COMMERCIAL COURSE

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 191, 11 May 1927, Page 12

COMMERCIAL COURSE

NO DEFINITE POLICY MODERN REQUIREMENTS “Commercial education at present is the ‘ugly duckling' of our educational system," declared Air. It. J. Thompson at the annual conference of the Technical School Teachers’ Association yesterday. “There is no clear and definite policy regarding it. and consequently all sorts and conditions of schools purport to train for commercial life. Little or no mention is made in discussions of the most necessary qualification, namely, bias towards business.’’ Mr. Thompson stated that the trouble in so-called commercial schools was narrowness and “over-specialisation.” In England, United States, and Germany there was now a reaction against the severely narrow interpretation of commercial work and an attempt was being made to discover the true relation of technical to other branches of education. In New Zealand, similar difficulties had been experienced, but, as a recognised branch of technical education, the commercial courses had made rapid progress. Unfortunately in some other schools, people quite ignorant of the work had been in charge of commercial subjects, and even in some technical schools the commercial course had not been fully explored as a method of training for knowledge, reason, self-reliance, and depth of character. It could, he was sure, prove quite equal to any-other course in its “humanitarian” content, while it would have the advantage of training its students for their life’s work. . . □ A sound commercial course would tend to bring the man of action into closer contact with the man of thought, and so get back to work in greater harmony for the good of society. The groundwork must consist of a thorough knowledge of English, a foreign language, history, geography, mathematics, and science, upon which should be grafted subjects bearing more directly upon business.”