A NATIONAL NEED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18964, 11 March 1925, Page 15

A NATIONAL NEED.

agricultural education. THE UNIVERSITIES TASK. REWARDS FOR RESEARCH. Professor J. Mactnillan Brown, chancellor of'the New Zealand University, performed a great public service recently when he championed the cause of agricultural education in our national colleges. He pointed out, as we have, pointed out on very many occasions in these, columns during tba past twenty years, that our system of education unduly encouraged our young men to enter the various professions and other industries while, agriculture, tjie greatest of all industries, was largely ignored or neglected. He urged the senate, as he had urged it on previous occasions, to more energetically encourage the study of agriculture. He did more. . He offered the senate a gift of £2001) jwhich, with the Government subsidy, would permit the establishment of postgraduate agricultural research scholarships. Apparently quite a large, number of people believe that agriculture can only be in special schools or college's equipped 'witn special laboratories and special farms and, since every province and almost every district desires that, an agricultura 1 college should be established within its own territory, there is a considerable amount of parochial feeling on this subject. Undoubtedly special colleges and farms can be made of immense value in agricultura. education but there is certainly no need to wait for these institutions'tc. be created. Agriculture should be taught in every school in the' Dominion not, of course, as an exclusive subject but as the most important ot all educational subjects. It. should be taught so that every boy and girl will recognise its dignity and the great part that, it takis in our 'national life.lt should be so taught that every boy or . girl who desires education in its innumerable branches should be encouraged and stimulated 'by the best teachers and the highest honours. There is no need to wait until parliament, decides whether it will - find the money -to establish two agricultural colleges it: the North Island, or two in the South Inland, or whether Wellington or Auckland is to be granted the greatest state subsidies The main thing to dn is to alter our present system of education to suit, out' national needs and to use our present schools and colleges more efficiently for the, teaching of agriculture. This could bo done without any great, expendi- . ture of money or any great increase in the teaching staff. New Zealand's Needs. New Zealand is not so much interested in producing a small number of specialists in any particular subject as in so training the most of its people that they will become not only good and useful citizens, but good and useful industrialists. The specialists if necessary can be trained in one particular part of the country: they can ,bo imported, or trained abroad but the masser of our younger people must be trained in their own particular districts. We have already commenced, in our ordinary schools, some little teaching of agriculture. This could be extended on general lines at any rate so that every ; boy and girl could realise what farming really means to themselves and J to the nation. It could lie more j systematically developed in our higher schools so that boys and girls could find ample opportunity to acquire a scientific training in agricultural subjects and a love for rural life. Were this change made in our educational system we should soon have a large number of'young men ready and willing to undertake farming on modern and effective lines. It would help enormously to increase the production of wealth from the land; it. could alter, in a favourable direction, the whole mental attitude of the nation toward its greatest and most vital industry. We should no longer have public men in public institutions ignorant of the financial relationship between agriculture and other industries or between national prosperity and the farmer; we should no longer tolerate politicians who were ignorant of matters i affecting the land; for a widespread between national education would go deeper than chemical and technical subjects, it would reveal the importance of agriculture in the physical, social, and intellectual development of the nation. Increased Opportunities. Agricultural education, unlike that devoted to the professions, would not train hoys and girls for work iri restricted avenues, it would open up illimitable opportunities for individual effort and ; individual skill. All the great sciences are linked with agriculture and the fields for agricultural research are vast. It- offers immense rewards to those who can master its secrets and profitable and healthy employment to anyone who will work at it steadily. Modern 'and scientific agriculture need not depend only on those' who possess brawn and muscle. The dairying biological and pathological laboratories will offer employment to the most delicate and fragile. The daintiest of feminine students can engage in the battle against fungoid and insect enemies, the most ardent lover of outdoor work find intellectual enjoyment in the breeding and selection of plants or "the raising of expensive seeds. The more agriculture is studied the, more i avenues- it. opens for employment; the more popular it becomes the more profitable it is likely to be.