iins uill do for agri- 

 culture in the JiCJit half-cent urij 



This quotation from an official report seems to be so reason- 

 able a statement that I use it as a peg on which to hang all I 

 have to say in this paper on the very difficult subject of 

 education. It is obvious that the vast changes and develop- 

 ments prophesied in the above quotation will mean that 

 agricultural workers ^^•ill in many respects be different in the 

 future from what they have been in ±he past. Whatever viewv 

 point we may have, most of those connected in any way w^ith 

 agriculture want to see the w^orkers on the land as keen, as 

 alert, and as educated as is possible. 



If w^e use the phrase " education of the workers " in its 

 widest sense, the subject will fall naturally into two divisions. 

 There is, firstly, what is usually described as technical 

 education; and secondly, what we may call social education. 



I do not think this matter can be usefully discussed unless we 

 are prepared with an answ^er to what seems an elementary, 

 though important, question: What object is to be pursued in 

 the education of boys and girls? Let me say at once that I do 

 not subscribe to the view widely held that education is merely 

 for the purpose of enabling the workers to keep pace with 

 industrial developments, and to respond efficiently to the 

 increasing demands made on their intelligence by modern 

 organised production. I believe that the workers have a right 

 to culture as such. They should be free to enlarge their minds, 

 and to fit themselves to enjoy the deep happiness hidden away 

 in books, in music, and in art. It is this conception of the 

 function of education that leads me to make my strongest objec- 

 tion to elementary education as we know it to-day. 



It imparts a varying quantity of facts, and gives the scholars 

 some idea how to read and write. It seldom implants in t}>cir 

 hearts a real eagerness to hnou- more. At an age which should 

 coincide with a crucial period in an educational course, the 

 average rural (and town") child leaves, and is " done with 

 schooling." There is no hunger for more knowledge. The 

 books are laid away, and the child turns to " the more serious 

 business of contributing to the family income." 



