AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL TRAINING.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1687, 29 June 1904, Page 42 (Supplement)

AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL TRAINING.

Mr R, Blair, assistant secretary to the Board of Technical Instruction . in England, who accompanied the second Mosely. Commission to America, has embodied the results of his observations and investigations in a very useful report. Mr Blair confined his attention almost exclusively to technical institutions and their relations, to the industries they are ' meant to subserve. Having studied the buildings, equipments, courses, and methods, he sought the opinion of a considerable/ number of leaders in the American business world as to the comparative value of specialised secondary education and apprentice experience in fitting a youth for the higher positions in great manufacturing and commercial concerns. The views he received were emphatically in favour of the former. He says: “The American plan involves an elementary school course until fourteen years of age; four years at a high school; four years at a college or institue of technology, where instruction is industrial, and not academic in character; and two years as an industrial cadet. In the schools there is no system of prize giving

;• . or. ranking to misdirect the mind ' of the' .youth from the real objective- of his , ; preparation... No premium- is'required v- ' of this youth on entering a ‘works/ On ..thacontrary,lieis,eagerly,.sooghtvafter 3 1: ; the 'managers- believing \ that the future 'r: of their depends, on their ability ;. to secure him.. jThie pay is ;siha,ll; .barely : ; - sufficient to live on: A. young ’man will • i be 25 before -he a • responsible | post: and: be in a. position to earn a fair .. ;. living.' After that, however, promotion V is rapid, and prospects are great for the ; ,i able and ambitions.; The best, ability in ;; the States is to'be fotmd, hot in the pro-

fessions. and, iji politic?, .as,with us, but; inindustries s ;: and commerce jr partly . the; cause; and partly, the. consequence of present conditions. ; ww ‘TJoUipare: this, with;dhe\British: ' plan; technical ■'colleges /is; compared* with the American figures brim* therj British. day/teelmicakcmifse^arenf threeyearßVduration'ohly, : and,:;aß'a J :rUie'i’ : i; are ' ? not based- .on- a. good-. ! general ecfu cafe tion of. a : secbndary.. ;.Btaiidar schools; are. . notfe as' ' profOssional. tin';;; character ',:as they might \ ..be^-: youth, when he has received his diploma v

;is somewhat diffident as to his capacity, to' tackle industrial • problems.Furtheri he has great- difficulty in securing a trial in: a good firih,. our.:, industrial 1 , - leaders s having little or. no- faithAiji^fhis'Mnd'of' ‘man!-. These kind • of . prddu<>V an d ‘ the-.want of faith,''react against each othei v .‘.words, there