PASSPORT TO LEARNING

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 18, 22 January 1943, Page 4

PASSPORT TO LEARNING

Matriculation, or, as some authorities prefer it, the University Entrance. Examination, has for more than a generation now been a very prominent —perhaps the most prominent—single feature of New Zealand's, educational system- Many people would call it, and have called it, an ugly feature and have attacked it accordingly, demanding abolition, or, at least, drastic reform, for it had become more, instead of legs, prominent, ajnd, had. become not only a passport to the halls of learn-. i»g» but, %q a, more Important degree, a passport to a livelihood and a career. To gain a foothold in the higher ranks of commerce, la the professions, and the Public Service, "matric" was a sine qua. nan, After several years' hegita^ tion the.Senate of the yniversity of New Zealand baa now; at its meeting in Dunedin, approved "important changes in the method of examining candidates for admission to the university," The essence of the new scheme is, first,."the provision of an entrance examination , , . of a scope and standard appropriate to several university courses," and, second, "not less than four years of satisfactory postprinwy education shall be demanded before the candidate fc accredited for entrance." Not all schools by the mere fact of their existence will be eligible for accrediting; a. list is to be drawn, up by the university in consultation with the Education department, to include "only schools of undoubted suitability." There is a minimum age limit of 16 years for candidates not accredited for entrance. It is admitted that in the past 83 a passport to the university «matric" wa* not satisfactory. The standard, was too low, as professors frequently had. to complain- The scope of the examination was also too limited for the various courses open, to the ch.oieeol the successful candidate. The changeg approved by the Senate - may be expected therefore to tighten; up entrance to the university- This may be a. change for the better, but it mjy also be construed as a raising of the barriers for entrance into the profes* aions. The effect will also be felt throughout the secondary school sys* tern in which f<matric" had tended to become the end and not the means. What is to happen to "matric" as a passport to a commercial career or te the Public Service is not clear, Is "matric" to go, and, if so, what is to be the substitute? These are questions which the reported proceedings of the Senate leave, unanswered.