The Waikato Times. With which Is Incorporated The Waikato Argus. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16, 1929. UNDER CRITICISM.

Waikato Times, Volume 105, Issue 17611, 16 January 1929, Page 6

The Waikato Times. With which Is Incorporated The Waikato Argus. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16, 1929. UNDER CRITICISM.

Until recent years Oxford and Cambridge shared first plac*. among the universities of the Empire, but the general attitude of the students today, and comparison with _ other modern and virile institutions closely connected with the great industries of England, have caused scathing criticism to be directed against these ancient educational centres. This criticism, too, does not come from irresponsible people, but from those whose standing in the educational world compels attention, and though difference in outlook, and even a modified form of envy or jealousy, many account in part for hostile comment,' there appears to be some ground for the torrent of blame and rebuke. One critic of standing sees industrial England looking on pityingly while both Oxford and Cambridge are “going down hill,” and he adds that “the double descent has been long accomplished, and any further oscillations are unimportant.” Against Oxford especially is criticism directed, and her annihilation in athletic contests by Cambridge during recent years, together with her bored indifference to overwhelming defeat, is made the subject of stinging comment. It may be a sign of grace, it is said, that she is in a mood to despise brawn and beef, if she is more keenly interested in the intellectual arena and is breeding statesmen rather than sportsmen, leaders of thougiit rather than breakers of records. But there are cynics who attribute the degeneracy of Oxford to the enervating influence of her undergraduates. They say that Oxford has been feminised to such an extent that it has produced effeminacy, and that the Oxford manner has declined into an Oxford mannerism that is a pose of indifference, indolence and disillusion. They even detect a debasement of the manner of speech, whereby the characteristic manly drawl of this university has been corrupted, they say, into a girlish lisp, and contrast it with that of Cambridge, where a special intonation has never been practised, but where the men talk like men, ‘‘not like pale young curates.” It has been suggested that the' effeminacy of Oxford is a protest against the masculinity of womanhood, and that the manly woman has called for the womanly man. The scathing criticism that this great university has, to-day, undergraduates mentally as well as physically lazy may not be wholly deserved, but it will have the effect -las a contemporary sets forth) of calling attention to the fact that physical decadence may, and probably does, indicate' general leth- 1 argy and lassitude. The war involved

a vast wastage of virility, and a phase of mental, moral and physical exhaustion is not unexpected. It is explained that Oxford mirrors this phase more clearly than Cambridge because its traditions attract the softer and more pampered elements of the nation, and its Rhodes scholars, chosen for virile qualities as well as educational attainments, are too few in numbers to leaven the lazy whole. True, most of the criticism against Oxford and Cambridge comes from northern England, yet many of the successful industrialists there send their sons to one of the older universities, but that comes about probably through a recognition of social deficiencies by men who have made their way from the humblest circumstances, and their desire to “make a gentleman” of each of their sons. The view of Lancashire and Yorkshire that in the new world Oxford and Cambridge are ceasing to matter, is met by the old universities with' the statement that “these northern barbarians know’ nothing about real' culture and care less." This retort has called forth a spirited rejoinder that critical appreciation of good music is keener in Manchester than in any other town in England, that in Liverpool is being built the noblest example of modern architecture in the country, and that Sir Barry Jackson and his Birmingham Repertory Company have helped to make the English theatre a little less despicable in the eyes of Europe. And in the workshops and factories of the industrial north, it is claimed, there are everywhere men and women who have passed through the technical departments of the Universities of Manchester or Liverpool, Leeds or Sheffield, and who have enough of culture to enable them to live and enjoy their lives to the full, to be keenly appreciative of the beauties, as well as the difficulties, of the modern world. One critic's biting reply to the taunt from

the south of lack of culture is that

“wheu a man has spent the first 22 years of his life in receiving instruction at the expense, ultimately, of the community, something more is expected of him than a cynical outlook on life, a drawl, and a bizarre taste in trousers.” The charge that Oxford and Cambridge are ceasing to matter cannot be proved at this distance, but if there is justification for even a part of the censure heaped upon them, and especially upon Oxford, there should be earnest heart-searchings by the authorities of these ancient scats of learning.