STUDENT FREEDOM

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 152, 15 July 1937, Page 6

STUDENT FREEDOM

-Own Correspondent.)

Prized Privilege in European Universities POSITION IN VIENNA

(By Telegruoh-

AUCKLAND, Last Night. Frecdom, above all things, was the most prized privilege of the Europeqn university student, said Dr. Paul L. Dengler, director of the Austro-Ameri-can Institute of Education, Yienna in an address on "Universities in a Changing Europe." Freedom was the all-import-ant factor id the student' s life. In Yienna University there was freedom from State interference, freedom of learning and freedom of teaching. Freedom from State interference meant that no police were allowed ; witliin the precincts, The university was allowed to govern itself. Students could fight among themselves with'out police interference, and they loved to fight. Unfortunately this privilege was becoming rarer.. Freedom; of teaching and of learning perinitted the profess.ors to choose their own topics, to deliver their lectures in the way they saw fit, and to select the practical work for the stu- , dents. This outstanding characteristic of the Austrian university represented complete freedom of speech for all. Describing the gieneral educational system of his country, Dr. Dengler said the exceedingly' thorough grounding of the lower school, or gymnasium, ensured that' students entering the university were sufficiently advanced in learning. The standard demanded was very high. In the preparatory school pupils studied Latin and Greek, as a preparation for university work, for any poriod up to eigybt years. Thus ohly the brilliant were able to enter. In tho United States he had found a vastly different system.. There the aim was to. cater for the average rather than for the brilliant. It seemed that for some years educationists had been concentrating on the "backward and problem'' children, and the brilliant ones had been Ieft to fend alone. European universities concentrated on medicine, law, philosophy and tbeology. Tbere were no masters' ilegrees, doctorafes only were conferred. Thb courses, for the most part, extended over four, five and six years. • Today, in the city of Vienna, there were 100 doctors of law regulating the traific. They were glad to have .positions. The aims of the university, Dr, . Dengler said, were to . act as a centre of research and o'f professional stuUies. The students did not remain attached to the on| place. Austrian and other students moved all over Europe, staying at different universities as they had done in the Middle Ages. The fault in the system. lay in the Jack of commuaity Mte.