1908.] Suggestions on Rural Education. 



75i 



additional advantage that it is a practical means of giving a 

 knowledge of the principles of hygiene. It was stated that, in 

 a western county, a course of dairying to elementary school 

 girls had led them to seek further instruction in the subject 

 after leaving school, thus having the effect of arousing that 

 desire for further education which all elementary education 

 should produce. 



It is not easy to provide for instruction in rural subjects in 

 small village schools, and the Board have had under considera- 

 tion proposals for establishing upper classes in centrally 

 situated schools where special subjects could be taught, 

 especially schools possessing an endowment which it was thought 

 might be utilised to defray the special expenditure involved. 



With the object of assisting in some degree the adaptation 

 of rural education to the conditions of rural life, specimen 



courses of special object lessons and of 

 Suggestions on gardening were published by the Board 

 Rural Education, of Education in 1901 and 1902. These 



pamphlets have long been out of print, 

 and the Board of Education have now issued a pamphlet by 

 Mr. T. S. Dymond, entitled " Suggestions on Rural Educa- 

 tion," in which an attempt is made to set out the educational 

 needs of those who are to follow rural pursuits, to suggest the 

 character of the instruction that would supply the educational 

 equipment required to meet those needs, and to indicate the 

 means by which in course of time such instruction could more 

 generally and more adequately be supplied. 



Rural prosperity, Mr. Dymond observes, primarily depends 

 on the prosperity of rural industry, and this, though principally 

 determined by economic conditions, must also depend upon the 

 intelligence, adaptability, knowledge and skill of those engaged 

 in it. The prosperity also of rural workers depends on the pro- 

 fitable use made of cottage gardens, allotments and small 

 holdings by the men, and the domestic skill of the women. It 

 must also be remembered that, in the country, people must 

 depend for recreation on their own mental and physical 

 resources, so that general culture has an important part to 

 play in making country life attractive ; and lastly, that the 



