LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1556, 27 September 1912, Page 4

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

UNIVERSITY AND OTHER REFORM Sir,—lt must bo admitted, I think, tha tliero is something radically wrong i] connection with higher education in th Uominion. That our troubles in this in it tor are due to the fact that (lie IMuoa tiou Department has been working am acting tor years in sublime disregard o our needs, as community and nation scenw o 1110 incontestable. Our schoo and college systems and syllabuses ar adjusted apparently by authorities, wli are influenced by considerations as t what they personally think should b taught, and not by careful considera tion and study of our social, industrial and economic needs. This fact account lor what is almost criminal luxury ii expenditure on certain branches of learn iug in our high schools, colleges, and uni versities. It is high time that we wer ■ seriously considering our educational sy« tern from the point of view of on national need and of economic demand lake, for instance, the cose of science n • our high schools, technical schools, am university colleges. There are over Japping, redundancy, and even eomneti n e ™ry turn, , and the cost am waste from tlio taxpayers' point of vio\ is simply scandalous. I am ono of thos who. set the highest possible storo 01 science and technical education; but on who is abundantly satisfied that we couli «« 1 ? y moro efficient system and infinitely more satisfactory result' Knnli , f I ! 10r€ . 0, /! n half tho present na »in?i » li " y , t '' ese , connections. I an glad to think that educational reform i in the air, (hough sorry, and not a littl to think that some of our"™ .torsi ty authorities entertain the idea tha university reform is a thing in and b : jtielf something that can bo satisfoctor ™ V n c ?,'l S r an i l aclliev «l without an S I0 ?I of our educational condl lions generally. It would bo, to my lain monstrous at this early stape in our edu cational career to ask <1 ]{ o yal Commit sion of university idealists to deal witi our university except as part and parco ' Un?ii r „: " Cnfi T' s - vslom ns * *ho™ system is put on .• »r llnf"' 1 aml ? ltis f«ctory basis Hv ntjfmpt .to put our . nnivcre ity system into a state of tlior oi'gh repair is only calculated to fo °l lr existing troubles. What i wanted is co-ordination in our svsten generally Our university reformers seen to me to be preoccupied with, the univer sity as .1 thing, in it,self-an institutioi doing its work in sublime isolation—sit KPpnml Dar "tempintins the primary am secondary systems with more or less ill Collt , (?m Pt- They seem to b jetting themselves the ludicrous task 0 trying to convince the community tha ran rival and com pete with tho great and wealthy univer titles of Enropo and. America. The edn cational needs of this Dominion seem ti me such that it would be disastrous, a this stare in onr history, to make i unduly difficult to.pass from a sccondar school to the university. The mist ni gent and effective reform that one cai conceive possible in connection with onuniversity system is in the direction 0 making higher demands on onr secondare school teachers, and considering tho uii satisfactory conditions obtaining in oui secondary schools in such matters' a' teachers status, training .salaries, etc those who are concerned "with setting .thi educational pace at our universities can tiouslv wari) y or deliberate too can At tho same time, I think that much ii the way of reform could be achieved am r,"ic'i Ine way of economy practiced if. an accountant, or-actuary,. were ap pointed by the Government to report 01 tho use made by our university council! of the moneys now allocated them. FOl instance, is" it not absolutely beyond dis pute that, at present. there .is no justffi cation whatever for tho enormous cx prndituro on science at our- universih colie.frc.sr No doubt science is of tho hieli est*, value, but there' is .practically no demand for science at our, university col leres—not oven un.fr a nass standard oik yet verv nearly half the expenditure or university education in the Dominion i' incurred in connection with teaching am equipment in science. Fewer than 9 pei cent, of, tho students, in the four-univer sitv colleges are students of science, Tvhil-t not 3 per cent. of. onr students are ."working for a decree in science. Surely thl; is n fact which calls for careful investigation. I am assured that our univer "ity councils are not resnonsible for th( financial waste in connection with th< rt-evelnnment of tho science schools at oni university colleges,'inasmuch as the .Tie t erit of. •K'lucntion almost' invariably attached condition? to their doles for de velopnient, which left, the councils help, jess in connection with questions of no], icy niul educational, exnediency. Who- | ther autocratic ex-Ministers, or an auto--1 Cratic Secretary of Education. \v*rc mosl fo blame in tho matter it would be interesting to learn. In Victoria College, fm : instance, only 12 students have graduftted in science in U years, and thm of these < Are said to belong tr . -Again the number oi students talcing science " subjeci is not verv lpri?e. Now, snm< one may ask: Why is there no demand for science at our University colleges? Tho answer is that students may spend years studying science, and get absolutely nothing to do in the Dominion when they havp finished their course. All thev can hope for is a ber-early ,£IOO to ,£2OO or so in a school. Of the 152 students who graduated, in science since a University was established in New Zealand, probably not ha'f a dozen of the-nnmber are earning JUOO a year by or from science! In fact, almost all the men who have been in scienc° in the Dominion have had to go abroad to get something to do worth doing! Yet we go on wasting our hard-earned money in running four .most expensive. science -schools in tho Dominion, wh»n one fully-eouippcd school would be ample for our needs, and would lie small even then for 'many years to come! I learn' that, the Secretary for Education has visited- the four University centres, and is going to report. Is is surpassingly wonderful that, one small head can carry all that thd fleneral'M do»s! I henr that his latest fad is the idea of establishing chairs of history at such University eollegos as -have not already pot one, and that ho proposes to make history a compulsory subject for Traininsr- College students. That provision should be mado for tehch.in? his'orv at our colleges seems reasonable enough, but that it should be made by chairs rather than lectureships should call for careful investigation. That history should be other than "optional" in an education stir'Tt's course would be monstrous, considering . the "sectarian" character, of most histories. Besides, there aro mar.jr other questions that would demand cen e id ß ration in connection with the study of history. "What aro we en-'ng to teach—"English his f ory is it? Whv not Scottish. Tvish, and Welsh as well? Why not European or American rv- n <-.r n llv'r' Whv not, in preference to all. the Others, New Zealand hisfory? Why should our educational students occupy themselves much with British history. Most of their parents might- „-«M nrnv for a talent for forgetting British history. It practically made exiles of tli em. Let us hope that the "Reform Oovei-n. mcnt will see to it that any University Commission it may see its way to suegost. will be empowered to make a special study of our University system in relation to our existing secondary system, an*] also to deal drastically wi'.h such faculties in the University colleees as arc great while elephants.—l am. etc.. MODERATE.