TECHNICAL EDUCATION

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 26 September 1901, Page 2

TECHNICAL EDUCATION

1 Yesterday afternoon, Mr Isaac, one of the organising Inspectors for Technical Education, commenced in one of the class rooms of the Greymouth District High School, a course of lectures to teachers, on modelling in plasticine, paper folding, and brush work.

There were 50 teachers present, and judging from the enthusiasm of the lecturer and the way in which he was able to infuse some of his own spirit into his hearers, the visit of Mr Isaac must prove of great advantage to the district. In his opening remarks, the lecturer who appears to be saturated with his subject, briefly dealt with the utilitarian and practical as well as the educational side of the question. An educated person, said he, is one who is perfectly equipped for the due fulfilment of the position which he occupies > in society and unless this is the case no matter what, comes of instruction be may have undergone he cannot be said to be educated. He briefly sketched FroebeTs scheme of Kindergarten, which has already passed through various stages until much of what is now termed Kindergarten is not Kindergarten at all, A celebrated philosopher once/ said that there was no expression without impres- . sion, and also that there was no reception without its corelative reaction, moreover, be held that the impression is incomplete unlil a physical reaction is set up. This the lecturer maintained was what had to be borne in mind by those engaged in the development of the young mind. He proceeded to deal minutely with the object of hand work, which he holds is truly educational, and stated that only a limited form of technical education is at present taught and this to the girls, but trusted the day would come when every girl will be taught in the schools how to cook, in a thorough manner, the chief dishes for an ordinary table. Besides this, every girl should be able to make any garment which she wears. Boys, Mr Isaac hold, should be taught plain sewing and darning, and even to mend when necessary, their own breeches. This kind of work, he informed the teach* ers, the Education Department is quite prepared to subsidise. For the present, however, cookery, dressmaking, and dairying, embraces all the technical education to be introduced into the schools. The lecturer holds that manual work is neither technical nor industrial, but wholly educational, and that all hand work has for its and the education of the children and the production of educated men and women. Educationists of the present day believe that modelling ha* a high educational value for the following reasons: —lt develops clearness of perception and accuracy of observation; it quickens the analytical faculty; it creates a love for the beautiful; it assists in the formation of habits of neatness and gives children, an accurate workmanlike way of using their hands; it gives a knowledge of form, and for this, reason all forms of hand vrork must be based on drawing. Plasticine is, thanks to the inventive genius of a scientist, the one material which meets all the requirements for modelling in state schools. It requires only to be kept free from dust, and as soon as the teachers are to use it, all that they have to do is to make application to the Education Department when a supply will be furnished. Children should be taught to use both hands. At present we are but a lopsided race, we use but one hand and walk in a most ungainly fashion. For all practical purposes the child should be ambidontrous. Mr Isaac then proceeded to give detailed instructions as to the requisites for modelling, and soon the room presented a most unusual appearance, all the teachers being busy shaping various articles such as cups and saucers, jugs, vases, from the plasticine. At 7-30 p.m., the second lecture was delivered when the lecturer dealt with flat work, relief work, etc., and succeeded in holding his audience almost spelbound by bis graphic description of the possibilities of the new departure. The series of lectures will continue till Saturday afternoon, and from present appearances must result as has been said, in much good, to the pupils and teachers,