HIGHER EDUCATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16600, 25 January 1916, Page 2

HIGHER EDUCATION

PLRA FOR A WIDER BASIS

START BY UNIVERSITY URGED

The following letter has been forwarded by Mr G. M. Thomson to Sir llobert Stout, Chancellor of tho University of Now Zealand, who has replied stating that he is in thorough accord with all, or almost all, tho ideas expressed:— " Doar Sir, —The present war is uprooting many old-established customs and institutions, bringing about a new outlook and a now standpoint, and you will agree with mo that it is the duty of every thinking man to open hiß oyes to the possibilities of tho future, and look for directions in which permanent improvements may bo effected and now standards set up. Among the coming changes tho educational outlook must engage attention. "The time has surely now como for a completo revision of our educational standards, and for a displacement of tho antiquated classical training which has so long dominated the universities and schools of Britain, and which has been transplanted to her colonies and oversea dominions. Ido not undervalue the classics as a medium of education, but I am satisfied that they do not meet tho wants of tho world to-day. With that innate conservatism which characterises tho Enjtlish (as contrasted with tho British) mind, wo havo clung to the study of Latin and Greek in onr universities, and consequently in our higher schools, and have concluded th&i when a man has received the hall-mark of his university for proficiency in these subjects he is a well-educated man. Tho conclusion is quite wrong, he is often remarkably ignorant, as we all know. Meanwhile scientific knowledge has gone cm growing at a phenomenal rate, its ramifications havo invaded every department of life, a training in it has become essential in tho 1 case of tho men who_ carry cm the real business of • life. Especially is this true m regard to the men _ who are providing the things on which this great war depends, a war in which failure means tho destruction of our Empire. Yet our legislators, our leaders in file State, the Church, the law, and ai>ove all, in the army, because they have received the classical education of our schools and colleges, are supposed to be competent to lead men _ and to rule over men trained in the technique of the applied sciences. Let me give examples. "In a war which is essentially in its carrying out one of artillery and allied branches of the services, we find the supreme command of the army given to a cavalry officer. I do not disparage for one moment the noble soldier who has been in command of the British armies on the Franoo-Belgian frontier for tho past year; [ only note that probably nowhere but in Britain could such a thing have been done. Sir John French retires, the war becomes still more an artillerv duel, and tho command devolves on another cavalry officer. Again there is no disparagement of a brilliant soldier, I only point out the system which leads to such a result, and which is, indirectly, 1 due to the defective education in practical things j wjiich Home universities give to their men, so that those at the head of affairs are not trained in practical matters. Wo would think it very remarkable if a clergyman or a lawyer (pace the Chief Justice) were placed in charge of an hospital, vet it would not be more singular than soma of the things dono in the army in connection with this war, and with the supply of munitions. " Take another instance. The dyeing industry m Britain nearly collapsed after the outbreak of the war, because the manufacture of aniline dyes, though originafiy an English industry, originated prima-rily by an Englishman, was allowed to pass into German hands. The British Government set up a commission to investigate the question and devise methods for the manufacture of the required dyes in England, and it carcfully left off chemists, the very men who ought to have formed the majority of its personnel. Again, only British people (or the inhabitants of Laputa) could make such an absolutely foolish mistake. It Eeed not be wondered at that tho British Dye Commission has not achieved what was expected of it. "I am quite aware of the fact that any attempt to displace Ihe classical teaching of our schools ana colleges from the place, ot v&ctege it has so lontt occupied will .be mot with the most bitter hostility by those . directly affected, and will bo treated as ah attempt to degrade the standard of education. Tile former altitude must be met un compromisingly, and common sense must be allowed to rule Thi posesibln lowering of the standard is a real difficulty, and must ■be guarded against most carefully. "If the classical tongues arc'to be relegated to a quite secondary position, as I think they should be, something equivalent 'from an educational standpoint must be substituted, so as to ensure that a high intellectual and cultural standard be maintained. My contention is that a measure of scientific training of a higher standard than is at present required, must bo demanded before any graduate can receive university degree, oven in Arts. At tho present ' time ;the ignorance of many, I almost write t'He" majority of university art graduates, in matters of every day moment, is very marked. I do not question their attainments in mathematics, in literature, in pedagogy, in mental philosophy, et hoc omne genus, I am not concerned at present with these branches of learning, but I do assert, without fear of refutation, that the majority are ignorant of the practical applications of chemistry, of biology, and of physics, as they are met with in daily life. We meet with this ignorance at every turn, even among so-called educated people. If they were better instructed in the things that matter, "vve would find lees empiricism and charlatanism in tho world to-day. Business men are supposed to know how to conduct their own affairs, and a great number of our best business men have at least had a high school education, but it must often stagger you to remark the wholesale way in which money is thrown away in many businesses from the want of scientific knowledge. ''How is this ignorance to be oombatcd? One question at once arises: Can scientific teaching be 'brought to a sufficiently high standard to displace the training at present claimed to be given "by tho study of the classical tongues? It must bo borne in mind at this point that only a small proportion of those attending secondary schools and colleges ever attain to a high standard in auch study or attain to any freedom in their use of Latin (much less of Greek). Tho majority, even the pass students of the university, have only a limited knowledge ■ of the subject. If tnc average graduate of, say. 10 years standing be sounded as to his knowledge of Latin, it will be found to be a vanishing quantity. The training received have boon good while it lasted, and may have had a valuable influence on the intellectual development of the student, but it has not left a residuum which is of ri:uch practical value to the daily life of the graduate '■ Can scientific training supply this intellectual want* Perhaps on the present standard the answer must be No, but if , science is raised, and at the same time a higher standard adopted in the English language, in history, in psychology and mental physiology (which must be Wed on a knowledge of physical and biological laws'), then the want can bo adequately supplied. I am not prepared, of course, to outline what i? wanted; that is the very point I want the university to look into. " Chemistry, as often taught, is still so empirical, and so little educational, as to merit its former contemptuous appellation of 'stinks.' But chemistry, as it should bo taught, with its close inter-relation to the higher mathematics and to physios, and its continual incentive to research on the part of the students, is a luminous subject, demanding the use o't the intellectual faculties in a high degree. Let anyone who doubts this statement look at the latest school text-book of chemistry written by l)r Mellcir, himself a Dunedin graduate of our University of New Zealand. No mere empiricist could use such a book, yet it is eminently within the grasp of properly Trained students of the subject. " Biology, as taught in many of our schools, is a book-subject, thoi.jh it is about the last subject iiich should bo so treated. In the hands of a live teacher, it is one of the moat ' live' subjects which can be taught; the material for it lies around us, the field of research is unlimited, and no one can say that ho who finds ' sermons in stones and books in the running brooks' is not on tho high road to that culture whioh the university seeks to inspire. " Physics enters so completely into our modern auily life that no one should bo considered . educated who has not had a grounding in it. But the high schools will not insist on this grounding, unless the university sets the standard, and demands it. " We, as partners in our great Empire, aro combating two very distinct forces in this war. We are fighting tho cruel pagan spirit which has substituted the worship of Thor for that of the humble Galilean: which has said ' Blessed are the warmakers ' in reply to the words of Christ: ' Blessed are the meek, for t.hey shall inherit the earth.' We are also, however, combating tho marvellous scientific organisation which is the main stumbling block in the path of the armies of the Allies; which employs scientific knowledge in the production not only of every kind of deadlv weapon and diabolical artifice, but whioh

at th<3 jirov.-nt time is finding substitutes for the food, tho cotton, the rubber, arid tho metals of which the war has largely deprived Germany. All tho classical learning would not have enabled Germany to carry on the war for a month, nor will it enable tho Allies to achiev® success. It ia her marvellous application of sciontifio teaching which has enabled Germany to do what she has done, and until -we lento this lesson ourselves wo shall always lag- behind. " We have seen in late years a tendency to break away from tho classical teaching of our high schools in the establishment of technical day schools, and year by year the number who attend these institutions is going up, and this must affect the attendance at tho sccond.'iry schools. Tho latter have their standard set for them by the University, for whatever standard the University sots it will bo the aim of the high schools to prepare their pupils for it. But tho technical schools have no such standard s'.'t before them. Tho examinations of the London City and Guilds Institute of South Kensington and of other bodies do sot a standard (and often a high one) in oertain definite branches of instruction, but they have nothing equivalent to a 13.A. or B.Sc. pass degroo, which demands a certain allround attainment. There is, then, a danger for [Hjpils attending these technical day schools taking up subjects which have a present commercial or merely utilitarian value, but have little educational value; and those who havo the control of such institutions are desirous of seeing a high standard Bet before their pupils. Only in this way will they fulfil their real purpose. " 1 here is only one body which can sot the standard for all secondary and technical schools, and that is tho University. At present it only doos so for the former, and I think it ought to do it for both, and at the same tirtio readjust its standard. It is of the highest importance for the future of this country that the position which the war is creating should be realised, and tho opportunity be seized for a great advance. The war of armaments and the shedding of blood in battle may soon cease, God grant it, but tho economic war will bo more fierce than ever. The men and women who have been scarred and wounded in their inmost fibre by this war aro having a new outlook on life, whatever mty be the blindness of tho rank and file of the population. We are.surely on the eve of the greatest renaissance the world has ever seen, a new birth in religion, in morality, in literature, in art, in commerce, in tho relations of man to man and of nation to nation. We fail in our duty to God, to ourselves, and to tho future if we do not strive to meot tin's renaissance and do something to prepare the way for it.

"The time has surely come; then, for a revision of our educational standards, and this revision ought to come from the University authorities. If they do not undertake it, then the change will surely como from below, and their position will bo unsatisfactory.

" I know that it is impossible to effect an immediate change in a matter of this kind, and the question Wants to be looked at from all sides; but what I would suggest is something as follows: —Let the Senate set up a Mive ' committee at its present session to go into the question of establishing* a now standard for its degrees. Let this committee get into touch with the heads of high and technical schools, with the Minister, the department, and the Council of Education, and with the universities of Britain and the overseas dominions* and let them report to subsequent meetings of the Senate. The question will not be settled in a year, but a start should be made at once.

"It may be urged that it is presumptuous for the smallest and one of the youngest of British communities to take such a step, but all history shows that the argument has no value. The greatest renaissance the world has ever witnessed took place in a small and utterly contemned corner of the Roman Empire, and among a people who were looked on with supreme contempt and dislike by the rulers, and the first committee set up in connection with it consisted of but 12 ignorant men who were seeking for light. ** I trust my suggestion will meet with the approval and co-operation of the Senate.— Yours faithfully, Geo. M. Thomson."