Manual Work Aids Pupils' Educatioi

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 349, 9 May 1928, Page 8

Manual Work Aids Pupils' Educatioi

TECHNICAL TRAINING NEEDS OF THE DAY i ( From Our Resident Reporter ) WELLINGTON. T<*u, Manual work is now recognised as a valuable adj to education in secondary schoot*. It arouses the pupils' interest,** has an educational value equal,, with the other subjects of ta* I curriculum. This view was expressed by l( r j McFadyen in his presidential at the annual conference of the V* 5 Zaland Technical School Teach ** 1 Association. "The weak spot in our system has been that the buikotjr ' youth in our schools have all JT put through the same course, mT j out taking account of the future nee* of the individual," said Mr. McFah, “Many of the youth of the —, day, had their preparatory educau~ and training been of a different char acter. might have been in a posit* to render valuable service in empfc v ment where at present the suppi, „ insufficienL It is to be hoped thi; the committee which has been cob! sidering the revision of the prua*T school syllabus has made reconune dations which will counteract this e , ot uniformity. COMPULSORY REGISTRATION “Too many parents still desire to have their children educated for cuii and collar’ employment, while mdo, tries, trades, and manual occupation* are considered infra dig. Thia 4v counts in large measure for the de mand for a so-called ‘cultural ednestion,‘ a demand that has been molt plied by an unwise use of the free place system. Until it becomes generally recognised that brains an required just as much in the case o' the builder, engineer, and many other tradesmen, as for any professional man, matters will not improve much A great help in this direction wool? be the compulsory registration « those engaged in industry. All tradesmen have to serve an apprenticeship, just as professional men have to serve a pupilage. The professional nan be he architect, doctor, lawyer, or teacher, is registered, and his stains is protected. Why not the tradesmen" This matter was brought forward si the last annual conference of the Nev Zealand Builders’ and Contractors’ Association held in Christchurch, when the following resolution among others was carried: ‘That further representations be made to the Government urging that legislation be enacted providing for the registration ot builders.’ Similar proposals for refttering employers and employoee hsve also been put forward by other associations. Such registration would raise the status of industry, because i certain standard of efficiency would be set as a qualification for admission." WORK HAND IN HAND The speaker expressed his firm belief that in this matter, as in otto* ot equal importance, there was reed for a technical schools board. In life the Minister of Education, when referring to the establishment of such a board, considered that it would marl a step forward in the development of technical education. It was urged that, in order to help to make education less remote from life, an effort should be made to brins the leaders of industry into close’ contact with it. Let education and industry work hand in hand, and both would benefit. Inquiry should be made as to whether it was not desirable to formulate some scheme for bringing into the technical school all those youths who are past primal? school age, and who have not found full-time employment.