POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION

Evening Star, Issue 20538, 17 July 1930, Page 1

POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION

DESTINATION OF PUPILS Mr F. Milner, president- of the Sec* ondary Schools’ Association, the following communication dealing with the above subject:— “On behalf of tho Secondary Schools’ Association of New Zealand, I ask you to give publicity to tho attached synopsis of destinations of pupils! on completion of post-primary education. Tho figures have been, taken from the official reports for 1927 and 1928, and are tho latest available. To our mind this statement completely disproves the common allegation of the. ultra-academic quality of present sec-* ondary education in New Zealand. A surprisingly largo percentage of secondary schoolboys take up farmings and another very substantial propor-i tion go in for trades or take up posw tions in shops. The public is frequently; misled by hasty generalisations to the effect that our secondary schools give an entirely bookish education, divorced from the actualities of life, and that in consequence they provide no recruitment of ability for either trades or the land. Tho official reports bean out our contention that while fulfilling their major purpose of providing: a liberal education on cultural lin6s, ou? secondary schools for the main part, by a wise organisation of differentiated courses, also make provision for prevocational education. They increasingly, combine in a liberal synthesis the humanities with the practical needs of vocational courses. “ Moreover, the latest report shows that the average secondary school life is two years ten months, which is an effective repudiation of the idea that the majority of our pupils waste public money by a stay of only a few months at school.”

DESTINATION OF BOYS ON COMPLETION OF THEIR SECONDARY EDUCATION, Type of School. Technical District Occupation. Secondary. High. High. 132". 1936. 1927. 1926. 1927. 1929 University 179 142 8 31 4 6 Teaching rnd Training College ' 66 60 ir 23 20 24 Clerical: Government or Local 99 60 Body ' 121 201 60 74 Banks, 1 InsurIS ance ... ... 125 141 13 IS SI Legal Commercial 367 47 D33 95 5 157 40 3 4S Engineering Surveying, and 165 22 30| Archite :turo ... 121 85 162 Various Trades 420 95 117! and Industries 291 322 361 Shops or Warehouses ... ... 211 263 160 224 93 103 Farming Homo ... 126 78 ISO 137 ,246 5S 341 244 69 29# 5» Other • Occupai . 14 iil 11 tions ... ... 77 45 Not known ■m ' '3S7 273 ' 290 71 fa* ' ‘C