April, 191'2.] 



349 



Education- 



He dealt with the origin of these very 

 ancient associations of small milk pro- 

 ducers, and gave important details on 

 the constitution of these societies and 

 their working. His researches show that 

 there are to-day in Haute Savoie 360 

 co-operative fruitieres and 60 private 

 fruitieres producing cheese and butter. 

 In 1910 these societies will have made 25 

 millions francs worth of cheese. 



Thanks to the development and im- 

 provement of these associations, the 

 farmers have had an appreciable increase 

 in the price of their milk. It was sold 

 at between 10| and 13 centimes the litre 

 in 1891, and in 1911 it had risen to 18 

 centimes. 



(Summarised from the Annates de la 

 Mutualite et de la Co-operation Agri- 

 coles. Paris, September-October, 1911.) 



EDUCATION. 



THE CRAZE FOR TECHNICAL 

 EDUCATION. 



By Harold Cox. 

 (Prom the Indian Agriculturist, Vol. 



XXXVII., No. 2, February 1, 1912.) 



Since I have been in India nothing has 

 surprised me so much as the extravagant 

 importance attached by leaders of Indian 

 opinion to Technical Education. There 

 seems to be a universal belief that 

 technical education is a kind of fetish 

 which has only to be set up and wor- 

 shipped, and straightway flourshing in- 

 dustries will spring into being all over 

 India. Even cautious thinkers seem to 

 regard technical education as the first 

 essential to the industrial development 

 of the country. That this sudden craze 

 should have taken possession of Indian 

 minds is all the more surprising to me, 

 because I can remember that when I was 

 in India before, proposals to substitute 

 technical for literary education were 

 very properly scouted by Indian opinion. 

 To European advisers who somewhat 

 thoughtlessly said: "Learn trades and 

 make fortunes "—Indian gentlemen re- 

 plied that there was an immediate 

 market at the Bar and in Government 

 service for young men who had received 

 a literary education, but there was no 

 such market visible for boys who had 

 received an industrial training. Twenty 

 years have passed, but the same answer 

 might still be made. It is true that the 

 number of competitors for Government 

 service and the Bar is greater than 

 before, but the prizes are still there in 



goodly number for the best men to win 

 whereas, as tar as I have been able to 

 learn, in the case of technical education 

 there are practically no prizes at all. 

 People say that until India possesses 

 an industrially trained population she 

 cannot possess industries. That is a 

 question which 1 will discuss presently, 

 but it only remotely concerns the parent 

 who is considering what are the openings 

 for his son, The sensible li.dian knows 

 that a boy who has had literary educa- 

 tion will have a chance of obtaining a 

 really good position as a barrister or as 

 a civil servant, and that even if he com- 

 pletely misses these chances he will still 

 be able to find some employment as a 

 clerk or a teacher. But suppose the boy 

 has been sent to a technological college 

 and learnt the technique of some parti- 

 cular industry, what is he to do with his 

 knowledge ? Who is going to give him 

 employment? It is no answer to these 

 questions to say that technical education 

 is a prelude to the industrial develop- 

 ment of the country. The boy wants 

 employments ; he does not want " pre- 

 ludes to industrial development." 



Let me relate an anecdote. Some 

 years ago the Government of India, 

 which has also been bitten with this 

 craze for technical education, sent to 

 England an Indian boy to be taught the 

 art of dyeing according to the latest 

 scientific methods in a technical college 

 in Yorkshire. He was a very bright boy ; 

 he worked hard and gave complete satis- 

 faction to his teachers, Just as he had 

 finished his studies, a big English firm 



