THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 1936 UNIVERSITY EDUCATION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22319, 17 January 1936, Page 8

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 1936 UNIVERSITY EDUCATION

At the annual meeting of the Senate of the University it is the custom to have an opening address by the Chancellor, and Mr. Hanan, on the ' first occasion of his presidency, has ! followed the practice of his predeces- ; sors in dealing with the service of ; education to the world. His outlook j —to come at once to his final and ' fundamental point—regards material values as of subsidiary worth: "it is not enough to sharpen the mind alone." So he looks to the creation of a democracy truly cultured and ethically enlightened as essential to "the value of a people." This is eminently true, so true that the Chancellor's words about it invite thought as to what precisely the University of New Zealand is doing to promote the "strength of character with high moral standards" that he declares "can alone use education to good ends." If Mr. Hanan is in doubt—as his language manifests he is—whether education be something different from the training of moral purpose to use it aright or something all-inclusive of true culture, embracing the inculcation of such a purpose, the scope of the University's prescribed task may be pleaded in excuse. I[s facilities for the study of ethics, to take the most relevant instance, give opportunity and taste for a study of ethical development as a matter of history and philosophy, but they furnish no direct ministry to an uplift of heart and conscience. His answer, and the answer of others, may be that this can be imparted. through the spirit of the institution, an opinion that means, in the last analysis, dependence upon the graces of personality embodied in its administrators and the authorities and teachers of its affiliated colleges. This view sets in clear relief the responsibility of all such, a responsibility all the greater because of the absence of moral and spiritual admonition from the curriculum. That the best among them have exercised an inspiring moral influence can be recorded with satisfaction, Apparently taking a view that regards! high qualifications of personality as indispensable in the teaching staffs of the colleges, the Chancellor logically lays emphasis on adequate care for their interests. He is right in asserting that "the burden of teaching and reading attached to a New Zealand professorial appointment exceeds that attached to a chair in a British university." A variety of attainments is represented in the students of any subject, and it is not feasible, under conditions ruling in New Zealand, to multiply classes in order to allot tutorial attention to groups of similar receptivity and promise. The effect of these conditions in lowering the standard of eventual attainment —in "subordinating the interests of the best brains." as Mr. Hanan would say—has been the subject of expert comment. But the effect on the teachers, to which he makes pointed reference, is as serious. At least there should be given adequate salaries, security of tenure, and satisfactory provision for retirement. Unless due care be paid to all three necessities, the likelihood of attracting first-class professors and lecturers will dangerously dwindle. Long overdue is an equitable scheme of superannuation. Commenting on the standard of work, Mr. Hanan corroborates what has lately been said by some university teachers here about its unsatisfactory level in some subjects. Possibly his dictum is too sweeping. It should be acknowledged that many products of the University of New Zealand have brought it honour abroad, not so much by attainments after they have left it as by what they have taken thither from their studies here. The entrance-examin-ation demands there have been a test of patience rather than of ability, formal rather than actual, ) and when this obstruction has been passed they have immediately and convincingly proved themselves able to hold their own with fellow honoursmen of equal age. Many New Zealand graduates have gone straight to educational posts, in Britain and elsewhere, of great responsibility. To generalise is perilous ; all the facts should be considered. It may be that the standard of our pass B.A. in school subjects is generally that of the entrance examination in British universities," but however true that be it is not all the truth. The Chancellor himself owns that it is not. It must be said with him that, in the circumstances, , our university colleges have to their credit a fine record of achievement in higher education. Yet, wherever the circumstances are unfavourable and the results consequently disquieting, it js. to try; tcuamextd them*