CONTINUATION SCHOOLS

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 273, 11 August 1908, Page 8

CONTINUATION SCHOOLS

■ A COMPULBORY SYSTEM. ■■■;' LECTURE BY MR. W. GRAY. Mr. William Gray, M.A., B.Sc., gave a very able and comprehensive address in St. Thomases schoolroom, ,Newtown, last evening, on ,"A system of compulsory continuation schools." The lecture,was one of the Public' Library series; Mr. G. Hogben, M.A., 'Inspector-General for Schools, presided over a'-'small attendance. ". Reconstruction of Methods Needed.

Mr., Gray said that tho true democratic ideal was surely this, that for each individual there should-be, provided the opportunity and the means of enabling him to become efficient in that sphere in which he had chosen to serve the Statej'.and to work out his own destiny. The importance iof the years of youth; as distinct frorn childhood, for carrying out this ideal, were beginning to be more'fully recognised. ,The best and highest results towards, national and individual wellbeing, could hardly be expected until tho period of youth, with its peculiar temptations and opportunities,. was , given scope for a fuller and. freor development than was possible under present, economio conditions. He asked whether the present system in this country did justice to the large number of youth of both sexes who entered the ranks of labour at the early age of 14 years. Was the State just,to itself in this, that the majority,of these were allowed toipass through the plastic,and formative years of adolescence with littlo educative influence to guide them towards a proper conception and realisation of their true place iVthe community? He urged that a reconstruction of our methods of dealing, irith our youth was necessary; if the nation's, life 'was to,, become increasingly stronger., , ; _ ; / Mqro was being done in New Zealand than many of 'them might know to solve the problem, but. he wished to refer to what was being done in-, the German State of Wurtemberg. The as a people, had gone further, in the matter of continuation education, than any. other people in the world. Of the'twenty-sis States., which composed the German Empire, twenty-one had endorsed the view that such.instruction should be compulsory.' :,Wurtemberg,,half the size of Wellington; Province, >vith a , .population' less than three times that of: New Zealand, was in tho lead among the German States in industry, art, and a commerce, , and this • position she owed largely to , the efficiency of her workmen,/due tp,,,thq_continuation system, that had : been irineoiifcenco fmr more than two generations,:, and,, was to-day being brought to a still higher state of perfection.

The Wurtemberg System. .Mr Gray traced the history of this system. In 1848 a'Bureau) for industry and commerce wis established which reorganised former institution^,,.Evening instruction, as well as 'Sunday;''instruction, was provided, &nd mbiel spßaraliseiihdDurssjr wero provided for, jonrncgToeiiisedhanirstforweiapprentioes. Attendance was practically compulsory. Two points had all along f<nmd favour in .the State, .and indeed throughout Germany: (1) Local support, and. (2) payment of some fee by the student.,,:Tbo schools were arranged to reach everybody'dependent on industrial or commercial.'pursuits, and training for women was _ provided. v ln 1907 a new Act was passed which, beginning in. April, 1909, will come < fully into'force in 1912. At present good work was.being done, but although the aim was individual .instruction, the work done was more .largely; continuativo of the ordinary sohool course. In • 1900 Dr. George Ker'cheristeiner,' wrote,a book on the training :of., youth! for, civio,. life which, with the practice of his theories at Munich, had exerted a great influence on State Governments, arid indeed upon employers of labour.and industrial unions. 'Wurtemberg had, after the fullest' Consideration- enacted a law making day : education I fori all youths between the 'ages'of; 14''and',17 compulsory, and this had been followed -by a-reorganisation of the schools so'as'i to'-bring;, them into line with vocational needs... •

;.A Drastic Law. •The chief provisions, of the law were as follow: ;Eyery.locality., or;. commune in which for three successive years an average of at least 40 male workmen under 18 years of ago are engaged in industrial or commercial pursuits is obliged to provide an industrial ■school or a commercial school for their instruction, and .to maintain the same as long as the number of workmen of the stated ago does not fall below an average of 30 for three successive years. The ordinary school under the law will be an industrial school, ;but if the needs of the community are such .as to require a commercial school in addition, this also shall bo erected. Decision concerning tho extra school lies with tho local school'board, the community council, and finally the higher industrial school council. Very poor communes may postpone the crection of an industrial school for boys, but in'any qisc a general improve'ment school must be l maintained. Wurtemberg had pronounced, in this law, emphatically in favour of bringing tho influence of education to bear upon the apprentice life of the community in a much more thorough going fashion than ever before. During the wholo period of apprenticeship the youth of tho I community would bo receiving such instruction as would enablo . them better to understand their own occupation and better to appreciate their place in the community. The law was compulsory on employers and guardians as well as i upon workmen. A ■minimum attendanceor 280 hours per year was' required, and_ the instruction must be given in the'- day time, during working hours. This was a tremendous step forward, and surely was significant of a very deep and powerful pub- ' lie opinion. Evening work was allowed, but only for advanced students, and thero the courses' were optional. Practically it had come to' this, 1 ' that tho German employer had been asked to concede", and had willingly in most cases'conceded,: an average of six or seven hours per week, during ten months of the year; out of the working hours, in order that workmen might be permitted to attend school: "Provision had', been made for girls as well as boys. The employers had demanded in return for their concession that thero must be'a thoroughly trained corps of teachers to makethe'schools efficient, and tlie Stato was taking' : steps to supply this need.

Teaching Civic Responsibilities. Industrial. schools, in Wurtemberg and Bavaria: provided for any and every occupation whatsoever, from that of chimney sweeper ,to, that of electrician. Everyone entering the ranks of labour had provision made for him. i The schools, were intended, not merely to give, trade instruction, but to make the young apprentice a worthy citizen, and teach him something of his duties and responsibilities to the State. ! The compulsory system had behind it . the . whole.force and authority of . tho : German nation. An Imperial law' of industry made it . binding upon all employers to allow their apprentices off in so .far as their attendance for instruction was : required by Jocal authority or..by. State Government. A voluntary system was .introduced for a time, but had been abandoned as inadequate almost without dissent., It was found that without compulsion many capable boys and girls, keenly desirous of, self-improvement, were prevented from .attending continuation schools through tho carelessness or greed of their employers. .will.New,.Zealand Follow? That' Germany had declared in favour of a system of compulsory'continuation schools offered no'precedent to a community such as this. Yet the trend of events in Britain and in America was in this direction. His own belief beforo long Now Zealand would find ..it ..necessary to follow. Continuation education of a spccial and general kind was now a recognised feature of our system. Ho„was surprised to note i the strides that had, n b,epn made in the last few years. Almost, every. country district had been made to feci .the force of the movement tow.ards .keeping, all apprentices and workmen within the reach of eclucativo influence',(Juring, tho early period of their career. Tho .question was, had wo gone far onough ? ■AVas'. a '.'compulsory,, system not found necessary?.,. Were the proper facilities always given to the worker, ■'even to attend evenling classes?' Arid'if so, did he avail himself .of them?., • ... r . „ The .expenditure ot;; Urge sums of jnmmy_

by local bodies and tho State should require certain obligations from employers and workers alike.

. I" Wurtemberg free education, as wo knew it, was unknown. Anything that would tend to rob the peoplo of their feeling of independencewas oarofully avoided. Whatever might bo said for the elementary schools, it would seem a reasonable and desirable principle to establish that those who ; had como to the age and stage of earners should be encouraged to invest a little in, their own future equipment. He confessed to a growing feeling that the imposition of a fee, however small, would have a salutary influence upon the minds of our growing youth.

Mr. Hogben's Remarks. Mr. G. _ Hogbon, Inspector-General of Schools, said that tho problem of compulsory continuation classes was a most important and a most difficult one. Statistics showed that tho countries that had established systems of continuation education had increased their industrial output, and in somo cases doubled it. _ Wages in Wurtemberg were higher than in thoso German states where this system was less in evidence. He had been even more strongly impressed with the national effects of continuation education in Switzerland.

If New Zealand were compared with those two countries as regards each 10,000 of the population, the educational position was as follows:—Proportion at all institutions of higher education: New Zealand, 275; Switzerland, 575; Wurtemberg, 546 (Switzerland's proportion being more than twice as large as that of Now Zealand). It was true that in this country a great deal of progress had been mado within tho last, few years, since Parliament had been willing to give money for tho purpose. In the last eight years the proportion of recipients of higher education to each 10,000 of population had been trebled. He did not think tho number was sufficient now, because he wanted this country to reach the proportion of Switzerland and Wurtemberg. Ho did not think that we were quite extravagant enough yet, if this was to be called extravagance. With its youth and scattered population there were special difficulties in this country. Wo wore almost trying to run before wo had loft off crawling. He did not mind which was imitated, Switzerland or Wurtemberg. Pursuing in detail his previous comparison, Mr. Hogben said that for each 10,000 of population: The proportion in secondary schools was: New Zealand 72, Wurtemberg 72, Switzerland 208 (nearly three times as many). Continuation classes and lower technical schools, Now Zealand 188,. Switzerland 304, Wurtemburg 446.

University—New Zealand 14, Switzerland and Wurtemberg 28, or twice as many. - Improvement was needed here in respect of the continuation classes, and the question arose, whether to apply compulsion, or such a degree of persuasion as would produco tho same effect. Ho was not quite sure whether it would be workable to apply the same kind of compulsion in New Zealand as in Wurtemborg, even if tlio people were agreeable. Wo might, 'however, do what was dono' in America, and obtain an agreement among the educational authorities, employers' associations, and workers' unions, not to recognise an apprentice in any trade as entitled to enter into the full privileges of a workman until he had gone through: one of tho vocational schools. In Switzerland the question of compulsion was left to individual cantons, and some of these left it to tho townships, where, in' some cases, more than nine-tenths of tho workmen themselves had voted for a compulsory system. There was no difficulty about the compulsion, because public opinion was behind the movement. He hoped that a good deal more would be done in New Zealand during the next few years. Hearty votes of thanks were passed to Mr. Gray and Mr, Hogben.