TEACHING AGRICULTURE

Taranaki Daily News, 11 September 1934, Page 29 (Supplement)

TEACHING AGRICULTURE

SPECIALISED DEPARTMENT COMPREHENSIVE SYLLABUS. WORK AT N.P. BOYS’ HIGH SCHOOL. The training for boys who are likely to seek a livelihood on the land is a specialised department of the New Plymouth Boys’ High School. Like that at other secondary schools in Taranaki the syllabus is a mixture of theoretical and practical training. In class work the more academic subjects are not taken by the pupils, who are taking agriculture. They have in place of their special text books bearing upon farming and science as applied thereto, but All of a nature to be of service to them after they have begun work on a farm.

In addition to classwork the boys are given lessons in carpentry and ironwork. They learn to make gates, concrete troughs, hinges and other ironwork used on a farm, and by assisting in building the cowshed on the farm they had some practical teaching in the erection of farm buildings. On the school farm the work is organised as on any well-run holding. The pupils are taught by the farm manager the practical side of their training. They milk the cows, feed pigs and attend to the sheep on the school farm while the flock belonging to the Taranaki Jockey Club on the racecourse near the school has been made available for school demonstration and practical management purposes. The condition of the livestock is the best testimony to the careful management of the school farm. Much of the stock has been donated by old boys and other well-wishers of the school and

their generosity has been of great assistance.

Certain experimental work is undertaken. One at present concerns the management of pigs. Portable houses and subdivided paddocks have been provided for the stock, and careful records in regard to feeding and rearing are kept. The boys are taught animal husbandry by an experienced breeder of sheep and pigs, and they carry out the seasonal occupations such as making hay and ensilage, and the growing of root crops for winter feed. For the new “school leaving” certificate agriculture is a subject for which marks can be given. It is, indeed, regarded as one of the most important subjects that can be taught in secondary schools. In Taranaki, where the academic and technical departments of secondary schools have been amalgamated the training of boys wishing to take up farm work is very thorough and the school authorities are doing all in their power to make it of value to the pupils when school days are over.