TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 613, 4 March 1921, Page 4

TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

THE COMING SESSION FOR 1921. (Contributed.) A most important part of the eduction of the young people of this country is carried out in technical schools, where classes are conducted in the evening for the benefit of those who, on account of their calling, are prevented from day-time attendance. Young persons, between the ages of 14 and 17, are primarily concerned. They may be free pupils or compulsory pupils. Other persons who are interested in the various subjects of technical instruction may a. : so attend the classes on paying the fees, which are very low and within reach of all.

Now it may be asked by the prospective student: ‘Why do I need to attend a night class at a technical school? I have passed the sixth standard and gained my certificate of proficiency. I have nothing more to learn.” Certainly not, if he intends to remain at the bottom of the ladder of promotion all the rest of his days. But it is scarcely creditable that any young person of either sex is so devoid of ambition and the sense of personal worth as to entertain such erroneous ideas. Youth is the period of promise, of opportunties for self-betterment, the formative period of life which determines the ultimate issue—success or failure. It cannot then, be honestly maintained that one’s education ends on receiving the certificate duly signed by an official of tbe Board of Education. Really the recipient is merely on the threshold of the educational palace. He has vast corridors to pass along, and many and varied rooms to go through before he leaches his goal. And when does he reach it? Certainly not in this life, for a true and perfect education is cne of the unattained ambitions of man. We go on educating and being educated all our days.

For practical purposes, however, we ray that a boy or a girl is educated when 'he has equipped himself to begin the battle of life—with a reasonable chance of becoming a useful citizen, a complete unit in the national life.

Now although it is impossible within the compass of the Technical School erected in Pukekohe to satisfy every educational desire, nevertheless there is an ample range of subjects to choose from —a sufficiency whereon a greater superstructure may be reared. The foundation must be well laid, and an edifice of becoming proportions can be raised upon it. Further we may rest assured that the educational authorities will not be slow to provide, as far as the conditions of our modern commercial and industrial life allow, all the facilities necessary to cope with the increasing demand for instruction in technological education. But it is encumbent on us to show that that demand exists. The preliminary study of our mother tongue (and what greater heritage are we born to than our glorious literature?), the study of the rise and spread of the British Empire and an elementary knowledge of the art of calculating, these are formal conditions antecedent to any course of instruction that is worth the name. These initial lessons, together with craft, commercial practice, woodwork, drawing, elementary architectural drawing, first aid, hygiene, elocution and other subjects will he taught at the Technical. School. Manifest the desire for further instruction and the educational authorities will do their best to satisfy it. And those who intend to pursue courses of instruction during the coming session should be on the outlook for further notices of dates and meetings.