ALL FRIENDS AT COLLEGE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23381, 24 June 1939, Page 9 (Supplement)

ALL FRIENDS AT COLLEGE

Y\fE like the spirit of the students ' ' of Goddard College, in Vermont, United States of America, who have voted unanimously to help with the menial work of the institution in order the reduce the running expenses and so liberate more money for scholarships. Formerly only scholarship students waited at table and did other domestic duties, and this led to a sort of class distinction which the students disliked. Now everybody is required to do his share, and after a period of trial it has been put to the vote whether to continue or not. The students voted with one voice for the new system. When asked whether they thought the domestic tasks they perform were educational, all but six thought they were. Arrangements are to be under the control of a student committee, the

preferences of the students for the type of work they want to do are to bo considered, and tasks are to bo rotated two or three times during the term. The students ask that members of the staff be available to show the unskilled quicker and better methods of work, so that everyone will finish his daily services in an hour. Wise after the fact, says a London educational'authority, wo can see that some such system ns this should have been introduced into European universities 20 vears ago. Many a well educated refugee would have been better equipped for life had he learned in his youth how to make beds, sweep floors, peel vegetables, and wash tip. We quite agree with the students of Goddard College—these activities uiv educational, and lio one is actually independent who has not mastered them.