AGRICULTURAL TRAINING HOME SCIENCE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 76, 31 March 1914, Page 8

AGRICULTURAL TRAINING HOME SCIENCE.

INSPECTORS' RECOMMENDATIONS. In dealing with tho work done at district high schools, the Inspectors of Schools, in their>-annual report, state :— "There are two branches of education which should receive more encouragement in the Dominion, namely, ' agricultural^ training for our boys, and domestic training for our girls. In our last year's report we dwelt at some length on the question of a course in domestic or home science for our girls, and we do not purpose repeating those remarks here. The district high schools cannot be expected to give to our scholars ,the training which is the proper function of a specialised or vocational school, but they can and do give an introduction to such training. They will not make farmers of our boys, but they^ will give those who wish to become farmers an additional interest in their work, and also a training in scientific method which will assist them materially in their efforts to solve many 'of the problems of the farm. The weak poinb in the system is the lack in the North Island of some distinctly vocational institution on the lines of Lincoln College in Canterbury, where our rural scholarship winners could effectively carry on their agricultural training. Another obstacle to the success of any practical or vocational course is the examination incubus, which dominates our system from the university college to the primary _ school. Many parents contend that their children are handicapped unless they can prepare for the Public Service and matriculation examinations, and as those examinations are at present constituted, it is not possible for the limited staffs of our district high schools to carry on tho practical training, and at the same time prepare pupils for matriculation. As far as the Public Service exanunations are concerned, the difficulty might be met by a slight modification of the rural course, such as limiting tho branches of science to be taught, and, adding elementary mathematics as a subject. The problem, however, is not so easy in the case of matriculation, as a language other than 'English is necessary for this examination, and to introduce another language into the rural course as a compulsory subject would be of little benefit to the majority of district high school pupils who enter on their secondary course at fourteen, and leave school within two years."