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The
Technical School
is for
Supervisors
not for
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might defeat the aim of the Committee. Mr. MacKichan went on to explain that what was required in the Colony, so far as the building trade was concerned, was better artizans and that if an attempt was made to teach potential workers in the building industry science, then they would be educated to a plane above manual labour. This would defeat the purpose of the suggested Technical School. Mr. MacKichan can not visualize a King's College or similar boy laying bricks, but he can visualize the same boy going through an apprenticeship as a mechanical engineer. He feared that it was impossible to put the two trades on a par. Mr. MacKichan con- sidered that the average youth who entered the building trade was definitely inferior in ability and knowledge to the engineer apprentice whom the Taikoo and Kowloon Docks are trying to encourage. The average youth entering the building industry is poor and has got to earn his living practically from the start. He has little or no learning to begin with and if he is to be retained in the trade he must not be educated above it. What is wanted in fact is craftsmen and any teaching given must be, as far as the building trade is concerned, principally craftsmanship.
95. We considered very carefully Mr. MacKichan's representations but the purpose of the proposed technical school is not to train bricklayers or other journey- man workers but supervisors, such as foremen, clerks of works, managers or master 8 Foremen builders. It is the complete absence of the supervisor class which is today hampering and prejudicing the building trade of the Colony. The purpose of the Technical Journeyman Bricklayers. School is to provide a curriculum suitable not only for shipbuilding and engineering but also for the constructive trades generally. The wider the purpose of the school, the better. We therefore feel strongly that it would be a mistake to exclude the building trade from the purview of the proposed school. There are obviously openings for supervisors and we should imagine that, if the training which would enable this class to be developed were forthcoming, contractors' sons and others would come for- ward to profit by it. We must again emphasize the fact that unless the workers in any particular industry have had some adequate pre-apprenticeship education they can not be touched by evening classes. The curriculum of an English Junior Technical School giving pre-apprenticeship training in the building industry was merely quoted by way of illustration. As in the case of boys preparing for apprenticeship to the engineering and shipbuilding industry, the course of instruction appropriate to potential fore- men of the building industry would have to contain far more general education and far less technical training than could be attempted in an English Junior Technical School. We have decided to advise therefore that the Technical School which we are advocat· ing should be so designed as to include suitable pre-apprenticeshin training for the building industry in the Junior Technical School and for appropriate organized even- ing classes for builders, carpenters, etc., in the Department for the Further and Technical Education of Workers.
Mr. Holmes' systems
Suggested Curricula.
96. We deal with the needs of the rank and file of the industry in the next section of our Report. We have consulted Mr. Thomas Holmes of the firm of Messrs. Palmer Turner & Co. Mr. Holmes is a practical builder who has himself been con- nected with technical schools in England both as a student and a teacher. He is now employed in this Colony on a big building construction work. He is strongly in favour of practical evening classes being organized for the actual workers in the industry and he has submitted for our information a syllabus which is attached to this Report as Appendix B.
97. We now return to the Technical School. Mr. Upsdell advises that the cur- riculum of the Junior Technical School should consist of :-
---
English-Reading, writing, short sentences, oral instruction aimed at mak- ing the pupils capable of making themselves understood, technical terms, words and phrases necessary to meet the needs of the particular trade aimed at. Care should be taken to prevent this teaching from becoming "literary."
Arithmetic:-As far as multiplication and division of fractions.
Drawing The use of ordinary instruments, e.g. squares and compasses,
etc.
Mensuration :--The use of measures the ability to calculate areas etc.
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98. The Taikoo Professor of Engineering suggests that the subjects to be taught in the Junior Technical School should be (1) English, (ii) elementary mathematics, (iii) carpentry, and (iv) drawing and elementary mechanics--in the upper classes. He thinks that it should be possible for the upper classes to get some of their instruction in the University's metal workshops.
99. The Managing Director of the Hong Kong & Whampoa Dock Co., has sub- mitted the following syllabus for the Junior Technical School :
1st Year
English
[Reading Writing
(Freehand
Drawing | Geometrical
Arithmetic
Elementary Physics
Manual Instruction (Wood Working)
2nd Year
English
(Reading
Writing
Drawing, Elementary Practical Plane & Solid Geometry
Elementary Mathematics, Arithmetic, Algebra
Manual Instruction (Wood Working)
3rd Year
English {Reading
Writing
Drawing, Elementary Machine drawing and Plane Geometry
Natural Philosophy viz., Elementary Dynamics, Physics and Chemistry Mathematics, Elementary Trigonometry and Algebra
Manual Instruction (Wood Working)
4th Year
English
[Reading )Writing
Drawing, Machine Drawing & Plane Geometry
Natural Philosophy viz., Dynamics, Physics & Chemistry
Mathematics viz., Trigonometry, Algebra, Elementary Calculus
Manual Instruction (Wood Working)
100. We have also received the following suggestions from the Taikoo Dockyard & Engineering Company :-
Suggested curriculum for the Junior Technical School.
English-Technical terms, which should be taught by compiling an Anglo- Chinese dictionary of materials used in shipbuilding and engineering together with sketches-where possible-illustrating item.
Figuring. Numerals and tables of length, area, etc.
Arithmetic. Addition, subtraction etc.
Geometry. Plain geometrical figures and use of rulers, dividers, protractors, compasses etc.
Chinese. This should also be continued, but the syllabus should be drawn up by the Education Department.
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