PART-TIME SCHOOLS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 531, 15 May 1933, Page 2

PART-TIME SCHOOLS

DEVELOPMENT N.EEDED SUGGESTFD AS REMEDY FOR PRESENT DIFFICULTIES. EGONOMIC REVOLUTION. An extension of part-time education, involving a limitation of the employment of juveniles, was suggested ;as a remedy for the present economic difficulties hy Mr. J. H. Howell, late - director of the Wellington Technical College, in the course of an interesting address at the annual meeting of the New Zealand Technical School Teachers' Association recently. In remarking that the Dominion's post-primary schools would have to he adjusted to a vastly extended system of part-time education, Mr. Howell said that part-time education already existed in the form of evening classes at the technical schools, and despite the fact that the attendances at these classes were declining, the extension of the part-time system was not only economically necessary, but was also educationally desirable. "We are faced to-day with an economic revolution, compared with which . the industrial revolution was insignificant in importance and extent," continued Mr. Howell. "The industrial revolution took place in the age of the stage coach, and the economic revolution is taking place in the age of the aeroplane, and the stage coach and the aeroplane are not unfit symbols of the two revolutions. , Great Ovar-Production. I "The results of the economic revo1 lution we can hardly envisage. It has been calculated that in the markets of the world, in July, 1931, there were j goods enough to supply the needs of 1 the world for two years and three ' month's without any additional work being done. Even if that was an ex- : aggeration, it is a momentous f^d [ that we have to face the possibilities ! of tremendous over-production, and

| it seems toi me there are only three ' courses op'en. We might relapse into I the peasant society where groups of * families would be more or less selfsupporting; we might attempt to raise the standard of living of what we consider the backward sections : of the community so that demand would be stimulated; or we might retard production." i The idea of abandoning the advan- ' tages of modern civilisation did not ; appeal, and the second choice would : take too long to be effective. ThereI fore it seemed that limitation of Pr°~ ! duction was the only solution, and l ' that were so, people would have to ! look forward to less work for the t elder, and less work or no work for t the juvenile. No Work Under 16 Years. j "It has been maintained," said Mr. 5 Howell, "and I think with _a great deal of justice, that no juveniles should be employed under 16 years ; of age, but I think we would have great difficulty in persuading e general public that that is a desirable procedure. There is tlm alternative of diluting labour by limiting the hours of work." Dr. Beeby had proposed a scheme by which no youth under 16 years of age worked more than half tnne, the remaining time being spent at school. • That would solve the problem of juvenile unemployment for those under the age o^ 16, said Mr. Howell, and would probably help towards the employment of those older, hut the age would have to he raised to 18 or 1J . if a satisfactory solution were to be "We would be providing a remedy for a grave menace to the structure of society," continued Mr. Howell. "Many of the youths of to-day are unemployed and rapidly becommg unemployahle." Not a New Idea. Part-time education was not a new thing, although it might be m New 7,ealand. In Germany and Denmaii

it had been in vogue for years wiwi extremely beneficial results, and something similar would have to be looked ! forward to here if the countiT were to progress or even mamtam lts paeSB«Yo7may think that that is out , of the question," continued the spea - j r «Yfe are faced with a shortage > l of* f unds and we cannot look forward to any more funds f rom overseas such as have been used in the past to build up our educational system. Oox | schools have largely been built with borrowed money and that source ^ supply is, and should be, shut off. The present trouble might prove to be nothing more than the spmtaal, upheaval which occurred at the time , of the Renaissance, when so many oi , i the colleges and universities an Eu- . 1 rope and Great Britain were founded : I Even at the present time there was a , I great deal of wealth in New Zealand 1 which, if prop'erly apphecl, could give 1 : assistance to educational ^ds | I ; "I hope we can look forwai d to 1 • Renaissance here as a resu . I troubles through which we are pa i ing," said Mr. Howell. The new 1 syftem would not need to be elaborate, 1 and would not require elaborate app pliances and machinery. 1 , Rights of the Individual. 1 1 "Specialisation of labour has made I a great advance, but it is not so much 1 the highly-slcilled man as the handy I man who is valuable, and for the pro- | duction of handy youths costly equip1 ment is not necessary. We need to I develop a greater range of arts and I crafts so that the individual may saM tisfy his nature. We have no right o S sacrifice the individual for the dei , mands of industry, and we must proI vide for youths opportunities for seli- ^ ' expression outside the means o ive II lihood." . . , • . S Youths should be given in the pait- ® time schools means of recreation m the real sense of the word— to really — create something through strenuous effort. One form of recreation whicn had been greatly neglected in the past was music. . If the system oi part-time education was to he established it should not be the task of one type of school. Previously it had been left almost entirely to technical schools, but it was a burden which- would have to be shared. It might be .said that it would be impossible to proviae the schools, but the eountry would have to make the greatest use of the buildings it

already had, which would have to be extended by the country's own efforts Both in America and Japan schools were used by two sets. of teachers and pupils in one day. The arrangements were made to meet dimcuit conditions. New Zealand was facing difficult conditions and would have even more difficulties to face. ^ There would have to be bo-operation between teachers and pupils of the type which had established the cafetei'ia at the Wellington Technical College. At a Philadelphia school the origitial buildings had beei). added to by the pupils, working under skilled instruction, and he thought something of the kind might be anticipated in this eountry. If such a revolution of thought Were brought about it CbUldj only be done by the teachers, who would have to be the .authors of the revolution. If ever there yvas a time' when the teachers sHould get togetlier aiid think out their problems it was the present.