posted on 2024-11-18, 15:08authored byInaugural addresses
Inaugural lecture--Faculty of Education, Rand Afrikaans University, 16 October 1968@@Education and work are two fundamental structures of human life. Education implies assistance given to a non-adult en route to adulthood. Work is one of the primordial means by which man creates and maintains a human world. The child should be brought up to be a worker, a co-worker, in a human world. Work forms the basis of various occupational fields, typical of the adult world. In his vocational life man expresses his convictions as regards the meaning of life. Vocational orientation is an important pedagogical affair which may not be neglected until puberty or adolescence. An attitude of personal responsibility to contribute something meaningful to life should be awakened from early childhood. This is done by the example of
adulthood as being presented by grown-ups fulfilling their daily tasks. The choice of a vocation is a personal choice which cannot be made for young people on account of the results of psychometric tests only. In a complex occupational structure young
people need assistance to decide responsibly. This responsibility
must be faced by educator and educand.
It is the responsibility of the community to provide a setting in which becoming an adult with faith in a meaningful future is possible. Modern trends in vocational life cause some educational problems. These should not necessarily be regarded to be pathological. They are-opportunities appealing to educators to find new ways and means to educate the generation of the emerging age for their human task.