Views On Students Amplified

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31740, 25 July 1968, Page 12

Views On Students Amplified

Four or five years of intensive study left j little time for the wider concepts of university | life of a century ago, said Mr H. T. Robinson, North Island vice-president of the New Zealand Workers’ Educational Association.

He was amplifying his remarks at the association’s annual conference in Christchurch on July 13, during which he said that graduates who arrived at his laboratory were “socially in napkins, behaving like a lot of grownup kids.”

“As a result, some young graduates have been hurt by remarks attributed to me,” said Mr Robinson, a Department of Scientific and Industrial Research scientist. “1 offer them my sincere apologies.”

He said his criticism at the conference was directed at “the system,” and the report of his remarks arose during discussion of the report by the president (Mr A. A Dingwall), who said: “Education for the young is intended to prepare him to enter his society, but does

not equip him to participate in the political, economic and social responsibilities it is our privilege to share.”

Mr Robinson said that at the university level, science and engineering students were under tremendous pressure to absorb the wealth of technical information that was demanded today. “The resources of the universities have not been used enough in the liberal education of adults,” Mr Robinson continued. “Regional councils (of adult education) have been abolished, and the areas vacated have been left unserviced. “Almost everyone todayneeds further education of some kind and the W.E.A. has emphasised the need for student representation in the control of classes. “It is hoped that university curricula will include more of the humanities for students who will spend their working life in the highly specialised fields of science and technology,” Mr Robinson said.