A BIG PROBLEM

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 53, 6 March 1929, Page 10

A BIG PROBLEM

WORK FOR BOYS & GIRLS

,THE PROFESSIONAL BIAS

OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM

(Specially written for the "Post.")

"I have been literally besieged with applicants for the last six months. I have had to turn them away not in ones but in dozens," said a prominent bank manager, when approached by an "Evening Post" representative on the quostion of youth unemployment. l "There can be no doubt," he continued, "that this country is faced with a tremendous problem in finding suitable work for the hosts of boys and girls leaving our schools each year. Of course/the banks are in the happy position of being able -to pick, and choose. Wo consider only those applicants who have passed the Matriculation examination and are not more than sixteen years of age. We hope by so doing to obtain the brightest boys, though I must admit that sometimes the 'plodders' prove more satisfactory in the long run tliaii tho brilliant scholars. But what becomes'of the mediocre boys? They all want brain work in the towns. The jobs simply Aren't available for them. It would •era that they must inevitably, drift fcto 'blind alleys.' I can't help feeling that our education system isn't giving the mediocre boy a fair deal." That there are hundreds, and probably thousands of boys and girls seeking employment in this country to-day is undoubted. Statistics chow that about 22,000 boys and girls pasaed out of. our primary schools at 'the end of ■ the year. Of these, only 50 per cent, are continuing their education, at a secondary school, so that approximately 11,000 young people with a primary school education became, potential wageearnpra at tho beginning of tho year. PREFERENCE FOR PROFESSIONS.

The country, however, will find a far greater problem an absorbing, tho 10,000 boys and girls who left our secondary schools at the end of the year. The vast majority of these have received a bias towards intellectual employment. Whether our education system has given them this professional bias is a question needing searching inquiry. But in speaking to a number of employers, an "Evening Post" representative received ample evidence of this preference for the professions. . ■-.-.• "They are all the samo," said ono business man,, "thoy all want head work. At this time of the year I have as many as thirty or forty in a week wanting mo to find positions for them. I advise many of them to go on the land. I know of only two who accepted my advice. They came > back after a few weeks, and said they had been made to feel mere 'rouse-abouts,' and their employers had offered little hope of their rising to anything better."

One parent speaks of his boy's difficulty in finding work, thus: "I sent xay boy to a secondary school for four years, .believing that a general education would stand him in good stead. He failed to pass Matriculation, but as he had no intentions of entering the University, I did not give this much coh- t corn. I find uow,i however/ that it .is' impossible to find a position for him. He has turned seventeen, and banks, insurance companies, and commercial houses will not accept boys over sixteen unless they have passed tho Matriculation examination. Two years ago, when ho was fifteen, they would have given him a position/ but now, with an additional two years' education—given him on the advice of the headmaster of his school—they won't have him. Goodness only knows where I'll find a position for him."

One would expect a headmaster to advise a lengthy stay at school. A tradesman naturally extols his own wares. But parents must now consider whether, such advice is sound. An indication of the present trend of affairs is given by Mr. J. Stewart, headmaster of Marlborough College, in his monthly report.

'/It is a common thing," ho said, "for parents to seek my advieo as to "whether their boy or girl should accept a position which has been offered to them, or whether they should continuo in school for another year. Up till recently ; ono was fairly safe in recommending another year at school, as being calculated to develop mental poiso and maturity of judgment, but the economic sitiuition has altcrcd'that. It is now extremely difficult to find positions for girls and boys, so that it is desirable to tako them when they are available, instead of facing tho risk of being unable to find an opening in another year. Accordingly, much to my regret, I have had' to advise parents who have had positions offered for their boys to accept." AN ACUTE POSITION. The position is certainly acute, a fact which is evidenced by the recent deputation of Auckland business men to the Minister of Education, \>y the recommendations suggested to the Government by a committee of Wanganui buai- j ness men, and by the investigations of ' various branches of tho Rotary move-1 ment. With a view to arriving at some I of the causes of the prcsont position, an ".Evening' Post" representative solicited an expression of opinion from a number of men who have come into contact with the problem. Mr. E. T. Norris, Registrar of the New Zealand University, threw some interesting sidelights on tho present overcrowding of the professions, "Th? desire to'enter tho professions is just as kcon as ever," he said. "Of course, the law profession is very much overcrowded. A leading Wellington lawyer told trie the other day that there are dozens of qualified barristerg throughout the country earning only £100' 'a' year; 'Just to' keep in the profession. Yet last year 61 students qualified at our examinations for admission'to'th'd'Bar. The public are beginning to realise, however, that this profession ,is full. An analysis of tho number, p.f candidates sitting for the law examinations in the last three. years shows, a. falling., off to the extent of about-SO-.per-cont<>or 40 per cent. On tho-other'hand,-'bhero' has been a corresponding increase in the number of accountancy candidates. These fluctuations occur periodically. After the war .there was a'big demand for medical men in this country. Medicine for a time attracted a large number of students. Then this profession became full, and dentistry came into favour."

Mr. E. A. Laidlaw, of the Farmers' Trading Co., Ltd., Auckland, points out several causes of this general desire to enter tho professions. '•■.•■

"Tiiere are one or two difficulties quito obvious," he says. "In tho first place, the so-called trades are looked down upon, and because a man uses his hands he 13 said to be doing it because he had not sufficient brains to get into a position where he is freed from manual labour. This results in tho professions being overcrowded. Secondly, the unions have rigid rules about the number of apprentices who may be employed in proportion to the number of .■journeymen; this closes the door of many trades which a number of boys might be willing to enter. Thirdly, owing to the lure of the city, farmers find it difficult to get their sons to.stay on the land, so that there, is an influx of young fellows from the country rv'r'ry year to the cities.

"The process of' readjustment may be slow and possibly painful,' but I be-

Hevo many parents aje going,to realise that most of the professions are already overcrowded," and that it is useless to spend the. largo sums of money necessary to'give, a: boy .a "professional education. On tho other hand, the better highways, tho motor-car, the radio, and the modern household equipments which are now seen upon farms are making the country considerably more attractive, and I see no reason wliatever why a farmer, a carpenter, or an engineer' should not bo far better equipped for their life's work-if after a primary qr oven a secondary education they had i'rom two to four years' specialised instruction. I frankly admit, however, that I cannot offer you any solution for tho seridus problem that now confronts the youths who annually leave our schools.?.'..-;. ■ ;;.;. v v ; . , EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES. Dr. A. G. , B.\' JPisher,. professor of economies at Otago University, attributes the presehti' overcrowding of the professions to the equal opportunities which are enjoyed by all to-day. • He does not view the fact that our education system seems to have a professional bias as a very serious matter. "No ono can deny tho intensity of anxiety felt by people who find that the type of education they havo received does not fit them immediately for the type of work they regard as suitable," he says, "but at the same time it seems unwise to take the o cneral problem thus presented too tragically, or to hastily conclude that secondary education has been a waste. Looking over a period even of recent years, wo see that tho overwhelming majority of those who havo passed through our secondary educational system have been ablq to find a more comfortable niche in our economic organisation than those who have lacked this opportunity. ' ■ ■■".:■.. . '

"Complaints about the overcrowding of the ■ prof essions of ten mean merely that tho complainant cannot earn the income that was.customary when members of the profession enjoyed even more quasi-monopolistic privileges than they do to-day. Effective equality of opportunity inevitably means a diminution in the differences between the incomes, of low paid and high paid workers, and such a chango is entirely a good thing.

"It is certainly desirable that greater care should be; taken to ensure that people are properly trained for work that is really needed, but one is somewhat suspicious of suggestions that the whole of our secondary education needs drastic overhauling because they frequently come from people who, in spite of formal adhesion to the principle of equality, of-.opportunity, are still convinced that the children of persons with small incomes are designed by Nature to become labourers or domestic servants^, while the children of more highly:paid persons are naturally designed to become doctors-or to figure in the social: columns of the newspapers. If we are ■to exclude peoplo from: secondary education, let it not bo because they were unfortunate enough not to seloct a wealthy man a3 father."

[Further opinions of representative men will be' included in the second article ; on.this, important question.] .