USE OF THE HANDS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22916, 20 December 1937, Page 14

USE OF THE HANDS

TECHNICAL TRAINING IMPORTANCE AND GROWTH ADDRESS .BY THE HON. W. NASH [by telegraph—own correspondent] WELLINGTON, Saturday The importance and growth of technical education were surveyed by the Minister of Finance, the Hon. W- Nash, i at the break-up ceremony of the Hutt Valley Memorial Technical College at Petone. " Our schools were founded last century by people influenced by the system ' in England; consequently secondary schools were' very much like the public schools of England in the things that were taught, but these schools were mainly for the professional classes and j not for the people as a whole," said i Mr. Nash. The peculiar result was that when the Government wanted to extend secondary schools in New Zealand so that everybody could have the advantage of higher education, they iouiul that what was being taught in these secondary schools was not suited to the lives of the people. These schools con- ! cent rated on what were known as classical subjects, but they did not help to explain the processes of everyday life. Instinct to Make Things One of New Zealand's greatest educators, Mr. Hogben, who held the office of Director of Education (then inspector-general), tried to introduce technical training into the existing Schools, but found it too difficult. So in 1903 it was decided to establish separate day technical schools. The first one was founded by the Wellington Education Board. Within a very short time just about every sizable town in New Zealand had its technical school or [ technical college. " Among all types of men and women the instinct to handle tools and make things is very definite," said Mr. Nash. :. " A man loves nothing better than a workshop where he can make things, i- and by applying tools to materials 1 make something that is his own '. creation. There are two kinds of things that can be beautiful—the things that nature has produced and the things :! that man has produced. The trouble is • that some things are sometimes not beautiful because man has not suffici- ] ently developed his talents, or trained r his "faculties in order to produce what is beautiful. Why Things are Ugly " I do not mean that only things if made by hand can be beautiful. Tools, l machinery and the products of the -. machine can be beautiful —and they can " be ugly- There are many reasons why these things are ugly. Ruskin and Morris, Englishmen of last century, have written books to protest about • this ugliness and to find out why ugly things are produced. There are several \ reasons, but one of them is that many , people have not had the opportunity • either to develop their faculties or ex- ' press themselves in making things. Unless we have the right attitude to our material —whether it is wood, cloth i or metal —we will not produce the best I things. ' " It is because our educators know ! these things that they want our educai tion to include as many skills and arts as possible which involve the use of our hands," concluded the speaker. " The bricklayer will be more than a layer of bricks, the draughtsman will be more than a drawer of plans; they will bo builders of a beautiful building."