INDUSTRIAL LAWS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 123, 26 May 1937, Page 12

INDUSTRIAL LAWS

EFFECT ON SCHOOLS

PRINCIPALS' OPINIONS GAINS AND LOSSES The effect of the recent industrial legislation on attendance at two of Wellington's largest schools—Wellington College and the Wellington Technical College—is the subject of comment by the principals of the schools concerned. In a report to his board of governors yesterday, Mr. W. A. Armour (headmaster of Wellington College) substantiated a previous statement he had made regarding the serious depletion of the scliool's Benior pupils as a result of the industrial legislation, particularly the introduction of the basic wage. On the other hand, Mr. R. G. Ridling. (Director of the Wellington Technical College) has found that the introduction of the basic wage has had no effect on school attendance. Further, he has noticed a marked increase in the number of pupils attending the evening • classes, and has come to the conclusion that if students are leaving college earlier than formerly, they are not neglecting their education. . ■Mr. Armour said he thought that the unprecedented numbers of withdrawals of boys over 17 years of age was due to1 two factors: the sudden increase in industrial and commercial activity; and certain fears on the part of boys over 17 years of age of being unable to find employment on account of the operation of the basic wage. The consequence was that the school was very seriously depleted of senior pupils, and if this continued, there would soon be not much more than skeleton fifth and especially sixth forms. A serious aspect of the problem was that pupils of tender years left to take up an occupation which they did not really want to make their life work, hoping that after a year or two they would be able to enter the occupation in which they hoped to remain. WORK ELSEWHERE. ~But under the provisions governing the basic wage it was found that a lad who had begun work elsewhere could not be taken on in a new occupation at the bottom of the wage scale, but must be paid in accordance with the time he had worked elsewhere. Employers were not prepared to pay a beginner the same wages as' were paid to employees with one, two, or more years experience, and hence the prospects of many promising pupils might be blighted. "The present Government is, we know, particularly keen on giving every lad in the country air possible, educational advantages," he said. _ "At the same time it has committed itself to the basic wage at 21 years of age, The pijnciple of the basic wage is most commendable, but the way in which it has been fixed has produced a conflict between two fine ideas which urgently require reconciliation." INTELLECTUAL SIDE. Since the school day could hardly be lengthened, it was obvious that the total school life should be lengthened if the intellectual side was not to suffer at' the expense of the physical and social side. Good nutrition and physical education would not improve the mentality of a race. Races of fine physique might be overwhelmed by races of poorer physique but of better character or mental capacity. "A tendency of our present schemes of education and social service is to focus attention on the mediocre, the dull, and the unfit, in an endeavour to bring them; up to a more satisfactory standard," he said. "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 consequence will be that after several generations the whole intellectual standard of our country will fall. It must, therefore, be obvious that with all our might we should resist any tendencies which reduce the school life of our more intellectual children. "As legislation today is all in the direction of reducing the working hours of the day, and the length of the working life of adults, there is no necessity at all for pupils to leave school earlier than they have been doing hitherto. Rather these very tendencies are the strongest possible argument for pupils who enter secondary schools: to remain there up., to the age of 18 or even 19 years. Those who do so should not be handicapped in their entry into employment, for from their' ranks will spring the majority of. the leaders of the country in all walks of life." MR. RIDLING'S OPINION. "Our problem is different from the secondary school problem, because the average age of leaving the technical high school is a little lower than the average age of leaving the secondary school," said Mr. Kidling, in an inter-

view. "There is also this factor, which has a great effect, and that is that our system of education and the system of education in industry are continuous." Illustrating this fioint. he said that when a boy attended the technical school for pre-vocational training—engineering, for instance— the work done in the technical high school led on to industry, and immediately he went to work he was transferred to the evening classes, where the courses had a direct bearing on the work he had done in industry, and yet were so arranged as to form a continuous programme of work from his entry to the day school till he completed his educational experience —a matter of eight or nine years. On the average, the engineering boy spent approximately two years in the day school, and "for the completion of his engineering course to the highest standard he had to attend for at least six years in the evening school. The number of students (boys and girls) placed in occupations during the last seven years, a period embracing the boom and the depression, was interesting, he added. They were as follows:—l 929, 434; 1930, 353; 1931, 389; 1932, 524; 1933, 544; 1934, 592; 1935. 612; 1936, 528. The outstanding feature was the increased number of students placed in occupations during the depression years. During that period the college was able to supply labour of a skilled type, and this was popular with employers who were able, to engage it at a wage scale lower than the one previously operating. Some difficulty was experienced, however, in obtaining positions in commercial life. CONTINUOUS PROCESS. Education, said Mr. Ridling, was a continuous process, and it did not cease wh'en the student left school. On the contrary, when a pupil left school the educational activities were extended because the pupil's experience was wider. The experience of the Wellington Technical College was that the pupil did not give up his actual study of subjects which he had been taking during his attendance at the dayschool. His 'study was continued at night, and was broadened by his work and commercial experience. "So our definition of education much wider," he said. "When a student comes here we accept resppnsibility for him from the time he enters till he is a journeyman or is in a reasonably satisfactory position in commercial life. "The labour laws legislation and the introduction of the basic wage have had no affect on our attendances," said Mr. Ridling. "If boys are leaving school early, the night classes are increasing. The number of boys and girls in the evening school enrolment at the beginning of this year, shows a considerable advance, indicating that although students might have left the colleges to take up positions in industry, their educational activities here are not being neglected. There were one hundred more individual enrolments in the evening classes on March 15 than there were at the same time last year, and the enrolment has advanced considerably since then. The enrolments in the evening classes' at the middle of April for the last.few years ard as follows:—l93s, 1097; 1936, 1286; 1937, 1436. There is practically an increase of 200 every year," added Mr. Ridling. "Regarding the cultural side of education," said Mr. Ridling, "it must be remembered that culture is something that belongs to all crafts, and culture is developed by the fullest development of craft work. Culture comes to the craftsman with wide reading plus his association *with his antecedents in his craft. The long history associated with all crafts and industry is something that develops a high spirit' of service and culture." Mr. Ridling added that since the introduction of the industrial legislation he had been unable to place only three boys in occupations.