The Dominion SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1918. TECHNICAL EDUCATION

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 300, 7 September 1918, Page 6

The Dominion SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1918. TECHNICAL EDUCATION

_ The conference of directors of technical schools which has been sitting in Wellington during : tho present week has discussed many important aspects of pur education system and passed many interesting resolutions with the object of improving the existing methods .of technical instruction, • but no- attempt appears' to have been made to deal in. a thorough manner with first principles. It is worse- -than useless to go on building the superstructure until the foundations have been firmly laid. The report of tho proceedings at the conference and the Minister's address completely justify and give additional emphasis to the plea recently made in these columns for clear ideas on" the subject of education reform and for a well-thought-out and consistent policy. It was-.pointed out at tho conference that one of the points raised .by 'the National Efficiency Board is that' before"fresh funds are granted to technical schools it ought to be. determined whether in their present form and methods of teaching they satisfy the national'needs. The Efficiency Board very properly wants to get back to first principles. No real progress can be made until wo know exactly what is meant by technical education—until its scope is clearly defined. No one seems to know precisely what place it occupies, or is intended to occupy, in our education system. The Minister himself admits that "wo have not yet -properly defined the terms 'high rchqol , and 'technical high school.' " But surely it is somebody's business to straighten out this tangle. The whole thing is becoming chaotic, and no. wonder. The Minister seems to bo wandering helplessly Hn a' labyrinth, not knowing which -way to turn. Ho tells us that the primary school teachers will not accept the definition of frontiers suggested by the directors of technical schools, and a similar boundary war is being vageel by the teachers of secondary, schools. This confusion will continue, until.our educational authorities lcarn ; to' see things clearly and k> see them whole. The Minister suggests .that there shduld.be occasional meetings of university professors and teachers of our primary, secondary, and technical schools in order to make the various stages of education join up .more satisfactorily. Such meetings would no doubt do good, but something'more is necessary in order to- put. the whole system on' a more logical basis. The Government might well consider, tho advisablencss of setting up a commission consisting of representatives .of all ; branches of education for the purpose of coordinating national education, in this Dominion, from the primary schools to- the university, and placing it on a sound and stable basis. It would be a distinct advantage if a really great educationist, .like Professor Michael Sadler, ' of Leeds University, could be induced to act as diajrman. ... The address- delivered by the Minister of Education to the directors of technical schools' was a depressing utterance. It gave no indica : tibri of a definite policy. He laid baremariy of the defectsof.the.present system, but did not tell us.how he proposed to remedy them. He had much to say.about the difficulties that lie ■in the path of reform, but he did not disclose any plan of attack by means of which, ho hoped to overcome them. The note of confident leadership was conspicuously absent. The' need of'tho hour as .far as education is .concerned'is a statesmanlike policy'and an unswerving determination to put it into operation. The Assistant-Direc-tor of Education (Mn. J. Caughley), in a communication published in .another column, explains that it was not his duty to offer any policy atthe Christchurch conference. His object was simply to show "the truebearings and_ essential needs of tech-nical-education." We do not want to , do Mm Cauqhley any injustice,' but we must say that his speech on the co-ordination resolution... does not provide much enlightenment on these points if the reports in the Christchurch papers contain .a fair summary of his , remark?.' .It. would be interesting to know what.is the Department's idea- .-of the aim and scopo of technical education. This would help us to understand its "true bearings and essential needs." Mr; Oaughley says tho Dominion ought not to assume that he "has no policy in view, or that tho Department has no constructive plans," 'but; he carefully.; refrains from. asserting;' positively.' that he has >; policy in view,, or that the Department has constructive- plans. If this policy and these plans aro actually in, existence, the Minister does not appear to know much about them. At any rate he did riot mention them in his talk with tho directors of technical schools. In fact, ,he gave the impression' that .he was in ! soarch of a policy. ; He asked the conference for recommendation's and ' suggestions.' That was, of course, quite- a proper thing to do, but there-was no , reason why he should not have disclosed those "constructive plans" the non-exist-ence of which must not, so' Mr. CauGhley tells us, be taken for granted. If- the Department has found a solution of the technical in 7 structicnr problem it would be sheer perversity to . make a secret'of it. There has been no lack of suitable opportunities of making it .public. We hope Mr. Caughley. will hasten to get "authority to speak" now that he has lifted the public on to the tip-toe of expectation. His assurance that "the Department will deal with the matter through the recognised official channels" is, howeves; by no means encouraging. Experience lias taught us that it takes a long while to deal with matters through "official channels." Mr. Oaughley has himself reminded us of the slowness of the process. Ho told the Christchurch conferenco that it would take a generation to change the system of education and another generation or two to chance the teachers. It is therefore probable that unless there is a speeding up in the "recognised official channels" this generation will pass away before the promises of education reform arc fulfilled. /