BOYS LEAVING SCHOOL TOO SOON

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 257, 27 July 1936, Page 8

BOYS LEAVING SCHOOL TOO SOON

Many Positions Offering POSSIBLE EFFECTS OF NEW LEGISLATION The increasing demand for younger boys from 14 to 16 years of age for positions, and the tendency for boys to leave secondary schools to go to work after in many cases only six months’ post-primary education, is causing concern to headmasters and educational and vocational authorities, especially in cases where boys may take up unsuitable work or work in which there are no prospects. Mr. R. G. Ridling, principal of the Wellington Technical College, said that in the last six weeks 36 per cent, of the boys obtaining positions had been aged 14 ami 15, with only six months’ post-primary training.' The college was watching to see that the pupils obtained the right jobs and was recommending them to stay at school where doing so would not interfere with their chances. It was a definite policy to discourage flrst-year boys from leaving unless their parents could show very good reason for their doing so. In the case of second-year boys, no testimonials were given unless they brought notes from their parents stating their reasons for taking up positions, and in every case boys were recommended not to .take work without consulting the college authorities. It had been so easy for them to get jobs that many of them had done so without consulting their parents, and in some cases had been dissatisfied with their work later. Cannot Be Filled.

Since February 4, there had been 197 applications to the college for boys for positions, said Mr. A. Kirk, vocational officer to the Wellington Technical College. On an estimate, they had been able to fill direct from the school, however, only about 50 of that number. Many pupils obtained employment on their own account, and the records showed that from February 1 to June 30 120 boys and 45 girls had secured positions. By far the great majority of students, Mr. Kirk said, were employed between the ages of 15 and 16 years, but, outside those trades which were governed by apprenticeship orders, it had not been very difficult to place students of 17 and even 18 if they had been specially trained in some particular direction. There was no difficulty, for instance, in finding employment for a junior artist at any age, and there were still a few employers who were willing to pay wages from £1 to 25/- a week, even though the boy might be over the award starting age of 15 or 16. There were no youths of 19 or 20 at tlie college; they had all left by the time they were 18 and the majority at 16. Attention had been drawn to the fact that apprentices would have to be paid journeymen's wages by the time they were 21, as the result of the new legislation, and already certain employers had been inquiring for possible apprentices and had been unwilling to take any boy over 16. There were not at the college many boys of 17 wanting to be apprenticed, and the general rule had always been for employers to show a preference for boys of 15, or not older than 16. A Possible Solution.

“The only solution I can see to the problem,” Mr. Kirk said, “is that training in the technical college might be counted as part of the apprenticeship time and this would overcome the difficulty confronting the boy of 16 plus. “The greatest hardship I can see in the new legislation, unless some such move is made, is that it will definitely debar the boy who is somewhat retarded on the scholastic side or who, through illness, has missed a year at the primary school and eomes to the college at the age of 15. Such a boy may be anxious to obtain two years secondary education and some technical training but if he remains at school his chances of being apprenticed to a trade are likely to be remote. “The difficulty does not appear to be insuperable and another way of overcoming it would be to introduce some system of delayed apprenticeship whereby the time of the older boys would be extended for another year so that they came out of the apprenticeship at 22. The chances of boys of 18 seeking apprenticeship have, of course, never been bright.” Mr. W. A. Armour, headmaster of Wellington College, said that since the beginning of the year some 90 boys had left, mostly to take up positions. Not So many of them, however, were flrstyear boys. He had received many more applications than he had been able to fill, and there was certainly an increased inquiry for younger boys. Ten positions had been offering in the past three weeks, but when they had been announced to the boys no applications had been forthcoming. “A Little Disquietude.”

“There appears to be a little disquietude in the matter of youth employment because of the legislative proposals for the application of a basic wage at the age of 21,” Mr. Armour said. “Some employers have stated that in the future they will have to take boys at 15 years or, at any rate, at under 16 years of age, and they have expressed the view that boys will be passed over for employment if they remain at school till the age of 17 or 18. There seems to be a contradiction between this point of view and that which foresees in the near future a reduction of hours and increased leisure. If there is to be more leisure in the near future one would naturally conclude that the school life of our pupils should be lengthened rather than reduced. “Personally, I feel that precautions will be taken to sec that pupils desirous of obtaining a good education will not suffer, since a well-educated youth must, eventually if not immediately, be more useful to his employer than one whose education has been curtailed. The very fact that the leaving age has been raised to 15 years in England indicates that more education is needed. To-day, more adaptability is required by our young people than was formerly the case. This adaptability results largely from a lengthened and good type of education.” A number of older boys, whose ages ranged from IS to 20 years, had been unemployed for some time, Mr. L. J. Greenberg, secretary of the Boy Employment Committee, said. They represented lads who had missed their opportunities during the slump years. Their position was most unfortunate. They’were neither men nor boys, and the new legislation had placed them between the upper and nether millstones, as there would probably be a disinclination on the part of employers to pay higher rates of pay to those older hoys who were unskilled and unqualified. That being the case, their absorption would inevitably be retarded.