Strongholds of Reform

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 49, 31 May 1940, Page 10

Strongholds of Reform

T some time and in some countries the universities have played an extraordinarily important part in politics and war those very problems which fill our minds so terribly at the

present time. For example, 700 years ago, thousands of students turned out from Oxford to fight a civil war at the side of Simon de Montfort, who was in some sense a Popular Front leader. Five hundred years ago the University of Paris was reckoned among the great powers of Europe when it came to deal-

ing with the then serious problem of the state of the universal church, One hundred years ago the universities of Germany were the strongholds of reform. The thing that reactionary governments feared most was a secret society among students, and the first step in reaction was to fill every university with Government spies.-(Professor F. L. Wood, talking on the "University in Daily Life,’ 2YA, May 13),

HAT are the universities going to do about the problems which torment our minds in these days of crisis? Have the universities something to say, or are they, as their critics complain, so busy teaching men to earn their livings that no one has time to think about fundamental things? I can mention some facts about my own university to show that the old spirit of scientific curiosity lives on. In the present year by far the most popular class is philosophy, which is presumably the least technical of all. Again, two new ventures are being launched, one through government grant and the other through private donation, and both these ventures are based on research. The first is concerned with social problems underlying public ad-

ministration, and the second with human relationships in the industrial system.-(Professor F. L. W. Wood, on "The University in Daily Life," from 2YA, May 13.) * * ok N the middle ages a student might have to starve himself and travel right across a very barbarous Europe if he wanted to work in a university; and even then he might have to share his last crust with his professor-literally. To-day the Master's gown and hood, which were originally the sign that a man had permission to teach, has great pockets under the arms in which (it is said) the mediaeval teacher would put the crusts brought by students who were too poor to pay money. Nowadays there are no such obstacles in the way of students, for the modern university has gone out to meet its pupils -(Professor F. L. W. Wood, in the " University in Daily Life,’ from 2YA, May 13.)