“SO MUCH RUBBISH”

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 41, 12 November 1936, Page 16

“SO MUCH RUBBISH”

South African Opinion on

Matriculation

Is matriculation so much rubbish? Tn an advertisement in the “Cape Times,” Mr. Donald Garlick states that so far as he is concerned Standard VII and matriculation are just so much rubbish. “I want gentlemen’s sons” runs the advertisement, “but of course they may prefer and be attracted by the glamour of a big combine and be content to stick at £4O a month. “What I ask for is corimonseuse, initiative, keenness, and a desire to get on and thus earn real money. “I am not ashamed to sweep the floor myself, so if you are you need not apply for this job. If you have got the look of an intelligent young man and the possibility of eventually earning £lOOO a year or more you are the man I want.” Asked by a “Cape Times” reporter to say why he had drawn up so unusual an advertisement, Mr. Donald Garlick replied: “I knew that this advertisement of mine would, in all probability, result in an immediate request for an interview to ascertain what prompted me to insert it. Wants the Right Man. “I know jt is unusual, and I intended that it should be, and to this end L wrote it myself, but not with a view to raising a controversy, but purely to get the man I want, but I am not prepared to elaborate on it unless I have your assurance that I shall not be embroiled in any controversy, as regards present-day educational methods, and you undertake to make it perfectly plain to your readers, if you decide to put any of my opinions in print, that I will not consent to reply to any letters on the subject, or in any way be mixed up iu a controversy. “My opinions are my own, and. have been to a great extent formed as a result of my experience in commercial activities, and as such I am entitled to hold them. “Most apjplicants who apply for situations seem to think that, having passed Standard VII or having matriculated gives them a much better chance of finding employment, and undoubtedly in some cases this is so. as there are certain very large business houses that will not entertain an application for employment unless the applicant has these qualifications, but as far as I personally am concerned, this does not in any way hold good. “I once discussed the matter with my father, the late Mr. John Garlick, and I stated that I wanted only two things in an applicant, namely, commonsense and initiative.

“He told me I was wrong, and while the attribute of commonsense meant a reasonable amount of brains and that I was right in that real brains were an advantage, but not necessary. I had overlooked energy, to which I replied that energy was surely covered by initiative, as initiative was the higher form of energy, and my father eventually agreed that 1 was right, and all we required were the two, commonsense and initiative. “To want a thing and to get it are two very different things, aud the fact that it is so difficult to-day to find young men who are capable of eventually bolding positions worth anything from £lOOO to £2OOO and up a year I personally place very greatly at the door of the ’ odern ediK-o'iomil methods. Initi.'.tive Stultified. “The modern method of advertising the merit of a school, whether private or otherwise, is to boast of how many passes they have got and how many children have matriculated that year, etc., etc., not how many children have been turned out thoroughly equipped to occupy a good position in the business life of the nation. '“1 am satisfied in my own mind that an ability to assimilate what is taught and to be able to reproduce as required in an examination room, does not show initiative, which is one of the attributes I require. If anything, I think the reverse is the case, and the cramming of to-day stultifies initiative.

“As regards commonsense. this is being relegated into the background by the educational authorities, and. in my opinion, the children are being so pushed on with a view to cramming into their heads all that it is thought necessary for them to know, in order to get a chance to matriculate, that very little time is devoted to teaching them to learn to reason, and, to some extent, those that have very little chance of being a credit to the school and obtaining a pass, are not bothered about to anything like the same extent as the children that show greater promise of being able to obtian a pass or honours.

“My advertisement is greatly due to the reason that 1 consider there are lots of young jieoplc who have not passed Standard VII who are more likely to have the attributes I require than many, though naturally not all. who hare taken higher positions in their educational training.”