White, George
George White was an expert in technical education from Britain. Before coming to Hong Kong to be the principal of Junior Technical School (初級工業學校) in 1933, he was head of the Engineering Department in the Plymouth Technical College. In 1934, he was appointed as a supervisor of technical education, being responsible for drawing up a scheme for the inauguration of a system of technical education in Hong Kong.[1] In an address to the Rotary Club given in September 1935, Burt said,"Technical Education is a specialized type of training which, combined with suitable industrial experience, should enable a youth to take his place as a responsible unit in an industrial concern.” [2] The fundamental principle of Technical Education is that it must, to achieve the maximum results, be regarded as complementary to, not as substitute for, industrial experience. [2] He proposed that the system of technical education in Hong Kong should aim at providing training for workers in every industry which is capable of being developed to such an extent as to become an asset to Hong Kong as a whole. In 1936, he became the principal of the Government Trade School (香港官立高級工業學院), a newly established Trade School located at Wood Road, Wan Chai. This Trade School was later renamed Hong Kong Technical College, which was also the forerunner of the Hong Kong Polytechnic.[3]
References
- ↑ Sweeting, A. (1990). Education in Hong Kong pre 1841 to 1941: fact and opinion: materials for a history of education in Hong Kong (p. 355). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Technical Education: Training the Chinese Young Idea to Use Their Hands Mr. G. White's Rotary Talk. (1935, September 4). South China Morning Post, p. 9.
- ↑ History (About PolyU). (n.d.). Retrieved August, 2017, from https://www.polyu.edu.hk/web/en/about_polyu/history/