rkADK SCHOOLS AS AIDS r( ) L\l)l-> TRY 



Bv Prof. JOHN Okr. B.Sc. M.l.C .K.. M.I.Mech.E. 



{Plates 2y2y and one text figure. ) 



The war has forced upon us the consideration <>f many new 

 problems; it has also led us to view many old problems in a less 

 conservative light. Not the least important of these problems 

 ivS that of the scientific org-anisation of industry. Tt is gratifying 

 to obsen'e the increasing sympathy with which technical educa- 

 tion is viewed, which is most encouraging to those engaged in 

 that work. The present conflict has caused an inward searching 

 as to whether many of our " rule-of-thumb " methods can be 

 allowed to continue unchecked, and it is to be hoped that the 

 present progressive sj)irit will continue and redound to the last- 

 ing benefit of the British Empire. Improved methods must be 

 adopted; as Sir William Beardmore has said, " The nation which 

 does not continually .^earcii for impr<:)\ement, must fall behind 

 in the struggle for sujiremacy." 



It is admitted that our educational systems require over- 

 hauling-; as the President of the South African Teachers' Asso- 

 ciation said in his address at (rrahamstown last June, " All edu- 

 cationalists are agreed that after the war things cannot remain 

 as they were before. The lines ahnig which our boys and our 

 girls are to be taught will have to be adapted to the new con- 

 ditions." And as Prof. Unwin has said in his presidential ad- 

 dress to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers: — 



It is no condonaticjii of the military crime of Germany to recognise 

 that the enormously rapid industrial advance in that country has serious 

 lessons for us. Before the war many of us had an immense respect for 

 German science and learning. We have not lost that, because we now 

 appreciate the inordinate vanity, the preposterous political ambitions deli- 

 berately fostered amon^ Germans, and the insolence of the Army. 



In this pai)er I wish to confine my remarks to one aspect of 

 an im])ortant national (jtiestion — ^^the fitting of our youths to 

 take their place, as efficient units, in the industries of this country. 

 The rapid growth of the school population of South Aifrica. 

 more particularly in the Transvaal, while exceedingly satisfac- 

 tory from the national point of view, has become, more especially 

 in recent years, a very embarrassing factor for School Boards 

 and the authorities responsil)le for the efficient carrying on of 

 education work. Unfortunately financial resources and school 

 accommodation have not kept pace with the increase in the 

 numjber of i)ttpils. and something in the nature of a crisis has 

 now been reaclied, accentuated greatly by the al)normal times. 



The following schedule, taken from the Annual Re|x>rt of 

 the Director of iCducation. shews the ix)sition regarding the num- 

 ber of schools and .«''h(vlars in the Transvaal since T902: — 



