MODERN LIFE

Hokitika Guardian, 25 May 1933, Page 8

MODERN LIFE

PLACE OF UNIVERSITIES

SPEECH BY GOVERNOR-GENERAL

AUCKLAND, May 22.

Some observations' <oii Jlie place of universities in modern, life, and particularly in the crisis • through which the world is passing, Were made by the Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe, in his address at the jubilee reception at the Auckland University College.

“Any university, in order to exercise its most vitalising and stimulating influence in its civic environment, should within pounds enjoy the freedom of speech, of policy, and of curricula,’’ 1 said his Excellency. “It should-in a general and non-partisan sence moud politics rather than be moulded by them. For this reason, if for no other, although the State grants are . to a large extent proper and essential for university maintenance, revenue derived to a substantial extent from-outside endowments is of a high value in ensuring that spirit of virile independence and untrammelled breadth of out look which have cliara tor ,ed throughout the ages all he great uni vers: lies of the wprld. It is difficult to conceive any object of testamentary benevolence more worthy of beneficient consideration by far-sighted patriots.

INDUSTRIAL STAGNATION

“Amid • conditions of unparalleled industrial stagnation, it may be well to contemplate with a long range vision the effect of economic .tribulatiion on the. prospects of the university.. Funds may be lacking for the* extension of premises, but bearing'in mind that industrial prosperity is a vital condition of professional well-being and that the former ,is increasingly dependent on greater and more precise knowledge, especially in the fields of advanced science and post-war economics, the need of such higher education as only universities can provide becomes' more insistent and more widely recognised. : v.■ ;

DEMOCRACY

<1 V.-V 'ii-'l

“Democracy is in theory the most perfect form ;of .Government. A university which, is not democratic in. its administration, its human ambit,, and its curriculum, is unworthy of the’ name, but if the modern interpretation of democracy as applied to the higher , grades of education means. the levelling* down the educational, and infer-. i ntially vocational standards,, instead of levelling . them up,* if it*, involves putting a premium, on intellectual, mediocrity’, and the stifling of the genius of a nation, the supreme academic embodiment of such- a .-system *is not a university, but may be,, more fitly called a work-house or prison. The ■world, and pre-eminently 'that large part of it over, which floats the Union .lack, is crying aloud to-day, not .for human mediocrities, raised, in an atmosphere which obstruct normal growth, hut. for man or woman commanding 'intellectual and moral ,-t nfcure, wh. ;will fearlessly, prudently, and confidently become leaders, not only lie life (of paramount importaltee though that may be) Rut in every,, branch of professional, industrial, and commercial activity; -who, instead of truckling to the lack of knowledge or weakness of the proletariat, will promote its greater welfare by courageand constructively opening up the paths by which national prosperity, contentment, and happiness may be achieved, and once achieved permanently maintained.”