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Music Both vocal and orchestral music continues to make advances in range and standards of performance. There will soon be few schools which do not avail themselves of the great power of concerted music in creating and stimulating a directed emotional, and aesthetic background to the corporate life of the school. Trends in Technical Education It is now some twenty-six years since the organization of technical education was placed on its present basis, and the technical high school was made accessible to the-ever-increasing number of those who desired post-primary education of a pre-vocational character. So successful has the movement been that in the large centres the schools have grown to unmanageable size, and for some time now restriction upon entry has been necessary to prevent swamping. At the same time evening classes have been fostered and developed, and of late years, especially, organized courses for higher technical education have been offered in the schools in the main centres. Even so, emphasis in both day and evening schools has always been laid on the pre-vocational basis of all students' work—that is to say, the mathematical and scientifictreatment of the background has taken precedence over purely empiric instruction in the practical arts. It is true, of course, that circumstances have militated against complete realization, of these aims, one of these being the comparatively short average stay of the pupils. Another factor, operating chiefly in centres where there is a choice of post-primary schools, is the tendency for an undue proportion of pupils of superior intelligence to enrol at schools which provide mainly academic courses. Many secondary schools,, however, especially those in country districts, are widening their curricula and undertaking courses similar to those that were at one time only to be found in technical high schools. The process has been aided by the issue of common regulations for both typesof schools covering many of their most important functions. It can be said, then, that at present the Dominion is fairly well covered with schools of the technical-high-school type and that sharp differentiation in function is now to befound only in places where schools of different types exist side by side, and that even in these circumstances the gap tends to close. While, however, it may be, confidently stated that pre-vocational education up to the age of about sixteen years has been reasonably well provided for, it cannot be said that higher technical education up to the level of the associate membership of the professional institutions has been freely provided or demanded. Valiant attempts are being made at certain metropolitian colleges to provide comprehensive courses for entry to the professional side of engineering, but the difficulties are great, and the results, so far,, meagre. For this purpose full-time courses of study are necessary, and legislation providing for daylight training of apprentices, together with bursaries tenable at technical, colleges, would seem to be essential steps. In countries organized as large-scale producers of manufactured goods, there has been, over the years a very distinct transfer of ability from the professions to manufacturing; industries, and it is certain that this trend will become more accentuated in the post-war struggle for markets ; it is a tendency that New Zealand cannot afford to ignore. It is, in my view, urgently necessary to provide for higher technical education for a much larger number of persons than is at present the case, and to take steps to ensure that a fair proportion of those of the highest intellectual ability are enabled to take these coursesIn order that this may come about, certain changes are necessary, among which the following are the most important: the raising to senior status of the technical schools in the metropolitan centres by providing full-time day courses for apprentices and others studying for professional diplomas, and by eliminating much of the junior work now

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