L.— EDUCATION. 1 99 



required by the Fisher Act will render rare service to the country if they can 

 develop a capacity to handle tools common to a group of occupations, some 

 knowledge of the main principles of our most important industries or of 

 industries peculiar to the locality, a desire to co-operate in their continuance 

 and expansion, the adaptability which will enable a worker if need be to 

 transfer from one occupation to another, and some understanding of the 

 great opportunities which our Overseas Empire offers to the young man 

 or woman of initiative who is trained on practical and realistic lines. 



There are some, I know, who feel that the introduction of machinery 

 and the subdivision of labour make it hopeless to expect the factory 

 worker to be interested in his task. Remembering, however, the interest 

 that the average boy is wont to take in the interior economy of clocks and 

 motors, the unwearying delight of the small boy in drawing engines and 

 aeroplanes, I cannot but believe that the great majority of boys could be 

 interested in the machinery of our various industries if they were made to 

 understand its basic principles; and I feel pretty certain that much 

 generous instinct would respond if it were pointed out that the introduction 

 of machinery, though it had deprived the individual worker of the 

 satisfaction of producing a complete article by his own labour, had so 

 cheapened production that millions now could enjoy what in the days of 

 hand labour was procurable only by the few. 



The development of repetitive processes, however, has emphasized the 

 need of education for leisure, and, it may be added, has reinforced the 

 argument that the education given should be such as will arouse powers 

 of interest and appreciation. One of the aims of the school must be to 

 instil a love of good literature, music and art, more especially in those 

 whose working hours in after-life may be spent in drab or monotonous 

 surroundings ; but do not let us ignore the part that practical activities, 

 such as needlework, carpentering and gardening may play in the enjoyment 

 of leisure, even in the case of men and women to whose daily work it is 

 somewhat akin. Miners, for instance, are notoriously fond of gardening, 

 and it is difficult to imagine an occupation that can better compensate for 

 the limitations under which their work is necessarily carried on. 



Another merit of handwork is that it is often co-operative and so teaches 

 the team spirit. That spirit is also being widely inculcated through games 

 and school organisation. Few greater services could be rendered by the 

 schools to industry and to the country generally than that they should 

 teach our young workers to bring with them into factory or office or mine 

 the team spirit learned on the school play-ground or through school life 

 in general. 



From these many points of view therefore it seems to me that our 

 policy must inevitably be to develop new forms of post-primary in- 

 struction. Here is the opportunity for the ' modern ' school. But it 

 must realise its purpose and be true to it ; it must not be a mere imitator 

 and rival of the secondary school. The two types must work in closest 

 co-operation ; the ' modern ' school must, wherever possible, pass on pupils 

 who give evidence of literary or scientific ability ; and the two schools to 

 that end must if possible keep a ' common core ' of fundamental subjects. 

 If that be done, the fears which have sometimes been expressed that an 

 extension of schools of the ' modern ' or ' central ' type will damage secondary 



