THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1939 UNIVERSITY STANDARDS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23262, 3 February 1939, Page 8

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1939 UNIVERSITY STANDARDS

Educational standards in New Zealand were exhaustively surveyed by the Chancellor of the University of New Zealand, the Hon. J. A. Hanan, at a meeting of the University Senate yesterday. Mr. Hanan's main concern is with the provision of more effective co-ordination between secondary and University education, and this has led him to a consideration of the value attaching to the present matriculation examination. His view is that matriculation standards are too low and that, as a result, many students who enter the University for degree study do so with a correspondingly low level of educational attainment. The examination, it is argued, is not sufficiently selective ; too many of those who qualify do so with hardly more than the bare minimum of marks required for a pass. But the difficulty which Mr. Hanan sees as clearly as anyone else is that high selective standards may deny University education to young students whose mental powers are not fully matured. One of the principal difficulties, of course, lies in the large number of secondary school pupils who annually put themselves forward as candidates for matriculation. In many cases these boys and girls have no intention of proceeding with a University course. They find, however, that a matriculation pass is a key which can unlock the door to attractive forms of employment, and, in effect, they sit not-for a University entrance examination but for a business entrance examination. The consequent tendency for a lowering in University standards can be readily appreciated. It is to be noted, however, that Mr. Hanan does not advocate the abolition of matriculation. On that point he crosses swords with the Minister of Education, Mr. Fraser, who regards the examination as something which nobody wants. The sound academic view, put forward by the Chancellor of the University, is that matriculation, as a strong preliminary test for University education, is essential for a maintenance of standards. That same view, with a different emphasis, is held by those employers, who, although they may not require potential University graduates as junior members of their staffs, have yet established a tradition that matriculation is the best possible gauge of youthful efficiency. Traditions are notoriously hard to break, but at the same time a strong case can be made for a raising of the standard of University education. Mr. Hanan sees a gleam of hope in the extension of the intermediate school system, which, he says, should represent an exploratory stage with the object of discovering whether the pupil is fitted for higher education. But the qualification is, very wisely imposed that such visionary determinations by the intermediate schools cannot be binding. Allowance must always be made for the val-ying rate at which the juvenile mind develops. A boy may display no outstanding academic qualifications up to the age of 15, but then, responding to some intellectual stimulus, he may reveal latent talents. Varying economic conditions of the individual must also be taken into consideration and due attention must be paid to the fact that future entrance to some of the higher professions is bound to be more fiercely competitive. The intermediate school doubtless has many useful functions to perform, but it is the secondary school which is the stepping-stone to the University, and it is there that the selective process, as far as it is wise and necessary, should operate. In the first place, it seems reasonably clear that there are still far too many secondary school students who are rushed through matriculation. Some misguided teachers—fortunately their numbers are becoming fewer every year—even endeavour to have a boy or girl matriculate from a fourth form. Generally speaking, anything of that nature must have the effect of lowering the standard of the examination. Nor is it to the advantage of the student, whose mind will often tend to become a mere receptacle for cramming. A fouryears' post-primary course should be the minimum required for a boy or girl to reach matriculation standard, and, with the need for greater mental discipline in University studies), a strong case can be made for a compulsory post-matriculation yeai\ Such an arrangement would probably weed out from the lists of matriculation candidates many of those who do not intend to proceed to the University, but it would not entirely overcome the difficulty arising from the desire of employers to obtain matriculated students for their staffs. Mr. Hanan has pointed out that the School Certificate, recently instituted by the Education Department, fulfils all requirements, its standard being that of the present entrance examination, with less rigidity in the choice of subjects. But matriculation has a vintage flavour which the School Certificate lacks. The virtues of the latter would have to be actively canvassed and its standard set reasonably high if the certificate were to be accepted as a fair measure of educational achievement. If that attitude could be encouraged the way would be open for making matriculation purely and simply a University entrance examination. The attention which the Government is properly paying to adult education might encourage a subsequent interest in higher learning by those who are not desirous or who are not able to tike a degree course, and the result might well be a higher percentage of full-time University students, without which the colleges can never hope to achieve their full statun as seats of learning..