Selection for education in Southern Rhodesia

Abstract

The Faculty of Education of the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland has a responsibility to foster research on the educational needs and tasks of Central Africa; this responsibility is accepted. The three Departments of the Faculty encompass individuals of diverse disciplinary backgrounds, whose thinking and enquiries are enriched by contact and consultation with members of other Faculties of the College; such enrichments are demonstrated in Dr. Irvine’s penetrating analysis of selection for secondary education in Southern Rhodesia. To understand the educational system of the present, and to project its development to the future, it has been necessary to appreciate its past. To understand the attitudes of African peoples to education, it has been necessary to know something of African society in its different forms, and how attitudes have been influenced by rapid social and cultural change. Also, to make possible the fuller utilisation of human resources in agriculture, industry, commerce, the civil service, the various professions, and the like, it has been necessary to identify potential high level manpower, the need for which is stressed by the economist. The fact that Dr. Irvine’s research does not lose contact with contributions from disciplines other than his own, is a measure of its stature.