Plea For “Explorers” In N.Z. Learning

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29268, 28 July 1960, Page 17

Plea For “Explorers” In N.Z. Learning

When Emeritus ProfeJUr Arnold Wall received the honorary degree of doctor of literature at the University of Canterbury last evening he made a plea for the “explorers” as distinct from the “guides” in learning.

“Having always been a believer in that kind of scholarship which rates £ s. d. at the true valde which is nothing at all—l used to be impatient with those who seemed to be aiming at a different kind of scholarship altogether if it could be called scholarship’

at all,” said Professor Wall. "The aim of this latter kind was to provide the means of livelihood of occupation for those who chose it—what we call a utilitarian aim or bread-and-butter aim.

“Experience (often bitter), logic, and stark common sense compelled me in the long run to accept this utilitarian view and adapt my teaching methods and ideals to it. I did this, though at first rather against the grain with all the energy, the knowledge, and the acumen at my command. Thus, I may say, I performed with some success the functions demanded of me over % fairly long series of years. “Yet all the time I would cast a longing, lingering look back at my lost ideals and another look forward to the time when I should be free for the pursuit of knowledge as the old Victorian idealists call it. . . .”

“Unexplored Jungle” “I see mankind faced by an unexplored jungle which tempts and challenges and compels him to explore it in search of what can only be summed up as truth,” said Professor Wall. “The approaches to the fringe of the jungle have long ago been discovered and explored and tracks have been made to it and mapped But the travelling is still difficult and dangerous for the inexperienced and guides are necessary. “Thus arises the profession of the qualified guide. He takes charge of groups of the young, pilots them through the dangerous places, and (when he reaches the margins of the jungle) turns back, takes charge of a new group, and repeats the journey. He comes to know every stick and stone on the chosen track, every deceptive twist and turn, every swamp, every risky ford, every alluring side track, which may lead to disaster and whose temptations must be resisted.

“If he is one kind of guide he will find in the task endlessly repeted a satisfying life work. He is a born guide whose task is complete when the fringe of the jungle is reached and who is not tempted to go further and explore the jungle itself,” said Professor Wall. “Explorers are Bored”

“There is another kind of guide to whom the reptition of the jungleward journey becomes infinitely boring and who never turns back from the fringe of the jungle without longing looks forward into the unknown territory which he longs to enter and explore at any cost and at any risk. “How do I fit into this picture myself?” asked Professor Wall. “Well it would be an oversimplification to say that during my first 30 years here I belonged to the first class of guide, the pilot of the young through the well-worn trails up to the margin of the jungle; and during my second 30 years to the other kind, the born pioneer and ex-

plorer. I can hardly lay claim to the latter distinction if only because I had to enter upon the exploring career much too late,” he said.

“But this much, at any rate I can claim: if I did not get very far into the jungle, I did not get off the track for good. I had, of course, mad brief tantalising rushes into the jungle at odd times, just enough to whet my appetite for the real thing that was within my grasp after the break in the old routine. I would not give the impression that during my first 30 years on the trails I was indifferent or cynical, or thought that I was wasting my time.

What bearing had all this on the university today? Professor Wall said it seemed to him that the distinction he had drawn between the guide and the explorer had significance in university teaching and always would have. There were those who were bom explorers and failed completely as guides because they were bored with frequent repetition and whose charges were terrified of the jungle and bitterly resentful of any attempt to show them something beyond the sacred limits of the syllabus. Easy Entrance

In the university today there were two features of life and policy which were related to the two types of learner. “The first is easy entrance—far too easy in my opinion—which results in overcrowding of lecture rooms and over-burdening of staff,” said Professor Wall. “It is obvious that we have here conditions which make the case of the potential explorer rather hopeless. The whole atmosphere of the university would seem to be hostile to him, his special interests would appear to be overlooked, neglected, and his interest to be ignored. . “Then we have the large proportion of part-time students. These have been tolerated, if not encouraged, in the past (as it seems to me) unduly,” Professor Wall said. “I need not stress the disadvantages of this policy, which I have always opposed but always in vain. It is again obvious that the explorer, the original investigator, cannot be expected to thrive when less than half his time is devoted to the university work. “I do not venture to suggest any alteration in university regulations to meet what I consider to be a pressing need,” said Professor Wall "No. I am concerned only with the larger issues, the encouragement and support of the type of student whose interests seem to me to be in jeopardy under present conditions. I feel very deeply that everything possible should be done to discover, to foster, and to cherish the rare gift of originality and intellectual enterprise in the community. Different Institution

“Where else could all this be, done,” asked Professor Wall. "In view of the great utility of the guide type (the born teacher) to the community, it seems doubtful whether the interest of the other, and (as I take it) the higher type can ever be adequately served in the university as now constituted so that presumably the establishment of some other kind of institution on the lines, say, of the Cawthron Institute might be the answer.

“There you have the views of a veteran and of one who firmly believes that the progress of mankind—not only that of this country, if it is to be true progress and not merely the invention of new instruments of war—depends in the long run upon the sort of person whom I here describe as the explorers, the original thinkers and workers,” said Professor Wall.

“The Newtons, Darwins, Einsteins and Rutherfords are a small minority in any community and there is always the danger that their special interests should be swamped by those of the other (the very necessary) class whom I have called guides. “I feel that this danger exists here so that the potential explorer may be ignored, overlooked, disappointed and frustrated when he ought to be encouraged, supported and assisted in every way,” said Professor Wall.