UNIVERSITY REFORM

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7450, 26 May 1911, Page 6

UNIVERSITY REFORM

SOME OUTSIDE OPINIONS. VIEWS OF ENGLISH AUTHORITIES This morning :ve print further opinions received hy the University Reform Association from educationists abroad upon questions raised in connection with tho Now Zealand University. It will be remembered that the questions to which answers were sought were: A. Ought wo to endeavour to substitute for tho purely external examination some form ot test in ■ which tho opinions of teachers is taken into account? R. —What general powers should be given to the professors in the organisation of tho university and tho colleges? Tho latest replies are: I. President J. G. Schurman, formerly Sago Professor of Philosophy at Cornell University, is now president of that university. He has had a very varied university career, having been educated in the universities of London, Edinburgh, Berlin, Heidelberg, and Gottingen, and having occupied posts in smaller universities. He was president of tho United States Commission to tho Philippine, Islands, and has made Important contributions to pliilosophical literature. Question A-. Your system is very different from that which obtains in tho United States. It seems to me, however, a reproduction. with modifications, of tho system which prevailed in England, when, apart irom Oxford and Cambridge, there was no educational bodv empowered to grant degrees except tho University of London, to which students came xip for examination < frotn Owen’s College, Manchester, Kin? s College and University College, London, and other teaching institutions throughout the kingdom. In those days I was myself a student at University College, London, and took both my B.A. and M.A. degrees in tbo University of London. By experience, therefore, I know something of tho advantages of that system, and also of its disadvantages. In a sentence I should say that the dxtra-mnral examiners could rertain what a student did not know, but they could not with equal success ascertain what he did know. But this ia not tho main indictment I a bring against the system. I regard it as condemned bv the fact that it belittles the function of tbe professor, tending to make him a coach who shall prepare his pupils to pass, examinations conducted by others, instead of being an independent scholar, teacher, and investigator in his own field. Question B; The apprehension that examinations when conducted by professors themselves will be easier or more exposed to tho suspicion of partiality and personal colouring is, I think, shown by experience in -the United States to bo groundless. If in some of our institutions examinations aro not as difficult as at Oxford or Cambridge, explanation will probably be found in a different circumstanoo. There tho examinations are held at the end of a period of year, or oven of two years. Here, except in the ca.so of graduate students, they aro held twice in tho course of a single year. Tho English system of honorary examinations '•alls. the-re r ore, for a more comprehensive c urvoy of the subject studied than is demanded of under-graduates in the generality of American universities. On the ©♦her hand, the examinations for graduate students in American universities are exempt from this criticism, and may fairlv ho compared with the examinations for tbo Ph.D. degree-’in German universities. That is to snv, that tho students' standing is determined first hy his thesis and secondly by a final examination, oral or written, or both, covering tho major and two minor subjects to which ho has been devoting himself if he be a candidate for the Ph. D.. for at least three years. J. G. SOHURMAN.

Professor G. A. Gibson, .Professor of .Mathematics in Glasgow University. Question A: Most certainly. So far as external exißminers are required, the method followed in the Scotch universities gives any. guarantees that are necessary for intpartiaHty." But I should prefer to see the whole record of the student (as an undergraduate) taken into account. So far as the degree is conferred in virtue of passes in individual subjects, the record of the ■Rtudents' work during his attendance in tho corresponding classes should weigh .heavily in determining the pass. If the 'degree is an “ordinary" degree, excellence in' tho record should exempt from the corresponding degree examination, the decree ■examination should be retained meanwhile (for those who have done somewhat inferior ’work during their class attendance. If the ■degree is an “honours" degree, the class record, together with a thesis, would form a much better test than that of written examinations. The exemption by means of a good class record is now given in Edinburgh for mathematics and natural philo ophy (ordinary degree), but tho system is not yet firmly established. There is no corresponding exemption, as far as I am aware, for an honours degree. In any case, whether thesis or examination bo adopted as a tost, considerable stress should always bo laid on the continuous record of a student’s work, as certified by his professors. Question B: This question is not easy to answer briefly. In general the professors should be responsible for tho adjustment of courses—their scope, number,' methods of instruction * (by lectures, tutorially, etc.,), and tho examinations. The proposals of the professors, however, should be subject to tho review of a court, charged with the general control of tho college; such ‘review would be limited to a power of veto of a general character. If the college were under ordinances similar to those in force in Scotland, such power of veto would not be necessary. No educational changes should be made until these have been considered and reported upon by tho professors as a body. The financial management of the college should not fall on the professors. I do not think it to be of any vital moment that the professors should have one or more of their number on the supreme governing body; this governing body should have financial control, care of buildings, etc. I do not think that the professors should havo a vote in tho election of professors if there is only one professor of a subject. These remarks aro very disjointed, but their general tendency is—educational arrangements should be essentially the task of the teaching staff, while financial and general business matters should be tho work of a body of laymen, who would keep the college in touch with the general lifo of tho community. GEORGE A. GIBSON. nr. President G. Stanley Hall. Ph.D. (Harvard), LL.D. (Johns Hopkins). Studied in Berlin, Bonn, Heidelberg, and Leipzig, and was formerly Professor of Psychology in Johns Hopkins University, He lias been an ardent investigator in psychology and education, and has had a most powerful influence on educational methods. He is the editor and founder of the “ American Journal of_ Psychology,“The Pedagogical Seminary,” and among his numerous works are tl Adolescence,” “ Aspects of German Culture,” etc., etc. His opinion is thus based on a deep and varied experience of educa--tional aims and methods. Question A: My experience teaches mo that, all things considered teachers, aro the best examiners. The dangers of this system can casilv bo obviated by publicity. The disadvantages of external examiners seem to mo many, so that tho scheme, which I have seen a good deal of in England, has never commended itself to me. Indeed, tho longer I teach, the less I believe in examinations of any kind, and regard them as a necessary evil, A college or nniversity professor working in close contact with his men in the seminary and laboratory knows from this intercourse far more whether they curq fitted to go on

than any test that hq or anyone else could devise would show him. Question B: Every professor should, I think, be almost supreme in tho organisation of his own department. In my experience and observation this gives a wholesome spirit of competition, stimulates the right kind of emulation and initiative, and gives a due degree of individuality to the some departments in different (Institutions o.s against the monotonous unlformitising oi much in vogue. I would have the president of tho college, or university, or faculty, given almost absolute power, and held to severe accountability in the matter of appointing and promoting professors who should generally come in as young men, with perhaps one, three or five-year appointments, to” see whether they are going to make good. As soon as they are on the permanent list, many American professors immediately deteriorate. The dead wood in our faculties should be a warning to use the very greatest care in selection, and also to make even' young man feel for a number of years that ho would be dropped and lose his career unless he his bo?t. Ono of tho secrets of success in university administration is to so environ the professors that they shall bo kept alive and interested in their work. G. STANLEY HALL.