EDUCATION AND BUSINESS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 36, 12 February 1929, Page 6

EDUCATION AND BUSINESS.

THE NEW ZEALAND ATTITUDE.

(To the Editor.)

Professor Taylor h looking at the world through a pair of imiver.-ity -j.eetaeles. He has seen, like myself. \h« marionettes who huddle in the countiiiglioiise*. and who M uite competent to a~i>t in ?: ,tljenn ? in the >hekcl-. A university course U not the "open sesame" to the acquisition of wealth. And go we find that those who succeed in securing tk e flesh pots jii-e the least mentally wjftej of the community. It >iiould be reiiienfbered that New Zealand i> n country that deifies its athletics and ignore- the pah- student who idu us the midnight oil. I should like to point out t<» your contributor that I do not under-cr-tiinate the intelligence of the native-born New Zealander. He is on the average superior in tills re.-pect to the nalive-horn Knglishnun Irishman or Scotsman. The pioneers who made liis country were in the '')ii>t flight" courageous, resourceful and *iiatuially" eintelligent. Their descendants liave in a Teat measure exhibited tiiese qualities. The national outlook of New Zealand, as far as education and economic.-, are concerned, is'onc of supreme indifference. 1 did not blame the Tniyersity for sumiuibiug to eonmiercialism. Beiiind this commercialism is our social s\>lem, and that i> why 1 wanted t<> know why the universities, failed to gho us a had alon'social and economic lines. (In pas-Injj Im \ remark that the Auckland University took up a. most courageo.is stand mi the Mental Defectives Act—a matter of j-rt-at importance.) lam fully confidejit that the wluiie world owes a debt of gratitude to our uni\cr»itics. They have attracted to them men lives have been sjient in acquiring speciii! ktsovk'djre—men wh<i have helped to tear <i<>\x ;i veil after veil and proved to us how much there i< to know and how we are still groping in the dark. But university professors do not govern iiieir institutions. And la:-t, but not least, they are the one class of men who do not make the sole ambition in life the acquisition of wealth. Professor Taylor may console himself with the reflection that though our universities are cominercialised, the professor*—witli lew exception* —are not. HLKBEKT MLLVIHILL.