The Hawera Star. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1925. TRAINING FOR FARMING.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 24 September 1925, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1925. TRAINING FOR FARMING.

Delivered every evening by 5 o’clock -n Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Elttiam, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Alton, Horleyville, Patea, Waverley. Mokoia, Whakamara, Ohangai, Meremere, Fraser Hoad, an Ararat*.

With three special reports to Parliament in a fortnight, the country lias about had its fill of discussions on education topics. Our excuse for returning to the subject is furnished by a further reference in the House of Representatives yesterday to the number of men trained in Agriculture whom the Dominion should be able to “absorb.’’ It seems strange, to sav tire least of it, that, while the University keeps on turning out lawyers and doctors and engineers in a continuous stream, there should be this, apparent fear of flooding the market with scientifically- trained farmers. Until New Zealand has a population greater than she can support, there will be no danger of an excess of rural workers —of the land “absorbing” too many of our young men and young women. The doubts have arisen from what appears to be a false conception of the purpose of an Agricultural College, and particularly of the value of

a. degree in Agriculture. All the talk of " absorption ’■’ presupposes that the sphere of the Bachelor of Agriculture is to be restricted to teaching or instructional work. There is no valid reason why that should be so. Professors and lecturers in. Medicine, in Law and in Engineering are all of them highly qualified men in their several lines; but no more so than many of their fellows engaged in general practice. If the primary purpose of a Law degree be to fit. a. man for the practice of Law, is it out of reason to suggest that the primary purpose of a degree course in Agriculture should be to equip the student for practical farming? It may be'objected t hat the cases are not exactly parallel. That is so, but. the likeness is sufficient to give point to fbe query. Although most properly organised agricultural colleges provide two courses of study — one designed to appeal to the student aiming at farming on his own account and the other to the more scientifically inclined —the lesser is usually included in the greater. That is to say, the degree student does all the work prescribed for the farming-course student, and something beyond. If, then, the graduate in Agriculture decides to turn to farming rather than, to teaching, lie has all the training given to the purely farming students, plus certain higher work in science. This extra, knowledge, so long as he recognises his own limitations, cannot be harmful to any man on the land; it ought to be helpful. Year after year a broader stream of students is pouring into the university colleges of New Zealand. Why? Is it not because more parents are able to give their children higher education and, beingable, are anxious that those children should benefit to the utmost possible? Assume a family of five children, living handy to a university town and fortunate in parents who, while not spoiling them, are yet keen to see their boys and girls take advantage of university training. One girl may take the Home Science course—qualifying her for a teaching position and later to rule over her own home—and the other may aim at the Diploma in Nursing. One boy may have set his heart upon becoming a. mining engineer and another may wish to study for his degree in Commerce. No fears are entertained about any one of the first four not being "absorbed” when his or her final examination is> behind. But immediately the youngest boy, his delight, in sheep and cattle and green things growing, voices his wish to be a farmer, but first to graduate from his brothers’ university, is liis desire 1 to be crushed within him? Because if he. he told that the B.Ag. is useless for a farmer and that there is no need for him to go to the university, bis heart may be warped away from its natural bent. For, whatever his parents’ ideas, the university means to a boy leaving school something more than a preparation, for his life work. It. means new methods of study and a widening of the intellectual horizon, new thoughts, new friends, games, social enjoyments, the blossoming- of Die bud of life. The parent or the public man who says the fanner-to-be must not have- these pleasures in common with his "professional” brothers is going to be responsible for turning another life from the land to the, already overcrowded callings of the city, In all probability the Dominion total of university students will continue to mount with the passing years. If our economic structure is to preserve its balance, if the city is not to outweigh the country, a. just .proportion of those students must be won for the, study of Agriculture. Let us get rid of the narrow idea tliat-only our teachers and departmental officers can benefit by advanced study of soils and manures, of veterinary science and; of breeding methods, and admit that practical farmers are as worthy of university training and university culture as are those who plead in our Law Courts or those who build our bridges.