6o RELATION OF HIGH SCHOOLS TO TECHNICAL COLLEGE. 



troduced. There is, however, one subject which should be intro- 

 duced in addit'on to these I have mentioned, and that is manual 

 training in woodwork and in metalwork. " A boy at school 

 should be trained in a scientitic habit of mind, which is, after 

 all, nothing but organised and directed common sense." Manual 

 work does this by the objective nature of the training it gives. 

 There is much misunderstanding, and it must be pointed out that 

 the modern conception of manual training workshops attached to 

 primary and high schools is that thev are constructive labora- 

 tories in which the scientific habit of accuracy may be acquired. 

 That is to say, they are not looked upon as tool-rooms where any- 

 thing mav be made in the amateur method, from a packing case 

 to a bookshelf for a bedroom, as has been the case in some in- 

 stances in this country. As " a secondary course ... is 

 more specifically and defin'tely related to the pupil's future occu- 

 pation," manual training workshops should be provided in both 

 woodwork and metalwork at every secondary and high school as 

 well as at primary schools, in order to provide the necessary 

 guidance for those boys with constructive inventive genius, lead- 

 ing them towards a professional training through the technical 

 college of university rank. 



We have now to see how the matters in hand can be adapted 

 to South African conditions : and here it must be remembered 

 that the length and direction of the next educational step is pre- 

 determined bv tlic number and length of the previous ones. Thus, 

 with reference to the preparatorv work at present included in the 

 curriculum of the university technical college, and which it is 

 desirable should make way for tlie highest technical work, I do 

 not think that these technical colleges could dro]) their present 

 first year engineering courses for some time to come without 

 seriouslv affecting several well-meaning and hard-working 

 students. There appears to be no reason, however, why the high 

 school course and the first year technical college course should 

 not overlap until a better educational state has arisen. At the 

 South African College. Cape Town, the first year engineering 

 course consists of : — 



English, Dutch. Mathematics, Mechanics, Chemistry, Physics, Geome- 

 trical and Freehand Drawing, Workshop Practice. 



while at the South African School of }\lines and Technology, 

 Johannesburg, we have : — 



^Mathematics. Applied Mathematics, Physics, Heat, Sound^ Light, 

 Electricity, Inorganic Chemisn-y, Geology and Mineralogy, Graphics. 

 Workshop Practice. 



Now, these being merely lists of the names of subjects, it is 

 not fair to make comparisons between the courses without study- 

 ing the syllabuses in each subject advanced by each institution. 

 We may say at once that languages should have no place in the 

 engineering curriculum of the university technical college. The 

 ability to write a clear report in either languages of the Union, 



