Waihi Telegraph WITH WHICH IN INCORPORATED THE WAIHI MINER THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1929. RURAL EDUCATION

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XXVI, Issue 7907, 26 September 1929, Page 2

Waihi Telegraph WITH WHICH IN INCORPORATED THE WAIHI MINER

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1929. RURAL EDUCATION

Bore atnll tne Praisa tbe Povtpiy a (uhio%i< Un*wed by influence and unbriWi Uy fine Prtriot Truth o«r glorioua protect* Pledn?d to Reltfirion Liber*? and L»>w

Addressing the Technical Education Association at Wellington the Minister of Education again emphasised the importance of an agricultural bias. Education here, Mr Atmore said, must bear a closer relationship to the facts of life as lived in New Zealand. We have long held this view-, but we have not interpreted it as meaning merely a change to a rural bias. There should be such realignment as would correct the excessive influence of the matriculation standard in schools catering for thousands of children who are not destined ’ for the professions. The correction must, however, be made with judgment. The first aim must be to retain in the country those whose upbringing fits them for rural life. This was the aim which inspired the education authorities in Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire over two years ago to give a rural bias in their schools. Commenting upon this movement at the time, “The Times” stated: “If those who are born in the country can be brought while they are still young to feel that the lines are fallen to them in pleasant places, to prize the goodly heritage that is theirs, to take a lively interest in the works of Nature, to seek knowledge of the means by which they can be turned to the service of man, and to take pride in the acquirement of manual dexterity in simple arts and crafts, as well as in the work pf the smithy, the wheelwright’s yard, and the carpenter’s shop, then once more there may arise in this island a generation rich in the contentment that a country life, above all others, has it in its power to give.” The aim is a good one if pursued with judgment; but there does seem to be overlong delay in seeking its practical attainment. Here we have a Parliamentary session which is half over and all that the Minister can say is that a Select Committee has been set up and “in the near future it would be prepared to hear representatives as to the best way of putting into practice the which he had hinted.”