WORK NOT IN VAIN

Wairarapa Daily Times, 10 December 1937, Page 6

WORK NOT IN VAIN

TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL. EXCELLENCE OF TRAINING. In presenting the final report of the Master ton Technical -High School at the break-up ceremony in the Municipal Hall last evening, the Principal, Mr. O. H. E. Yates, stated that it was well particularly at this time to praise and consider some of the objectives at which the school had aimed. * 1 The, training given in a technical day school,” he said, "is essentially pre-voeational, that is, it aims at laying that foundation on which the tradesman will build his superstructure and not the production of so many carpenters, engineers, plumbers, painters, dressmakers, etc.. In carrying out this work care must be taken to provide not only an industrial basis but also one of such a nature that the artisan may be in a position to appreciate the world around him —literature, art, and nature in its varying forms. It has been for this reason that we have paid particular attention to such subjects as literature, art, dramatic work, and music. When we turn to the evening school we find a very different object in view. It is here that the young tradesman comes to study his trade, to' assimilate the latest methods and very often to gain experience in many aspects of his trade with which he does not normally come in contact. It. is deeply to be regretted that after giving two or three nights to trade study the young tradesman is unable to study other subjects of a literary or aesthetic nature. In any remark I make I do not wish it to be interpreted that the ivork of a tradesman is not of a cultural nature. Far from it. The production of a piece of work from rude materials into a properly finished and fashioned object is not only a work of skill but one which has a decided educational value. Such work in studying and moulding the raw material into useful or beautiful forms has its value in character building, and I feel sure that the real pleasure gained in creative work of this kind is in no way inferior to that gained from books. Some think in words, some in form and line, and whichever it is, there is a place for both in this world of ours, and we must pay tribute to those who build no matter what the tools or raw material may be. As I now turn my. thoughts on the successes of many of our old pupils I am convinced that the work of the Masterton Technical High School has not been in vain. To-day our old boys and girls are playing prominent parts in trade, industry, aviation, commerce, etc., and I do not think that it is an unjust claim to make that this school did much in the moulding of the lives and characters of these citizens.”

“In February next,” Mr. Yates said, in concluding his report, “most of the staff and pupils will be entering Wairarapa College and I sincerely trust that all those who have been associated in any way with this school will give to Mr. Hancox and ; his staff at Wairarapa College that loyal support which I have had and in so doing forget differences of opinion, and bring about an enduring unity. It is then, and only then, that the new school can rise to those heights and attain that position in education which is its right and become a secondary school second to none in the Dominion — Mauri Ora mauri mahi—Prosperity is the fruit of industry.”