TECHNICAL SCHOOLS.

Waipa Post, Volume III, Issue 129, 19 July 1912, Page 3

TECHNICAL SCHOOLS.

TO THE EDITOR. SIR, —I cannot say that I have ever been reconciled to my boy going to the technical school at Hamilton on alternate Mondays, and now since I have found others are dissatisfied, I feel like voicing my views and giving the reasons for my discontent. It appears to me than an effort is being made to mould all the children into one particular type. All, irrespective of inclination and temperament and parents’ wishes, are taken to the car-

penter’s bench at an inordinate and disproportionate expense to the country and to the children, for they lose the proper routine of school training for that day, and receive instead a very questionable opportunity to learn of life as it is exhibited on the rail-

way train. Those of us who have travelled know what the late train from Frankton can on occasions exhibit in the way of human life and depravity. And what is this training ? My boy comes home with a small piece

of wood, roughly hewn, which he does not show with pride and which I have found by comparison with others is pretty near the average. He is, however, full of this, that, and the other that has impressed„him on the way coming and going—things that raise questions in his mind which I am not there to answer, and, worse still, somebody else in the shape of a boy as ignorant, or some vile irresponsible drunken derelict of life answers for him. Were my boy to aspire to be a carpenter, I should be ashamed of the progress made for the amount of time and energy expended.

Mind, I have nothing against his being a carpenter. He shall be one if he' shows a disposition to be a better carpenter than anything else. I dread to think of my little girl with her strongly impressionable nature enduring this kind of thing. What will she get? What has any girl learnt of cooking at these schools ? Cooking schools and classes never seem to be worth the aver-

age child’s attention. The problem of cooking must be tackled in a very different manner. Tbe point I am trying to impress is that our children are literally taken out of our hands without as much as by your leave, and subjected to a form of manual or technical

training merely to keep some special teachers employed. Technical and manual training are quite proper and right in large centres, where the selected few can get a high class of training and so get an early start in their

particular sphere of life. But what good is this waste of time to boys who want to get an early start in college, and later in the university. Let those who want this technical training have it for what it is worth to them, but let the others have the option of refusing it. I do not want to stand out against anything because it concerns me alone. I would sooner sink my objections aud endure it, but my boy and girl (later on) are concerned, and I have goocl-reason to believe there are others who feel as I do. If we, who are concerned, could get together and view our opinions and l'aise a protest, the local committee could be interviewed and asked to present our views in the proper quarters. These remarks are not intended as a criticism of any body, but as a protest against a system which is being thrust upon us, and my desire is to discover to what extent these views are shared by others.—l am, etc., JOHN S. REEKIE.