THE CAPPING CEREMONY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13192, 1 June 1906, Page 4

THE CAPPING CEREMONY.

The annual capping ceremony at the Auckland University College is always interesting, not least so because of the ever-recurring reference to the struggle between the classical and the scientific sides. It goes without saying that the general sympathies of the university authorities lie with the classics, but as the years roll on, and as the claims of science become more fairly recognised, the old-time assumption that " Culture" is . the only thing worth living for—" Culture" being used in the extremely narrow- sense so as to exclude everything but the books of a few- Greek and Latin authors—has given place to the very much more reasonable and justifiable claim that, it is a very good thing for a man to have. That England got along so well for 300 years, though mutilating the classic tongues with her "barbarous system of pronunciation," producing during the period a literature which is not surpassed by that of any nation, extant or extinct, might suggest that we are still inclined to exaggerate the value of pedantic learning. Professor Tubbs very aptly quoted Aristotle that the highest aim of education was the noble employment of leisure But .this point of view, however inspiring, always seems to imply that the practical work of life is the reverse of ennobling. It would be a great mistake to eliminate from life all that is included in the term " classical education," but it would be still more unfortunate if we went back to the period when the intellect of the world was generally pot-bound by a dogmatic reverence for the records of a long-vanished past. The president of the Students' Association, speaking on their behalf, very rightly set up a collegiate claim upon business people, pointing out that " the modern university was not a place merely for classical education; it was a place in which business people should be trained." This is emphatically true. A modern university is one which is adapted to its environment, giving that instruction and opportunity required - by those among whom it is established. For this the public is generally'willing to pay, ■ but the ' difficulty is that the public is not yet convinced of the essentially practical trend of the modern university. Our Auckland business men, however, ought to be better versed in the question than the public at large, and should assist in popularising and developing the university college along the lines indicated, if for no better reason than that, it is distinctly to their interest for them to do so.