AGRICULTURE IN SCHOOLS.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 April 1935, Page 6

AGRICULTURE IN SCHOOLS.

The review of the teaching of agriculture in Taranaki primary schools published in yesterday’s Daily News should have convinced many of the value of this department of teaching. It is not so long since the attitude of many parents was that the time spent in the cultivation of “garden plots” and other soil experiments was, if not a positive waste of school hours, something akin to “playing about.” The improvement brought about in the appearance of school surroundings was one of the first influences towards a more intelligent judgment. Since then the establishment of the Boys and Giris’ clubs has done a good deal towards interesting parents in the teaching of agriculture, and an appreciation of its value apart from the technique acquired or the information gained, The chief value of such training lies in the development of the capacity of observation and the application of the conditions observed in the practical affairs of later days. Work in a school garden, or any other, entails a considerable amount of drudgery. It goes without saying that efficiency can eliminate a good deal of unnecessary labour performed by the unskilled husbandman, but the training of schoolchildren to see why hard work is necessary and the good results that follow such effort is wholly for their good. The principles apply to other subjects besides agriculture, but in no other is it possible for training to begin at so early an age and to continue right through school days. This enables team work in the smaller schools, while the influence of well kept and beautiful surroundings of a school is considerably wider than was formerly recognised. The teaching profession had to overcome a good deal of indifference and prejudice in regard to school gardens and other efforts to introduce the study of husbandry among school pupils. To-day unsightly school grounds are considered a reflection upon all concerned and a condition no self-respecting community can tolerate. To have won public opinion to this view is to have accomplished much, but there is no doubt that in other directions “learning by doing” while they are young will benefit greatly the future citizens of the Dominion.