THE END OF EDUCATION.

Shannon News, 7 December 1928, Page 4

THE END OF EDUCATION.

(By €. A. L. McCall).

In our present day education has been more or less confined to mental training, tlie exercise of the brain and the progress in this direction has been very marked, but the fact that this achievement has been made at the expense of the other members of the body, which have equally as much need of development, is a subject which the educational bodies are now directing their attention to, and not before time. It is true that our primary and secondary schools and colleges now de--1 vote considerable time to the physical culture <Sf their students, but there still remains a class to which a word or two on .physical dovelopm'ent. would be of interest. It is not the fortune of every bov or girl upon leaving primary school that has the opportunity of "furthering or continuing their education by attending secondary schools, and there is a tendency on the part of this class to neglect the important bodily education. Hence, in this >age of progress we find so many stomachs weak as blotting paper and hearts indicative of the presence of fatty degeneration. Unused pithless hands*, calveless legs and limp bodies without elastic spring in them are to be seen. It is not only health that suffers by neglect and disuse of the bodily organs but also the miild becomes, affected and grows sickly and distempered with the result that the pursuit of knowledge itself is impeded and majahood becomes withered, twisted and stunted. It is possible, how-, ever, that the cultivation of muscularity miiy become over-estimated, yet it is unquestionably important that every young man should be early trained to the free use of his body and limbs. The educators are growing wiser. and recognise as .among the chief objects of education, to fit men for actual life and enable them to understand and take part in the daily business of common men. Nor would the. education of youths in. common, things be found incompatible with the very highest intellectual culture, but the : reverse. Teach young men the use of their hands and arms, familiarise them with healthy work, not necessarily as a means of providing their bread ), and butter (although,there is no disgrace in iso doing) but to exercise their faculties upon things tangible and actual,, thus imparting to them an ability to be useful in, to implant in them a habit of physical effort for education purposes. Upon leaving school consider the percentage . aspiring in office and clerical Work with the idea of settling down to a “soft” job as this class of work is generally termed. -It is true ; that there are some so • called soft jobs to be found, wherein the successful applicant does not have to soil, his hands or t;p,ke off his coat, but the young men of to-day must realise that these positions are not too plentiful and that the youth who is ambitious and wants to be a success -in' life has to be thoroughly, qualified before there is any demand for his services at a substantial rate of remuneration. and it must also be remembered that to qualify thoroughly means a 'long term of arduous work, if not manual labour. It is true likewise that 'there is not the same demand for the services of the manual labourer that there was some years ago, but there is' always avenues of employment of the right sort. For instance, will the., services of a builder, aker, etc., over be dispensed with—tnever—-they are works of labour which will never die out. It is, however, displeasing to see a boy starting out in life entering as an apprentice -in . a career of a blacksmith or wheelriglit, the demand for which is very small. These trades may be termed as “blind avenues” and the young men commencing their life’s work in those occupations can look forward to unemployment in the years to conic. The business, of a blacksmitn has been to a large degree has been rc- , placed r.y njnehinery .and the same applies to the work of the wheelwright; his bread and butter has been taken away by the advent of motor-trans-port. The youths of to-day or the parents of to-day must give the matter of finding employment for their children, deepest of consideration and thought and beware of allowing their offspring to start on a career of which the' prospects for the future are uncertain. Parents, it will be realised and readily understood, are experiencing considerable difficulty in finding work for their young men and women and are apt to permit them to take on anything in the meantime until something more suitable turns up, but care should be taken to see that employment taken in that light v is-not permanently (or seemingly permanently., accepted). There is always a class which will say “Oh- what, does it matter he’s got a ‘job.’ ” Yes, but how long will that job last. In view of these possibilities the parents should be ever on f.he.clert to seize an opportunity of securing a position which will remain a necessity "during the working life of that son or daughter.- 'lt is only, by this means that the', ranks of the unemployed of the future will become smaller. For if a lad or girl is allowed to proceed in the “blind avenues” of life it will inevitably be their fate to be classed as unemployable in the years to come, either through having been occupied too lono- at the one trade and their inability "to qualify for other spheres of labour, on that they have become too old to start out afresh. Therefore parents be careful and think deeply of this important subject, so that in the years to come your, children will, be able to say that you did the right thing. -