The Evening Star MONDAY, MARCH 8, 1875.

Evening Star, Issue 3756, 8 March 1875, Page 2

The Evening Star MONDAY, MARCH 8, 1875.

Wa are sorry to see that the Professors of the University of Otago and those of the Canterbury College are unable to agree ou a rather important matter connected with the University of New Zealand. This is all the more to be regretted by the people of this Province, inasmuch as there can bo little doubt on the part of disinterested persons that the broad and liberal view of the case has been taken by the Professors in the sister Province, while those of our own college take the more narrow and prejudiced one. The matter under discussion is this : ■'■' hall tho New Zealand University grant degrees to all persons who can show,'by pass mg the university examinations, that they have the knowledge nece-sary to qualify them for taking that degree, or shall it be demanded of all candidates that they attend the lectures of affiliated colleges ? The managers of the Canterbury ollege take the former view of the case ; the professors of the Otago University take tin latter The whole thing lies in a nutshell: the Otago professors wish, if we may use a Scriptural illustration, like certain of the extreme religious sects, to straiten a gate, and to contract a way which nature and Providence have already made sufficiently strait and narrow. Of course if they could show that the reverse mode of proceeding would “ lead to ” educational “destruction,” something might be said for them; but they have not done so yet. We shall lay before our readers one or two arguments which wo think tend to show that any such course as that proposed by our Otago Professors would, if adopted, prove highly detrimental to the cause of education in this Colony. A university degree is a distinction that has been, perhaps, somewhat over-rated ; its intrinsic value is, wc have been given to understand by graduates of very high standing, not great. While an Oxford or a Cambridge houor-raan—a first class classic or a wrangler—is and must be a very able man indeed, and must besides have boon a diligent student, the ordinary B.A, of those universities is, as such, a man of only very middling abilities, or if he is well endowed intellectually, he must have been abominably lazy. A wrangler of Cambridge and one of the poll-men, as they are called, are about as like each other in intellectual power as are a high-class greyhound and a thorough-bred mongrel in coursing capacity, or as Lurline and the horse that came in last in the hack race. Nevertheless, by most people, the two men are considered as differing little, if at all, from each other; the honor-man and the ordinary B. A, are classed together, and the latter receives a great part of the honor and respece which are due only to tin former. Be this as it may, it has somehow come to pass that even the ordinary B.A. degree is now looked upon as a highly desirable prize by all those young men who are just about making a start in life—as lawyers, ministers, teachers, and such like. It is, in fact whether deservedly or not, looked upon by a great number of young men as an honor well worthy of their best efforts to obtain. If it can be only shown that this pr.ze la fairly within the reach of all young men of respectable, ability, and who do not mind hard work, the influence which it may have in stimulating them and encouraging them to undertake really profitable work must; be very great indeed. But in the case of this Province, for instance, a large proportion of the young men who would be likely to be thus encouraged to attempt to improve themselves by the fact that a chance of obtaining a degree lay before ttem are alreadyengaged m earning a livelihood, are by no means all gathered together within a few miles o! the Otago University. It would therefore, appear that if the New Zealand University is to lie of uie to rur-fi young men (and surely they have us great a right as anyone to any benefits that may be derivable from it), it is an absolute sine qud non that they be allowed to pursue their studies m the ways that may be available to them, i?li B J*7- th n B ° young mea who happen to live m Oamaru or Tokomairiro, or at whTli?«V£ all J aVe a degree ’ while tho,e who live m Dunedin may, is, it seems to us, altogether unfair, if the young men from the country can, by such means as lie ready to their hands, attain the knowledge required S/2SL toe S ’ ° for the degree. It is not desirable either, oven {

if it could be expected, that young men I living out of Dunedin should, in «:very case I iu which they derive to improve themselves, v,ive up th-ir me .ns of subsistence, and “ chance it ” at the Otai.o University. Yet this is practically what the Otago Professors demand. They say, almost in so many words, though scarcely claiming, we suppose, the kin 1 of authority which could alone justify -heir doing so, “Yon must leave ■vli :>r.d follow us, or you cannot be diecipba” of the New 7 eaiand University. If we were speaking of any other body than the professorial boar-1, we should say that their demand ia arrogant in the extreme. As it is, however, we oan only hope that they have good reasons for adopting the course they are pursuing, though they have not yet given them to the public. No doubt when these reasons are pub. listed it will bo made perfectly clear to the simplest understanding that in claiming to be the sole source of educational distinction ia i tago, they have been actuated only by the very purest of motives, and a desire to advance the educational interests of the Province of Otago as a whole, and not merely those of the Otago University and its Professors. Our University is a moat valuable institution, and no one wishes more • aruestly than ourselves that it should be thoroughly successful. Bat its success cannot be secured by means of attempts to extinguish all educational effort that does not run exactly in the course which it has marked out. It must learn to recognise and appreciate all efforts that are made to advance the cause of edneation. The advantages which the Otago University offers to its students are so great and so obvious that it need not fear any rival: all who can do so will undoubtedly avail themselves of these advantages ; those who are in a less fortunate position must be allowed to make the beat u. Eof such opportunities as they bare, and must not be summarily dealt with as intellectual pariahs from whom no good work can poaiihly be expected.