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A New Zealand professor at California University recently complained that students straight from High School always wanted their material ready-digested. "Tell us one or two books where we can get the whole syllabus in a nutshell." "There ain't no such book." So they go back to their baseball, or leave college and take up another line, like the manufacture of bubble-gum, or keeping company with the rest of the 6 million on the dole.
Here at V.U.C., staff members may have the same question asked them, and if they are to maintain the university as the home of scholarship they must give the same answer. But there is a large mass of, students here—not all fresh from High School either—who just have not the time to sit down and read as widely as is desirable on the syllabus of their subjects. They are the 1573 men and women who, according to official figures, spend the greater part of their wakeful hours in the payment of some employer, and have to squeeze their study, lectures and tutorials, into odd comers of the day.
There are only 579 full-time students at Victoria. Yet it is over 4 years since Sir David Smith said: "There seems to be an obligation upon the University to explore ways and means of ensuring that students are free to devote their whole time during college terms to university work."
It may be that this generalisation does not apply to such faculties as Law and Commerce, where practical experience is an essential part of professional training. But on the whole, the part-time student is forced to let either his interest in his job or his study suffer, or develop chronic scizophrenia.
Whatever we say about the detached atmosphere of the traditional European university, one fact stands out: that it is only in complete relaxation from economic stresses and the diversion of extraneous obligations, that anyone can be expected to excel in or make a valuable contribution to scholarship. This does not, of course, involve isolation from society. No one should be more fully conscious of his obligations to society than the man whose days have been given over to the widening of knowledge and the conscious deepening of experience. Nor should the advantage of being able to so spend his days, be too sparingly granted.
A letter published in "Salient" last April, written by a student who has studied previously at two other colleges, remarked that "Perhaps because of the large percentage of part-timers, city events must affect varsity life more closely." The writer praises the result, but deprecates the consequent loss of "University Atmosphere." But what would a "University Atmosphere" be without the strengthening strains of thought in the city—the thought of warfies as well as Chambers of Commerce.
A University has a certain duty in the community: to turn out competent professional men and citizens with a broad outlook and a rational attitude to affairs. The late Mr. M. J. Savage, in a message to freshers in "Salient,"
1. That part-time study is not the most satisfactory way of acquiring a university education. A "Salient" editorial of
2. Meanwhile, it seems that part-timers, like the poor, we have always with us. It does not behove those who have undoubtedly more time to devote to both study and college "politics." to treat the part-timer with a certain tolerant contempt. For "We are many—you are few." Such an overwhelming majority of students must necessarily set the standard and the college can be said to exist for them. But can a qualified staff with the preparation necessary for leading the community study of an old-world university, be allowed to become a machinery for the distribution of notes? And a painful five years become the norm for the acquisition of a meagre baccalaureata?
Very often one hears a student remark "If I had known what this subject was like I would never have taken It," or "That's a tough subject" or other remarks variously judging the difficulty or otherwise of a subject.
There can be no doubt that some subjects are harder than others. Mathematics I has been the end of many a promising science student who Just scraped through Matric. Similarly Latin I and Contracts have the reputation of being the downfall of aspiring lawyers, while Bookkeeping in seems to have caught many Commerce types.
We feel that the following opinions—taken at random round the table in the cafeteria—may be of value to students who would like to know what they are up against in planning their degrees. We know that the degrees of most part-timers are dictated by lecture-hours, but the experience gained by others before them may be of some value.
These opinions also raise the question of equality of degrees. Is a graduate in say Mathematics worth more than a graduate in Education? If so, why? Is this a state of affairs which is desirable? If not what can we do about it?
One point of view which was definitely made clear to the Salient reporter conducting this inquiry by several students is that they are very intolerant of lecturers who either dictate their notes so that everyone is kept writing and has no time to digest or query what is being said, or and apparently a more grevious crime—those lecturers who rehash the text book.
The following enquiry was conducted by asking.dffe student what was the hardest subject he or she had attempted at V.U.C. and thereason they found it so, and similarly what was the easiest subject they bad passed
5th Year. Arts and Science. Part-time.
Hardest: Maths. I
Easiest: Education
5th Year Arts. Part-time
Hardest: Philosophy III
Easiest: I don't know—well—I don't know. English, Psychology and Education I were all fairly good.
4th Year Arts. Part-time
Hardest:—Geography II
Easiest: Education I. They would accept
5th Year Science. Part-time
Hardest: Botany II (so far). Too much practical work and the lecturers are very poor. Frankly the subject stinks.
Easiest: Geology I. It was just easy. I found it a very interesting subject. (Comment from friend—"That's just your earthy mind.") I think every young science student should do Geology I.
4th Year Arts and Law. Full-time
Hardest: A choice of three I think. English III, Contracts, and Latin II. But really you know, it wasn't the subjects I found so hard—it was the examinations that were rather difficult.
Easiest: French I. (I almost had scholarship.)
4th Year Law. Part-time
Easiest: Psychology—but that was under the old syllabus. We did not have to do any of this practical work.
Hardest: Contracts and Property.
The subject I enjoyed the most was Political Science because it gave more scope for thought than any other.
3rd Year Arts
Hardest: French II. Too many terms exams. You know we had about 8 or 9 during the year.
Easiest: English I.
7th Year Student
"Yes," he said, "I've been here seven years and I'm still going strong. Whats that? What Faculty? Well I tried Law for two years; then I did Commerce for two years; then let me see—yes that's right—I did Music for one year—then I had a year off—and now I'm doing Arts. Take your pick."
My hardest subject you say? But they're all hard. I ought to know. I bet I've failed in more subjects than any one in this college (proudly). The easiest? Oh there's no doubt about that—Extrav!
5th Year Science. Part-time
Hardest: Maths. I
Easiest: Maths. I
4th Year Arts. Part-time
Easiest: Psychology I under the old syllabus. All you had to do was to know the textbook and the lecture notes and you were set.
Well there It is. Perhaps when you are planning your course for next year you may find it valuable to avoid taking two subjects which students in comparable circumstances have found difficult On the other hand we advise students not to count too much on the "easy" subjects. Things are getting tougher around Victoria and the most recent trends seem to indicate that there will be step taken to cu down on these "easy subjects."
Another thing we would like to point out is that these Judgments are entirely subjective. To the person who is really intelligent and prepared to work throughout the year all things are easy.
. . . and so, dear children, he seized his trusty old axe, and with a loud whoop of the old backwoodsman's battle cry of "economy! economy!" (which to be translated means "Just you watch these branches fall") he sprang nimbly up the political tree.
One, two! One, two! And through and through his awful axe went snickersnee. Branches flew in all directions; the axe whirled round his head in a shining circle—you couldn't help admiring the speed and precision with which he aimed his strokes—the branch there had grown topheavy, he thought. . . snick! That one there he didn't like the look of . . . slice! And yet if he wished to leave one untouched, not an error was made. Some were Sliced through; some shorn so close that only, their stumps showed. And all the time while he carved away, the woods rang with the cheerful cry of "economy . . . economy."
In vain did some of the little inhabitants of the branches protest, though they squeaked as loudly as they could. One sad tui fluttered off muttering dolefully: "'Education' . . . £6000 . . ." in a weepy voice: others had barely time to spring for safety to another branch as their own curved from under them and went crashing to the ground. Though they squeaked and shouted, their voices were drowned in the cheerful cry of "economy . . . economy. .
He hacked and he hewed and the branches crashed away. He had a job to do, for he knew, being an old backwoodsman, that no tree can exist when there is too much foliage for the roots to supply food to: so he hacked and hewed and the branches were pruned.
Soon he had finished, children, and then he stuck his trusty axe in his belt and clambered down to mop his brow and look at the result.
There was hardly a branch untouched . . . except a few which he spared because he had always felt an affection for their little inhabitants. And those birds at least rewarded him by singing a thankful song: "fertiliser! subsidy! subsidizer! fertility!" they chirped, and this made him happy. Then he took a pile of the branches he had cut, threw them over his shoulder and went off cheerfully to make some Boards out of them.
When he had made the Boards, he came back to look at the tree and listen to the thankful song of the birds.
But what had happened? The tree was looking very sick, and indeed even the branches he had left were drooping, and the cry of the birds remaining sounded very shrill in the dying leaves. He hurried away to find a tree-doctor (that's a short way of saying "silviculturist"! to cure the tree. He didn't think for a moment, children, that it could have had anything to do with what he'd been up to.
When the tree-doctor came, he took one look at the tree and sadly shook his head. "Did you," he said, "prune this tree?" And the axeman 'said "Yes" in a surprised voice, because he couldn't see that this had anything to do with it. But the tree-doctor shook his head again sadly and said, "You know, the tree doesn't get all—or even most—of its supply from its roots. What is really important to a healthy tree is what it gets from parts which would appear useless to you, by the look of things. The leaves . . ." he was saying, as the axeman, mad as anything, whipped his trusty axe from his belt, gave a cheerful (if perhaps a little forced) whoop of the old backwoodsman's battlecry of "economy ... economy" and severing the tree-doctor's head from his shoulders, started off up the tree again to practice some more.
Sir,—I object to the statement put to my credit that "haggling over money is an unpleasant way of dealing with student affairs." What I said, or intended to say, was that it would appear from all the haggling that went on about the sums that are (or were) paid to these bodies (i.e. W.F.D.Y. and I.U.S.) that we did not consider whether we gained anything from membership but "How much does it cost?." and the fact that W.F.D.Y. has been budgeted for, and that we were no longer affiliated, did not run us into debt by allowing £50 to three I.U.S. observers.
I feel that in a lot of cases, one of the functions of the Exec, is to haggle over the expenditure of the Association's money and to say that it is an unpleasant way of dealing with student affairs is somewhat erroneous in that it may be unpleasant but is necessary.
Your report of the Annual General Meeting omitted all mention of the resolution:
"That the Executive be recommended to give favourable consideration to affiliating V.U.C.S.A. to the World Assembly of Youth."
This was passed by 42 votes to 29 and is, I suggest, important because
1. It shows that while V.U.C. was dissatisfied with W.F.D.Y. it was still willing to look into alternatives rather than shut its eyes to the world outside.
2. Previous apologists for W.F.D.Y. had argued "never mind about its Communist tinge—let us do what we can to put our point of view." These people were apparently unwilling to consider W.A.Y. at all, whereas I expected them to overlook any deficiencies in their anxiety to do their bit to improve it.
(We apologise for losing the W.A.Y. in our A.G.M. report: at the end of the meeting after several hours, apparently even Salient reporters are capable of human error.—Ed.)
Sir,—Your paper has very graciously published our article which had been overlooked in your previous number. We thank you for this small mercy. You complained bitterly that you had no information about this year's Wellington-Masterton road race while our report—"eritical" this time since mere reporting of events does not interest your readers—was sitting in, your letter rack marked with the assistant sports editor's name. To accompany this same initial report, the club had procured carefully from the Evening Post a block photo of the change over in the race this year and you were pleased to publish it and label it last year.
This mismanagement is understandable in the decadent weekly which Salient is fast becoming: but we do object to the bumptious patronizing overbearing arrogant attitude your various sports writers adopt towards sport and sports clubs of the college. We ask you Sir, to see that they mend their ways, and we are looking forward to your editorial comment should this letter be published.
(Here it comes. The slip was due to the fact that both of the Sports Editors were absent for some time: the block was mistaken for one which slipped up last year and did not arrive until after publication date then. We are quite prepared to acknowledge the error and apologise for it. We publish this letter although the correspondent could well learn that abuse is no valid argument. Ed.)
At the Annual General Meeting of N.Z.U.S.A. at Easter a resolution was carried as follows:—
"That the Resident Executive of N.Z.U.S.A. publish a statement giving full reasons for its disaffiliation from I.U.S."
That is the purpose of this statement. It is difficult to assess the various factors which weighed in the minds of student Executives, in some cases in the minds of members of Associations and, finally, in the minds of those delegates to N.Z.U.S.A. who were not mandated on the matter. However an attempt will be made to give a general picture.
I.U.S. had caused some suspicion in New Zealand right from the time when Miss Janet Bogle attended the
However, there was still some doubt in the minds of Colleges. Our affiliation fee to I.U.S. was £250, more than half our present income from levies. Money was collected for this purpose but held as it was expected that Mr. Redrup would be able to arrange for some to be put towards a Pacific regional organisation working under the aegis of I.U.S. of which Australia and New Zealand were to be foundation members.
In
From the record of debate it appears that the Resident Executive advised the meeting that it felt I.U.S. could not be accepted by N.Z. students as a body furthering a political line, while such service functions as were offered could not be availed of as we were so far from the centre of I.U.S. activity.
The delegates from Canterbury Agricultural College felt that I.U.S. had not proved itself, and that we should concentrate on the Pacific. As I.U.S. had finally, apparently for motives of jealousy, refused to approve the Pacific Bureau idea, we should start to build our own Pacific contacts on a solid basis of mutual help.
The delegates from Otago felt there was little more in the way of information to be gained. Our opinions were in the minority and were not effective, while in any case the expense was too large for the dubious benefits.
It should be stated that there was a general feeling that I.U.S. had come to favour the policy of the Eastern bloc solely, particularly since it had moved closer to the World Federation of Democratic Youth. In this way it was no longer a truly international organisation.
Another evidence of bias was felt to be its attitude to the "Prague incident" when no action was taken on behalf of students arrested and attacked by Prague police when they demonstrated against the Coup d'etat in that country in the early part of
In addition to this many National Unions had, or were, disaffiliating. These included some in Scandinavia, Holland and the U.S.A., who pulled out over the Prague incident. The latter had not formally joined but had a seat on the Executive and a representative on the Prague Inquiry Committee who dissented strongly from the majority decision. The Australian students had also disaffiliated, as a result of an accumulation of causes, particularly the "Prague incident." They also had had a seat on the Executive.
There were many other difficulties, including apparently partial treatment of Austrian students both inside Austria and as against other groups. Problems had arisen with
That, then, is briefly the background to the
We suppose it was too good to last. For some 500 (is that correct?) weeks, the National Film Unit at Miramar has been turning out their Weekly Review. At the beginning, they were undoubtedly pretty corny at times; the audience could sense this, and were a little hard on the lapses—the marching opening became one of the national institutions for a while—remember? There were times, too, when the messages were just too frightfully earnest about rationing or careless talk or some other deadly serious topic treated too seriously.
It's hard to say when the weekly Review really became adult. The film which first stood out might have been "Coal Comes from Westland" which was a documentary with some real
"The Coaster" will possibly be remembered as the full flowering of the reviews. Starting somewhat self consciously in the tracks of Auden and the "Night Mail," with a poetic sound track which was always interesting rather than in tune with the movement of the scene, it did catch, though, a genuine enough atmosphere. The film on the Railways in some ways was even better: it had the good qualities which marked the Unit's productions. But now and again, it got too far ahead of the public—and not even the intriguing Lilburn music saved its Eurhythmies from the philistine New Zealand audiences—who greeted scenes which would have pleased a continental audience with either bored sighs or smutty giggles.
But still, the Unit had its feet on the' ground most of the time, and we traversed a fairly wide section of New Zealand Industry with them.
Unlike a lot of overseas films of the same sort, the local product was never overawed by the mechanics of industry into forgetting people: it may be that it was fortunate, because our industries are seldom in large enough units to make the men look small. But however it was, the Unit started from the men and worked out. And as we said before, anything which does something to show one section of the community to another is doing an essential service.
Wait a moment, though! Did we say "essential"? But it can't be. It may be true that society is big and unwieldy, and the very amorphous nature of it makes one section unlikely to understand and sympathise with another's viewpoint: the very lack of sympathy may lead to the common belligerency about other sections—hear a business man on "the wharfies." And this belligerency may be at the root of much of our internal dissension. But, in spite of this the Government can liquidate a service which is almost specifically designed to iron out the wrinkles on the fair face of our society. It's even stranger when we think that it is the Communists who are allegedly—what's the phrase?—trying to "disrupt our society by encouraging class struggle and misunderstanding." And it is the Government who is saving us from the "evils" of such machiavellian conduct. Really, Mr. Holland!
Of course, we might expect this of a Government which bases its policy, insofar as it has one, on a laisser-faire philosophy outmoded by the middle 19th. century. This explains the contradiction of a Government forced to act against its own professed beliefs because of its economic policy: it's almost an example of economic determinism!
And how footling it is to try to measure up the worth of something like the Reviews so that they must justify their existence "on a trading basis." New Zealand does need something of this sort to foster some consciousness of the nature of its own society: we are too small to support a number of commercial units, and the need can only be met, as it has in so many other fields, by state ventures—and was met long before even the Labour party was heard of. It is not even as though the Reviews had been a failure: in many ways (like the journal "Education") they had been an outstanding success which we need not be ashamed of showing to overseas countries. But what use is it trying to convince a Government which looks at life through the grid of profit and loss columns that some things have value from a monetary one?
The Unit will now concentrate on making "departmental films." Enter the corporate state through the back door ?
Sir,—In profound hopefulness that your gloomy prognostications about the future life of our President may not be fulfilled, I venture to suggest that the Association might now show that it is not uninfluenced by the theory of the welfare state: a practical measure would be the instituting of a superannuation scheme so that a suitable retiring allowance might be paid to Presidents retiring after forty years in office.
What are you doing in February next year? Do you want a glorious summer holiday after a couple of months' seasonal work—and a cheap one at that, too? The answer to your problem is Congress. As in the past two years, 1951 Congress will be held at Curious Cove, that ideal spot in the Marlborough Sounds, used by the Air Force during the war as a recuperative centre, and now one of the Sounds' best tourist centres. There are miles of warm water for the keen swimmer, thousands of fish for the angler, boats for the rowers, walks for the trampers, grass for for the lazy to lie on—and sun for everyone.
There is another side to Congress—that of a study of some of the problems confronting us today. Formal sessions are being arranged at which prominent speakers will talk around a theme "There is Still Hope." Those who have been to Congress will recall the vigorous discussions which follow the talks. Don't be frightened by the idea that this la something very intellectual and quite out of your reach—the talks are all of a high standard but are of interest to all students.
Otago are organising Congress this year, and the committee have decided to hold it between February 9th-l8th. It is hoped with these dates that a greater cross-section of students may be able to come than in past years.
Further details will be published in this paper and posted on your notice boards later on in the year, so keep watching, and be early with your applications when these are called for.
On Thursday 6th July the V.U.C. Golf Club held its one day competition on the Hutt course. Unfortunately, we are unable to play in the weekends, so only full time students were able to attend. Twelve members took part, and all had a good day. In the morning a Stableford competition was won by B.
Recent results have been:—
On Monday, July 7, in the Concert Chamber there was not an empty seat to be had when the students of French at VUC provided the programme at the last meeting of the Wellington French Club. The occasion was the celebration of France's National Day (actually July 14) a day which should not cease to have meaning for us, for It was the day on which the Bastille fell to the army of the French people.
The meeting opened with short speeches by the President, Mme. R. Finlayson and His Excellency the Minister for France, Mr. Lancial. These were followed by the main item of the evening, a full-length two-act play, "Mort ou Vif" ("Dead or Alive") by Max Regnier, first played in Paris two years ago. The play provides the audience with the same sort of fodder as a detective thriller but at the same time it consciously and wittily burlesques such forms of entertainment. The plot centres round a "Murder Party," a game beloved by respectable people who have nothing better to do. It is found however that the "pretend" corpse is in fact only too real and the rest of the play, including some very humorous scenes, is concerned with the discovery of the murderer.
There was no question as to whether the play itself was dead or alive. The actors displayed all the melodramatic vim and vigour which was required and kept the audience guessing. What with a fake detective, a manufacturer of fantastic burglar alarums, a long-lost husband who excused himself from the wedding breakfast table never to return, a card-sharp and his illegal wife, the odd entomologist of doubtful sanity and a sleep-walking servant, one never knew quite what was coming next.
The play demanded a great deal of hard work and was soundly produced by Prof. Boyd-Wilson and Miss Huntington who were assisted in its running by a large and willing group of students. Thanks are also due to Chris Pottinger, Paul Cotton and Robin Adams for make-up and stagemanaging. The cast was as follows: the fake detective. Ray ("Stick-emup") Stone; Mme. Finlayson, Prof. Boyd-Wilson, Mme. Scotten, Piera Munro, Lindsay Macdonald, R. Hereford, Prof. Miles, J. McArthur, George Gay and D. Carrad, over half of them students and most of the others connected with the modern languages staff of VUC.
It is seldom if ever that the public has such a chance to see students doing something creative which is at the same time a direct product of their academic work. Extrav. and Major Production hardly qualify under the second requirement. The play gave obvious pleasure to the large audience in which were a great number of persons from the Diplomatic Corps, visitors from five or six different countries, students, and Wellington members of the Club. The cast were well chosen for their ability to speak French "as she is spoke" and it was a pleasure to hear so few traces of New Zealand accent. The programme was a witness to the liveliness of the Modern Languages faculty and to the pleasant and friendly relations existing between its staff and students.
Published for the Victoria University Students Association and printed by the Standard" Press 25a Marion St. Wellington.