MATRICULATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18897, 20 December 1924, Page 9

MATRICULATION.

Sir—l am afraid "Catapult" has rather spoilt his case by owning up to the fact that he- is a teacher. At the same time that does not prevent him from being a "youth!" If he has only got to the matriculation stage, and not a very brilliant one at that, it is the kindest assumption. i Unfortunately for him, the university does not merely stand for arithmetic, as a good many of the less capable public schoolteachers would wish— stands for a general, all-round culture. If it is mere utility that he wants, ' why ' not, go to tech ? Many people seem to look upon a matriculation pass as a sort of .final public exam., showing that the student has completed his education. I'do. not think I am betraying the confidence or other undergraduates by saying that it is only the very beginning of serious study. It is the gateway to the university, and people who pass the matric and matriculate, without doing anything more,..are rather in the. position of the little boy who rings tho door bell and runs away. The university has a perfect right to make its gateway a little bit above the ordinary. Even so,"it is getting too easy. When I matriculated, if Latin was- rot -taken,, two modern languages', were compulsory. A degree assumes, not. only that a special training has been acquired, but that its holder is an educated man generally. "Catapult" seems to badly need the discipline of learning another language, but , I doubt whether he would ever acquire sufficient culture to appreciate the great French literature. The fact that he calls it "snivelling cant" and "such stuff" rather shows that he is not of the stuff from which educated people are made. Ex-Student.

Sir,— was not my intention to continue this correspondence, but Catapult's" last letter so bristles with misstatements that the sooner they are publicly corrected the better. In the first place he states that French is compulsory .for matriculation. This is untrue, as anvone who has ever looked a: a university calendar is well aware that Latin or Greek of German can be offered instead. As a matter of fact graduates do not treat junior students with contempt, whatever attitude they may be at times disposed to adopt towards fools. On the contrary, in the Home universities, freshmen can always rely on Retting assistance and information from the graduates in residence and doubtless if graduates'- associations were formed hero the same system would prevail. The reason why students "read, read, read," is to prevent them from writing nonsense and express--ing opinions on subjects that they know nothing about. For a school teacher, as "Catapult" declares himself to be, his expressions and ideas are extraordinary, for although pigs may "'wallow" in mud, nobody ever does in a language, and whatever opinions may bo held as to th» ethical standards adopted by some French authors, the most fanatical zealot never accused them of "canting." The species that "Catapult" is typical of would not be satisfied if French were abolished tomorrow; in a year's time the correspondence column,of the Herald would bo flooded with letters from "Anti-Maths" and "Cube Root" urging the elimination of arithmetic and algebra as the mental strain involved in acquiring the rudiments of mathematics was detrimental to i their health. Why cannot the "Catapult" I class be frank and state that they want i degrees without examinations? B.A.