752 Suggestions on Rural Education, [march, 



natural increase in the population usually necessitates a steady 

 migration of young men and women from the country to the 

 town, and education must be of such a kind as not to place 

 these at a disadvantage. 



Elementary Schools — -It is principally to the development 

 of intelligence and observation in connection with rural 

 subjects that the system of elementary education should be 

 directed. The influence of country surroundings should be 

 distinctly felt, and the subjects should be taught more in 

 relation to the rural environment of the school. Mr. Dymond 

 lays great stress on the value of nature study, gardening and 

 other manual work in elementary schools, as well as the 

 treatment of other subjects, such as drawing, geography, 

 arithmetic, &c, in relation to rural life. 



Higher Elementary Schools. — Higher elementary schools and 

 upper classes are intended to carry on the work of the elemen- 

 tary school and develop it in the direction of the industries 

 the scholars are likely to follow. For this purpose, Mr. Dymond 

 suggests that nature-study should give place to the study of 

 natural science and to the application of science to agriculture, 

 horticulture, dairying, domestic economy and hygiene. The sub- 

 j ects of manual instruction should be developed in their industrial 

 aspects : thus fruit culture would form an important subject for 

 practical work, and needlework would be carried on to dress- 

 making. Arithmetic should be developed in the direction of 

 mensuration and mechanics, and be correlated with book- 

 keeping and commercial correspondence. The subjects of 

 general culture would include a secondary course of English 

 literature, history and geography, together with singing and 

 physical exercises. 



Rural Secondary Schools. — The function of the rural 

 secondary school is to instil that general culture which gives 

 an outlook wide enough to encompass all rural activity and 

 that knowledge of science underlying rural economy which is 

 necessary rationally to direct rural enterprise. While the 

 elementary schools are essentially intended to prepare pupils 

 for occupations involving manual work, it is the development of 

 mental activities at which the secondary school v/ill pre- 

 dominantly aim. Manual work, therefore, takes a subordinate 

 place in the secondary school, and is introduced rather to 



