UNIVERSITY AFLOAT

Evening Star, Issue 19616, 23 July 1927, Page 2

UNIVERSITY AFLOAT

SUCCESSFUL AMERICAN EXPERIMENT [From Ooe Special Correspondent.] SAN FRANCISCO, June 29. America’s first “university afloat," which cast off last September with SOO young wen and women students and fifty professors on an educational world cruise, has ploughed its collegiate way around the globe, and has 1 erned to New York from London, and next September a second enterprise of tbe kind will be launched Everywhere-the “ afloat ” touched port from West to East ami back again its members were received with hospitality. They had direct contact with, in foreign ports and foreign students accompanied tbe Americans jn placo of professional guides. On the long stretches of wean voyage between trips a short practical training was supplemented by the regulation test book lecture method of study in college courses. The ship was lilted with classrooms, study rooms, library, swimming pool, and gymnasium. By arrangement with their home colleges students will receive credit for their work afloat.

Close personal contact between Occident and Orient was apparent in the international aspects of the trip. Perhaps no group of travellers ever were better equipped to see tho world intellectually than the members ol the “university afloat.” Lectures were delivered before arriving at each pore upon every phase of the place. Not content with scheduled classes the students organised groups to meet in the evenings and discuss questions pertinent to the country they were to study at first hand. Radically different from the usual tourist party interested in social affairs, bridge and general sight-seeing, the v “ university afloat ” represented a distinctly new departure in education. New outlook, new sympathy, new allegiance, nyw interest, and new r appreciation 1 were gained from association with the culture and peoples of other lands. Student life was enriched by contact with o|J civilisations and the sights and experiences in the four corners of the globe. - NOVEL FEATURES. During the passage through the Panama Canal the United States Government sent three capable men v, in) spoke on tho early history apd building of the canal, its present operation, and Uncle Sam’s relations with the Governments of Colombia and Panama. At Singapore two professors from Batavia went aboard, and sailed with the “university” to Java, lecturing on the country and various phases of life there. Before lauding in Japan lectures were delivered on the history, geography, and customs of tho land.

the -Laughing Buddhas and crooked streets of old japan, the students visited modern newspaper establishments, steel plants, and factories of every description, which showered invitations upon them. In spite of protests that tlio season for climbing was over, and in spite of the fact that no guide could be obtained who would risk the dangers, a hand of students led by one of the professors climbed picturesque Fujiyama. Christmas was spent in Ceylon among the crumbling ruins of the ancient city of Anuradhapura. Its streets 2,000 years ago were crowded with soldiers, jugglers, beggar's, dancers, _ chariots, and elephants. The foundation stones of temples and palaces, fragments of golden cupolas, brass canopies and brilliant pavilions, mutilated gods, and the 3mge stone bathing pools of Anuradbapura, ancient capital of Ceylon, to-day were found to bo buried under a dense jnugl© growth, the habitation -of-mon-keys and jungle beasts. On New Year’s Day the “ university afloat ” lay off that ancient and fascinating land of India The students heard the great Indian nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi talk to silent multitudes, and watched men of wealth and influence kneel at his feet, calling him “ master ” and “ saviour.” They visited the strange burial grounds of the Parsees, who consign their dead to “towers of silence.” They inspected the wild, beautiful scenery, the great tea plantations, the spicefields rich with cinnamon, clove, and ginger. Glasses in botany, geography, ami geology made special trips on the palmfringed islands of Hawaii, and transformed their academic pursuits into living interests. In the Holy Land the travellers delved into Biblical lore and inspected Jerusalem with all the eagerness of the Christian pilgrim. In Home they were received by Pope Pius XL, and gained an appreciation of the Vatican which no text book could give. a KING’S WELCOME

One high spot of the cruise was the royal reception of the “ university afloat” by King llama VII of Siam. This Asiatic country of some ten million people is the only remaining absolute monarchy iu the 'world. The king is the' lawgiver, executive, and judge. The students from the most democratic land on earth were the guests of a king >vlio ruled as well as reigned. From the moment of the first day, when the King sont members of Insroyal household to greet them in the Gulf of Siam, to the end of the four-day stay there was not an idle hour • fourteen handbooks devoted to the various resources, to public health, and the philanthropic institutions of Siam had been prepared for the students. A Siamese production was staged in the Boy a I Theatre for their benefit, and guides who spoke English accompanied them fo interpret the meaning of places and institutions visited. The grandeur and beauty of the Siamese temples, the Wats of Bangkok, the splendor of golden towers under a blue sky, and gables sparkling with jewels made a fasting impression. . They were at a ioss to decide where or when their hearts were most in-tri'-'ued. The dykes, winclmdls, canals, and fertile fields of Holland had charm, so also did the royal tombs, the Pyramids, the deseite of Egypt, and architectural masterpieces of the Middle Ages. They sailed the seven seas; they [saw Paris. Berlin. Vicuna, Madrid, Home, Naples, Bombay, Singapore. Algiers. Jerusalem, and they studied what they saw. Groups of students had toured Europe before, hut never before has a university gone down to the sea in ships. afloat” was the plan of James _E. Lough, Dean of New York University, transformed info n reality hy Air A. J 1 MTntosh.