A Great Experiment
[Lt.-Col. Wilfrid Hovey, the writer of this article, took an actity part in instruction of officers and other ranks during the early pat of the War and was later D.A.A.G. of the Canadian Corps and an A.A.G. at G.H.Q. He is now on the staff of Sir Arthur Currie, Principal of McGill University, and was a representative of McGill at the Congress of Universities of the Empire.] ATRIP to England, undertaken partly with the object of attending the Universities Conference, and partly in the hope of renewing many ties with the Mother Country, gave me during the past summer the opportunity of visiting the scene of one of the most important educational experiments in the British Empire, the R.A.F. training establishment for air mechanics at Halton.
The first point which cannot but force itself upon the notice of anyone who came into contact with the fighting Services before and during the War is that the Royal Air Force of to-day cannot be expressed in terms of anything we knew before. It is not the much less than homogeneous collection of young officers, gathered from different Services, mustered into wings and squadrons, devil-may-care gallant lads they were, that made up the Air Force of 1918 ; it is an extremely businesslike and well organized arm of the Service, with a soul as well as a body of its own. Its principal characteristic is its astonish- ing modernity ; its members have more than either sailors or soldiers in common with the civilian ; its discipline and customs are neither Army nor Navy, but far more like those that informed the Canadian Corps. Its officers are smart and efficient because it is their job, its rank and file are disciplined and likewise efficient because it is the right thing.
The Air Force has found itself, and if one who is now a civilian may venture a word on a controversial subject it can never, without incalculable loss, be dismembered for the sake of a possible benefit to Army or Navy.
What strikes one in the second place is that the pro• vision of such education for the rank and file of any arm of the Service, military, naval or civil, was never before thought of. Boys whose instruction has already been such that they are almost ready to enter a University are given three years' additional training before they can pass out as ready for service. Such a recruiting standard has, so far as I know, never been set up in any country. When we come to examine the actual work carried out by the students we _cannot but be astonished at the high standard of technical accuracy attained. The third year fitter must be able to work steel to one five thousandth of an inch and have a thorough knowledge must of internal combustion engines, the coppersmith produce results equal to those of the most highly skilled artisan, the rigger must have an adequate knowledge of aeroplane construction. It is not, however, until we have gone a little further in our investigation that we realize the whole service which Halton is doing for the nation.
It is perhaps natural that experience of a volunteer army should give one an especially high regard for the fighting man who is in the first place educated, and in the second place sensible of his duties as a citizen, and it is because Halton is turning out young men of this kind that it has a place of its own among educational institutions.
The lad who enters there must not only take his place in the life of the barrack and the parade ground, must not only attain a degree of technical skill which he would not gain in five years' ordinary apprenticeship, but he must spend at least a quarter of his working time in classroom and study. Before he leaves the school he will have a considerable knowledge of English literature ; he will write a creditable essay, he will have more know- ledge of economics and geography than most young men of his age, and he will have mastered sufficient science and mathematics to give him a real understanding of the technical work upon which he is engaged. Thege things he learns under teachers who are not in uniform, who do not expect him to salute, whose attitude towards him is identical with that of the masters at the schools he has left. Most important of all, he will be an individual, he will have found out how to work for himself, how to depend upon himself. The Halton product, whether we judge him by his passing-out examination or by the even more exacting standards which University ideals impose, is the equal of a very well-advanced second year student in the engineering school of any University.
There will probably be much discussion regarding the division of time and effort between general school work on the one side and shop and Air Force work on the other, but any educational institution where no differences of opinion exist is generally full of dry rot, and there is no dry rot about Halton. The observer might venture to suggest that the better and broader a young man's education, the better man he will be for the Air Force and for the nation. On the other hand, it can be very well argued that technical instruction, where it goes far enough, has a true educational value and that discipline and self-sacrifice are two of the greatest factors in the making of a good citizen.
There is one point in the organization which, if it is not a weak one, requires special attention from the Air Ministry. Presumably the number of recruits taken in as coppersmiths, fitters and carpenters is based on calculations as to future requirements. This system is perfectly satisfactory so long, and only so long, as it is in accordance with the arrangements for training. Nothing, however, should be allowed to interfere with the organiza- tion of the students into groups and classes of the proper size, and if the number of the entries for various classifi- cations does not correspond with the requirements and possibilities of the camp, then the size of the entry should be reduced or the school facilities be increased.
The visitor from the Dominions, inclined to wonder, perhaps, whether the Old Country is not going backward a little, will leave Halton with a new pride in his people, and a new faith in the Empire. It may be, he will say to himself, that the lads who are being trained under Air Vice-Marshal Lambe, Group Captain Mitchell and Colonel Caldwell will never need to play their part in active warfare, yet no time and no money spent in producing such a result is spent in vain. No asset could be of greater value to a nation than men who have had such an educa-
Previous page
