THE UNIVERSITY'S OBJECT.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 725, 26 January 1910, Page 6

THE UNIVERSITY'S OBJECT.

It: is/satisfactory to notice' that ■ tho :-Uriivorsity Senate has , adopted - by a .large majority a motion . to raise- the standard of the .matriculation examination. In tho course . of 'the consideration -of this motion, the main .question of - what, should be 'the i real;, object of a.; University' was; • discussed. Two entirely different objects seemed to bo recognised by thope who voted for and against tho motion.; Evidently those who voted for increasing the: difficulty .of, the ontrance examination held the opin- : ion, which wo have always ■ urged, that the University exists to give tho fullest .possible' amount oi education i and of culture to such students as are capable of acquiring thom,' and : not simply to,, give a useless smat-. tering of learning to a great number of students,: whoso minds aro not suited to imbibing more.:.. But the . minority who' oppose d the motion' plainly took the. oppositeview - to this.. "Tho object of the University,!' said, the Rev; Mr. Cameron, "was to fit peoplo for life in New .Zealand, ; not tho cultivation of a special few." ■ This country will have become' afantastio .Utopia,-: indeed,; : when - it's: butchers and bakers and miners are all University and it is generally recognised that nobody can; lead -a , useful life, in New' Zealand who has not; passed .through a; University course. The falseness of such; a .theory; of the University must) be at onco , apparont. - But Mr. Cameron and Dr. Fitc'hett argued as though no other, theory could be; entertained, 'and 'as/a-logical'neces-. sity they had to argue for keeping low the standard of the entrance examiuation . to the''.University, sothat as few as possible should be ox- i eluded. Wo cannot conceive a weaker argument than Dr. I'licheit's'statement' that "the matriculation oxam-. illation already proved too much for a groat proportion of the candidates,• and in spito of this fact thoy wished to raise the standard." Tlie examination is admittedly a vory easy one; it is well known that students pass it whose minds are insufficiently developed and whose stock of knowledge is far too small for them to begin true University work intelligently,,. andthe inference surely is [ that candidates who do not pass are still more unprepared to enter upon higher studies. Tho , student who cannot pass the matriculation examination' at present by the 'required age has cithor been inadequately taught, or ought -to recognise that his abilities do Dot run in. tho direction of academic ■■ accomplishment. He may become an'excellent and useful and.successful citizen in spite of that. . ■; " , If tho standard ,of matriculation iB kept low, tho standard of the University must be kept low, alsoj and if ; the standard of the University is not high : its work will be of little value to the community. Dr. Johnson derided . learning among the ; Scotch as being ' "like bread' in a besieged town. , Every man gets a little, but no man gets a full meal." The object of a minority of the; Senate would appear to be to give every man a little learning. They would make the Pierian • spring,'which we are told to "drink deep, or taste' not, " a - wide-spread-ing shallow marth,; which everyone

should merely sip. And in making education, of a kind, easy 'and accessible to all, they would make it usoless and undesired by anybody. A stupid man will not become a more valuable citizen—ho will probably become a less valuable citizen— by spending'several years of Mb life in passing through-' a i ; University course,, which has been degraded and made easy for his passage...- Knowledge will only bo sought ,and prized when it must bo : followed "like a sinking star." V; W,hcn it -has been lowered within the reach' of all, ineluding those who' do not 1 specially i want it, it will bo no longer Knowledge.; ; : .'i .