The Daily News WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1031. DISAPPOINTING YOUTH.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 December 1931, Page 6

The Daily News WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1031. DISAPPOINTING YOUTH.

Facts relating to a recent examination conducted by the New Zealand Electrical Wiremen’s Registration Board that were placed before the New Plymouth Borough Council on Monday night are such as to cause everyone to think. Of nine employees of the council who took the examination only three were successful, and the council very properly is taking steps to ascertain why. Everyone will agree that a thorough in* vestigation is required, but - it would seem that the percentage of failures among New Plymouth candidates is not as high as elsewhere, for in the whole Dominion only one-fifth of those. who tried were able to pass what is described as a simple written examination. It may be that the youths affected had short notice of the examination or perhaps received little assistance by way of preparation for it, but whatever influences may have been at work the results are extremely disappointing. We may take it that §ach of the youths who has been apprenticed to the trade of electrical wireman has had, at any rate, the regular primary school training, and some of them, no doubt, have attended secondary schools. If their education, so far as it had gone when they went to work, had served any useful purpose it certainly should have prepared them to assimilate the knowledge that was awaiting them —not only practical knowledge but the very modest amount of “book learning” required of them. It would, of course, be unreasonable to condemn the whole education system because a number of youths have failed at a simple examination, but the fact must cause some doubt as to whether the syllabus and the methods of the primary schools are giving value for the very large sum of money annually spent upon them. Economy in education being just now a much discussed topic, it may not be out of place to suggest that the efficiency of the system should also be the subject of inquiry. Are satisfactory results being produced by methods which are less formal than they were and designed rather to lead than to drive? Four of the nine New Plymouth apprentices failed to attend any of the four classes arranged for their special tuition, one had two attendances, and a solitary one was present on all four occasions. Surely their schooling should have been able to inculcate in them a greater desire to learn. Perhaps methods which are now regarded as out of date would have been more effective. But if the education system is at fault it certainly must not be saddled with all the blame. The young people throughout the Dominion who have failed in the examination have been influenced by their environment. A great many of them probably owe their failure to their readiness in absorbing ideas which are far too prevalent. Those of the candidates —a large proportion, no doubt —who are employees of local bodies have possibly been contented in the belief that they had “safe” jobs, and therefore need not be anxious to improve themselves and their positions. Their lack of ambition may be explained, if not excused, by the prevalence in this country of the idea that every man has the right to be provided with work suitable to his capacity at “union rates” of pay. Nowadays men who have no work demand it, and if work is not to be had they claim that the State must keep them. This attitude destroys initiative and ambition, and its effect upon young folk is especially deplorable. The youth also is liable to be influenced adversely by the system —the product of trade union methods —which pays for hours, not for work. The incentive which sends him to work is the amount of money he will receive at the end of the week, and too often in the case of apprenticeship the amount of money, fixed by an Arbitration Court

award, is excessive and the amount of work done, for it insufficient. The’ result is that the youth does not have to try hard enough; he does not learn the virtue of self-reliance. He becomes part of a machine working at a certain pace for a certain result, though if he would he might easily outpace the machine and make a better place for himself. In one sense the way of the youth is less difficult now than ever before, but the easy way is leading him nowhere. It is not altogether his fault that he goes the. way so many of his seniors are going, but with times as they are it would obviously be worth while to . try to rescue him. That is the idea which forms the silver lining of the cloud of depression. If the difficulties through which the Dominion is passing will persuade both old and young to adjust their sense of values, to work . more earnestly, to take more pride in what they are able to do, and even to learn for the sake of learning, the whole nation will emerge into a new era of contentment.