THE NORTHERN ADVOCATE Registered for transmission through the Post as a newspaper. FRIDAY JANUARY I6, 1948. Howjucountfort?

Northern Advocate, 16 January 1948, Page 2

THE NORTHERN ADVOCATE Registered for transmission through the Post as a newspaper. FRIDAY JANUARY 16, 1948. Howjucountfort?

There are few whq would attempt Id shut out from university education any boy or girl whose financial equipment is in inverse ratio to intellectual equipment. There was a time in New Zealand when a boy or girl who gained admittance to a college or university as a result of success in competitive scholarship examinations was looked at askance by students whose fathers' wallets accounted for their presence in the halls of learning. An older generation of New Zealanders will recall many instances of this kind, and they will also know that "scholarship” young men and young women achieved fame whereas others not dependent upon brains and enterprise for inclusion in college membership never emerged from the mediocre ruck.

It would be absurd to suggest that there have been no exceptions to this, and that sons and daughters whose parents could afford to, send them to college or university have not capitalised their good fortune, and. by the exercise of intellectual talents, plus industry, won prominence in the professions. That, however, does not alter the fact that in earlier years poverty prevented many a youth of either sex from obtaining the educational advantage which would have ripened inherent talent, thus depriving mankind of service of great value.

It was to obviate this handicapping of young people that there was developed a desire to make education free from the kindergarten to the university, a commendable desirv which has achieved substantial fulfilment, though there is reason for questioning whether the pendulum has not swung further than is desirable.

This subject was discussed by the Chancellor of the University of New Zealand in his address t|o the Senate this week, and the critical reader cannot fail to discern in Sir Dav;d Smith’s comments more titan he actually put into words. The Chancellor was moved to speak as he did by evidence of appalling illiteracy on the part of a substantial proportion of students who sat for the university entrance examination last yeai;.

As will bo learned from examples quoted by Sir David Smith, and reported in another column, a deplorably low standard of spelling ability was revealed by young people who wished to enter an institution membership of which should be regarded as the hallmark of learning.

It may be that atrocious spelling is not a criterion of brain capacity awaiting development, for little attention seems to be paid to what should be regarded as a fundamental ingredient of education; in secondary schools no less than in primary schools, there is evidence of general belief that so long as individuals can make themselves understood the manner of their conveyance of information is a matter of no consequence.

Parenthetically, it may be commented that not in spelling alone, but in grammar and the choice of words generally, there is too great a tendency on the part of New Zealand youth—and others not so young —to favour American spelling and colloquialisms rather than good old English spelling and phraseology, a practice to which may be attributed some of the bad spelling which shocked the Chancellor of the University of New Zealand.

But, to revert to the widening of the university door to permit entrance of all who seek admission: it should be realised that the taxpayers of the Dominion contribute largely to the huge cost of primary, secondary and university education, and that they have a right to demand that the system adopted shall be productive of education in the true sense of the term.

Can it be said that the disclosures of the recent university entrance examinations are calculated to dispel fear that all is not well with a system which permits young people unable to spell to seek admission to university?

It is true, of course, that obscure questions which figured laigelv m some university examination papers last year should not be countenanced, but there should nevertheless be required of university students a reasonable standard of knowledge and mental capacity.