THE SUCCESSFUL MEN.

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 277, 28 February 1929, Page 1

THE SUCCESSFUL MEN.

OUR APPRECIATION. No Demand for Brains. I A recent artidle in the Auckland Star by Professor A. B. Taylor, of the University of Tasmania, and an | ex-student of Auckland University, 1 is one that should cause our so-called educationists deep thought, and also cause many of the general public to : revise their ideas about education, j One thing that the professor says ■ will probably astonish many New \ Zealanders, namely, that the great businesses in Britain and America that go to the universities for clever young men as administrators choose men who have done well in the classics, Greek and Latin. This should be a bit of a jolt for those who preach the doctrine of a narrow, vocational training.

The fact of the matter is, as Professor Taylor shows, that there is no demand in New Zealand for men of high education and outstanding mental ability ; so our Rhodes scholars and our distinguished graduates are condemned to exile. The people will not elect them to Parliament. In _ the political field scholastic honours are a handicap. It is. the same in the business world. Fancy the looks of the manager of a big business, or of the head of a Government department, if a young man asked for a job on the strength of an M.A. degree with first-class honours. Yet the value of' the same qualifications would be admitted in London or New York. Professor Taylor, at the conclusion of a brilliant career at Oxford, was offered a job in New York by a big American firm. I If New Zealand wishes to retain her Rhodes scholars and the best intellects she produces she will have to alter radically her outlook towards education, to recognise that, even in business, brains count for more than mere technical knowledge gained by a narrow and cramming course of vocational study. • One of the great objects Rhodes had in view in founding his scholarships was to provide the Empire with administrators and rulers. So far as New Zealand is concerned his plan has failed. A local example in point was when the Reform conference at Morrinsville rejected a candidate of attainments and valuable administrative experience and retained one who had not shown the possession of such qualities. . When asked what was the guiding principle of their choice, two of the delegates replied that they supported the one who was a wellknown farmer. The “ well-known farmer ” policy in Waikato and the “ popularity stunt ” in Raglan cost Reform dearly, but that is no consolation really : the cases are cited merely to bring home the aptness of Professor Taylor’s strictures. When will humanity in general get down to

a realisation of the fact that, sentij ment notwithstanding, all abiding , progress in this world, from the first [ emergence of our ancestors from the ! primeval forest to the plains, and up to the present day, has been the result of some form of intellectual superiority ?