THE RET.ATIOX OF HIGH SCHOOLS TO TIIE 

 UNIVERSITY TECHNICAL COLLEGE. 



Bv \\'tllt.\m Iamf.s Horne. A.M.I.C.E. 



The necessity for brevity in the title of a paper may cause 

 the title I have chosen for thi^ one to he slightly misleading. I 

 wish to iirs^e the necessity for expanding^ the science side of the 

 high school in the Transvaal to cover something more than merely 

 the preparation of the pupil for a pass in science at matriculation. 

 I want to suggest that the existing pronounced trend of the edu- 

 cation and culture given in these schools towards the literary and 

 legal professions should he paralleled bv an equallv pronounced 

 trend towards the engineering profession and those professions 

 allied to it. 



T am moved to this mainly through a paper by Mr. Norman 

 Harrison, Chief Engineer to the General Post Office, read before 

 the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers early this 

 year, in wlr'ch a most pessimistic note was struck, as far as the 

 ability of the .South African young man to take entire charge of 

 anv engineering scheme of some magnitude is concerned. His 

 main point was that rarely in this country does the engineer take 

 his proper place at the head of the business ; that he is usually 

 there purely in the capacity of a technical adviser, whilst some 

 other officer controls who has no technical knowledge whatever; 

 that, in fact, " the engineer is lacking in business capacity " — in 

 other words, " he is lacking in the commercial application of 

 scientific knowledge." He goes on to say, with reference to 

 facilities offered by certain Government Departments to a few 

 selected }-ouths. that he is afraid that 



the general and commercial education of these boys is not such as 

 \\ ill tend to bring the matter to a successful issue, having in mind that we 

 are aiming at providing the engineers of the future. No doubt many of 

 these boys have received a very fair education, some may be exceptionally 

 v\ ell trained along technical lines ; but I am very doubtful that they have 

 received that broad and liberal training which should underlie the technical 

 education of every professional man. 



As the considered o]>inion of a highly-placed engineer, it 

 appears to me worthy of profound attention, as reflecting a cer- 

 tain amount of experience gained in this country. Here I may 

 digress to point out that engineers, as a body, appear singularly 

 loth to bring forward their experience in such matters, probably 

 because the magnitude and intricacy of their own profession en- 

 genders a healthy respect for the, to them unknown, difficulties of 

 the teaching profession ; a frame of mind to which the attention 

 of many amateur educationists might w^ell be drawn. Thus, I am 

 unacquainted with any South African papers on this subject 

 between the one I am now citing and the address of Professor 

 Orr, given, nearly five years ago. as President of the then Trans- 

 vaal Institute of Mechanical Engineers, in which he dealt in opti- 



