EDUCATION.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18463, 18 August 1925, Page 11

EDUCATION.

technical branch. CONFERENCE of teachers. iSrECIiL To • THE FC.ESS.") WELLINGTON. August 17. Hie annual coniereneo of tho New Zealand Technical School Teachers' Association opened to-day. 3lr J. 11. Houell (president) being in the chair. In his' presidential address, Mr Howell said : - - In February. 1026. tho Technical , sU ''-' h ° ol No* Zealand will coleorate its coming of ag e, for it was in iobruary, that, thanks to the loreaight and initiative of Mr La Probe "Wellington started the first Mhool ol this type. It is fitting thereto! e, that at. our annual meeting rr lc . stages ol the* development of the 1 ethnical High School should l>e reits present position considered, and pur views with regard to ita future development, placed on record. The tune is also opportune for the reason that this is the first occasion that we havo met together since the Department s report of last year gave evinotice of an ominous change in the Dopartinental attitude towards the Techmeal High School, followed as it. was by tho enquiry and report of Mr Tate who in "i, lctoria i s familiar with ami mainly responsible for technical .schools ol a typo markedly different from our ' s much to bo regretted tha.t Mr fate's_ report is not vet available for discussion. Some Criticisms. Let us briefly examine some of the ci ltieusms which have been passed on toe iechnical High School of to-day. i iho present attitude of the Department towards them is sufiioicntly ishown by tho paragraph on the "Relation of Secondary and 'lechnical Education, contained in the report presented to Parliament in and it may be well to consider here some ol tho statements made. It. is said that ".Returns show j that about 50 per cent, of the technical day school pupils are taking cither a commercial course- or a general course leading up to matriculation. ■ • . ■ In the four large centres j special and expensively equipped tech- j jiical colleges have been erected with I the object of fostering technical or vocational . education in tho schools as ordinarily understood, yet about half t-hc accommodation of these colleges is occupied by pupils taking general or commercial courses." The, contention of the Department seems to be that the Technical High Schools are doing much the same work as the ordinary secondary schools. In- j deed, in a conference with Mr Tate J •held in Wellington. Mr Caughley stated definitely tlint 50 per cent, of all [ the pupils attending Technical High j Schools arc talcing a general and commercial course that is not in any way different from tho course of any \sec- | ondary school. Vet. as far as the 'Technical High Schools in the la.rger centres are concerned, this statement irs very wide of the truth : and where the courses' an* similar in the two schools this is due rather to the institution of commercial courses in the secondary school within the last few years in imitation of those provided in the Technical High Schools for nearly twenty years past. "Expensive Duplication." It may bo of interest to consider hero the pronouncement regarding Technical High Schools mftde by the Secondary Schools' Association in a report presented to the Department in August, 1923. This has special reference to tho schools in the smaller centres and reads as-follows: —"While, oucor two opinions state that Technical High Schools should he kept absolutely distinct from secondary schools in every instance, thcro is a very strong and pronounced opinion expressed against the expensive duplication and overlapping that takes place between Tech. nical day schools and secondary schools. Technical Schools, it is argued, should not he allowed, as they do- at present, to teach French and Latin, and to prepare pupils for matriculation ; that is not. their function. Further, far too many Technical Schools have been established. Instead of doing this, the Department should havo asked existing secondary schools to widen their curricula." It would interesting to inquire in what Technical High Schools, other than in the smaller centres, where they are tho only secondary schools, Latin is being taught and where this "expensive duplication and overlapping" is actually taking place. I know no eases of either. If both school buildings and staffs are fully occupied, how can the expense be increased and "why should the term "overlapping" be applied? It seems merely a catchword intended to prejudice the case, for there is much less reason to apply it •with reference to Technical High, and ordinary High Schools than toi the smaller separated boys' and girls' secondary schools where amalgamation would certainly make for economy. Engineering Course. A ll . ou tc -r y has been raised that the technical .High Schools of New Zealand aro training more than enough engineers for Australia and New Zealand, and that Hamilton, for example, is provuhno; enough engineers for the whole Auckland province. It does not, of course follow that a hoy talcing engineering is going to be an engineer any more than hov taking chemistry to be a chemist; but it is certain that his engineering «„ g ivill he far from thrown away if ho subsequently becomes a farmer or f, bmldor, or a- "plumber, as many of these pupils actually do. It is equally c am that such training will be much more useful to him than the course proiclecl by the ordinary High School. ~ Another criticism levelled against ' e -I ci-'hrneal High School is on the seoro of expense. This perhaps lias less foundation in fact-, ior the -technical High School in the larger centres has no special buildings and i tie or no special equipment; for qinpment and buildings alike- are used ■S and "would in any case have to be P r wided ior the evening school. Ini i' r 6 - ls truc> to S:IV t^iat tl:c Teoh,Cal High Schools in the larger ccn- <-* s ' any rate, are the least expen--1 ti °' "l". post primary schools, fer 'j cr^'c isins which havo been reni are the result of ignor- ' i°j or of prejudice, but if they are 1 dea! t with, they are calculated to I t -i harm to a system of educa- " has grown up naturally to iini noc(i s of the community, and ii!iir,i doing so feuccessfully for a 'l, !' or of years. It is incumbent upon f' those who are a!ive to its value nr.+ ii tluU fie ininrv threatened is "lowed to be perpetrated. The Future. Nicn l | d w- h , at is the future of the Tech- i ties* ' S <-'hool J" the h'trgcr centhan ; , situation is more complex lind t . n i e rural towns, for here we , Ui„i hy KK j e older-established J Techni, l 1 °?i °t' academic type and tho tional + School of directly vocathese s ,k?7 Ti)o question is, thou.d side * s continue to exist, .side hy academic u' Ue to or shollkl the tional . Sli School take up vocain comic s as well ant! offer courses etc.;-' 1v Ce ' engineering, agriculture, thief tnoti 8 ' Wc mav presume, is tiie asked f that .Air Tate ..has been thai it , af i v 'ise upon, and it is well Tho rii°? ld be considered here, and BnV , ISSUO between American largest , ' S " Practice. Except, in tne -America *^ ns ' tll O modern -tendency in 18 to make post primarv

schools after much the same pattern — each school offering a number of courses which, in the case of the larger • schools of two or three thousand pupils, is astonishing in its ' variety. In Britain, w,hilo the secondary schools in the larger centres have greatly broadened their curricula, just as the Universities have done, still it is true to say that there is no course provided which is not a foundation for a corresponding course at a University; but alongside* these schools, there have lKsen established in recent years a great number of schools of. different types — Technical High Schools, traoe schools, central school", supplementary schools --all of which offer definite training for definite callings, and nre attended by those who expect to leave school at 15 or ]G 3 ears of age. Now, in organisms the greater the differentiation of function the higher the development and the efficiency; is it not likely that also ..be true of a school system, and that the 'British method of differentation will prove more successful than the American method of integration P With a fairlv' wide first-hand knowledge of both, system?, I believe that, if New Zealand is wise, she will follow the practice of the Mother Country, aud wherever the school population is large enough to allow it, will aim definitely at variety and not uniformity of typo. Tho fundamental reason ior the need of two different types of school— the pre-university and the pre-vocationai ty]>e—is. I hold, this: In post primmy education we have to reckon with two kinds of pupils—(l) those who will remain at day school until 1-j or 10 years of age, and then go to work, following uu their studies in the evening schools" where these are available aiul the student is ambitious: t2"> tho*e who will remain at day school until 17, 18. or even 19 years._ and on leaving will take matriculation or higher commercial courses at evening schools or proceed to the .University._ T am strongly of tho opinion that it is in the interests of education that the needs of these two l.ind'i of students should be met in separate schools, and that the attempt should not bo 'made to combine then). The first class of pupil, whose school life is to be so much shorter, needs a specialised course definitely directed to train him for his future calling; the pupil with the longer school life can be given a broader foundation on which ho may build a much higher edifice of education in the future. It is not'economical. either of time or money, to put both kinds through the same course; and we commit a crime against tho vouncr if we compel th?m to waste any of their golden hours.