UNUSED EDUCATION

Southland Times, Issue 20080, 18 January 1927, Page 9

UNUSED EDUCATION

TASMANIAN PROFESSOR’S VIEW. MISSION OF THE UNIVERSITY. ‘The chief thing that has struck me, both here and in Australia, is the lack of use of educated people. The educational facilities are good, and plenty of money is supplied, but in the public services and in business generally very’ little attempt is made to use well-educated men,” said Professor A. B. Taylor, who occupies the Chair of English in the University of Tasmania, in the course of an interview with an Auckland Star representative. Professor Taylor, who is an old Auckland boy, is on holidays, and he notes with keen pleasure the progress that has been made in the city during his absence.

‘The chief desire of employers in this part of the world seems to get boys as young as possible, and at as low a wage as possible,” continued the professor. “In America, and even in England now, the aim is to get as many well-educated university men as possible, teach them a business, and give them responsible posts. “A great many people think that education is merely the learning of certain definite facts which can be put to a practical use, whereas what it should be is to teach a man to think—and the thinking man is the man who is required in every walk of life. The general opinion throughout Australia and New Zealand of the university is that it is a sort of factory for turning out professional men; really its function is the same as that of the schools—to train a man’s mind so that he can look at any problems that have to be faced in life with ■a broad view and a long view. The actual practical part of business can best be learned when engaged in the business he goes into. For that reason, in England and America, business firms and the government services both, are very little concerned with what a man studies at the universities—what they require is a man who has intelligence and who has been educated in the subjects for which he considers himself best adapted. That is why subjects like classics and mathematics still remain the best educational subjects, because they work out problems and train the brain to grapple with them.

“Both in school and university, the chief value of the subject is to teach the speaking and writing of the language exactly, so that whatever a man says or writes will be clearly understood. Secondly, it is a good thing for most people in the community to do a fair amount of reading after they leave the university. Any decent novel will cause a man to think and will help to get him out of the ordinary rut of business life. Nowadays, the films tend to check reading amongst the general public, but I personally think that if a majority of the people were to do a fair amount of reading—of good ordinary novels—there would be a big difference in the community,”