235 



Education. 



"The problem presented to educationlists was: How to impart a certain 

 amount of intellectual culture to the people without putting them out of concert with 

 agricultural work. The solution was found in the Popular High Schools, and almost 

 every educated Dane will at once assert that the great economic results achieved by 

 the Danish people are in a great measure due to these establishments. ..." 



From all this it may be concluded that the Danish Popular High School 

 system of education, and the thousand and one forms of organization which have 

 sprung from it, have rendered Denmark absolutely free of the existence of 

 what might be described as a lower order, or one without well-defined vital interest 

 and standing apart from the spiritual life of the nation. 



Now let us apply this information to Ceylon. Is it not possible that in 

 Ceylon, it is not education itself that is at fault, but the kind of education aimed at ? 

 Might not the people's own intelligence be better developed by the imparting of 

 their own national culture, than by attempting to Anglicise at the cost of national 

 feeling? Denmark and Ceylon are both small couutries with predominant agri- 

 cultural interests ; what is of so much value to Denmark may surely be of help 

 in Ceylon ; I do not of course suggest a slavish imitation of the co-operative system, 

 or even of the High Schools, but it is the principle underlying the educational 

 methods which might be of such value in Ceylon. I believe that nothing can 

 foster the growth of public spirit and general intelligence— and surely this, and not 

 the mere storage of information is the true aim of education — except a truly 

 national education and the fostering of a national spirit. Without this broader 

 education on national lines, progress, economic and intellectual alike, will remain 

 at a standstill, for lack of unity and organizing power amongst a people whose 

 intellects are now dulled, on the one hand by the lack of any education at all, 

 or on the other, by an entirely foreign system of education which makes no 

 appeal to their imagination or their intellect. 



AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 

 By H. W. Potts. 



Part I. 

 Germany. 



The small kingdom of Wurtemberg, of the German Empire, with a popu- 

 lation of 2,000,000 living on an area of 7,531 square miles is probably the most 

 complete example of the effect of agricultural education we possess. A contented, 

 happy, and prosperous people is the verdict of all who visit this fertile country. 

 Sixty-four per cent, of the land is arable, and 75 per cent, of this is in the hands of 

 the well fed, housed, and clothed peasant proprietors, whose farms are of the 

 average size of 14 acres. Cereal crops, tobacco, fodders, sugar-beet, chicory, grapes, 

 fruits, and vegetables are grown in wonderful profusion. The rearing of live stock 

 and dairying are conducted. Land is easily acquired by thrifty workmen, for which 

 they are indebted to liberal land laws and the excellence of the country roads, also 

 the establishment of village banks from which money is secured on easy terms. It is 

 only fifty years since Wurtemberg had the reputation of being one of the poorest 

 of the German Provinces. Agriculture failed to provide a means of subsistence, 

 mainly owing to a bad system of financial aid and the ignorance of the peasants. 



