How you going to keep 'em down on the farm?

Thursday, 21 January 2010 05:00

January 21, 1897. Andrew Pattullo, a member of the Ontario legislature, accuses schools of contributing to the exodus of young men from the farms to the cities. The Toronto Weekly Sun, a farm newspaper, publishes this excerpt.

What is the effect of our educational system here? It is to draw our people from the farm. It is true, we have agricultural textbooks, but their use is optional. Agriculture should be made an obligatory subject in village and rural schools, and teachers should be prepared to teach it. Instead of spending our energy in turning out lawyers, doctors and teachers, we should prepare children for farm life. All the books should be coloured so as to magnify the beauties of life on the farm. The trend of population to the towns is ten times what it formerly was. This is largely due to a defect in our educational system. We should change the system so as to turn the trend the other way.

The future of the country depends on agriculture and the future of agriculture depends on the assistance given to it in our schools.