THE SCHOOL GARDEN.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18670, 20 April 1926, Page 12

THE SCHOOL GARDEN.

'(By Gladius.) ' .; ■ Last year' the following was ; sent put by the-Education"Department to the agricultural-, instructors through:-1 out the Dominion:—"Make, a- flying visit to schools, get in touch' with teachers and chairmen of School pom-; tnittees, and. where necessary 'make-1 arrangements for initiating some scheme! for school grounds' improvement; This being the.attitude of the Department,; the maintenance' or further- 1 - impiovef inent of school surroundings ••'should therefor© be in the list' of '"aims'''i teachers are required to state when drawing up:their schemes,of instruction: i in agriculture. ; Cine excuse, giving .more attention .to tHey,--. above laudable "aim" is want of iirnev- What,] more canVwe dp with ..less; than;'orte hour a week or three- hours- a 'month ?■' A'number of teachers'da succeed; ; .It id just a matter of ■;organisation.' '.* If &< teacher has sufficient' personality .and;is' at: all interested in:rapr6ving,-his.arid? his pupils' environment, he can. readily: generate that community interest necessary to make them take; a-pride in the upkeep of- their daily surroundings.: After a short discussion recently to a class of, some 20 scholars on the.de-s sirability of pupils taking a,' live in-' terest in their school 'flihd grounds,' the following questions were put:—Would 15 minutes per week of each pupil's spare time before school or after -or during the'interval ; be too much to ask them, to devote to beautifying their grounds ? How many would be prepared to' give the time P. Practically, every hand was held up in,favour. Time taken iii school hours may often; lie as a reward, on the other hand }/'&■ little'self-sacrifice is demanded from the pupil, an altruistic spirit- is developed ;• the pupil gives something !!to: the community. "It is more pleasure to .'give than to receive'," and more praiseworthy. There is an enormous amount of energy in the youth: in "our schoolsthat, if wisely directed, would.in a short time transform the surroundings of quite a number: of our schools' or greatly improve those already good, it Avotild be .a good plan to have a school i log book and to put the onus on the pupil of entering up each week- trie time and work he has given to the school. Some of--the above suggestions? were made to a capable sole charge-' teacher who, had a piece of ground fenced but was doing no garden work: for want of time, etc. She. saw the points, however, and irt replyisaid: "1 ; have generally given myself credit for some initiative in overcoming difficulties in school, but so far I've not'given the gardening serious thought.. I can see it can be done quite well. I'll give it a trial." Solo charge teachers who' wish to take garden work, as the, Nature 'Study subject should- make application to have their class recognised, arid tools will then be forwarded by tH» Board. . ; . .