FUTURE AIRMEN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 81, 5 April 1940, Page 9

FUTURE AIRMEN.

EDUCATING RECRUITS. TWO COURSES ARRANGED. DIRECTOR OUTLINES SCHEME. "There is no service in which so many men are thrown on their own resources and for that reason a well-educated Air Force is an efficient Air Force," diclarrf Mr. E. Caradus, director of educational services for the Royal New Zealand Air Force, outlining in an interview to-Say the aims of educational schemes for recruits for the air crew section of the Service. Mr. Caradue, who is senior inspector of secondary schools, is a member of the Air Force selection committee now sitting in Auckland. For two years before the war he was educational advisor to the Air Force, and at ihe outbreak of hostilities his services were sought ae director. The procedure, he said, after the first interview was for men considered to need additional instruction to be posted to either the short or the long course which lie had framed. Those undertaking the ehort course were recruits wtto had been up to the required standard of university entrance, but had been sway from school for five years or more and needed a refresher. The course was planned over a period of 21 weeks. The "long course men' , were Miose who had not the required standard ; f education, but who were being given an opportunity to reach it before being accepted for active service. Their course lasted five months. Private Tuition Unnecessary. "The year has been broken up to provide for two long courses and three short courses," continued Mr. Caradus. "In Auckland the first short course will finish at the end of next month, and another will automatically follow." A point stressed was that there was no need for recruits to go to the expense of paying for private tuition in an effort to reach the standard. 'We arc providing this tuition for nothing," said Mr. Caradus, "and, incidentally, apart from the war itself, the money is being well spent in raising the standard of education in Xew Zealand ae a whole."

Mr. Oaradus said that it had feeen found that some men still did. not realise that an education at least up to proficiency standard was essential before any thought of enlistment. "Men below that standard, are of no me in the air crew section," he stated. "For example, we have had recrufr* with Standard V. passes who could not even read a simple figure of decimals. We cannot deal with them." Expansion of Scheme. About 750 men were studying hard in Air Force classes throughout the Dominion, he said. Five classes were in progress in Auckland, four at lerntorial headquarter* in St. Paul Street, and the other at the Auckland GTamicar School. After the committee's present tour had ibeen completed it was certain that it would 'be necessary to establish more classes, and also to set up new classes in district* where the number of recruite warranted them. "These may be made even more necessary in the near future, as the advisability Iβ being considered of having all recruits take one of the courses," continued Mr. Caradus. "In eome eases, recruite not required to take classes have complained that their friends taking courses have been studying things that they themselves did not have at school. They fear that they will be at a disadvantage when they reach their ground training schools, and it may be considered fairer for the educational scheme to be comprehensive." "Never Seen Such Keenness." Mr. Garadus said that in all his career —and he has been a secondary school inspector for 14 years—he had not seen euch keenness in classes. The men realised to the full, he said, that they were working towards a definite objective. All work being done had a bearing on what they would be doing in the service, particularly as regarded navigation. Those in the classes would be subjected to a test at the end of each course, but the examination would not aim at cutting anyone out. If a man failed to come up to scratch, his instructor would be asked to make a recommendation, and he would then carry on for a few weeks more and have another test. No deserving man would be cut out. The recruite, he added, had the advantage of some of the finest teachers in the country, while a trained staff in Wellington dealt solely with correspondence courses undertaken by men in outlving areas. "Under thfe scheme of educational improvement, we will be able to pour into the ground training schools a continuous stream of recruits up to the required standard, right through the year. and through each year the war lasts," he said. "It is important, however, to note that in accepting these men with lower educational qualifications than are needed, there is no lowering of the general standard in the Air Force." he concluded. "All it means is that they attain the required educational standard after being accepted instead of before."