UNIVERSITY LIFE AND IDEALS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2445, 26 April 1915, Page 7

UNIVERSITY LIFE AND IDEALS

SOME THOUGHTS Iff SEASOiN

The first fortnightly meeting of the Victoria University College Christian Union for the year was "held in the College Gymnasium on Saturday evening, when Mr. Tennant, principal of the Training College, gave an address on "University Life and Ideals." The period of life between sixteen and 25, lie pointed outj is essentially one for the formation of ideals. This is the time when the flower of physical and' mental power unfolds, bringing with it possibilities for tho best and also for the worst that human nature is capable of.' It was to this age chiefly that the churches looked for their converts: to this age also the police were reauirea to look for the larrakin and the nooligan. If during this stage ideals aro not formed the chances are that they will never be formed at all.

It is just during this period that the university training comes at the very time, when, unfortunately, the majority are bringing their education to a close. The possibilities of this training in the shaping of ideals and the moulding of character are tremendous. Herbart has said that the ignorant man cannot be virtuous; although, of course, it was not necessarily true that knowledge led to virtue. But as our actions arise from our thoughts, if the latter are mean and narrow,- the former must necessarily be likewise. With a growth of knowledge comes a growth of interest, sympathy, and love for tho true and the beautiful. University education supplies the knowledge and the power to apply that knowledge which will give the opportunity to form those wider interests and the correspondingly broader and nobler ideals. Still, it is only too manifestly true that men, knowing the higher, may still follow the lower. To have a moral import, ideals must be dynamic. They must be translated into action, which alone is the measure of their worth.

The lecturer proceeded further to outline some of the ideals which a university student in particular should be expected to cherish; The old demooratic ideal of "liberty, equality, and fraternity," was worthy of all consideration * —flo long as liberty is not earned over into license, and equality into the exploitation of individual capacity by mediocrity. The highest ideals life had to offer might be summed/up in three: Truth, Duty, and_ Service. Many would have that Faith is the objective Of life. Certainly, life's beginnings are built on faith—faith in parents, faith in teachers, faith in religious beliefs. But faith has its process of evolution. For after all it is in : essence a demand for greater and fuller truth whenever and wherever it may be found; an unceasing stimulus to research. And so the ideal of truth includes that of faith. The ideal of duty could not be better expressed than in the noble ode of Wordsworth on the subject. As for service, Milton writes: "Education shculd prepare men to perform justly, skilfully, and magnanimously all the offices, public and private, in peace and war." It meant more than the doing of one's life work; it meant tho doing of it for the betterment of one's fellowmen. . This is tho only way of entrance into the larger life. We can have no higher ideal than that expressed in the words of Christ on this point. In this great battle of life, our colleges and tmiversHies hold strategic points. Tlwy are in the forefront of the battle, from which they may see life's contending armies. They havo fitted their students to lead men. Science, art, literature, and philosophy have done their part in tho preparation of their students for leadership. If, then, the men and women which the universities were turning out are among the rearguard in life's battle, then universities have failed, and the individuals have,failed, in tho trust committed to" their hands.