EDUCATED MEN.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18893, 7 January 1927, Page 8

EDUCATED MEN.

WANTED FOR BUSINESS.

A PROFESSOR'S VIEW

[THE FEB6S Special S?rolc*.J

AUCKLAND, January ?.. ■The chief thing that has struck me

both here and in Australia is the lack of use of educated people: the'educational facilities arA £ ood and plenty of money is being supplied, but in the publir services and in business generally verv litt!<» attempt is made to use well educated men." said Professor A. B. Tavlor, who occupies the Chair of English in the University of Tasmania m an interview to-day. Proiessor Taylor, who is an old Auckland boy. is on holidavs. , , "The. chief desire or employers in this part of the world seems to be to get boys if possible, and ar as low a wage as possible,'' continued the professor. "In America, and even in England now, the aim is to get as many welleducated university men as possible, teach them a business, and give them responsible posts. "A great many people think that education is merely the learning of certain definite facts which can be put to practical use, whereas what it should be is to teach a man U> think, and the thinking man is uo man who is required in everv walk of life. The general opinion of" a university throughout Australia and New Zealand is that it is a sort of factory for turning out professional men. Really its function is the same as that of the schools, to train a man's mind so that he can look at any problems that have to be faced in life with a broad view and a long view. The actual practical part of business can best be learned when engaged in the business he goes into. For thac reason, in England and America, business firms and Government services both are very little concerned with what a man studies at the universities. What they require is a man who has intelligence, and who has been educated in the subjects for which he considers himself best adapted. That is why subjects like classics and mathematics still remain the best educational subjects, because they work out problems and train the brain to grapple with them.

Language and Beading. "Both in school and in university, the chief value is to teach the speaking and writing of language exactly so that whatever a man says or writes will be clearly understood. Secondly, it is a good thing for most people in a community to do a fair amount of reading after they leave the university. Any decent novel will cause a man to think, and will help to get liini out of the ordinary rut of business life nowadays. The films tend to check reading amongst the genera] public, but I personally think that if 3 majority of the people were to do a fair amount of reading of good ordinary no\-els, there would be a big differencein the community."