U.S. UNIVERSITY LIFE

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27377, 16 June 1954, Page 3

U.S. UNIVERSITY LIFE

IMPRESSIONS OF DR. M. GAGE

‘YOUNGER STUDENTS NOISY AND INCONSIDERATE’

Dr. M. Gage, senior lecturer in geology at Canterbury University College, recently returned to Christchurch after spending 10 months at the State University of Illinois, where he studied under the Fulbright programme. In his presidential address at the annual meeting of the Canterbury College Scientific Society, Dr. Gage made some observations about America, and described the 'University of Illinois. The main campus of the University of Illinois was situated between two towns—Champagne and Urbana—whose centres were one mile apart, about 150 miles from Chicago, in the heart of the United States, Dr. Gage said. There was also an undergraduate college and a .medical school in Chicago. The university consisted of 14 colleges taking students for bachelor degrees, and graduate colleges for doctorates and masters’ degrs6s. About 75 per cent, of its income came from taxation. Tuition fees were about £lO a year for students living in Illinois, and £5O for non-State students. The whole university had about 15.000 students and about 1500 staff members.

Entrance to the university was a complicated -procedure based on high school records, and sometimes by examination, said Dr. Gage. The entrance standard was lower than in New Zealand, especially jn English. Dr. Gage noticed among the students an inability to express themselves clearly in correct English, though he commented that their speech was better, and vowel sounds purer than those of common New Zealand speech.

The course for the degree of bachelor of arts or science took four years, of which the first three or the last must be residential, when students must liveJn a university hostel or approved loagwig, said Dr. Gage. Lectures were given to groups of up to 400 students, he said. The students were supplied with extensive reading lists, and lectures were planned around the reading course. The university had one of the biggest libraries in the world—3.ooo.ooo books, stored in a 10-stoi-ey “stack room.” The standard, of scholarship of graduates varied widely from university to university in America, said Dr. Gage, but he thought New Zealand students in America compared well with American students. The younger American students seemed noisy and inconsiderate. Their activities, though giving a superficial appearance of sophistication, were really only play-acting, and the students seemed to remain childish much longer than in New Zealand. Dr. Gage said he had also been surprised by the remarkable uniformity among students, who had little individuality. Dr. Gage showed a number of coloured slides of the Illinois University buildings and the area in which they are situated.