BOY SHOULD MAKE DELIBERATE CHOKE OF HIS PROFESSION

Manawatu Times, Issue 6848, 1 March 1929, Page 6

BOY SHOULD MAKE DELIBERATE CHOKE OF HIS PROFESSION

The Parents’ Problem

INTERESTING ADDRESS BY MR J. A. COLQUHOUN

Speaking from 22 years’ experience of handling the secondary schoolboy, Mr. J. A. Colquhoun of the Palmerston North Boys’ High school, gave it as his opinion last evening, when addressing the Palmerston North combined school committees association, that the matriculation examination and all the preliminary examinations that guard the way to the professions, should be abolished and that any pupil holding proof of having received a good general secondary education should be eligible to attempt the entrance of the profession of his choice.

At present, the speaker pointed out a boy might pass matriculation in French and would therefore be debarred from taking up the law, which required Latin. Such restrictions as these were purely artificial and should bo dispensed with in 'favour of a certificate of secondary education. Having obtained such a certificate, a boy should then be able to sit the entrance examinations of the profession of his choice. Mr Colquhoun entitled his address 1 ‘What Will I do with My Boy?” in the course of which he dealt with this question of the moment in a manner which touched fundamentals. A Perplexing Question. At no stage of the world’s development as at the present, the speaker pointed out, had so much care been given by parents to tho perplexing question of finding suitable occupations for their children. A great part of this problem was made up in tho question of unemployment, which was to-day so prevalent in many countries of the world. Unemployment was a tremendous problem and one which he personally thought, we would be compelled to leave to the future for solution. The trouble was caused by the fact that man to-day had made such great strides in the utilisation of energy that fewer men wero required to do tho work. Added to this was the fact that a great proportion.of the world’s female population was now taking its part in industrial pursuits. We were faced by great difficulties. Our job was not to criticise the existing conditions but to make tho best of them and do the best we could for our children. Pschycology. To-day there was a great love for the word ‘ 1 pschology ’ ’ by means of which human beings could be classified as “sensory” or “motor.” “extraverts” or“ intraverto’ ’and yet tho world’s leading pschycologists could not agree on this subject of classification, so what chance had ordinary people to do so, although conceivably the time might come when a professional pschycologist would be able to classify a child. “But I pray that it will never come in my time,” added the speaker, “because such a thing would destroy all parental hope. “Imagine a boy, the apple of your eye, destined for the highest and greatest, and a psc’hycologist tells you be might make a decent dustman. ’ ’ Matriculation Examination. Mr Colquhoun then proceeded to refer to the much discussed question of the matriculation examination. They had now, in this connection,_ an accrediting system but while this would help matters, it would not be the panacea that some peoplo imagined. All this system meant was that the brightest pupils would not now have to sit the examination, with the result that the number of papers to be marked would be greatly decreased. This in itself was an excellent thing when it was realised that under the old system some examiners had been called on to mark as many as 5000 papers during the Christmas holidays. This was a physical impossibility, for allowing even so short a time as 3J minutes per paper ,the examiner would be compelled to work 10 hours a day in order to get through.

Artificial Restrictions. A great trouble in choosing a boy’s career was that so many pupils came to the secondary school with no idea of their final plans. For instance, a boy might take French and afterwards bo debarred from entering the law because ho had not taken Latin. Again, he might take Latin and be unable to enter engineering, because ho had not learned French. All .these restrictions wore artificial and showed that neither the university nor the Education department commanded the education system of the country. Tho people who did so were the engineers’, medical, pharmaceutical, accountants’ associations and so on, for they laid down tho subjects a boy must take in order to enter their ranks. The parents were responsible for the education of their children and they should be able to know that if their children were sent to a secondary school, they would go through a recognised course which would fit them to enter any profession at all. “Do away with preliminary examinations and issue one general secondary school certificate. When you do that, the parents will command the education system of this country.” said the speaker. Entrance examinations should be taken by the pupils after obtaining this certificate, for one could not blame the various associations for -wanting well educated men within their ranks. What was required was that every pupil should bo able to “have a go” without artificial restrictions. A Deliberate Choice.

In conclusion, Mr Colquhoun stressed the necessity for children being made to take themselves Beriously and

choose their occupations with their eyes open. What was needed nowadays, was to make boys conceited. A conceited boy, or a boy who had a good opinion of himself, would never lej; himself down and therefore would never let his parents down. Teachers were inclined to lay too much stress on “esprit do corps” and not enough on individuality. A boy, to be successful, must make a deliberate choice of a career. That did not mean that he should come along to school and express a wish to be a doctor or a lawyer. What it meant was that he should make a choice and having done that, should personally discover what would be required of him in his chosen profession. If, after becoming aware of its disabilities with its advantages, he still remained of the same mind, then let •him go on and all would be well. Knowing what was before him, he would need no discipline or spur to endeavour,