ROYAL COMMISSION

Hokitika Guardian, 10 September 1925, Page 1

ROYAL COMMISSION

REPORT ON I'll RCATK i.X. f'llY TKI.KCKARir —I>Kit I‘IIKHS ASSOCIATION-.] WEI.LIXdTO.X. Sept. !>. The report of I lie Royal Commission (.11 Ed neatinn was presented In I’arliaMicnt to-day. II is a Very Ion;; doelli ill'll I. Tin- present .system is sirongly con<li'lliill'll. especially in tlm great importani'o attached in o\aminaloiis. and also the cninmoii practice ol allowing l ll iversitv standards and ideals In lie determined by tlmse who merely aitend evening classes. All through the repnl't. the eoliiniission lays stress mi the necessity ol learning and iuvestgat inn. Examining slain Id, in the main, be an instrument in tin l hands of a skill ill teacher. The Commission dues not recotiuneml four ITiiversities. but one federal ITiiversity, with a council of nventyoiK* members, and an academic hoaid of the same number. It condemns the matriculation examinations, and Qtgecsls repining them by an intermediate examination at the age ot sixteen and a School lea vino examination. The want of co-operation between the university and the training: colleges is condemned, and recommendations are made for reform. The strongest criticism of the whole report is on the subject of legal education. The whole position is declaied io he detrimental do the public, ami to demand immediate reform. Ilm control, now vested in Judges, shnuh be transferred to a Council ot Legal Education. Other reeommendations are tor only one School of Ayt■ietilmre. m the North Island; that Lincoln College should brine its course up to university standard: that the Auckland School ot Engineering he recognised for the P, E decree; that there should hi' only one Sclmol of forestry. and ibis at Auckland. . The reiiort also deals with research and student activities, representation oil collem' governing bodies, decrees m divinity? and extra-mural t.niversiiy work. TI»o wliolo report soctns in ho ammated by two desire--first that univei'sitv education should eea.-v to be Viewed ill the light of examinations, but should he considered ns a means of encouraging study and luvestieatloti; second that it should cease to be regarded from a provincial aspect, hut in the lil n of national needs ami ideals.