EXTRA-MURAL STUDENTS

Evening Star, Issue 21784, 28 July 1934, Page 9

EXTRA-MURAL STUDENTS

ABUSE BY HIGH SCHOOLS UNIVERSITY GRADUATES' DISCUSSION An address on extra-muralism . was given by Mr N. S. Woods at the annual meeting last night of tho Otago Unu..rsity Court of Convocation. In a lengthy address, Mr Woods said that last year there were 268 extramural examinees in Otago alone. There were 63 in history, 58 in English, 34 in French, 28 in Economics, 25 in Education, 23 in Latin, and 37 in other subjects, Of these a very large number—a majority he should think—were high school pupils. Now, high,schools were not intended to be universities either in the qualifications of their teachers as professors, or in the methods of their teaching, or in their -library equipment. If high schools were to function as university colleges, and their teachers as university professors and lecturers, there was at oitee n wastage in their system. If the functions of the two over-lapped so that there was a reduplication, then those functions needed redefining to avoid that. .There could be no defence of a system ‘whicir paid a professor a high salary to perform a certain work, and then left the larger part of that work in the hands of less qualified people whose real job was to do a different work, and who were being paid to do that differcr. work.

A sumniary of the* points he had covered was as follows:- (1) Hiere is the ideal of true un versify cultme to keep in mind, though that ideal will not secure a fruitful hearing at the hands of the Philistines. (2) A degree which represents one standard of attainment cannot represent at the same time another and an inferior standard of attainment. The reward should be equal only where the attainment is equal. (3) In the interests of efficiency and economy the wastage resulting from the over-lapping of the functiohs of

high school and university staffs should be eliminated. (4) That persons paying boarding fees at high schools should be allowed to study extra-murally at the same time is a shocking abuse of the system, and an imposture by t'’ose well able to pay university class fees on the students and the taxpayers who maintain the university lectures. (5) That continual attendance at a high school is not essential in extra-mural studying. (6) There is the grave danger that, through dependence on a majority, the university will become tied down to the level demanded by that majority. He made four suggestions:—(l) An extra-mural lending library of text books and reference books should be an essential corollary to our extramural system. (2) Students should not be discriminated against on a geographical basis. (3) Secondary schools and university colleges should not overlap in functions. (4) Some system of examination, preferably oral, should be adopted which is capable of revealing the amount of reading done by the extra-mural student _ and his comprehension of that reading. After Mr Woods had concluded his address an animated discussion followed, and a large number of graduates voiced general approval of Mr Woods’s remarks. Among these speakers were Dr 6. E, Thompson (dean of the arts faculty), Mr J. M. Paterson (speaking as a law lecturer), Messrs J. Robertson and J. A. Dunning, Dr Gregory and Dr Stuart_ Moore. Endowing this discussion, a motion was moved by Mr R. S. M. Sinclair and seconded by Mr\J. Robertson, and carried unanimously as follows: “That the committee use the address given by Mr Woods as the basis for representations to the Senate of the University c f Now Zenlnn' 1 ’ ard Min ister of Education on the subject of ey’va-mnralit.v.” A second motion was also put and carried-’ as follows That t ,l e oU’ci •listrict courts of _ convocation 'be informed of the action this court is tek mg, and that they bo urged to tak similar action ” A hearty vote of thanks was passed to Mr Woods for his address.