SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— L. 39 7 



responsibilities. In the present stage of development he must in a very real sense 

 bo the civic leader of his people, and should possess therefore a working knowledge of 

 the social services. 



His training should be essentially a practical one, though his general education 

 should be no less thorough than that given to other young men whose responsibilities 

 are less. He should leave school well equipped as an agriculturalist and possessing 

 a sound knowledge of animal husbandry ; citizenship and hygiene are of prime impor- 

 tance ; and some skill in handicrafts should be encouraged. Recreations and the 

 wise employment of leisure are matters which need to be stressed while the future 

 chief is at school. 



Mr. Norman Young. — Problems and Personalities at the Accra Teachers 

 Training College. 



The Training College a Government institution, founded in 1911 and now taken 

 over by Achimota. It and the kindergarten the only departments of Achimota thus 

 far open. 



Rediscovery in West Africa of the important commonplace that ' educational 

 problems ' largely resolve themselves into the mystery of the personalities of Tom, 

 Dick and Harry — known in our country as Pudjo, Pobbina and Kwami. 



Consideration of a few outstanding College Characters. — Attempt to discover a 

 common denominator. After one tour the search leads chiefly to a series of paradoxes. 

 They are frank in feeling and circuitous in thought ; self-confident in the adoption 

 of other people's opinions, literal-minded and yet lovers of abstractions ; having moral 

 and religious aptitude, yet scant application. 



Some Problems in the light of their Cliaracteristics. — The job of the Training College 

 threefold : to develop good scholars, which involves supplementing and correcting 

 the training given in Standards I to VII ; to teach them to teach ; to train them to 

 take the lead in developing a new West African culture. 



Problems in the Making of a Scholar. — E.g. rule of thumb tradition in the schools 

 in which they have been trained. 



Problems in the Making of a Teacher. — E.g. their phenomenal memories, but 

 reluctance to readjust methods to suit particular classes, &c. 



Problems in Training them for Leadership. — E.g. they are too ready to adopt 

 European ideas, and too slow to adapt them — considerable understanding often 

 shown, but little originality. 



Village patriotism strong and natural, but national and racial patriotism 

 stilted and rather self-righteous. 



Perhaps the greatest problem is the prevalent conception of education — you buy 

 it as you buy automobiles — ' a means of getting on faster.' Everyone wants 

 education, for it appears to spell power. 



Major A. G. Church. — 



The impact of the alien trader and missionary upon the natives of Africa results in the 

 breakdown of tribal arts and crafts and native customs and social pleasures. This 

 breakdown has been accelerated by the cessation of intertribal warfare consequent 

 upon the introduction of a ' white ' administrative system, the encouragement given 

 to native cultivators to produce crops for export, and our interference with their 

 system of shifting cultivation. Village life becomes dull for the ambitious and 

 adventurous male. The flight from the land is the logical outcome of native discontent 

 with his changed environment. Can this be arrested ? The task confronting 

 Europeans in Africa is to train natives for new functions they must perform under 

 the changed conditions prevailing. Professional and semi-professional as well as 

 industrial workers are needed. What type of education is necessary for these various 

 classes ? Will the problem of the industrial worker be solved by giving him a purely 

 vocational training ? What is to be the basis of the training for industry ? Can 

 industrial work be given a dignity comparable with that of professional work ? A 

 few tentative suggestions are offered in the paper. 



Miss S. Burstall. — The Education of the African, Woman. 



Demand only just beginning in most of the nine colonies. Coast areas in West 

 Africa, special conditions. Simplicity and difficulty of the problem. The primitive 



