NEED FOR A LONGER SCHOOL LIFE

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 149, 12 July 1937, Page 4

NEED FOR A LONGER SCHOOL LIFE

Bay« Encouraged to Leave Too Early MR W. A. ARMOUR'S VIEW The fact that the present condition of iadustry and the trend of recent legislation were encouraging boys to leave school at an earlier age than formerly was deplored by Mr W. A. Armour, principal of Wellington Boys' Ooliege and a former principal of the Napier Boys' High School, in an address to tbe annual dinner of the Wellington Cqllege Old Boys' Association held in Hastings on Saturday night. Top many boys now, said Mr Armour, were leaving schqol somewhat earlier than the previous generation of boys had done. The increase in industry following the yearg of the * depjessiqu was creating a tremendous tletnand fpr young people, and the inducements to them to ehter into industrial occupations were great ijideed, making it dilff; cult for parents to keep their chiidren at pchool as long H many of them would like to go. "Some of the recent legiplation, aJto, is inducing young people to leave schopl earlier," added Mr Armour, fbut tbe pqsition must right itself in time- The present ideal is to shortea working time and the working week. It must,

therefore, come about eventually that, since the workers will not be requirec to work for so long a period, tberp wib be less need for them to start 50 young. It is alsq important that they must be educated to spend their increased leisure tin;e jvisely." Education to-duy, h© added, differed from the old idea, which bad been to develop the intellectnal side first, secondly the physical and then thirdly— ^ but separated from the first two by a very long way — aesthetjcal. The pre-sent-day basis placed physical fitness (which meant more than games) first, with aesthetical training second and tkc scholastio side third. As more time was devoted to the first two, where was intellectual training going to come in nnless the time spent at sehpol was made longerF aaked Mr Armaur. If the present tendencies were permitted to continne unchecked, tho race as a whole would be less intellectual 200 years henc© than it was to-day. A longer school life was iqiperative. Conflicting legislation of today would have to be reconciled, and this would have to came before long, A previous speaker , had referred to pupils who had been "duds" at school, said Mr Armour, but a sehoolinaster pi any experience realised that there were few duds indeed in any school. Fellqws who might be looked upon as duds at school generally turned out well in after life in the partieular lines ;they took up. All young fellows did not show prcmise whije it school, eitber becauso of their taking up a line of study not suited to them or, perhaps, because they developed more rapidly later in life ; but the influence of the old school and its surroundings made a' definite mark upon them and, in time, they turned out weli. The term "duds" should, therefore, be applied advisedly.