Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 1942. ARMY SERVICE AND EDUCATION.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 August 1942, Page 2

Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 1942. ARMY SERVICE AND EDUCATION.

A TIIOUUGIITFUL and helpful, contribution Io I he. discussion of a question of serious moment —that of coni inning, as I'ar as is practicable, the education particularly of young men enrolled in the Army has been made by the Director of llm Wellington Technical College, Mr R. G. Ridling. Concern has rightly been awakened regarding the position and prospects of lads enrolled for military service at the age of .18 of whom Mr Ridling observed that: — They had not yet had an opportunity to qualify for any trade or profession, and could not see anything ahead of them, or a future for themselves after the war. They were losing hope and their ambitions were being replaced by boredom and a feeling of futility and frustration. There is danger here of a terrible waste of our youthful manhood, to the great and lasting detriment of the men concerned individually and of the Dominion. The matter of extending all possible educational facilities to lads enrolled- —as of course they must be—for military training demands much more resolute and purposefid treatment than there is yet any indication of its having received at the hands of the Government.

As part of the remedy that is needed, Mr Ridling has recommended the development, as an integral part of Army training, of vocational classes, with an atmosphere of adult education. He believes that these classes would relieve the boredom and renew the hope and ambitions of the men in camp and that: “Through books and the discussions that would result from the classes, the more cultural aspects of life would not be neglected.”

There is not much doubt that a very great improvement on the existing state of affairs can be effected speedily if the advice of competent educationists like Mr Ridling is adopted and applied. It should not be difficult to. reconcile all the genuine requirements of Army efficiency with a due and proper regard for the present and future Avelfare of the large numbers of lads enrolled and being enrolled for an indefinite period of military service. There is a Avide field to work upon in catering for the educational needs of lads who enter the Territorial Force at 18 and, normally, continue their military service within the Dominion until they have attained the age of 21.

The ruling aim should be to give all the educational opportunities that are compatible with military efficiency, so that preparation for professions, trades, agriculture and other forms of civil occupation may be interfered with no more than is really necessary. While undoubtedly there are practical difficulties to be overcome in giving effect to this policy, and some limitations that must be accepted, there certainly need be no ultimate conflict between the legitimate claims of military efficiency and those of preparation for civil life.

A. particularly pertinent observation made by Mr Ridling, for example, was that one method of keeping alive the interests of 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 (he added) 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.

The interests of immediate military efficiency and those of civil training and preparation may not everywhere march as obviously together as they do in instances of this kind, but the whole question of the education and training of our youth now under arms demands boldly enterprising and generous treatment and no imaginary or artificial difficulties should be allowed to stand in the'way of this treatment being extended.