UNIVERSITY REFORM

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 86, 11 April 1923, Page 9

UNIVERSITY REFORM

THE RECENT MOVEMENT

EX-STUDENT'S ARGUMENT

CASE AGAINST DECENTRALISATION.

Towards the end of last year a proposal was made by the Board of Studies of the New Zealand University that the present, constitution of the University should be modified so as to give each of the four colleges in the Dominion the status of an independent university. It will be,recalled that the board's resolution was submitted to the University Sanit c at its last meeting in January, and was rejected, the opinion being expressed that the Board of Studies had gone outside ; ts sphere in passing the resolution. The same proposal was made tne subject for the inter-University debate held at Dunedin at Easter, when Victoria College took the affirmative, and was successful in securing a verdict. On- 23rd March the question was discussed at a trial debate by the Victoria College Debating Society, when Mr. J. O'Shea and Mr. H. H. Cornish took' th« negative. At that trial debate the question was defeated. Mr. O'Shea has, in ■view of the importance of the proposal, given '' The Post " the matter which he prepared for the Victoria College donate. Th« question was to the effect that in the interests of University education the University of New Zealand should cease to exist, and the status of separate and independent universities be given to each of the four colleges at present affiliated therto. This question, Mr. O'Shea said, resolves itself into two aspects—(l) The University of New Zealand should cease to exist; (2) the four University colleges should be separate universities. To the students of his day the proposition would have appeared so unworthy of consideration that it would probably not have been discussed, even academically. The first intimation he had had of this extremely reactionary proposal was the denunciation of it in the Chancellor's speech in January. With his views on the matter he thoroughly agreed. The creation of the New Zealand University was one of the triumphs of early New Zealand as a nation against the parochial spirit so often introduced into pubile affairs of every class. In 1869 Otago had a University, but that University, as the result of the national University movement that culminated in the New Zealand University Act of 1874,' abandoned its claims to a charter. This University had granted degrees, but in a noble spirit of selfsacrifice gave colonial status to the University and paved the way for the abolition of the provinces. He had inquired into the origin of the present proposal, and found that it emanated from the Board of Studies. In November, 1922, that body resolved: ■*' That, in the opinion of the board, the time has arrived for the re-organisation of the University into iour independent ! universities."

The use of the word re-organisation was unfortunate. "Reorganisation" was (like organisation) a .latter-day catchword. It was a favourite word in use 1-y people who wish to destroy existing institutions for the purpose of putting something nebulous in their place that indicates something in the nature of wrecking. What was prof osed was to overturn the structure that had been laboriously raised by the labours of over half a century, and to replace it with four paper effigies. • The process aimed at was the same as would be attained by splitting' up New Zealand into a tribal system similar to that : which obtained amongst the Maoris.

The Board of Studies was constituted in. 1914 by statute, and made a court of the University. The intent of the Statute, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in direct opposition to the contentions of the Board of Studies, was that the board's ■ functions were purely those of a consultative body. Everybody could see that as a consultative body the board would have been, and cculd always be, a very valuable member of the New Zealand, University. Most graduates anticipated that the Board of Studies would assist the University to develop along the lines which had been so successful in the past. This liad not, however, boen the policy of the board. ABOLITION OF EXTEBNAL EXAMINATIONS. Thr first institution attacked by th« board was the principle of external examination. The board brought forward arguments which, doubtless, appealed to undergraduates. It elaborated on the times, that elapsed between the examinations 'and the results and on the interference with studies which might result from delay in ascertaining what next year's work would be. They quoted (he t.houjfht improperly) the existing- methods of examination in practical subjects, such as medicine and law. The arguments that appealed to the students of 25 years ago were ignored by them. At that time the value of an attempt, if it was only an attempt, to attain the standard set by the leading educational authorities in England was recognised. The examiners were of the leading classical and modern language scholars and the leading scientists of theday. Membare of the Board of Studies insinuated that these men delegated their work to their hacks. Sir Robert Stout fought a losing battle- against them, but when this matter comes to he considered by' posterity, the single-minded action, of the Chief Justice will receive the approbation of all. He possessed the sense of proportion which was lacked by the Board of Studies. It must be remembered that he wae the Nestor of New Zealand 'education. He was a school teacher before he was 20. He prosecuted his studies as a young man at Otago University and immediately he qualified as a barrister he acted as a law lecturer. All his life he had been an education enthusiast, and, to the utmost of his means, a benefactor to education.

The Board of Studies aimed at having control of all examinations. So far they had only got control of examinations up to the B.A. standard, but they desired to control the allocations of scholarships and honours.

A similar movement found favour with a Commission which in 1879 reported on the University and its relation with secondary education. That Commission favoured University examinations being conducted by local University professors. The late Professor Sale, however, wrote a note dissenting as follows:—"While 1 assent generally to the recommendations in this report. I desire to express my dissent from that part of it in which it is recommended that the examiners of the New Zealand University should, as a rule, bo taken from among tho professors of University Colleges. I think it wrong that any professor or lecturer should be placed in the exceedingly difficult position of having to pronounce upon the relative merits of his own students and others educated at rival colleges. 1 think it not unlikely that this difficulty will lead to tho break-down of the scheme and precipitate the establishment of four or move Universities. I thinkj further that it io unwise to condemn tha 7>lan of conducting the examinations by means of "printed papers furnished by examiners resident in England,

and forwarded by them through the post until that plan has been fairly tried and proved to be unworkable. I believe that in all subjects except in physical and natural science such a mode of examination would be perfectly satisfactory, and that any inconveniences arising from the delay of a few weeks in the publication of the results would be amply compensated by the unimpeachable character of the examination." THINKING NATIONALLY AND IMPERIALLY. The present proposal, Mr. O'Shea continued, was a step backward to the tribal stage. Our University system would lack cohesion as much as the Maoris did when they were fighting the English, and would be just as inefficient. To-day we were at the mercy of the forces of disintegration. The constitutional advancement of New Zealand had been through provincial parochialism to Dominion status, and the constitution of the University of New Zealand was the first step in the consolidation of the Dominion.

The greatest factor in intellectual advancement in New Zealand was that we should think nationally in all things. If we could thinly nationally we could hope to think on the Imperial scale. We had already lost touch with the English examinerß. We have lost the benefits of their standards^ and the still greater benefits of their unbiased criticism. There.was nobody now in New Zealand or out of it with the necessary capacity that was in a position to state whether our professors were teaching according to the methods and standards attained to-day in the highest intellectual centres. England was the intellectual centre of the world. Our University had always been regarded as the last citadel of defence against error and selfishness. By our connection with the leading English professors we have been able in some measure to effect through the University the public duty of keeping the intellectual activities of the Dominion to somewhere near the intellectual plane of the best English Universities, It was submitted that this could never be done by four colleges in the Dominion.

New Zealand now had to find the money necessary' for "the New Zealand University's, work. That, work consisted of the prescribing of courses of study, the examination of students, and the recording of the results. This work would have to be done by each University. Of course, a.lot of the expense could be obviated if no course of studies was prescribed, and the. matter was left to each, individual professor, who would be given the right, along with his fellow professors ■ and lecturers, to say what students should obtain degrees and when they should obtain thtm. Such c proposition was quite in keeping with the proposals of the Board of Studies already foistad upon a somnolent public. The development of University education up till ten years aso proceeded along evolutionary lines. Then began the revolutionary campaign of the so-called Reformers. The genius of the English race had always been a protection against the wild excesses that have ruined other nations, such as France, which had never recovered from the shattering effeots of the French Revolution. SOME PERTINENT QUESTIONS. Another question, arose also: How many scholarships were to be given to the various Universities? Would the present number of scholarships be multiplied by four, or would each college take its share of the scholarships in turn? . Who would provide the money if extra scholarships were to be provided? . . -.-

Would there be any inter-relation or interdependence between these Univeraities, or would these Universities provide facilities for all subjects now taugh^ in all university. colleges, or-would each University teach only what it thought fit? In short, had the Board of Studies given any consideration to the .far-reach-ing effect of the proposal that it carried unanimously?

" In our day," Mr. O'Shea went on. " students always hoped that whatever institutions were destroyed or degraded the University would be the saviour of the nation, and that the policies and proposals enunciated by the University and its Courts would manifest so clearly their freedom from self-seeking by their inherent honesty and virtue that they would command the respect and approvalof • all right-minded individuals in the community, but what to-day is the influence of the University on public life? It is practically nil, and the reason, ie I not far to seek. I entertain no doubt whatever that the professors are actuated by tho highest motives, but unfortunately , their course of action is such as to : lead the unthinking to quite a wrong ' conclusion. There is no doubt that instead of following the open and straight path laid down by their predecessors they have deviated into the by-path error, and that having once committed themselves to a wrong policy they are only making the thing worse by pur-1 suing their initial mistake to its logical result." A too close view of the work- j ing of the external examination system had convinced them of the fact that the. evils, instead of being a spot on the sun, were the essence of the system. But there was time for them to withdraw and to devote their united abilities to assisting the glorious career that the university waß already launched upon, and not to embark upon so-called reforms which people regarding affairs' in proper perspective recognised as irretrievable disasters. It was still more unfortunate that malicious people regarding the actions of reformers from the year 1908 to the present date quite plausibly put forward the theory that the professors were perfectly satisfied that they and they only were the university. He submitted that when j such an insinuation could be put forward with the least possible grounds of | success it was time for the professors to recognise that the effects of their actions were not in accord with their intentions. STUDENTS' POINT, OF VIEW. In every case where the so-called reformers had broken ground, -they had suggested to the students of the day that the injustices which they have suffered in the past in being deprived of degrees to which they were justly entitled would never occur if the reformers' projects came to fruition. The answer to this was that there was no royal road to knowledge. Unlesß students were willing to face the hardest of hard work, they could be certain that no degree obtainable would be of any benefit. On this point he did not wish to add anything further than to say that to the discerning a hint is more valuable than a sermon.

In conclusion, he said the position to be adopted was set out in three sentences of a report of a joint committee of the House of Representatives in 1871. They reported:—

"1. That the amalgamation of the University of New Zealand and the University of Otago is of great importance in the interests of higher education. "2. Colleges were so far as administration was concerned to be solely under the control of their own authorities. "3. Otago was no longer to have the power of conferring degrees."