EDUCATION IN ARMY

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 280, 25 August 1942, Page 3

EDUCATION IN ARMY

Facilities For Youths “I have been disturbed lately by the lack of educational facilities afforded the

youths Who are being called into the armed forces,” said the chairman of the Wellington Technical College Board, Mr. W. Appleton, at a meeting of the board last night. “I know of the case of two engineering cadets. If they were being given military training it would not be so bad, but they are being used on the wharves. It is not a fair thing.” The duties allotted to the youths should have some bearing on what they were fitted for, he continued. The auth- . orities should be urged to provide some facilities for these young men and young women to receive instruction. "It is a lamentable waste of manpower,” Mr,

Appleton declared. “IJ we could combine industrial with Army training we might lit them for a useful career at the same time.” The report of the director of the college, Mr.. It. G. liidliug, stated that a conference was shortly to be held between representatives of.the services and commercial aud industrial organizations to consider the matter. Mr. E. E. Brooking criticized the system on which men were taken for the forces. He quoted the case of a local insurance company, in which an appeal for exemption of the manager had been refused, but that for the office boy allowed. Skilled boys were being put where they could not use their skill.Colonel T. W. McDonald said he thought that both sides of the question should be heard. Youths were taken into the forces to train them to be fit to go overseas when thev reached the age of 21. Mr. K. It. Baxter suggested that the coming conference would have carried more weight if it had been called by the Minister of Manpower. Industry must be subordinated to war now that we were fighting a totalitarian war. The director said that the Army had adopted the principle of making education a part of their training, and time would be provided for it. It could not, however, be put into operation in a short time. The choosing of the special personnel required for the staff within the

Army would be a tremendous task, for a survey conducted in oue camp had shown that more than 50 per cent, of the men wanted vocational training. It would probably be necessary to establish a correspondence system. Mr. J. M. Dawson quoted the case of two qualified joiners out of three called up from one firm. They were permanently in the Hoyal Air Force Band. It was suggested by the chairman that some of the men from nearby camps could use the facilities of the college, which was short of pupils.