"UNSUITABLE STUDENTS"

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26478, 4 June 1947, Page 4

"UNSUITABLE STUDENTS"

It is an important warning which Dr Basil Howard has given to parents that children who were not academically fitted for entrance to the University should not be encouraged to strain their resources to the utmost to embark on an academic career. This subject is one which is giving increasing concern to the authorities, but despite the public references which have been made to :t—most recently by Dr Raphael in his address at the graduation ceremony—there is little indication that the seriousness of the position is being fully appreziated. In 1046 the University population of New Zealand, inclusive of the 500 students in the two* agricultural colleges, totalled 10,138, nearly double the average number of students in the years between 1935 and 1940. The situation was described a few months i ago by Professor I. A. Gordon, of Victoria University College: “ More , and more young men and women are turning to the University as |

the proper place in which to equip themselves for professional and for public life. Unfortunately in our present plight each additional student, instead of bringing a new accession of strength to the University, reduces the chances both of himself and for others of their receiving a proper university training.” The accommodation is practically the same as it was in pre-war years, and the staffing has not been materially increased. The problem cannot be solved simply by embarking on an expensive programme of expansion; the fitness of prospective students requires to be more carefully examined. This is important since there are now so many assisted students, while every student owes at least in part to the community the privilege of university education. On the other hand, there is the practical difficulty raised by Dr Howard: “There are few good jobs for university graduates, and so many looking for them.” Commenting last year on the increase in the number of students, the Chancellor of the University of New Zealand, Mr Justice Smith said it could not be accounted for solely by the number of students whose education had been delayed by the war. Other factors were, he said, the raising of the school age to fifteen, which resulted in pupils acquiring a desire to continue their education; the great amount of nyney circulating in the community; and the “ spirit of the age,” which placed an enhanced value on advanced education. There is also in progress a process which has been described as the “ democratisation of the University,” with the result that this institution has come to be regarded more as an advanced technological training ground, in contrast to the classical conception of. it as “ a living society of teachers and students engaged in the search for truth for its own sake and in the dissemination of learning.” The University of New Zealand must hasten to decide what its function in the community is to-be and to devise entrance qualifications accordingly. It is a matter also to which the Government must give enlightened consideration, for the University is financially dependent upon Government grants with the attendant risk of detailed Government control.