RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 11 Queen's College (then in Hollywood Road), the Government secondary school which is still situated on Hong Kong Island. In 1913, the Technical Institute entered [6] candidates for local examinations of whom 116 passed. Subjects included shorthand, sanitation, building construction and field surveying. The development of technical education was slow. However, in 1926 the Salesian Fathers commenced classes in shoemaking, carpentry, tailoring, and printing; at about the same time, Taikoo Dockyard, situated at Quarry Bay, opened evening classes for their apprentices. In 1903, a positive step was taken by the Government towards the development of technical education when a committee was formed to report on the possibility of introducing a system of practical education. This Committee, under the chairmanship of Sir William Hornell, made three main recommendations. These were the establishment of a junior technical school; the provision of evening classes for apprentices; and the commencement of full-time courses at a later date. As a result, in 1932 the Junior Technical School was established, which was Government's first venture into full-time technical education. This secondary school provided a comparatively narrow four-year course designed mainly as pre-apprentice training for the engineering trades. In 1957, 'JTS', as it was usually known, moved from its accommodation in Queen's Road East (from 1974 to the time of writing this has been occupied by the Technical Teachers College) to the three-storey building in Wood Road vacated by the then Technical College. At the same time, the name (JTS) was changed to Victoria Technical School (VTS), and a phased conversion from a trade to a secondary school, albeit with some emphasis on non-vocational technical subjects, took place. Further progress was made in 1935 when the Catholic Salesian Society founded the Aberdeen Trade School. This provided a general education, together with training considered comparable to an apprenticeship within an institution. The School was converted into a secondary technical school in the late 1950s. The author first visited this establishment in January 1955 and recalls the high standard of projects on display. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2000 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n 211 A Brief History of Technical Education in Hong Kong But let's start at the beginning. How did it all commence? First, though it is interesting to recall that that great man, Henry Ford, once said: "History is bunk. We don't want tradition. We want to live in the present, And the only history that is worth a tinker's damn Is the history that we make today." Those words of Henry Ford contrast markedly with those of Winston Churchill, who is purported to have told an American boy entering a British public school: "Young man, study history, study history. In history lie all the secrets of statehood." Early days So, as a great admirer of Sir Winston Churchill, I accept his words rather than those of Henry Ford. And if we delve deeply, history tells us that in Hong Kong, as early as 1863, vocational training in carpentry, tailoring, shoemaking, printing, bookbinding, and gardening was being provided for 12 boys. Numbers later reached 30. These classes were held in a Chinese building under a Father Raimondi, not far from the Roman Catholic Mission House, which then stood in Wellington Street, in what used to be called the City of Victoria. You can almost picture the carpentry classes using the same kind of Chinese tools and labour-saving stools cum-benches which we still employ today. With the latter, one can hold a piece of timber being worked with one's foot and plane downhill, which makes good "work-study" sense. As a footnote, I recall one of our carpentry instructors at the old Technical College always using a Chinese plane when he wanted to get an especially good finish on a piece of timber. There is a lot to be said for Chinese tools. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2000 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n 213 A Brief History of Technical Education in Hong Kong Kong today. In the early 20th century it formed a department under the Director of Education. It had no building of its own but was housed in Queen's College, then sited on Hollywood Road. In 1913 it entered a mere 161 candidates for local examinations of whom 116 passed. Subjects included shorthand, sanitation, building construction and field surveying. This first Technical Institute was absorbed into the Hong Kong University when it opened in 1912. Post-World War One The development of technical education was nevertheless slow, But in 1926 the Salesian Roman Catholic Fathers, who have done so much over the years to promote technical education, commenced shoemaking, carpentry, tailoring and printing courses and, at about the same time, the old Taikoo Dockyard in Quarry Bay started classes for their own apprentices. In 1931, a committee was formed under the chairmanship of Sir William Hornell, then Vice-Chancellor of Hong Kong University, to consider the possibility of introducing a system of technical education. The Report's three main recommendations were: * the setting up of a junior technical school, * the provision of evening classes for apprentices, and * the commencement of full-time classes at a later date. As a result the Junior Technical School, Government's first venture into full-time technical education, was up and running by 1932. This secondary school ran a comparatively narrow, four-year course designed mainly as pre-apprentice training for the engineering trades. I remember JTS, as it was usually called, in the mid 1950s in more or less that form, where the Headmaster, an Englishman, was a pattern maker by trade and proud of it. For those who do not know, a pattern maker was a craftsman who made timber moulds for metal castings in a foundry. It was not until 1957, when the name was altered to Victoria Technical ================================================================================