BASIC WAGE AND SCHOOLS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 123, 26 May 1937, Page 10

BASIC WAGE AND SCHOOLS

A disposition in official, circles to consider as "somewhat exaggerated" the effect of the; basic wage on secondary schools, alleged by headmasters, and,a request by, the Director of Education to substantiate a statement on those, lines led to a report to him by the headmaster of Wellington College (Mr. W. A. Armour) — a copy of which was before the College Board'of Governors yesterday —which- fully bears out the case already. presented."' Figures for the September-December period ■of the years from. 1,932 to last year show conclusively that the number of boys leaving under the age of 17 has much more than tripled itself in the last year as compaired with *■ the first in the series. The actual figures are J172 in 1936 and 51 in 1932. Mr. Armour attributes the "unprecedented" numbers of withdrawals to two factors: (a) The sudden increase in industrial and commercial activity; and (b) certain fears by boys over 17 years of age of obtaining employment because of the operation of the basic wage. How real those fears are and how well justified has been amply disclosed by the recent articles in "The Post" on. the unfortunate position of those who were unable to obtain employment ' during the depression and now find themselves still without work on account of the basic wage and industrial award rates. Many of these young men continued

at secondary school in the depression because there was no opening for them outside. Their fate has been a lesson to those under 17 at school to make sure of employment while it offers. , It is to the consequences of this premature exodus, from the. schools that Mr. Armour draws particular attention. The first is that "pupils often leave to take up an occupation which they do not really want to make their life work" hoping to make the desired change in.a year or two. Here they find themselves again crippled by the basic wage provision against entering, a new occupation "at the bottom of the. wage scale." Hence, says Mr. Arniour, "the prospects of many promising pupils may be blighted." Another far-reaching effect foreseen is the deterioration of the general standard of national intelligence clue to the shortening of school life. Mr. Armour emphasises the demand made by physical education and social services on the time of youth at the expense of intellectual development.. The tendency of the present scheme, he says, is to focus attention on the mediocre, the dull, and the unfit in an endeavour to bring them up to a more satisfactory standard. It is inevitable that this effort expended during a reduced school-life must result in a neglect of the really intellectual, the potential leaders of the race. The conclusion is that if every lad in the country is to receive all possible educational advantages, for which the Government has expressed a keen desire, pupils should not leave school earlier than they have hitherto been doing. This ideal will not be approached until the baneful effect of the basic wage for young men has been removed, and it is for the Government to find a way out of the difficulties, it has itself created.