The Wanganui Chronicle. TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 1905. TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XLIX, Issue 12458, 21 March 1905, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 1905. TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

We think "Minerva," whose letter assailing the technical schools of this colony appeared in our yesterday's issue, will find but few sympathises and, still fewer champions among those competent to express aii opinioni on the subject.. "Minerva/s" lament is that we liave..substituted' "tfadie' J for; "art," but as he confesses to the belief that "alft our technical schools teach, is plumbing and wood-carving," it is obvious that his complaint is discounted by his ignox*anoe of the facts. The time has gone by when ■ Art -might sneer at -Trad© tritli impunity, and.we ishiould be soi-ry to think, tha-t our; cori'etepondenti had! penned his letter dm a spirit of arrogant and supexdority;' • Hisl fault is that he has based his. criticism' of our technical schoolsjupspn th^ t slaado^vy! substance of a mere idoa, and; that ideaerroneous. 'If^- ?<Minei*yajV letter was promptect by "a sens© of patawtio'duty, be'will,be ipleased,ta ieara that- our 3:echn':ioal schools aii& not th-e^pottf.-.tHings he'regards them,"to bei. 4 and woo<| ca^rving, excellent^things; tliOn.gJi they aiie, dtf not'coaisbitute. the Alpha and Omega .of,, the, curriculum..,. "MhieTva" impliess-that" hT@lier;,'eduqatio2i- in j its truest sense is Jieglected,; whereas: the ■fact is that the .vary- subj-scts to which lie .specifically •refers ill' sujpiporib of bis implied allegation are taught within ..the walls >of our own technical! school. But perhaps the best, and!''most'convincing ansff'M' to "MinerVa'V allegaltion—for what l)o says is tantamount to an all9----g;\tion--k that tho Wanganui Technical Scliool is able to take a student from the primary schoolI..'and. lead him right through toi tli<3: threshold1 .of- the universitj'.Vßut ■oui1 purposo is not so much -to sot "Minerva." right on this point, as to deprecate the writing or utterance of anything; calculated to foster pedantic prudery, and to express our abhorrence of tli & olrl-tmie snobbish discrimination betweeai "art" and "trade." It would be a,sorry tiling for New Zealand were manual*training to be excluded from our technical schools, for manual training, a.s much as scholarships, isi essen- ■ tial to the welfare of the people as a wlioie. Instead of speaking.slightingly of the teaching of "a.trade/ we might, With advantage, leani a lesson from the wisdom of tlio Great Metropolis;. ' "If every little-boy .learns, to use hammer, saw, aiid a two-foot rule, and every little girl learns to manage ladle, flatiron, and .needle, -by-the time the little boys and girls have grown old enough to fall in love and set up housekeeping, London will have developed! into one huge domestic Eiderij" prophesied) the i

late London School Board. It\ established a system of manual training for the boys. It took £cii years of agitations, experiments,'and negotiations; "with thg Board of Isucatipn" and the ] Lkjc#l Government !fi oard to. do it, with sufficient variations fbetween harmony and its opposite to prevent moii&tony. rhrpughout, the City guilds encouraged! it; iit tlia main, the trade unions did otherwise. "Finally, the first manual training centre on the present, basis was opened in 1893. Ten years later the Board kiWl in full! working oi-der 188 centres for training in woodwork, with bench accommodation for 66,640 hoys, and eight centres tfor mental work. The aim of the instruction is, -and .always has been, purely < educational,- in no sense commercial, nor even utilitarian further than as practical purpose encourages effort and stimulates interest." In one of the centres the instructor summed up its merits thus: "You .see, its is good for t.ce boys all over. Industrially, it makes them keem. to become good craftsmen rather tnaii bad clerks, or even 'messengers anJ van-boys with immediate.wage lot no pt«uspects. Then, should a lad take u§> One of the callings to which it obviously rakes a natural introduction, t.hvii<*li without giving him technical trade training, iti awakens in him an intelligent and ambitious desire to know all alout it. Perhaps most valuable of it all Is its influence domestically. It maka& a hew man of him from the horn© point ol i Jew. Too IJs as a home hobby ar© encouraged from the beginning, and manual training is meant to make each boy develop into a man who can use hammer, saw and chisels. He does not sit on a chair which has a broken leg—he mends it. :J But a generation of perfect husbands would be a melancholy benefit unless an equally superior order of wife< was created ready to appreciate their good • .points and high value. As a matter of fact, the Boai-d began "improving" the wives finst,- , whether,; becaiise it considered, they would require longer time in; the processor because the Education Board: was .more; tractable on. the maltter of"; improving fuiure. wivesi is not for me to say. In any case, oobkery; was first taught uhdier the Board by specialist, teachers and in; especially equipped o&n'-" tres an 1878;, Teachers were-few, builds ings were few, and thto^system largely experimental. Biit it evolved,.rapidly,teaohens being trained and centres plant:-.: ed with all practicable speed; Instruc-_ tion in laundry was introduced as. a correlative subject in 1890, and ."houses wiifery" as the translation and ; appli- \ cation of all theoretical knowledge and)6 1Jass pnactice iftto daily househbldlus^ age in 1896; The object. is as '.purely' educational in the domestic centres as ib is in the.manual training ceniiies: for the boys, being in no way^^ opneerned! withtuirning out professional cooks, ?"btitbe4 ing entirely conceirned^with turning put; igirJs capable, of beingJ good! Aviv^s and wise motheiTS when their turn, comes—; efficient hpimekeepersi fof i uture.-: Lon-;: don. Good citizenship, says Sii v Robert Stout, the Chancellor, of the NewZealand Fnivermty, is the first; thing, and its duties must befulfilled'.. Good homes and a contented,: intelligent, on indnst rious people must make for good citizenship. IMt beuigso;, we do ; not hesitate to say. iiat an o.ur ; .^Wo4/tJi«» ":trade"l-sictie ofstlie^ tec&i^i^iool .is; quite as' imp6rtan*./-akd |K&rna^| a-'good 4eaV %rt>& useful;"^ tl^^<sbi]^tiiij[ity;as W wh^^:ieh^ t the;jsl#"^c^ so jealously; espoiuse&