TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

Evening Star, Issue 11068, 21 October 1899, Page 1

TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

It is the fashion nowadays for people of all shades of political opinions to advocate the introduction of technical into the primary schools of- this Colony. Unfortunately many esranedus notions and much ignorance—especially as to the relation of technical education to the w6rk of the primary school—exist in the minds of those who most strongly fayo? this innovation. The movement in favor of technical education in England and other parts of the British Empire grew out of the supposition that the keen, and in some respects successful, competition of the Germans and Americans with the Mother Country in commerce and manufactures was due to the spread of technical education in the primary schools of these countries. With a view to ascertaining to what extent these suppositions were true, and ako to collecting the most recent and reliable information on the, whole subject, the Council of tho New Zealand Educational Institute, at the annual meeting held In Christchurch in January last, appointed a Committee to act during the year, and to bring up a report for submission to the meeting of the Council to be held in Timaru next January. We have been privileged to see an advance copy of this report, and find that, through the courtesy of the Agent-General for the Colony, the Committee have been placed in communicition with some of the leading educational authorities of England and on the Continent, and" have had placed at their disposal several valuable reports. These reports show conclusively that technical education,, as such, forms no part whatever of the primary school work of Germany or of France, and we might here add that the same may be said of the primary schools of the United States. Tho report shows unquestionably that to introduce technical education into* our primary schools would be to sacrifice the absolutely essential subjects of primary school teaching. If we are to have technical education—and there is no doubt of its necessity—it must find its place in continuation schools, evening classes, technical schools proper, and even find place in the curricula of our secondary schools. In this direction something has been and is still being done in New Zealand ; but much yet remains to be accomplished. The great danger is that through lack of knowledge, or mistaken notions of what the leading European nations have done, our legislators may so interfere with the work of the primary schools as to impair the efficiency of the teaching of the essential literary subjects in such schools.

While showing that technical education j cannot be carried on successfully as part of the primary school work, the Committee point out what has been done in England and on the Continent in the way of hand and eye work and manual training. The Committee are also careful to point out what we have on several occasions drawn the attention of our readers to—namely, the very different conditions obtaining "in New Zealand from those existing in Germany, France, and, more particularly, the Mother Country. Here we have "no large centres of population, such as London, Manchester, Birmingham, - Liverpool, Leeds, and many other English towns. Ours is essentially a couutry of villages. At the end of 1898 out of 1,624 public primary schools in the Colony no fewer than 1,390, or 85 per tent, of the whole, had an average attendance of under 100 pupils. This adds largely to tie difficulty and expense of introducing certain kinds of manual work into our primary schools. Then, many of the large schools in England have girls', boys', and infants' depart- j ments, the boys being taught by men and the girls by women. This makes possible much manual work that could not be attempted in mixed schools. We agree with the Committee in thinking that " any further introduction into our schools "of hand and eye work, manual work, and "practical education will necessarily in- " volve («) a modification of the present " syllabus, (i) alteration of the method of " examining and testing schools, and (c) a "greater expenditure on primary educa- " tion." The report goes on to show in what direction the present syllabus might be advantageously modified. Arithmetic is referred to as a subject the requirements in which might be much reduced, and it is shown that the New Zealand syllabus is much heavier than the English in regard to this special subject. Geography, especially in the Fourth Standard, is said to be capable of great reduction. Drawing, it is suggested, might be remodelled as far as the present syllabus is concerned. We should think, too, that history might well be treated as a reading subject, and in that way a good deal of time would be saved. After giving this question of technical education some considerable consideration, we are inclined to agree with those who argue that it can never form part of the work of the primary school. In our cities and larger towns provision for such work must be made in the establishing of continuation schools, evening and technical classes. All that can be reasonably expected of the primary schools is that the teaching in such schools will lead up naturally to the technical work of the continuation and other schools. In the infant departments of the larger primary schools this will be done by giving increased attention to kindergarten work. And even in the infant classes of very small schools, as shown recently in a paper read by Mr D. R. White before the Otago Educational Institute, something can be done in the same direction. In the lower standard classes the same object will be attained by devoting more attention to object lessons, nature study, and the like, and especially to drawing. The higher standards will require, we should suppose, much drawing, elementary science, and, Where possible, wood or wire workmanual instruction simply—for the boys ; and domestic economy (including cookery) for the girls. With the literary work somewhat lightened, and increased attention devoted to kindergarten work, elementary science, drawing, singing, and gymnastics, we need have no fear but that our !)rimary schools will enable the pupils eaving them to take full advantage of the means for a technical education that may be provided for them. Within the limits of an ordinary article it is quite impossible to properly discuss a report of the length and importance of the one now under review. We trust, however, that the Executive of the Educational Institute will have it printed land widely circulated among those concerned or. interested in the administration, of our education system, for it contaihs much that deserves to be carefully pondered, especially by those who have charge of our primary echoola. We

especially invite primary school teachtra ard members of school committees to peftise the opinions (reprinted in anotbs part of this paper) of such eminent educationists as Sir Philip Magnus, an authority of world-wide repute on technics 1 e lucation, and of Sir Joshua Fitch, one <i the most experienced ;0f #ne able iti| specters of schools in l&ggafc Thk Parliament of which Mr Schreiner is Premier first met oh October 7, TlieC»pe 1898. Sir Gordon Sprigg, who Premier, then controlled the destinies of Cape Colony, was the leader of the Progressive party, and Mr Scftreiner of the Afrikander Bond. Sir Gordop, although in a minority at the polls, had refused to recognise the verdict then given, and elected to wait until " turned out." Mr Schreiner promptly moved a vote of want of confidence in the Ministry. The-debate lasted less than an hour,' of which.torty-five minutes were consumed by the mover of the motion. The main charge made by Mr Schreiner against Sir Gordon Sprigg, Mr Rhodes, and the Progressive party was that during the late campaign, they had placed "an abso- " lutely'false issue before thfe people. Other " members on the Government side had done " the same and the leaders had insisted upon "putting forth the absolutely false issue "that the question of British supremacy " lingered in the balance " ; and then, after denouncing in strong terms such unwarrantable impropriety upon the part of his opponents, he asked: "Who was there be- " sides the rbht honorable gentleman and, "perhaps, his leader (Mr Rhodes) who " thought times were critical with regard to " British supremacy in South Africa?" The Afrikander leader next turned upon the Ministry and cried: He did not like to be personal, but sometimes example was difficult to avoid, and be told the Prime Minister that he claimed an equal as an upholder of that supremacy m this country—(cheers)—and as true a heart beat on that side of the House for the maintenance of British supremacy in. this country as beat on the other side—(Opposition the names might sound, not in the English, but in another language. The House must not suppose that the people of England were misled, xt was in this country that such incendiary language perpetrated and accentuated a condition of things in which men of two races —the two races that were destined to work and live and flourish together in this land, under the glorious flag of which they werejill proud—(cheers)—were taught to sit .on opposite sides, and learn to look upon each other as though they saw, not the face of a friend, but the face of an enemy. The division resulted.in the Government being defeated by two votes (39 to 37), and Sir Gordon Sprigg, after a little shilly-shally-ing, for his party of thirty-nine Progressives represented 61,204 votes as against 48,692 cast for the forty Bondites, resigned and made way for Mr Schreiner. The new Premier, on taking up the reigns of office, replying to the taunts of his opponents that he represented Krugerism, declared, that while

anxious 'co work harmoniously with the two Republics his Government were not going " hat in hand " either to Pretoria or Bloemfontein. On the 2nd Novemebr last Me Schreiner introduced the Navy Contribution Bill providing that the sum of £30,000 should be annually contributed by Cape Colony to the Imperial Exchequer as a voluntary contribution io tht? British Nary, an 1 this offer, coming from a colony in which the Dutch outnumber the British in the proportion of five to three, was universally regarded as a most gratifying exhibition of that Imperial spirit which animates the Empire and binds us all as one.

These events in Mr Schreiner's career are not twelve months old, -and we certainly do not pose as judges of this statesman's subseI quent policy or conduct. In view of the I paucity of reliable dati Ave are neither competent nor desirous of so acting. But the contrast between " then" and " now" is ! sufficiently remarkable to invite comment. Mr Schreiner defeated Sir Gordon Sprigg on a division because the latter had falsely raised the crv that British supremacy was tne point at issue between the contending parties. That charge, Mr Schreiner said, was false, and yet at this hour, and for months past, the crux of the South African question has been and still is this very one of British paramountcy. Mr Schreiner claimed that this paramountcy was as dear to his heart as to any man's; but the Transvaal newspapers now openly charge him with having broken his promises to them and theirs. He has permitted, and in a strictly legal view of the position he was possibly justified in so doing, arms and ammunition to pass through Cape Colony into the two Republics, knowing that such arms, if used at all, were to be used against the subjects of his Queen. As Premier, he has neglected to perfect and strengthen the defence forces of Cape Colony; he has refused to sanction calling out the volunteers; he even protested that the Colony should remain neutral in a time of war, although his colony's interests were as much at stake as those of Natal or those of the Uitlanders themselves; and it is further reported to have been with difficulty that Sir Alfred Milner obtained his signature as Premier to the proclamation against treason. It is under these circumstances that we find it hard to reconcile the Mr Schreiner of October, 1898, with the Premier of Cape Colony in October, 1899. At the same time, we are disposed to think that there must be a something, some key to the enigma, missing, which, if found, would clear up much that is now mysterious. It is very difficult to believe that a man in Mr Schreiner's responsible position is deliberately disloyal; there would appear, however, to be not much room for accepting any other alternative. What we should like to have would be a full and clear vindication by the Premier of Cape Colony of his policy in relation to the present crisis.