'VARSITY EXAMS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 282, 29 November 1938, Page 13

'VARSITY EXAMS.

CURRENT ISSUES. A NEW NOTE IN PAPERS. FACING UP TO MODERN PROBLEMS. (By J. J.) For the last three weeks students at Auckland University College and elsewhere have been busily sitting particular batches of the 7-31 different exam ination papers of university standard that it is possible to sit in Xew Zealand. These embrace not only the ordinary Arts and Science degrees, but training for Law, Architecture, Insurance, Banking. Accountancy, .Medicine and Journalism.

Many questions are highly technical and quite beyond the ordinary person. i Others are very learned and similarly j likely to be passed over. But when you i come to papers in the social sciences, such as economics and education, manv interesting problems of the life today are found to creep in. The social sciences, by the way. take a much bigger place in modern learning compared with some years a no, and the questions are much' theoretical and more linked up with issues of the day than formerly. Not So Dreary a Science. Political scieiK-e was once a verv dreary subject, but now candidates arc asked to "explain the frequent changes of government in France"; and "how far do you think the failures of the League of Nations have been due to weaknesses of structure," and thev arc also asked to suggest their own reforms for it. They are asked to "explain and examine the grounds for the use and restriction of the death penalty"; also to discuss Marxian Socialism" in the light of the quotation: "If a man is economically enslaved it is a mockery to call him free." Honours History people, too. arc asked to "analyse tlie concept of class worked out by Marx and Engcls, and' to discues ite importance for the understanding of the State." This is in a paper on "Political Ideas" which also has a request to discuss the contents of Lenin's "State and Revolution," and a query as to how far ideas hostile to parliamentary government in the twentieth century reflect the a~c we live in. ° History Up-to-date. The Pass History paper comes right up-to-date by asking to what extent and in what direction definite attempts have been made in the twentieth century to organise world peace. The effects of armaments are also mentioned, notably in economics papers. One wtndere "under what conditions, if any, i.s a government justified in borrowing money to finance expenditure upon armament*." This is asked in two different papers. In the et-say paper for Honours also one of the "subjects ie "The Economics of Rearmament." Topical questions in economics include: "Why do many people foir the economic consequences of a declining population?" and "Do you consider it possible for one country to insulate itself against the effects of economic fhanges in the outside world?" And English examiner apparently is curious to find out "to what extent*does it seem possible to you for a government to reduce the amplitude of cyclical fluctuations." He akn asks candidates to "indicate the method by which a government could inflate the currency end ehow the difficulties encountered in producing inflation in a time of depression." There is an echo of this also in a public finance paper, where an interpretation is asked of a "proposal public credit should be used to finance socially desirable activities. What consequences are likely t o happen from eufh a policy in Xew Zealand?"

The activities of governments aiv I much in evidence in other questions. "A central bank and its management and policy should be free from government control and the influence of politics. Discuss the validity of this dictum wit li special reference to Xew Zealand conditions." In currency and banking students »re asked to discuss the case for and against Government control of centril banks. Finance and Social Economies. Another statement put forward for discussion is "that governments should fix wages at levels that will provide reasonable standards of living for the I workers. This is echoed in another paper where students are asked to discuss the chief methods by which the State may be expected to raise the standard of living of the inhabitants. One wonders whether or not "it is true to say that public expenditure wholly financed from taxes does not and cannot . increase the volume of employment." And whether it "i 3 correct to say that the Central Bank of New Zealand cannot act as a true central bank so long as other banks maintain relatively large balances in London." It was surely a kind examiner who asked as the last request in his paper that candidates should "frame an appropriate question on public finance not already covered in this paper and answer it!" Most people would be curious as to "the significance of the 'Multiplier' with special reference to Public Works in New Zealand." In the paper on "Household and Social Economies," women students are asked to state "the case, social and economic, for and against the employment of married women, and the marriage of women workers." Thev are also asked to "indicate the ways in which a sufficient nucleus of women members of Parliament might improve the social and economic condition of New Zealand women and children." The vexed question of raised wages and Inch coats conies into an invitation to discuss the statement that "High wages inevitably mean high rosts and thus there is never any real gain to the wage-earner." A Popular Subject. A subject that is relatively new in University work and rapidly becoming very popular is geography. Topical questions here arc asked upon race, and how far correlation can be found between national and raciil groups. A question is asked as to "the extent to which the State of Czechoslovakia has suffered from lack of geographical an 1 ethnic unity." Several questions are concerned with China and Japan. j Something quite pertinent is raised : when "having in mind the more modern ' trend towards speeding up transport"' I candidates are asked to "discuss the ' problem of the provision of main high- : ways for motor traffic and the methods ; of solution experimented with in progressive countries, such as Germany." i Sociology is another subject that i=, , being increasingly taken. Candidates 1 here are invited to examine "the native • policj of the New Zealand Governments

of the past in the light of modern ideas as to the relation between advanced and backward nations:"

Students are asked to "compare the influence of broadcasting and aviation as forces influencing social development"; and to "describe typical examples of the ways in which the search for raw materials has influenced the policies of modern States." Government comes in again in a request to "give your reasoned opinion of the view that, because the functions of the State are now so many and wide-reaching, it iid social problems so complex in Nature democracy is not the best form of government.''

One concludes that tlie university is liy no means wrapped up in the ]>ast.; its teachers seem alive to current issue?. and at least a proportion of the students arc petting an opportunity to face and study these issues.