AN IDEAL UNIVERSITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13702, 19 March 1908, Page 5

AN IDEAL UNIVERSITY.

THE AMERICAN SYSTEM.

[BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.]

Chkistchubch, Wednesday In discussing before the Canterbury College Dialectic Society " The Americanization of the University," the retiring president (Mr. A. S. "Taylor, 8.A., LL.M.) asked why it was that in America the business men welcomed the university graduate and regarded him as a valuable national asset, while in New Zealand the business man, as a rule, shunned him? Why was it that in America men loved to bequeath rich legacies to universities and seldom thought of doing so here'.' Why was it that so few of our graduates found their way into public life?

Mr. Taylor considered that they should adopt the American system of college presidents. The college president would be a "registrar professor"a uian thoroughly in touch with the best in the educational and business world. He need not be on the teaching staff, but he would be the guiding and controlling spirit of the college. Under the present system the college drifted. It steered no certain course. There were as many captains as there were professors, and each was of equal authority. At present a student "drifted" into college full of hope, and " drifted" out again with a degree, often finding himself, after years of laborious study, ignorant of the position for which he was best fitted. Under the proposed system the student on entering college would have a career mapped out for him by a body expert on such matters. He would then be placed in charge of the professor most closely connected with the education lie would require. To this man f~ the student's major professor— the other professors would be subordinate. If these reforms were adopted we should *<x>n have a university loved by the people—one whose graduates would be eagerly sought after by business men, and one in regard to which men would vie with each other in leaving generous bequests.