FARMERS AND EDUCATION.

Waikato Times, Volume 108, Issue 18167, 4 November 1930, Page 9

FARMERS AND EDUCATION.

! (To the Editor.) y Sir, —As a member of the farming . community I was most interested in the assertion made by one of the Auckland Educational heads, that he had heard the statement and believed it to be true that country life was composed of 80 per cent, hard work and 20 per cent, intelligence. I took it that this was considered a drawback to the people concerned, which in- . eludes of course, the children, and a fact to be deplored. Using the 20 per cent, intelligence which is all alas, vouchsafed to me, I thought no harm would be done in trying to bring a few fundamentals to bear on this important subject, and just seeing where we were. The first consideration would naturally be the relation to, and the effect of the educational system on a rural population, and, in this material age, the cost thereof in proportion to the benefits received. Education in its broadest term would mean equipment, mental and physical, for the battle of life. The details would perhaps need to differ as between city and rural communities, but the objective would be the same. The schools plainly take over the main responsibility in this direction. Mr Holland places them . at the head of national life, and thinks it unwise—even in these times of stress—to curtail their operations or expenses in any way whatsoever. The Educational Bill is, I believe,'a matter of £4,250,000 annually; so naturally the responsibility carries heavy obligations even from the most unimportant—the financial side. The schools, efficient training colleges and system of grading of teachers would see to it, I presume, that the right teacher was placed at the right school. In that case is it a reflection on the country communities or the country teachers that a W.E.A. instructor has to point out that after giving a few lessons in rural districts at night to adult pupils, he notices they develop a capacity to think? Having attended a W.E.A. course, is it possible, my masters, that the present educational system, for good and sufficient reasons, deliberately fosters a country inferiority complex, and the idea that the cities have a monopoly of the brains? Why the substantial “ isolation ” allowance to teachers in quite accessible districts? I hear that such schools as at Otorohanga and Taumarunui participate, in this compensation. Are the farmers themselves compensated by even good roads? This attitude of the Education Department is all the more remarkable when one notices the hundreds of cars pouring out from the cities on all holiday occasions, the occupants voluntarily departing into the solitucTes with all possible speed. With such limitations how has the

farmer made the desert to blossom as the rose? Why he has had the audacity to control the apparently uncontrollable, and with intelligence—l had better say cunning—has. used the very elements themselves to shape his ends? The history of milk, from the cow to the overseas market Is a veritable fairy tale of ingenuity and resource. His womenfolk, with no expensive training centres, are invariably thrifty and competent housewives, gardeners and whatnot, even if occasion arises literally/putting their hands to the plough. The‘Women’s Division of the Farmers’ Union, amongst other good works, is triumphantly solving the domestic servant problem. The farmer can boast, and lie will, of a Governor-General and a Captain Rushworth in his ranks. What of our cities with so much more to come and go on? Does the product of the city schools, show a nice discrimination in attendance at his principal means of diversion —the picture theatre? Are the city libraries and bookshops overflowing with bracing and wholesome literature? Does the average city—or country either, for. that matter — schoolboy, past or present, regard Shakespeare's works with affection and delight? Is the city people’s sense of values so highly developed that the sensible is chosen before the sensational? Are the ciiy churches crowded with congregations who have been taught from youth that at least once a week, if only ,as a matter of selfdiscipline, it is meet and right to show honour and respect to a Supreme Being and take not His name in vain? In consequence, is the language one hears at street corners and from children pleasing to the ear?. It is instilled into the children —even indirectly—the necessity to love and obey their par--

ents—they might possibly he of the farming persuasion—and hold the home life as sacred? and if so, why tlie extinction of the chaperon, the cramming of Divorce and Juvenile Courts, and the writing of a hook giving ugly statistical information sponsored by the very Department at whose door some of the fault must lie? In order that citizens may use their voting powers intelligently, are they thoroughly taught the rudiments of the science'of economics and the necessity of “balancing the budget” in home as w r ell as the National Account, and if so, why a flourishing time-payment system, loan companies, bank overdrafts, and a huge national debt, which means the individual and | the Government with heavy financial embarrassments? Judging by results —which is the only sensible way of judging—the farmer appears to know his job, limitations noth withstanding. Arc the schools in the same happy position?—l am, etc., COUNTRY BUMPKIN.