LIFE AT CAMBRIDGE TO-DAY

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 108, 31 January 1935, Page 8

LIFE AT CAMBRIDGE TO-DAY

“A Poor Man’s University”

TRENDS DISCUSSED BY LECTURER

Twenty-five years as a university lecturer in Classics at Cambridge and as a member ot’ the staff of Emanuel College have given Mr. L. 11. G. Greenwood, formerly of Christchurch, the opportunity of observing change and development in university life in England. Mr. Greenwood arrived in Christchurch recently. Speaking of classical studies, lie said that they were no longer an elegant accomplishment for the sons of well-to-do men, but were undertaken by many classes of people throughout the country. University training generally was not ! ’* JW confined chiefly to the wealthier classes, and although the more modern English universities had been founded to provide training for those who were not able to go up to Oxford or Cambridge, the older foundations were supporting many students who had little means of their own. . Mr. Greenwood is a former pupil of Christ’s College and was for two years a student at Canterbury University College. In 1599 he went up to King’s College, Cambridge, and after graduating he became assistant-lecturer in Classics at I-eeds University. He was in New Zealand in 1908, deputising for Professor Haslam, at that, time Professor of Classics at Canterbury College. Since 1909 Mr, Greenwood has been a. university lecturer in Classics at Cambridge, and Fellow and Director of Classical Studies at Emanuel College Many Scholarships.

‘‘.lt is not now realised, out here, or even in England, how much Cambridge has become the poor man’s university,” said Mr. Greenwood. “The modern English universities were founded for this purpose, but though they are growing quickly Cambridge is now full of poor men. The majority of the students: have very little money to spare, and many of them are maintained .by college scholarships and State scholarships and some by leaving scholarships from their schools. A great many are 'Supported by the large boroughs and the county educational authorities. Any man who can pay his university expenses in such ways, or in other ways, need not be afraid that at Cambridge he will be among rich men with a high standard of living. ■ “Life is very much simpler at the university now,” said Mr. Greenwood, “and the intellectual, social, and artistic activities are much richer and more complicated than they used to be. During my time at Cambridge organisations of every kind have developed, fo meet the particular needs and tastes of the students. But it is the more Intimate life of the colleges which is really valuable, and the little knojs of people who are drawn together by common tastes. The old traditions and the beautiful'grounds of the university are very pleasant ornaments, but Cambridge might be destroyed by a cataclysm and rebuilt as a number of tin slieds, provided‘the system of college life .could be maintained.” Mixture of Classes. The social classes were more mixed at Cambridge than in any other English university, Mr. Greenwood said.. The modern universities were composed mainly of students of small wealth and no social pretensions; and while there were many of those at Cambridge there were numbers of wealthier students as well. The man who went to the university simply to play games and to have a good time was, however, getting to be in the minority, and did not dominate as he had in the past. “There is apparently some move here for university students to go into the Government service after taking a degree.” he continued. “Dr. Hight has argued that it would be a good thing to' have such appointments on the ground that the specialised training supplied by the university would be of value in certain Government departments. Dr. Hight might have said further that if our university training is doing what it ought to do, it would impart a general ability such as school education by itself cannot impart. Although some of those who go straight from school into the Government service have the qualities which will take them to the top, many of them must lose permanently by not having a university training. It is not only technical training, in economics, law and engineering, which is of value to the Government, but also a literary education or even the despised classical training.”