REFORMS IN EDUCATION

Otago Witness, Issue 3278, 10 January 1917, Page 5

REFORMS IN EDUCATION

THE TECHNICAL SCHOOL TEACHERS' CONFERENCE* In his presidential address to technical school teachers assembled in conference at Wanganui on the 3rd, Mr ¥. Neve, M.A.. LL.B., B.Sc, head of the department of natural science in tho Seddon Memorial Technical College, Auckland, dealt with the question of reforms in education.

I The present war, he said, had emphasised ; tho need for grater efliciency in every dc- : partment of national life, and such efficiency j could be secured only by a properly I balanced system of education in which, all ! activities of the individual were developed J to the fullest extent

Attention should be given, first of all to physical development, for it was on tho sound physique of its members that the j permanence of a nation depended. Tho existing primary school syllabus j afforded ample and well-selected material j for tho purpose of mental and manual training. But, unfortunately, adherence to obsolete ideals exalted mental agility above manual dexterity, and glorified the brain at the expense of the hand. The number |of proficiency certificates gained at tho 1 annual examination was 'the criterion by ' which a teacher was judged, and in securing such certificates hand work played a , very small part. Physical development, | manual and mental training should be sym- ,' metrical and harmonious and undue stress j laid on any one detracted from efficiency. Understaffing and the pupil teacher \ system were the two chief obstacles to re- | form in primary schools. ! SECONDARY, TECHNICAL, AND VO-

OATIONAL EDUCATION. The primary course was a broad one, ! and, if faithfully covered, afforded a satisfactory foundation alike for the secondary, | technical, or vocational training that I was to follow; so that the transition ; should in each case bo easy and natural. I Some form of education beyond that sup- ' plied by tho primary schools should be ! free and compulsory for all; but there ' should be a more satisfactory classification I of those who had finished their primary j course. Tho students, both male and fe- ; male, who showed marked literary ability should pass to the secondary schools; all boys who exhibited special aptitude for j mathematics or science should pass into | technical classes to receive there the broad I practical training provided; while those ! who were proficient in mathematics and | science a 3 well as literature should be alI lowed to choose for themselves. The rest ; of tho boys, as well as girls, not entering I the secondary schools, should receive vocational training, in which general education I would be of a simplu character, and effort j would at once be muro directly concentrated on tho specific occupation the pupil had taken or intended to take up. The technical and vocational classes should be under the same control. To allow those of limited means to avail themselves of tho education provided, monetary help should be given where special aptitude was shown. A considerable extension of the scholarship system would meet tho case. That there might be no encroachment or individual Liberty, the parent who objected to the particular form of education selected for his child should bo allowed to choose some other on payment of a reasonable fee, with the proviso "that vocational training should always be free. Tho classification of students should bo so arranged that those taking the secondary course would be reduced to about onefourth of tin; present number. There might then be some reasonable relation between the. number receiving secondary education and that following professions in which such education would be an advantage. At present, custom and a perverted public sentiment favoured an academic training, which the average student was incapable of receiving. The secondary system, in offering the training to all, was following old-lino policies of restricted human interests. It could not, by these policies, continue to appeal to the masses of tho people, becauso they ignored the immediate and personal interests of tho common man. Technical training was its own best advocate. CJnlike secondary education, which was a legacy from the times when education fell to the lot of a favoured few, it, was of modern growth, and designed in a practical way to meet tho exigencies of modern life. It "was the outcome of present day requirements. The technical schools aimed at individual efficiency and provided courses adapted to tho needs of industry and commerce. While general cult ;ro was not neglected, it was on th: scientific arid practical that attention was focusscd. To the number now receiving technical or vocational tr lining would be added three-fourths of those who at present attended the secondary schools as well as all those who had hitherto been contented with the primary course alone. Splendid vocational work was already being done in agriculture husmoss

I training, and domestic science, but this | division needed great extension. \ Those who had not the means or inclina--1 tion to devote all their time to these and similar classes, should bo compelled to ! spend therein half of each day or two full j days per week, learning, how scientifically j to apply the principles that underlay their special work. This applies particularly to girls entering domestio life, who should receive compulsory instruction in housecraft, cookery, dressmaking, mothercraft, first aid, hygiene, and hornc-nursing. Apprentices to tho various trades would also come und'.r this head, and employers should be under a penalty to seo that all under tho ago of 17 had facilities for making requisite attendances. AGRICULTURE. To give a bias towards agriculturo should bo the aim of education from kindergarten to university—in the lower grades by specially devised courses in Nature-study and the cultivation of garden plots by individuals, and later by a wide rango of experiments with plants and soils, and extension of the system of school gardens and individual plots. Greater facilities in the way of land, implements, animals, and machinery should bo available for technical high schools, and, in addition, throughout the country districts thero should bo established Government plots with laboratory attached, controlled by competent teachers, where farmers and farmers' sons might receivo information and training in tho principles of this, the greatest, of all our industries. THE UNIVERSITY. Tho university was at present little more than a coaching establishment, where students wero enabled to qualify for tho various academic degrees. Of true research bearing on the needs and requirements of modern life there was practically none. This, however, was not altogether the university's fault. It was not possible to sufficiently encourage research. Tho means had not been provided. The essentially academic attitude adopted by tho university was, however, exhibited in tho exaggerated importance attached to tho study of Latin. This was a relic of the Middle Ages. It had its origin in tho days when the literature of tho classics was practically the only literature tho world possessed, and through it alono the student could come into contact with the masterminds of history. Now all this was altered. We had a magnificent literature. of our own, and if it was desired to study the classics, thero were splendid translations far surpassing ..anything the student could make himself. He ventured to say that not ono in five hundred of those who began the study of Latin readied a point where he could read tho language with such facility as to appreciate literary form. The speaker admitted that tho study of Latin aiforded a species of mental training, but maintained that a similar and better trainine; could be derived from a science—with tin's difference—whereas Latin merely crammed the mind with a load of academic junk, the study of a science afforded real knowledge and encouraged modes of thought applicable to the needs of every-day life. WAYS AND MEANS. It was obvious that the carrying out of tho outlined schemo would mean at least double the present vote for education, but the money so spent would bring a rich return. Tho existence of the Empire depended as much on educational equipment as on the military training and the making of munitions. If, after the war, tvc were to hold our own in industrial competition with other nations, we must rigorously restrict or abolish altogether the purely academic and replace it by the practical and useful.

Last year thero were consumed in tho dominion over throe million pounds of tobacco, ten and a-half million /'gallons of beer, ana over a million gallons of wine and spirits, costing several times the amount spent on education. Comment was superfluous.