The Dominion. THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 1935. EDUCATION AND THE FARMING INDUSTRY

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 98, 20 January 1938, Page 8

The Dominion. THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 1935. EDUCATION AND THE FARMING INDUSTRY

Coming at a time when the Minister of Education is considering the question of the overhaul of our education system, the observations of Mr. C. W. Burnard, managing-editor of The Dairy Exporter, published in yesterday’s issue, are of particular interest and value. Mr. Burnard has just returned from an eight months’ visit abroad, the greater part of his time having been spent in examining conditions in the great farming countries of Europe. In the course of his investigations he appears to have been particularly struck with the close relationship between* the educational ideas of certain of the Scandinavian communities and the daily lives of the people. t

“In many respects,” Mr. Burnard remarked, “I think the ideas on education which obtain in the Scandinavian countries, are far ahead of those held in New Zealand and are much more suitable for our conditions than are adaptations of the English educational system. This applies with particular emphasis to agricultural education in New Zealand. . . . Instead of being a really live subject agriculture in New Zealand is very largely, and with a few notable exceptions, the * Cinderella; of subjects at our high schools and the whole bias of education leads to the cities and not to our farms.”

One gathers further that Mr. Burnard was especially impressed by the influence which the system of education in operation in Denmark and elsewhere exercised in the practical shaping of the future lives of the young people—the encouragement and incentive it gave them to equip themselves thoroughly for the especial needs of their own country.' . 1 Much has been said and much still remains to be said in this Dominion on the need for reform in our education system. In the many investigations which from time to time have been made occasional reference has occurred to the necessity for greater attention to education designed to direct the interest of the youth of the community to the country’s main industry, farming. Unfortunately, in spite of some useful efforts in this direction, development on the right lines has lagged. -The Parliamentary Committee of 1929-30, which spent a considerable amount of time in inquiry into the whole education system, made recommendations respecting practical instruction in agriculture and allied subjects. It included in its report an admirable survey of the whole system by Mr. L. J. Wild, principal of the Feilding Agricultural High School. Mr. Wild’s main contention was that our education system had been dominated by a traditional system which suited the manufacturing and industrial centres of England, but was not suited’to the needs of a country like New Zealand with a totally different environment and with different aims and outlook. If we are going to have an education system in keeping with the environment of 90 per cent, of the people, and in keeping with the occupations which so many of them should be encouraged to follow, agriculture should have a more honoured place in the curriculum. As already mentioned there has been some advance since 1930 in the direction suggested, but not enough. Attached to the report of the Department of Education laid before Parliament last year is an interesting table showing the percentages of boys leaving postprimary schools in 1933-36 who proceeded to the university or to employment in the three main occupational groups. This table reveals the fact that there has been a steady decline in the percentage of boys engaging in agricultural and pastoral pursuits. The figures show a drop from 22 per cent, in 1933-to 15 per cent, in 1935. It is significant that over the same period the percentage which went to employment in clerical, professional, shop and warehouse occupations increased from 34 per cent, in 1933 to 52 per cent, in 1935. It is the old story of the drift to the towns. How big a part in this our education system plays may be open to argument, but there can be little doubt that an improvement in the system on the right lines would assist to check this drift.