VALUE OF DEGREES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 449, 6 March 1909, Page 5

VALUE OF DEGREES.

MASTER OF ARTS. OXFORD'S "EASY" PROCESS. AN ATTEMPT TO ABOLISH IT FAILS. .(Br TELEGRArII— PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYMOHT.) London, March 4. Tho Convocation of Oxford University, hy 136 votes to 108, defeated a proposal to abolish tho presont easy system of obtaining tho degroo of Master of Arts. M.A. BY PAYMENT. HOW MEMBERSHIP OF CONVOCATION IS OBTAINED From an article on university reform which appeared in the "Daily Mail" some time ago it would appear that a man who obtains a B.A. degree through the pass sohools may obtain his M.A. by tho paymont of n fee of £YL; and if he further pays the annual • fees necespnry to keep his nanio on the books of his college he becomes a member of Convocation. On the other hnnd, the man who attains high scholarship by taking his degree with high honours, and cannot afford to keep his name on the books, is not a member of convocation. This statement throws a strong light both oil tho "easy system" and on Convocation's present decision to retain it. Tho passage in the "Daily Mail" article tonching on the point is as follows :— "In mediaeval times tho M.A. was roall.v a superior degreo to the B.A. It required further study. The Bachelor was but a superior apprentice, the Master of Arts was a qualified eacher. Bnt in the university's dark agos it became enstomary to grant 'a grace' exempting the B.A. from any further studies, and conferring the M.A. degree upon payment of a fee. The man who obtaini a B.A. through the pass sohools and pays first £12 foi- his M.A. and afterwards tho annual fees necessary to keep his name on'the books of his college is a member of Convocation and a governor of the university. But tho man who takes high honours and cannot afford to keep his name on the books is excluded from that privilege. Tl|eso anomalies only Parliament can remedy, and until they are remedied reform 'from within' cannot be expected." Evidently the Convocation of Oxford University desires no remedy. "PLAYGROUND OF THE WEALTHY.", In the Honse of Lords in July, 190", the question of university roi'orm was introduced by tho Anglican Bishop of Birmingham (Dγ, Gore), who asked whether, in view of the changes that had taken place in English higher education since the report of tho University Commission in 1877, and the difficulties experienced by the older universities, as at present constituted, in 'adapting themselves to modern conditions, the Government would advise his Mnjesty to appoint a Royal Commission to inquire into tho endowment, government, administration, and teaching of the universities of- Oxford and Cambridge, nnd thoir constituent colleges, in order to secure the best use of their resources for the benefit of all classes of

tho community. Dr. Goro said that there could )jo no reasonable donbt that at the present moment the .universities were, to tin extent, far beyond what ought to bo tolerated, the glayirround of the sons of the wealthier classes. Every now and then there was a row at the universities, which was taken up by tho newspapers, and which caused peoplo to hold their hands in reprobation; but there was another, and far more serious, evil which passed altogether unobserved. That was that the universities, as at present constituted, were not for so many of their inmates a place of study at all. There should bo some machinery for getting rid of those win had not, in any real sense, the intention of becoming.students, nnd if that machinery was provided there would inevitably follow a.change, in the examination system, and in the system of teaching. Under present conditions, the energies of the teachins staff wore, to a large extent, wasted by their doing for the young men what the undergraduates ought to do for themselves. The students had to be got through their examinations somehow, and the tutors got for them out of books, and put in into a shape easily assimilable for examination tho knowledge which these youths ought , " to obtain 1 for themselves. The universities,' in his opinion, should bo made a'centre' , of intellectual'aspirations nnd desiros for the whole country, nnd they should do much more than thoy were doing to turn the minds of the students to municipal, , political, an!: social affairs. Great social questions which at'present were a standing menace to our modern civilisation, were, in his view, tho most important subjects- to which men could devnto themsolvfls. The Earl of Cre-tve snid there was no doubt that foi- some time past university reform hiul been in the air, and it was duo to a variety of causes. The fields of study had been widely expanded; there had been the upspringine of new provincial universities; and. again, within tho last fow years, there had been impressed upon the pnblio mind tho whnin question of university extension and the methods by which the endowments of tho universities might, in some way. be artnlied for the benefit -if (he poorer citizens of th« country, for whom (hey were originallv intended. The Government felt that the appointment of a'Royal Commission, liko other important events of life, was a thing not to bo lightly or inadvisably undertaken. They had. a matter. of fact, only cnstinl evidence of the feeline which actually existed, either at Oxford or Cambridge, and. before arriving at a final c'nnniririnn. they ouirM to know what the mnsf thoughtful nnd most competent ' opinion at the universities demanded. It was alsi necessary (o know what the universities could not do of their own moHon, mid for w'ut purposes lesMation would be reouired. They on<?ht, further, to be informed whethor there did exist at the universities anything liko a dead weight of obstruction reform of such a character that it cnuld only he removed by statute. For these reasons, he snid. th-i Government cmild not, nt present, at nil evnnfs. reorunmencl the appointment of a Royal Commission. :