September, 1910.] 



245 



Agricultural Education. 



their needs when they leave such schools. 

 It was agreed that the ordinary curri- 

 culum which takes such pupils through 

 their course does not fit them suffi- 

 ciently for the work in which they are 

 engaged afterwards ; in short, that they 

 leave school without understanding why 

 or what they have been taught. Those 

 who were present at the Conference 

 sought from their own experience a 

 means to modify or enlarge the system, 

 so that it may become more adequate 

 to do this, and it is a notable fact 

 that the teachers unanimously testified 

 to the value of manual work as a 

 method of education. 



If such a form of education is to meet 

 successfully the demand that will be plac- 

 ed upon it, two important requirements 

 must be filled by it. These have their 

 effect, respectively, during school life 

 and in the work that the pupil must take 

 up afterwards. In the first connection it 

 must possess the criterion of giving the 

 understanding of which mention has 

 just been made. In the second, it must 

 effect something toward fitting the pupil 

 for the service which will be demanded 

 from him in order that he may make a 

 living. The search for the best means of 

 education can be made, then, in the light 

 of these two criteria. 



The experience of teachers tends fur- 

 ther, every day, to show that subjects, 

 as for instance arithmetic, can be more 

 easily understood by children if they 

 are taught by means of actual, every- 

 day measurements than if we attempt 

 to impart ideas of such subjects merely 

 with the aid of abstract quantities. The 

 setting of meaningless ' sums ' in which 

 there is little concrete aid to the imagi- 

 nation merely leads to the learning of 

 a ' rule.' Even when this rule has been 

 'learnt,' nothing has been done to im- 

 part that elasticity of mind to the pupil 

 which will enable him to appreciate an 

 example for the working of which it 

 may have to be varied in an intelligent 

 manner. What is worse, it is more than 

 possible that he will leave school devoid 

 of the ability to make use of it in the 

 very instances when it is required by 

 him to give assistance. Tnis suggests 

 that his work in school should be ar- 

 ranged as nearly as possible to give a 

 picture of what his working life will be 

 when he leaves it. It is thus seen that 

 the attempt to find a way in which to 

 arrange the work in school to the best 

 educational purpose has led naturally 

 to the discovery of a means of making 

 that work of a kind which will be the 

 most useful when scholastic education 

 has come to an end. 



It has been pointed out already that 

 education in the West Indies, in any 

 stage, must have agricultural trend if it 

 is to fulfil its purpose in the best manner. 

 It is therefore requisite to find out how 

 this may be given to it. For some time, 

 now, the school garden has been recog- 

 nized as a valuable means for the pur- 

 pose. There has also been recognition 

 of the fact that it must not be used 

 merely to teach agriculture. There must 

 be a much wider appreciation of its 

 possibilities for assisting in the education 

 of the pupil, if it is intended to do its 

 work properly. Every opportunity 

 should be employed for the purpose of 

 intimately connecting the work of the 

 school garden with that of the ordinary 

 subjects of the curriculum. As many of 

 these subjects as possible should begin in 

 the garden, and be followed up with all 

 the aid that can be obtained from it. 



An illustration has been given already 

 of the way in which nature study, with 

 the aid of the school garden, can assist 

 the teacher. Many others might be pre- 

 sented. Under the old system, the teach- 

 ing of composition required great pains 

 on the part of the teacher, and yet, few 

 left school with anything like an ade- 

 quate knowledge of it. Now, the pupil 

 willingly writes up his gardening note- 

 book, because he is dealing with some- 

 thing that affects him personally, at the 

 same time, he gains a lasting power to 

 write clearly and strongly. The old 

 reading lesson, with its uninteresting 

 subjects, listlessness and inattention, has 

 given place to one in which the pupil 

 reads, and asks questions about things 

 that are actually before him, and which 

 come into intimate relationship with his 

 daily life. This is why, in many cases, 

 he is found reading books, and journals 

 whose purpose is to assist him to get the 

 best out of his work. He is beginning to 

 understand why and what he is taught. 



Such considerations enable it to be 

 seen that, in all stages, the kind of edu- 

 cation required is the one which leads 

 out to the matters of daily life. The 

 means for the provisions of this are 

 supplied by the concrete example and 

 by the mental experience that is derived 

 from the exercise of the powers of 

 observation. 



SCHOOL GARDENS. 



By M, E. Couchman, i.c.s. 



(From the Agricultural Journal of 

 India, Vol V., Part III., July, 1910.) 

 Mr. M. E. Couchman, I.C.S., Director 

 of Agriculture, Madras, delivered an 

 interesting and instructive address on 



