UNIVERSITIES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 144, 20 June 1931, Page 1 (Supplement)

UNIVERSITIES

OXFORD, HEIDELBERG, COLOMBIA WHAT HAS EACH TO OFFER? They will taste the joy of living, as you only taste it there. As you taste it Only There In the higher, purer air, Unapproachable by worries and oblivious quite of care! A. D. Godley. Oxford’s Asset. “QNLY the foreigner who has grown up in the glare and newness of a new world, be it America or Australia, can do full justice to the charm and educative value of the quiet quadrangles, the College libraries, the Bodleian, rich in treasures and associations, the Fellows’ gardens—the strange intermingling of democracy and tradition, of asceticism, and dignified luxury. No American or German institution of any kind enjoys, as do Oxford and Cambridge, the inestimable advantage of possessing ample means of associating in worthy, scholarly fashion with men of learning and distinction—not only an amenity, but a source of profound spiritual stimulus. . . Among the tremendous assets of Oxford and Cambridge one must reckon the Clarendon Press and the Cambridge University Press. Publication and research are inseparable: what is accomplished if the work of a lifetime grows mouldy in the drawer of a desk? American scholars arc constantly worried by this depressing fear. Since the war, continental scholars have also encountered serious difficulties. With wisdom and unselfishness the managers of the University Presses have splendidly served not only the scholars of Oxford and Cambridge but the schools of the entire Englishspeaking and English-reading world.’ . . . Journalismus. “Indefensible is the associate professorship of journalism in Berlin. Its story is interesting. At Heidelberg an inconspicuous series of lectures on the history of the,press—a topic legitimate enough—had long been given. In America journalism had been lifted by Columbia and the State universities to the rank of a ‘profession,’ though every day it was becoming more and more a business. The stubborn and conservative universities, it was urged, alone prevented its recognition as a profession in Germany. The education ministries did not decide themselves, but they bent before the storm, holding fast to the ‘central core,’ yielding as little as they could to embittered and chagrined business interest and popular clamour. So a Lehrstuhl of Zcitungswissenchaft (journalistic science) was set up at Berlin; shortly it procured for itself an Institut—a laboratory or library, where eight hundred newspapers arc clipped and filed, to what ultimate end, who knows? Lectures were planned on the conventional model; likewise, practical courses. A philosophy was evolved ‘to suit the case.’ It begins with Praxis, the analysis of which is Forsehung (research): thence are elaborated Vorlesungen (lecture courses) and Kurse (courses) which train reporters, musical critics, literary critics, etc. The whole group expresses the Wesen (the inner nature or secret) of Journalismus. Journalismus thus ‘makes a noise’ like a Wissenschaft; but it will have as little effect on journalism in Germany as in America.”. ... The Universities and Ice Cream. “Through Teachers’ College, Columbia offers courses m ‘methods of experimental and comparative cookery’; credit may also be obtained through courses in ‘tea room cookery,’ in ‘food etiquette and hospitality,’ in the ‘principles of home laundering.’ Among subjects accepted as theses for Ph.D. degrees may be instanced ‘Some Attempts to Standardise Oven Temperatures for Cookery Processes’ and ‘Some Sugar-Saving Sweets for Every Day.’ ‘Abstracts on Recent Research in Cookery and Allied Subjects,’ prepared by an instructor, but introduced by a professor, deals in Part I with ‘refrigeration.’ As evidence of the scientific depth of the ‘research’ I quote the following:— “ ‘The theory of refrigeration implies the i-eduction of the temperature of a body below that of the surrounding environment. Frequent opening and closing of the doors of the food chamber causes an increase in ice consumption and a temporary rise in the temperature of the food chamber. A good refrigerator should have a temperature satisfactory for the preservation of food.’ In Part II of the same series of ‘Research Abstracts,’ devoted to ‘ice cream,’ an expectant public is informed that, as respects ‘the influence of sugar,’ the primary function of sugar in ice cream is to sweeten it. Secondary and tertiary functions are not enumerated. And I must not forget to call attention to the bibliography by means of which these recondite facts are buttressed—among the eighty-one cited being a goodly number of advertising circulars.!’’ [From Universities: American, English, German. By Abraham Flexner. Oxford University Press: New York.]