AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.

Auckland Star, 2 September 1933, Page 12

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.

Your correspondent " Common Sense is to be congratulated on adding his voice to those of us who have for years been asking that the city boy should receive a much-needed agricultural education. He, however, appears to missi the points raised by "Agricultural Progress," and previously enlarged by Mr. Thomas. His letter is based on the premises that 85 boys taking the agricultußal course at the Technical College live within coo-ee of it and therefore do not have to travel to it,, and that adequate instruction can be given in an atmosphere of machinery and city classrooms. These can be met by the fact that the Government wjll give railway passes to either Otahuhu or Mount Albert where the instruction can be given in an agricultural environ* nicnt and where the boy will absorb much knowledge without realising it. This question of environment or atmosphere is one that is more than ever being recognised as a very essential factor in education, and cannot be too much stressed. It is about three miles from Symonds Street to the Mount Albert Grammar School. Is this a great hardship? Your correspondent states that "the suburbanite already receives this training from a practical man." Where, when, and how is this given? As far as the suggested apprenticeship is concerned, I am afraid most farmers would prefer the boy who has imbibed his knowledge in a rural atmosphere. This is borne out by the experiences of .the Boy Employment Committee, that, above all, practical experience is required rather than theoretical knowledge. L.J.