Kdication of 'I'liF, Fat.m \VoI{KKK 



employed In eotiiitv councils iu luial schools is about 50,000, 

 and this number includes 10,926 supplementary teachers! 

 This is an indefensible position. Such economy — penny wise 

 and pound foolish — stands utterly condemned. I do not ask 

 that these uncertificated and supplementary teachers be swept 

 summarily off the board; but 1 would point out that if theV 

 were paid better, and more opportunities for self -improvement 

 given, a higher standard could reasonably be expected. 

 Ln my opinion, all the costs of education, both " general " 

 and, up to a certain point, " technical " also, should be charges 

 on the national exchequer, for they are incurred in the business 

 of making citizens. Only in this way can all the inequalities 

 which exist between one authority and another be eliminated. 



I am quite confident that the view taken in the 

 Farmers' Unioji Year Booh, quoted above, is the right one. It 

 ought not to be difficult to relate the everyday life and Ihoughf- 

 devcJopmenf of children in the country to the world of nature 

 which surrounds them. Experience shows that to an unitiated 

 countryman a beautiful valley may be nothing but a " dull 

 place where nothing ever happens." Of country children it can 

 often be said: " Eyes they have, but they see not !" It is not 

 a matter for wonder that, to such as these, towns, with their 

 kaleidoscopic changes in the daily scene, seem a paradise of 

 movement, whilst the magic ebb and flow of life all through 

 the countryside create no wonder. Tn some subtle way, with- 

 out doubt, a man's love for his native place, where he has perhaps 

 spent most of his life will sometimes, but not always, hold him 

 to the land. This, however, is not enough. We need to create 

 in the hearts and the minds of growing children in the country 

 a delight in. and an understanding of their environment. Farm 

 life and work must be not merely endured when no town 

 alternative offers, but must attract both those born on the land 

 and those from the congested cities. 



All this implies that life on the land must be no " dead-end 

 occupation. Avenues of advancement must be there, and, as a 

 corollary, education of every grade, even to the highest, must 

 be open to every village boy or girl who is keen and able to 

 take advantage of it. 



On paper there is a system of agricultural education which is 

 truly admirable (though of course needing immense develop- 

 ment). In a leaflet issued by the ^Finistry it is thus described: — 

 Briefly, the agricultural education which is now available 



consists of courses at various colleges extending over three 



