BOYS FOR TRADES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 108, 9 May 1928, Page 15

BOYS FOR TRADES.

TECHNICAL EDUCATION. MllttfiffcH ASKS FOR teachers and employers. (By Corr«i>ond<?x>t.) WELLINGTON, Tuesday. "Ofte diffic«lty in connection witfc «*ir young people is ihat very often a boy goes through a tecftnfc*! college cotirse ahd then caflnot get a job. This is a nlost sertous business. It *ee»B to me that the ertptayir* will hive to help in this Walter " eaid the Mirtwter of Education, the Hon. fc. A. Wright* in an atidteefc to Wife annual conference ttf the New Zealand Technical $ck<»l Tfradwni* Association. . "I say (quite frankly that throughout the Wellington provincial district the employers hive not got nearly the number of apprentices perihitited fey the Arbitration Court awards,"' *Aid Mr. Wright. "In my young «day* th«s boftt was on the other leg and the feWtytayWs had too many boys. Now the position has completely changed and they ave not employing their full complement fcf apprentices. They should do «o. i'his question is a very urgent one.'* It had bfeeh sUggestM that the State should teach the boy« trades from the beginning and tern them out as tradesmen. That wonld he a huge undertaking requiring the provision ©f fully equipped buildings and factories and very • laf-gc staffs. thought hoys who were taught something niOTe than the rudiments of a trade should be very useful to employer*. Vocational Gvi&ance. The Ministef said he hoped that a discussion of vocational guidance, by teachers whose profession xvas vocational training, might help the department to assist parents in choosing occupations for their children. For example, there was the question whether the issue of a pamphlet on vocational guidance for children leaving primary school, as was done last year, should be continued, and if so what amendments would render it more useful. The agricultural courses in city technical schools were in many cases not sufficiently attended. The students! were chiefly country lads and the classes j did not attract enough city boys. There might be economic reasons for this, and he hoped a discussion by the conference would throw some light on what was a serious problem. Referring to the place of purely vocational subjects, such as typewriting and motor mechanics, in the courses for holders of junior free places in technical high schools, the Minister suggested that the stflution ini<rht lie in the provision of short, intensive courses In trade subject*, which might also be utilised as trial courses to enable the children better to explore their own possibilities.