The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7, 1905. EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7842, 7 June 1905, Page 2

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7, 1905. EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY.

In his address to the students and, others present at thn annual ceremony of conferring degrees on thq Aucklanii graduates of the University of New Zealand, the Chancellor, Sir Robert Stout, showed that he possesses very feroad and comprehensive views on the question of higher education. During his long and distinguished career the Chancellor haw had innumerable opportunities of observing the effect of the educatioal system of this Colony, and hfsi,enthusiasm in the cause of higher education! is well known. It may therefore bo aasumed that when speaking on this subject his words are not by any means superficial, but they may |be rather regarded as fraught with all the weight and power which the dignified office of the speaker and the importance of the occasion, shouldj lend to such utterances. It is not-

by any means a «V>minon occurrence to find th» Chancellor of an University advocating the claims of intellectual culture om the ground that even if our end was only to aehieva success we must hava University education "diffused, for the reason that the nations which had progressed i% industries were those that had paid attention to scientific education, to a young country like New Zealand condition* of life are not the same as in the older countries, but the literature and civilisation of our ancestors is our heritage to stimulate us in shaping 1 the destinies of this favoured colony in such an enlig'htened way as to reflect the influence of the past on tho progressive wort of the future. The responsibility of setting, a standard of life and education that will help this country to a brighter future, is one that, in a great measure, falls upon the educationalists of to-day, and much depends upon tho way in which they endeavour to carry out their trust. Sir Stout impressed on his' hearers that the end of education ivus not merely making, a machine of a man, but, by means of teaching him to think by means of scientific train ng, a vast avenue of utility was opened in .which to excel in arts and manufactures. Unless our citizens are to be mere hewers of wood, producers of wool, butter and grain, or exporters of wool, ibutter find grain, or exporters of frozen meat. lher« must be higher education, for it is by that means alono that industrial development is possible. Wo have only to turn to Japan asati inject 'lesson on this point, and it i' l not difficult to realise what competition in industrial art is likely to 1)0 In a few years' time, when the little brown man has settled down to peaceful avocations. "New Zealand," said the Chloncellor,, "jnußt rely on, her own sons and daughters for the tenders of the nation. They must have ef/jality 0 f opportunity so that the highest positions in the State would bt» open to tihem." This, practically, is the crux of itfca educat'ion*l system of tbie coloay/Sttd it is

with this object in view; that the I whole system of primary, secondary and technical work is arranlgcd and rightly so. That the course of study, at the University not only fits in to 1 this scheme, but also recognises inl a practical way that industrial development is bound up with University teaching, proves that the sys-: turn of higher education in New Ziua- 1 . land is being conducted on the right lines, and that the avenue to distinction is open to every boy or girl in j the colony. It does not follow that a large percentage of the children leaving the primary schools will take up scSpndary or University work but there is the opportunity available. Moreover, the standard of education is getting jnore advanced, and thu syllabus more extensive year by yerr. This aujjirs well for our future development- Sir Robert Stout goes a step further than most educationalists when h> advocates fpth the secondary .schools and university; Colleges being as free a 8 fie primary schools. The time, tor this concession seems hardly ripe, but until this pt|o;gressive step is m|ade there will not be th a t perfect Equality of opportunity which iti the logical contusion of the present system. Meanwhile, ib is gratifying to know that the numjjfcr of our university studonts is steadily increasing, and that amongst those who have passed the graduate course with credit, more than one has obtained world-wide re-