UNIVERSITY ENTRANCE

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 143, 14 December 1933, Page 15

UNIVERSITY ENTRANCE

HEADMASTER'S COMMENT

BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS

Education methods, tho importance attached to the university entrance examination, and the qualifications required by business men in tho juniors they employ iverc among subjects dealt with in. a thoughtful, earnest address delivered by the principal, Mr. J. B. Sutcliffc, at the annual prizegiving ' ceremony of Scots college last evening. Mr. Sutclifio also impressed upon his pupils the necessity of learning tho lesson of tolerance and of carrying it into- every phase of. their lives. "As regards the subject of educational aims and objects, I cannot add anything to what I have already stated to you,at past prize-giving functions," said Mr. Sutcliffe. "There is a tendency in those days to regard-old-established methods a-nd ideas as obsolete and even definitely harmful. In almost every educatioijaj publication one can read articles dealing" with repressions and inhibitions in the young~ and neiv methods of education to deal with; them. Perhaps the writers are correct; I don't know. I can only state- that I A have a respect amounting to veneration for the. great .schools of the Old Country and as long as I ani associated" with this school I shall try,'within the exacting limits imposed,.on, .us, to model ,it on them. I believe that.this school is working alorig the right' lines to turn- out a good type of citizen! and .1 (am encouraged., by .the '. knowledge that, in the struggle for employment which' our young men unfbrttinately have to face,, Scots. College .old. boys seem, to have little difficulty in obtaining coveted posts, often, from.' very large fields! . • BUSINESS KEQUIREMENTS. .■This leads,me to the subject of the chief qualifications required, by-business men in the juniors they employ. We s'ciiobl'masteis a-Ve supposed, along1 with clergymen, and..medical .men, to be notoriqiisly lacking in,business knowledge arid' acumen1,1 so'that I liave made it my custom to question those', of my friends, who describe themselves .as 'liard'-hea'ded business men' as" to their own educational experiences and their requirements in their junior employees. Eeg.ardmg .the latter < there is ( Remarkable uhaiiimity of opinion, t'he\ cliief requirements ■. being:'—(l) Pesonality, in. which they include, appearance, address, manners',' and all the outward and visible evidences of gentility. (2) Facility -in.., arithmetical calculation. .(3) Good hand-writing.^ "it is pieas'ing' to' note' that fewer business men nowadays require that their juniors .should have passed the entrance examination to an institution they neVer nU'd1 t'ti'e slightest intention of entering; although one still,has occasional inquiries for boys who must nave passed' the university entrance ex'aminatibn and must bo no more' than .15 years of .age. Doub,t}ess; there are many such' boys available arid t wish t'liein' f ortuiiej' but the1 men who demand them are.imposing a heavy burden on many schoolmasters and many boys. The university calendar lays it down that the entrance examination represents the reasonable result of four years' work in a secondary school. This 'can only mean that the average boy should take four years, that some will require five, while only the naturally brilliant boys will do it in three. MONEY WASTED. "The result is that we schoolmasters are being continually pressed by parents to put their sons, brilliant -or otherwise, through this examination in three years. The university in its wisdom has decided that a four-year course is necessary. The examiners," in setting the papers, take it for granted .that this period of secondary work has been carried out, and even if a boy can manage to scrape through in three years or even two, he cannot in most cases have reached that degree of cultural attainment visualised by the university authorities as requisite for those who arc fitted, if they wish to do so, to enter into university life. The headmaster of one of the large secondary schools in one of our cities has told me that an average of more than a hundred guineas of examination fees arc wasted annually by parents of his pupils' who insist on their sons sitting the university entrance examination before the normal time. "BAD LADS" AT SCHOOL. "The other, matter, the educational experiences of our more successful citizens, is one .which, on the evidence, 1 must refuse to take seriously. After talking to many successful professional and business men and listening to and reading the speeches of others, one would be-forced to the conclusion that in nearly every case each one was: — (1) Always in trouble at school; (2) caned more than any other boy in the school; and (3) was invariably at the bottom of his class. I trust that these words will not act as a damper to the spirits of those of you boys who are to receive prizes tonight. I think that you can take it as true that these men, either through pervered modesty and hatred of boasting prefer to forget their school successes, or that as they advance in years and become less capable of further harm, it tickles their vanity to think what bad lads they were at school. On the other hand, if you are not'to get a prize, you may be able to draw some comfort from the other side of the picture. LESSON OF TOLERANCE. "However, whether you boys are prizewinners or not, I want you to remember this, that until you have learnt the lesson of tolerance you cannot say you are edncated. One of the highest aims of- education and one of the most difficult to attain is that ability and willpower to appreciate the other fellow s point of view. Intolerance breeds, suspicion, and suspicion of our neighbours, whether across the fence or across the seas, will always bo a source of friction and unhappiness. I do not imagine that you boys will ever.be guilty of religious intolerance from which I fear our country is not guiltless, for although this is nominally a Presbyterian Church school, it welcomes boys of all denominations in its class rooms, and there and in your sports you meet boys of every majorrcligious denomination in the land and learn to appreciate their true worth. But you must learn to carry tolerance further, into your business and politics' and every phase of your lives. It is this failure to appreciate the other man's viewpoint that is setting nation against nation at the present time. If one country suggests some new means of alleviating the world's troubles, economic, military, or otherwise, the others seem to bristle with suspicion and. to search for ulterior motives behind its well-meant efforts. It is suspicion born cf intolerance which has given rise to feelings amounting to hatred between two members of our British Commonwealth over the interpretation of the rules of a game. The same cause has led a representative of the people of this country to question the use to which one of our customers may put tho waste product, she buys from us. "DRAW A LITTLE CLOSER " "You must remember that the world is not made up of saints and sinners, but of people with a capacity for- both good and bad but ,who, in the main, if given a little encouragement, would gladly conform to Bracken's prayer to 'draw a little closer to ono another and be understood.' " Mr. Sutcliffe concluded with the fol-