The Evening Star FRIDAY, AUGUST 4, 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4193, 4 August 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star FRIDAY, AUGUST 4, 1876.

Professor Sals, in Ms letters to a contemporary, has been upon an old but highly important principle, namely, that before a youth is admitted within the doors of a University he should be thoroughly grounded in the rudiments of those subjects in which he will be examined l"or the purpose of testing his qualifications for a degree. The reason for the requirement is so plain, and the principle hud down by the Professor so generally accepted in England and other countries where the University system has reached the greatest excellence, that one would scarcely have expected v:< n> he contested as an abstract proposition, however it might be disregarded in practiced

But the reception which Mr Sale's I letters have met with iu certain ' quarters proves that very different j ideas of the functions of a University I prevail among a section of the commu- j uity. The notion which these persons ; seem to entertain is that a University in New Zealand (on account, »s say, i-f ri,< ; j.etHili--M.-circumstances of tho Colony) should bo Kati.xhVl with H much lower seal? of mental attainments than is exacted by Universities in the old country as entitling the -possessor to a degree, while they,further seem to consider that the matriculation examination should be little else than nominal Now there is no doubt that the state of society in the Colony dees exhibit peculiarities which may possibly render it expedient to alter the usual modus operandi of a University to fit the circumstances; bin that argument does not apply to the standard of learning. The object of a University degree is to confer a diploma guaranteeing that its possessor has acquired a certain amount of learning, and unless the guarantee is justifiable, it is worso than useless; it is a sham and a deceit. The letters 8.A., M.A., or LL.D. prove nothing of themselves ; and if they are conferred undeservedly they carry no weight. People soon detect the false pretence. Who respects a- degree from the bulk of the American Universities? The academical

honors of these institutions have become bye-words. It would be a fatal mistake for a New Zealand University to follow such pernicious examples. There is no royal road to learning now-a-days any more than there was in the days of the Macedonian King. If a youth is animated by the noble ambition to become a learned man, he must work, in whatever part of the world he may be living; and if he persuades a weak University Council to grant him an academical title which he does not deserve, and then struts about with the borrowed plumes, be may cut a very fine figure in his own eyes, but in other people's he will be an impostor. Colonial youth, as a rule, display a singular dislike to hard work of any kind, and although other feelings have evidently participated in the cry which has so frequently been raised in favor of making the Otago University a superior grain mar school, this failing on the part of our youth has, we believe, had a good deal to do with it. Parents, too, are indisposed to make the necessary sacrifices to give their children a University education. They want to thrust their children into the hard work-n-day life of the world, as soon as possibleeven when they could well afford to maintain them at a University during the usual period ; but while unwilling to inour the expense, they at. the same time wish to see their boys J scholars and University graduates. They cannot do both. They must choose one alternative or the other; and any pressure which they may exert to ges the University curriculum altered so as to enable their sons to go through, the form of a University course, and yet plunge into business at an early age, will, even if successful", bring its own retribution.

If the professors of a University College are to fulfil their duties in a proper manner, they must have soil ready prepared for their labors. To lay upon them the burthen of elementary temhing, is to impose upon them a tusk which ought not to be laid on their shoulders, and which, mmeover, prevents them from discharging thenhigher functions. Eleraenrary instruction can be imparted in a more satisfactory manner by far less expensive machinery than that of a University. The different grades of instruction should be kept entirely separate It is the old story of the benefit derivable from a judicious division of labor. A marked defect of the Scotch system of education is that the pupils go up to the Universities only half-prepared, the result being a low standard of scholarship in general and a marked defect of appreciation of the higher ranges of learning. Considerable discussion on the subject has taken place at Home lately. The feeling which pervades the minds of the leading Scotch educationists as to this deficiency crops up so distinctly in the eloquent speech of Professor Blackie upon " The Celtic Chair," ut the last half-yearly meeting of the Council of tho University of Edinburgh, that we may be excused for quoting a passage iu support of our own remarks:—

Unices the Universities of Scotland are doomed to < xiat as m»re krowl dg-shop for trie practice of money-making p ofessions, or, 8 Sir John M'2s'kill once express ed i , as ailyards a.-id ki chen s c ntrast d with the Bplend d hothouse* anil luxuriant Botanic hardens «>f our aeademio neighbors n the banks f the <-am and the Is a -if ' xord and rarabridge are still to re:nain wh-it they- hu*e in a gre*t measure been hitherto, nvgni'-'cent houses of refuse f«' those branches of higher learnhv and profouoder research whioh. by a beggarly economy and a low utilitarianism, have been Byat-ma'icaly starved out of Scotland unless we a e content to remain in in* g'oiiiua self satisfaction or, the lowest platform of academical existence we f>hall have no difficulty in rcco nisi' g that, of all people ia Eur'pe, there is the mobt emphatic call on us hee-jn .*'cotla d to iJace a Chair of Cojtie language, history, literature, and oulunu'-ies on a tuition of the most honorable equality with the i.ost favored chai s in that gre ;t corporation of let erß which we call a wave sity.

New Zealand cannot be expected to establish ( hairs of Comparative Philology just but she can at all events take care that her Universities maintain a proper standard of learning and that her academical degrees are werthily bestowed.