The Daily News THURSDAY, AUGUST 12. TECHNICAL EDUCATION: A LESSON FOR NEW ZEALAND.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 171, 12 August 1909, Page 2

The Daily News THURSDAY, AUGUST 12. TECHNICAL EDUCATION: A LESSON FOR NEW ZEALAND.

A valuable work lias just been published in Franco proving the infinite importance of technical education for apprentices ami other*, as a necessary preparation for life. Froiu it we in New Zealand have-much to learn. The authors dwell un the need lor the two oldjr eiv : .liscd nations, France and Englanl, preparing for the great Armageddon , that is yet to be tought in manufactures and commerce. They quote .the r.oble speech of the French Ambassador, M. Paul Cambon, to the London Chamber of Commerce in I!>UU, when he reminded its members that the whole of the londitions of modern industrialism have changed. Formerly French and English merchants and manufacturers eat in their counting-houses and received all the or* tir:rs they could execnU 1 . They still fr'it there, but übiquitous German commercial travellers, thoroughly well versed in modern languages, go out and get an increasingly large share of those orders. The work under review, which makes a great point of the struggle for supremacy between England and Germ. . shows in carefully constructed ta.n - how in the ten years' 18U7 to 1000 Gci- I man exports and imports i7iercnsed by I two-thirds, whereas the British increase was less than one-half. A careful perusal of the book will convince most thoughtful people that the superiority uf the Hermans lies in bettor preparation for work; they have laid to heart the triple .summons of the "new way": "Prepare, /Prepare, and again Prepare/' They "have" prepared, whils't the French and English are merely preparing to gird up their Join-. As i;i Engiainl and in New Zealand, apprenticeship has decayed in Franco. In 1791 the National Assembly formally abolished trade Guilds and Corporations and declared the freedom of labor. These bodies had assumed -responsibility tor apprenticeship. Des'pite a couple of incilwtual laws on the statute-book, apprenticeship is a name in | France. Recently it was found that, out of six hundred thousand children and young persons in the workshops and factories, Jittle more than a tenth 1 had a written contract, and this suffered I so much frdfei lack of ..jal enforcement I that it W36 practically u&'eless." The | remaining five hundred and forty thousand apprentices pick up the same sort of education-as young English-people do on this side: they learn what they can j do, do it anyhow, and, as a result, when | they are adult, they are frequently replaced by Germans, Swedes, Swiss, Austriaiis and Dane*, who, having received an admirable education, arc prepared to accept work wherever it offers. After due enquiry, the late ,W. Greard, Rector ' of the University of France, addre?s.Ml grave words of warning to the French people:—"The workshop, which ought to develop the child's strength, wears out liis body before nature has finished its growth, benumbs his intelligence which tile public school had begun to awaken, withers his imagination and heart, debases the love of work. It is deplorable school of morality, for it depraves the man in the apprentice, the citizen in the workman, and docs not even teach him his trade." The authors are of opinion that tilings have ffot improved since M. Greard wrote these words. On the othcj- hand, France is ripe for legislation on the subject. Societies demand compulsory instruction for those who have no indenture* 1 , and for the last few years trade schools and classes have been springing up. Doubtless we shall ere long see the «fruil this book is in- # tended to bear, in the shape of compulsory legislation. For an apprentice hep.nid there to get his trade will not be enough, any more than ft iv enough for a soldier here and there in the military army to submit to the necessary train-

The work which is allied "L'Enseignement Technique," shows that Germany began to prepare for industrial victory ■u the first third of the nineteenth century. The three groat foes of apprenticeship. lack of foresight among parents. the indifference of employers, and the powerlofi.snes'sof tlie Slate, have been overcome. Immediately after the federation of the German ftmpire in 1871 the Crown l'rinee Frederick gave the j people a new watchword: ''We. have 1 conquered on military battieliclds; now Ave conquer on those of manufactures i and commerce." Bismarck did not disl (lain to Apply a powerful, superior mind to this; new tusk. a*Ji<l became Minister of Commerce. Technical instruction has not been the sole causp of the German advance, but when every soldier of the industrial army i»' as thoroughly disciplined in the branch of work he lias undertaken as was each soldier in the campaign of 1870, the outlook is not brilliant for those nations which adopt the go-as-you-please policy, Nor is it permissible to blame lack of patriotism on the part of employers, for m> nian can put up with incapacity when it endangers the existence of hi*' linn. When the English Technical Education Act of 188'J was passed, the spokesmen of Labor insisted, and it was proved to be a huge blunder, that the practice of a trade should not lie taught. That Act was superseded by the Education Act of 1002; but many ;pi'(?jcjpu« years Imvo been waited, hi France clfcmieal industries are founded on French soil by Cerniau capital, with German directors, and a large number of German employees.

How does (Jenuany arrive at her undoubted excellence? The answer is, by her pre-eminence in education; and this is partly due to the I-, .1 tu.-.t she has a Government which sees what is neccs-

i sarv. aims' straight at it, ami wastes no \ time persuading laggards that liberty I '■* tlw pearl of groat price. Tile Gorr man school system li;i- long been eonik pulsory, Jn ISIII a new departure was ► made. I'litiJ then the law had simply f rf ijiiii'cd employers to jet young persons L below eighteen have suOjciejjl time out r of working houitf to attend a coijtinuation school. In some .States compulsion ► lias already begun; but in 1801 eoiu- ► mune* were authoriso.l to institute such ► school*. anil to adopt compulsion, even where State law <iii| ijot require it. As • a result, more than Ijalf t,he German * have declared fo r compulsion, and t lie fact that any eommuno may do SO al any moment lias had an astonishing efleet on employers'. parents and apprentices. Some cities, like Frank'fort-on-Main, even reipiti-o roinpulsion for girls, Probably no nation i« JJ )O wm .|d exact? and obtains such absolute obedience to the law as (ionnany. The coir tinuation sch/iol requires all youn<* persons between fourteen and eighteen to attend for instruction iu (lerman, arithmetic, ami drawing for three separate terms, devoting six hours' weekly to the work, usually i;i three attendances. Exemption is accorded to those who attend tiade schools, anil this has glvei? an extraordinary impetus to the foundation at trade schools and classes by eon)different trades', and employers of la'«>i» The needs of every neighborhood are considered. Frankfort lias for waiters and hotel managers as well as chininey.swc'ops; Leipsic does not forget the needs of elmnilrcrinnids and "generals'," Trade classes arc often hold i,i building* annexed to the different tiade>. It is a f;iet of deep signiti1t !u t retired German employers who |Hissess a high reputation often Sii'iid their leisure and experience in leaching their trade or art to*vonn<r (.eriimny. Small towns vie with each other in trying to attract renowned teneln-rs to their neighborhood durill" tie Holidays, so that drops of the-V I h essings may fall on them. Instruction i at a continuation school is gratuitousthai of a Irnile.class is not so necessarily. Th" State gives' grants-in-aid. Tn I'russia the bill for trades classes is met thus:-Pupils' fees. 23 ]ier cent • State aid, 28 per cent.; local rates 4!) per pent.; the total expenditure, belli" about £240,000, "

The training of flerniajiy's industrial army is elTeotcd in four elass'es of inslliotions. The followim/ is tlie list, with approximate numbers of students:— Technical univeristie* !), with 15,11111) studefl'ts; secondary technical schools 3(1. with SDOO students': elementary technical M'hools with 34,00f> studenls; Irade schools. -Mlli.OO (students. The first two prepare the sUiIT major of the i nlnsll'ial army, directors, men of science, managers, foremen; the last' is for the rank-and-file of the army; the third seems largely (the volume'is not rpiicl explicit) for small employers -working on their own account as well as for workmen. A great offorfc is being made to save the small man, not to let him be cleared out of the field of business hv the great employer. The Hermans,' frankly recognise tlrat the State

wants men; it euros little about employers on a huge scale and "hands"; every effort is made to fit the small man for ilis business; far too often lie is lost for lack of knowledge and preparation. The same thoroughness is visible in commercial education, which luts three great divisions. Nothing is eo important to the German as the knowledge of English and French, Of these and every other European tongue which lie needs for business lie acquires a working mastery. Such knowledge stands' him ill good stead. As tile French authors point out, the natural taste of illic German :s not great, and he in slow at acquiring ideas. But lie is docile, reads much, and is -determined to 'succeed. Tile vvorbl, and. especially this new part of it, needs, such qualities''; it cannot witfc stand resolution and capacity combined; they arc part of the "ilew way of life!"