Need of Education For Young Soldier To Fit Him For Job

Taranaki Daily News, 31 August 1942, Page 5

Need of Education For Young Soldier To Fit Him For Job

Wellington, Aug. 29. Young men entering camp needed some kind of vocational training. which would fit them to take their place in qivilian life again after the war, said the director of the Wellington Technical College, Mr. R. G. Ridling, when discussing the question of army education. They had not yet had an opportunity, he said, to qualify for any trade or profession, and could not see anything ahead of them, or a future for thernselves after the war. They were losing hope and their ambitions were being replaced by boredom and a feeling of futility ana frustration. Without some sygtem of army education the transition from soldier to civilian was going to be an exertmely difficult national problem. Some scheme such as was adopted in Britain within a few months of the outbreak of war and was now in operation in other countries of the British commonwealth was necessary to provide an anchor for the hopes of the men in camp, many of whom were showing all the signs of boredom. For the successful operation of a system of army education it should be an integral part of army training, it would have to be vocational, and it should also have a social aspect, Mr. Ridling said. The almost insurmountable diffitulties faced by those who endeavoured to continue their studies in the little spare time available from army routine and amid the distractions of camp life proved the necessity of the army providing special facilities and adopting a sympathetic attitude towards the scheme. Leadership Problem. One of the chief problems to be overcome was that of leadership. Instructors required not only technical ability, but also imagination. The atmosphere of adult education with full discussion rather than the school-room lecture was absolutely necessary. "Lectures in which the audience has little interest are valueless at any time, and in military camps would be too .much like most of the instruction to which the men are accustomed." The vocational training Mr. Ridling considered necessary was the same as that given at night classes in technical colleges throughout the Dominion. The cultural subjects ineluded in the day curriculum at technical colleges could look after themselves, in his opinion, once vocational classes relieved the boredom and renewed the hope and ambitions of the men in camp. Through books and the discussions that would result from the classes he believed that the more cultural aspects of life would not be neglected. The community spirit and the art of living together instead of acting merely as individuals could be developed by an education course designed with that end in view, Mr. Ridling continued, though he admitted that it could not be taught according to the usual conception of teaching. Next to vocational training he considered this one of the most important aspects of army education. Future Farmers. It was to be hoped that agriculture would be ineluded in any scheme of army education that was adopted. In his opinion there would be many men who on release from the army would want to start farming, partly because of its outdoor life, and partly because its freedom from personal restrictions was the antithesis to army discipline. Such agricultural training should be vocational, but without neglecting basic principles of relevant subjects. such as biology. Lack of training and of specialised knowledge had been the chief reason why so few soldier-settlers after the last war had succeeded. However. agriculture would be one of the most difficult subjects to provide for, because not all camps were conveniently placed near suitable land or sympathetic farmers. Another method apart from education of keeping alive the interests of the soldiers and preventing the sapping of knowledge and skill was to draft men wherever possible to work for which they showed special aptitude, or in which their civilian occupation had given them specialised knowledge. Though this had been done in some cases. Mr. Ridling said he did not consider that the army had made the fullest use of the material and skill at its disposal. As an indication of what could be done, he suggested that those with engineering or architectural - training could be placed in army units where they would not completely lose touch with what they had been doing before the war, and to which presumably they would return.