field, former Technical Institute instructor Alfred Carey believes academics and technology should be treated equally in education.

"Technical Institute was important because the students got an opportunity, right at the very beginning, not to see any difference between academics and the trades,'' he maintains. "In fact, there should be no division between academics and technology. Both should form the basis for a well rounded education.'' Carey used woodwork "as a medium for teaching young men how to think logically. The boys may have thought that we were instructing them in carpentry, but we were, in fact, teaching them how to think and they, in turn, developed an appreciation for how English, mathematics and the sciences were interrelated with the trades.'' Carey received his secondary school education at the Berkeley Institute. Upon graduation, he left the island armed with a Bermuda Government Scholarship to study at the Kingston Technical School in Jamaica, where he later obtained a City and Guilds Teaching qualification in Building, mathematics and other subjects. Ironically, as a youngster, he was interested in becoming a shipwright until his father talked him out of the idea.

"My father was a carpenter who worked at Dockyard. He knew that I wanted to be a shipwright, but he told me I'd never be able to throw all of those planks around because of my slight build. So I decided to concentrate on something else,'' he says smiling.

As a budding carpenter, Carey learned his trade, during the summers, working at W.E.R. Joell's cabinet-making ship, where he did floor refurbishing, among other things.

After returning home from Jamaica, Carey taught woodwork at the manual training center in St. George's three days a week, while the remaining two days he taught in Somerset. In the east end, the schools encompassed Temperance Hall and Cripple Gate, which later amalgamated to become Francis Patton School, while in the west end the schools consisted of the West End School, Southampton Glebe, Southampton East School and Sandys Secondary.

"Back then, elementary schools had manual training, arts and crafts, woodwork, basketry, domestic science and other art related subjects,'' he recalls.

Later, when a teaching position became available at Technical Institute, Carey joined the faculty there in 1961, approximately five years after it had opened. "The school was started to provide technical training to young men after the Dockyard closed, mainly in the trades, however, the students received training for life which prepared them to work in any fields they so chose,'' he says.

"The boys could have their GCE's in English, mathematics and technical drawing, and in other areas as well. They had both the academic and the technical approach to education and the people who came to Technical Institute in ensuing years were of the same standard as those who went to Berkeley, Saltus or Warwick Academy,'' Carey maintains.

Why, in his opinion, did the school eventually close? "It closed because they wanted to start the college. I guess the school was turning out too much of an elitist student,'' Carey suggests, adding that none of the teachers at the school, during that time, wanted to see the school closed.

Since Technical Institute's closing, Carey claims that he has seen the effect upon the trade industry on the Island.

"If Technical Institute had continued, it would have served a very vital purpose because today the trades like carpentry, masonry and plumbing are suffering. The older fellas are dying out and there are no younger fellas to replace them.'' Carey is currently putting together a history of the Technical Institute. He has in his possession the first school bell and a number of other memorabilia associated withthe school.

"To be a teacher, you have to really enjoy the profession and must have the ability to empathise with all types of people,'' he explains. "As a teacher, I was always interested in getting the fellas who people said couldn't learn.

They were always challenges because, for me, there is no such thing as a student who can't learn. The secret lies in finding the key to unlock the door to his mind so that he will respond.'' A further indication of Carey's teaching philosophy can be found in the words of a number of flyers he had hanging on the walls of his office.

"A man who works with his hands is a labourer ... a man who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman ... but`a man who works with his hands, his head and his heart is an artist.'' Such was the influence of Alfred Carey, an artist who taught his students lessons for life! No caption SEPTEMBER 1993 RG MAGAZINE