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Man has no spiritual needs said the University Chaplain.
"The Church cannot administer to man's 'spiritual' needs," the Rev. Peter Jennings said in his sermon at St. Andrew's Church on Sunday after being commissioned National Council of Churches Chaplain to the University.
"I doubt if he has any spiritual needs," Mr. Jennings said.
"We can't be cut up into parts. We are all parts together or we are nothing."
"The Church must be in all of university life—or in nothing.
"We—you and I —are not an outpost of the Church but an integral part of the university.
"We are not here with only a spiritual concern, nor to listen primarily to people with problems.
"If people have problems, their solution is essential to wisdom.
"I, and all church members must help however we can.
But you do not need the Church only when trouble strikes.
"Come to me when you are in trouble—but look to me even more when all is well.
"We need each other if we are to gain wisdom," he said.
Membership of the University helped in growth toward this wisdom, he said.
"It's difficult to pinpoint what makes a man wise."
It was certainly not knowledge alone, though it was difficult to see how it was possible to be wise without some knowledge.
True wisdom had a practical outcome.
It could not be gained in isolation.
Revelation in the Bible came through community experience.
"When the Church is together, then the Spirit guides us," Mr. Jennings said.
He expected people could agree that the words "God", "Spirit" or "revelation", if they at least meant that wisdom grew through interaction with others, were true.
There was also a moral aspect to wisdom.
Discipline was necessary, as was a setting of values.
The undisciplined did not become wise.
Yet this discipline did not deny freedom—it was the way to greater freedom. Freedom of enquiry was necessary for wisdom.
Wisdom was something wider than an academic activity.
The Hebrew word represented an attitude of the total personality not an attribute of the mind.
"How then does membership of the University help us to grow in wisdom?" Mr. Jennings asked.
The first task of the university was to make available some of man's knowledge.
The Hebrews valued more than academic knowledge the use to which knowledge was put.
The university gave a basis of comparison.
By dirrecting attention to achievements of others, it helped in seeing whatever was being studied in proper perspective.
"Since we have seen that wisdom is gained only in community, the University gives us such a community—where ideas may be questioned," he said.
"We are given the responsibility for our futures herein the University. Mr. Jennings said.
The University accepted its responsibility for providing guidance in the use of this responsibility.
Students were encouraged to break out of former patterns of thought, to learn to be self-questioning and to gain the freedom they could achieve if they could leave behind their inhibitions and prejudices.
The University, through its cultural, political, religious, and athletic activities, bore witness to the involvement of the whole man in the pursuit of wisdom.
"How can the Church play its part in the university in this task?" Mr. Jennings asked.
It had a part to play in the provision of factual knowledge.
But the Church was no longer regarded as the guardian of a body of revealed truth.
Nevertheless there was knowledge in the Church that was different from the knowledge gained in academic fields.
Both types of study were needed to complete the picture.
It could also be a unifying agent within the University.
The Church must be prepared to safeguard freedom? to say, where necessary, that even the University was not being free enough.
Students renting poorer quality flats and rooms are likely to benefit from the present economic situation.
A spokesman for a city letting agency said young Australians who once took "just about anything in the city area" were no longer coming in the same numbers.
Because of this there was rather a glut of shabby accommodation on the market, he said.
Large luxury flats, full board for males, and good quality single bedroomed flats are in heavy demand, but older flats and shared houses are now freely available.
The University Accommodation Services with the landlord's permission, will visit any flats and advise on rent and conditions.
Students were asked not to buy grilled pork chops sold at the University's cafeteria last Thursday.
Hundreds of notices asking for the boycott were handed out by the newly-formed Student Action Group on Caf Prices.
On Friday bread rolls and yesterday sandwiches were boycotted.
Formation of the Student Action Group on Caf. Prices was announced at last Tuesday's Forum
The group's aims are to register student disapproval of caf price rises, especially for light lunch meals; to keep future rises in line with increases in the cost of living; to obtain public disclosure of Mr Levenbach's accounts for both student meals and outside functions; and to make Executive more reponsive to student opinion.
The group suggested that in order to achieve these aims students could eat elsewhere, could bring their own lunches, and could boycott specific meals on certain days.
"Many students have made generous financial contributions," he said.
Tony said the group wanted to demonstrate that students would not passively tolerate further price rises which, if past experience was a guide, would not be long in coming.
The stage had been reached where the prices of Mr. Levenbach's light lunches were equal to downtown prices and some items in theme were actually dearer, he said.
The Action Group has announced it will call for further boycotts on certain days and in specific meals.
This is our annual picture of the Student Union Building as it will look after the proposed extensions.
The principal secretary to the Minister of Education was asked yesterday if the Government grant necessary for the additions would now be forthcoming in view of the decision announced on Friday to start making expenditure on minor capital projects once more.
He said that specific projects had not yet been investigated.
"The government should be approached officially once more," he said.
Politicians in New Zealand encounter "not merely distrust but outright derision," Dr. A. M. Findlay told the Labour Club last Friday.
"We began to feel that whenever we come to a gathering we ought to begin by apologising for our existence," he said.
The Government had been en attacked by people such as Sir
The strength of scepticism about both Labour and National was shown by Social Credit's gain at the last election.
Suggestions also indicated that "five or six good men", could run the country better than Parliament.
Such criticism could be the precursor to an antidemocratic regime.
It must be countered by asustained effort to refurbish the image of Parliament.
"The economy we have known is with us no longer. We need new solutions to meet new problems—andvery often we don't know what the problems are" Dr. Findlay said.
Industry was not, as some claimed, New Zealand's salvation—it was a supplement to the soil, and would be for a long time.
Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of VUWSA.
The strength of the reaction to the increase in caf. prices was to be expected. The increase was large, and as holiday earnings were often low, the time inopportune.
But if boycott is able to make a point it has certainly made it by now and must be stopped immediately, only to be restarted if we receive blatant non-co-operation.
Mr. Levenbach has a monopoly, but can raise his prices only with the consent of the University Council.
But details of Mr. Levenbach's accounts remain secret to all but a select group of non-students. To divulge them would weigh competition with outside caterers against him. And it is this outside catering that is supposed to keep our prices down.
There are two demands we can reasonably make, however : To know the profit he makes on outside functions (and so the importance of his loss on student meals), and to be able to make any suggestions of ways for him to save money.
Possibilities that deserve investigation are ten-trip meal tickets, students clearing their own tables, an automatic coffee dispenser, and having all prices in units of 5 cents.
The Labour Party Club is to be commended for bringing up the subject of "Student Power" in its Bulletin published on Wednesday.
The question arising from the article is : How are we going to get more power for students at this university?
An initial problem is to know where the power we seek lies. The University Council does not, in fact, wield the power it has in law. In many matters it delegates powers, and in others it gives almost automatic confirmation to the decisions of lower bodies. The fact remains, however, that the Council is the apex of the decision-making machinery. Thorough and continuous scrutiny of the Council would make the whole system more likely to be responsive to student wishes.
The article in the Bulletin takes a negative attitude when it laments that "For all it's ever been worth we might as well forget about our representative on the University Council. Students rarely, if ever, hear from him nor is it likely that the Council would want us to." This is true, but the situation is not irreparable.
By Act of Parliament the student representative on Council is appointed every two years by the Executive of the Students' Association, but the Executive is responsible to the association and subject to its constitution. By changing the constitution we can force it to appoint somebody elected by the students.
Besides the relatively peripheral though extremely important point that this will ensure more accurate representation of student views than the present indirect election, it will, once every two years, open the proceedings of the Council to the discussion and debate of an election campaign.
Student interests will be more clearly expressed and less easily evaded.
There is right now, in the hand of the lawyers of the Association, the first draft of an amendment to the constitution which will do this if it is passed at the Annual General Meeting.
It will not be possible to delude ourselves that we were justly represented in decision-making with this representation. We want more representatives on Council, and on the less prestigious and more hidden centres of power, centres which we will learn more about as we learn more about the politics of the administration.
But let us not be too hasty. Softly, softly . . .
Editor:
Telephone 70-319 (S.U.B.) or 60-084 (Home).
Associate Editor: Nevil Gibson.
Chief Sub-editor: Don Hill.
Advertising Manager: Henry Newrick.
Telephone 55-922 (Work) or 26-260 (Home).
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Sir—Poor old Salient. After thirty years of "healthy radicalism" (to quote from that self-congratulatory editorial in the last issue) all it can offer is junk and cheat; Salient's philosophy for the student.
St. Mug, the pop Socrates, otherwise known as Malcolm Muggeridge, referred to "the old slob's escape of dope and bed".
Is that all Salient, self-sanctified in those nauseating articles by its first editor and by Salient goes one better; it encourages us to cheat.
In an editorial headed 'The exam farce', we learn of "the Only rational view of exams — . . . to be overcome by any available means." Salient tells us that: "Dishonesty is hardly relevant, with whatever distaste one looks at it."
For the information of Salient, there are still some few students left who attend this University to gain a degree that will command a healthy respect in the academic and business worlds.
They work through the year prepared to face the formal test of knowledge and skills provided by examinations. They have no sympathy with those seeking the easy way out.
It is realised that many may seriously question the value of examinations in assessing ability and knowledge. The article by pundit Cloud on super-pundit Parkyn in Salient 1 makes this clear.
It is not the purpose of this writer to delve into the pros and cons of examinations; to proceed, like Cloud, from dubious premise to still more dubious conclusion in an attempt to prove the validity or otherwise of the examination system.
It is necessary to point out where the moral gutlessness exemplified in Salient's editorial is leading to.
The efforts of a few students to change the rules is comparable to the activities of a Red Chinese kangaroo court interpreting the law according to the thoughts of Chairman Mao.
They are trying for a certain qualification, and if they cannot gain it the only correct action is to give up the attempt. It is certainly not correct to aim at changing the rules in mid-stream, in a desperate effort to stagger through the course somehow or other.
To do this is farcical; we would become like the Red Chinese court, inventing rules to cover the situation.
"Junk is a way of life"
An anonymous contributor in Salient I awakened us to "a scene of light and colour. a scene of beauty and contentment, a scene of horror and danger." He advises us that "It is high time students here realised the beneficial effects of certain drug experiences, effects which could turn them from completely academically orientated managers to something approaching real, rounded people."
In a glib resumé of pot, acid. junk, coke, speed, morphine, snow and the rest, the writer sneers at the efforts of police officers to help young addicts, and seems to agree with
Living death is possibly a suitable state for some on the 'varsity campus—any form of suspended animation that relieves us of their peculiar moral attitudes is to be welcomed
But as a way of life for the rest of us, what a drag!
Speed Kills It really does Amphetamine, methedrine, etc., can, and will, rot your teeth, freeze your mind and kill your body. The life expectancy of the average speed freak, from the first shot to the morgue, is less than five years. What a drag.
That was the editorial from the Boston psychedilic newspaper Avatar. Somewhat more realistic than any advice from Salient's contributor perhaps?
Junk is a way of death, not of life. It is an escape from reality into the fantasy world where all is love.
Cheating is an escape: to quote again from St. Mug, "pot and free contraception are not forms of protest; they are shallow, paltry self-indulgences"
Is it Salient's advice that we follow in the path of any slobbering old debauchee, so high on junk, and so low on morals? After thirty years is this all our student press has to say to us?
I don't think so. But don't ever take the view that Salient represents typical student thought. "Typical student thought", my friends, is too busy reading for those examinations, and getting its stimulation from work, not hashish.
I remain, yours, etc,.
[The claim that the "rational view" of exams is to try to overcome them by "any available means" leaves open the question of whether cheating is a personally realistic choice to any individual.
People must make up their own minds whether the sanctions against cheating are outweighed by the need to pass-both the sanctions at the disposals of the University Council and the equally real though more personal sanctions invoked by acting in a way one feels is unfair to one's colleagues.
There is no suggestion that Salient advocates students receiving qualifications for which they are not academically qualified. It is inherent in the examination system that those found to have cheated may not pass. Exams otherwise would be meaningless.
But the nature of the system demands no greater punishment. To exclude a person from the University is to punish him because he is a dishonest person (which is irrelevent to his academic ability), not because his presence undermines the system of academic evaluation.
Of course the present system of academic evaluation encourages cheating and is open to sabotage by organised mass cheat-ins. It should be possible to change the system by more acceptable means, however.
And drugs—The inclusion of articles is no stamp of editorial agreement—ed.]
Dear Billy—I must tell you about the other day in the holidays. Well, I and Bert and
We were going to have a teaparty. I borrowed my sister's teaset. I was not meant to have it.
Anyway we had to have water.
I asked my mother for something more strong but she said I would have to be grown up like my father before I could drink tea so we had to pretend.
My name is
I hope I get a certificate for this.
Love from John.
P.S.—I will soon be a pixie.
Sir—I must heartily commend those in "high" places, responsible for the provision of one only (one; alone and unable to be social about it) men's toilet of the sit-upon variety in the whole of the two-thirds completed complexity—the Student Union Building, which I understand somehow caters for a few-thousand male students.
I wonder, if it became fashionable of course, the "in thing", the place where the bottom dropped out of protocol. etc., I wonder if that one little "water closet" could cope —from behind too!
Yours faithfully.
(It may be too late now, but for your information, and for anyone else who is in trouble there are two other sit-upon lavatories for male students in the S.U.B. They are in the men's cloakrooms downstairs off the corridor by the caretakers den.—ed.]
In a worthy attempt to orient students to the University the Orientation Controller had several handy telephone numbers printed on the back of the orientation programme.
He got the right number for Dial-a-prayer, but was two years out of date for some numbers.
"I have a hilarious announcement to make", said a certain professor, as she prepared to read the Procedure in Case of Fire or Earthquake Notice which applied to a certain crowded lecture room at the very lop of a certain highly unsafe building.
The instructions? "Get under the table, clutch the person next to you, and when it's over, assemble in Kelburn Park."
A dead rat lay unburied on the main drive up to the Hunter Building for at least four days last week. Is bubonic plague on the way?
Though Mr Levenbach has claimed rising food costs over the past 15 months as the main reason for his price rises. the Statistics Departments all-food index shows a jump of only 3% over the period (after taking into account the removal of government subsidies for which Mr Levenbach had already been compensated).
The caf. rises however come to more than 10 per cent over-all.
There was surprisingly little fuss when the Weir House Warden, Dr
Quantitative Analysis in the Hunter Building, C3, are so short of space that "about twenty" arc sitting in the aisles It is said the Q. A. was to have been divided into two classes, but that this is not now being done.
Mr Boyd is well-fed, it seems.
When approached about complaints of small meals being served in the caf, he said he had suggested this to Mr Levenbach as one way of reducing his losses.
'The meals are no smaller', Mr Levenbach later told Salient.
Now the Snack Bar is in the Men's and Women's Common Rooms many lunchtime meetings will have to be held in the new lecture block or not at all.
'It was either intellectual fare or physical nourishment', said Mr Boyd of the Student Union Management.
Three law students did not ; attend a lecture on homicide in one of our brand new lecture theatres late last week. They thus missed being killed by a giant light fitting which fell where they should have been sitting. The contractor was not available for comment.
Monday night was frightful With the sounds of students arriving for the V.U.W. Catholic society's dance that was advertised in Orientation Programme. They found the dance wasn't in the beginning, isn't now, and never shall be.
A small number of students have an opportunity to be of practical assistance to "educationally handicapped" children during the first two terms of 1968
Mr Salient of plans to ensure this.
Some of these children will be coming weekly lo the University Gymnasium.
Others will be helped at various institutions in the community.
Initially much of the programme will be based on play and physical education.
Students interested in meeting the children and learning about their problems are invited to help.
The Physical Welfare Officers at the Gymnasium will be pleased to supply more details. Phone 70-319.
The government is dominated by "the peasant stock of the nation" said David Shand at a lunchtime debate on Wednesday.
The Memorial Theatre was less than half full for the National and Labour Party Club's debate on the motion that through steady-does-it we have been steadily done."
David said that economic decline had reduced the country to a "bankrupt international pauper".
The government has tried to borrow its way out of difficulties while "continually bleating sell-congratulation statements of steady-does-it".
His second speaker, Tony Haas said the government has "mortgaged the very things we don't have, let alone the things we do have".
Hugh Rennie for the negative said that steady-does-it "sums up in capsule form the National Party philosophy".
The government had borrowed to finance capital development. He said great economic and social "progress" had been made since 1960.
Hugh said that the government has maintained its position on Vietnam "with honour".
The motion was carried on a vote of the house by 118 votes to 31.
Helen Lowry Hall, a women students' hostel previously in Messines Road, Karori, has been moved temporarily to buildings in Hanson Street, near the Winter Show Buildings.
The new quarters, previously used as a nurses hostel by the Wellington Hospital Board, has room for 77 girls, compared with 38 in the Karori building.
There are two buildings, a four storey block which holds the majority of the girls and a two storey block holding 18 girls and administration facilities.
Miss
The hostel, only a half-hour walk from the University has a regular bus service as well.
It is expected that the Hanson Street buildings will be occupied for the next two years.
By this lime it is hoped that, Helen Lowry's new hostel in Karori Road will he completed.
Many student do not know the rules for use of the Student Union Building, said the chairwoman on the House Committee, Helen Paske, on Thursday.
She said there must be "absolutely no booze and no gambling".
"Swift retribution will descend on any students contravening these regulations," she said.
"Cards may not be played in the Student Union Building before 2 p.m., and then only in the Men's and Woman's Common Rooms."
"Notices must be kept to foolscap size, or not too much bigger. There is little enough space as it is without some groups hogging it all."
Helen would like some attempt made to remove out-of-date notices.
Personal notices should be dated, and will be removed after a reasonable length of time.
Full copies of the House Regulations may be obtained from Helen.
The Reverend Peter Jennings has been appointed National Council of Churches Chaplain to Victoria University of Wellington.
Mr. Jennings is an Anglican who has been Vicar at Bluff and Stewart Island for the past four years.
He replaces the Rev
Mr. Jennings studied maths at Cambridge for three years and theology at Chichester Theological College for two years
He is married with four children.
Before coming to New Zealand Mr. Jennings worked as a curate in Harlow, one of the new towns around London, where an attempt was being made to create a new community with a population of 160,000.
Mr. Jennings says that besides being at the disposal of the religious societies, he believes he will spend a lot of his time in the counselling room.
This was the aspect of parish work that appealed to him most.
He has undergone post-ordination training in psychology.
Though Mr. Jennings is a Geering supporter, he hopes this will not prevent more conservative students from talking to him.
The University Creche Organisation is having trouble finding new headquarters.
Mrs.
On hopes for more success in the fuutre, Mrs. Moore said: "We'll keep plugging on."
"What sphinx of cement and aluminium bashed open their skulls and ate up their brains and imagination?" —
I have argued that the major defects of our universities can be traced to the examination system, and that this system must be either abandoned or radically reformed.
But the problem of examinations cannot be studied in isolation, nor can it be understood if approached solely from the point of view of evaluating achievement or of setting standards. If reform in this field is to succeed, we must have a clear idea of the place and purpose of evaluation in the modern university.
The Parkyn report, with all its admirable recommendations, may fail to persuade because it fails to transcend the purely technical level.
The problems of unreliability and inconsistent standards are, as Parkyn has shown, serious enough; but the wider questions of the validity of examinations and their consequences for the individual remain unanswered.
When the aims of a university are defined, the conduct of examinations is not usually listed among them; yet in the minds of students and academic staff they tend to occupy a very prominent place. However ill-performed, the functions of teaching and research remain — at least ideally — the central concerns of the institution. That the business of examinations compromises the former and obstructs the latter is sometimes recognised; but it has usually been accepted as a necessary evil. If Socrates were to return to earth he might gain the impression that his statement, "The life that is unexamined is not worth living," has been accepted too literally and somewhat extravagantly by our educational system.
And yet examinations may in theory serve a variety of useful purposes. They may be used (1) as a means of instruction; (2) as a form of educational administation; (3) for purposes of admission to various occupations, professions and government service; and (4) as a means of social control. They serve the backward-looking function of assessing the student's attainments, and the forward-looking one of assessing his aptitudes, whether for job-placement or for further education. Properly-constructed tests can pinpoint strengths and weaknesses, suggest alterations in course content or teaching methods, and safeguard standards for admission to the professions.
What is surprising is that the traditional essay-type examination should continue to be so popular, when it serves these purposes so poorly.
Those who support traditional examinations have, however, always attributed to them a high educational value. Preparation for examinations, it is said, trains students to deal with new material, to discriminate between the important and the unimportant, to appreciate the relevance of hitherto unrelated details, to grasp a subject as a whole and to combine its parts into a vital organic unity, to hold knowledge ready on demand, to think for themselves. Through examinations, it is held, the teacher obtains an impartial estimate of what a student knows, and the student discovers what he has really mastered. The timid student acquires confidence and the conceited student gains humility.
These arguments are not new; they are taken from an article in the Educational Review of 1900. But I doubt that any stronger could be proposed today. They are, if anything, less adequate now than they were then. Preparation for examinations, as we all know, encourages cramming, rote learning, and meaningless mnemonics.
Original thinking, individual emphasis, the ''brilliant new synthesis" are all impossible — only hackneyed thoughts may be expressed, if only because the time limit prevents the development of an adequate justification for a novel idea.
The timid student finds to his surprise that the desired level of mediocrity is not difficult to attain, and the proud student finds to his dismay that intellect goes unrewarded.
In my own experience, those who are most successful at examinations are often their sharpest critics. It may be, as
According to the Parkyn report the unreliability of examinations causes many unnecessary failures. This article, the second of three, reviews other consequences of the present examination system which are equally pernicious.
Besides, in the roulette of unreliable examinations, the marks of the A-grade student can only fluctuate in one direction — downward.
Even rather tepid supporters of the essay-type examination, such as Brook, admit that the usual type of paper, asking for answers to four or five questions in three hours, tests a very specialised kind of ability and puts a premium on speed and superficiality. It limits the student to one mode of expression, and often provides a more sensitive measure of writing speed and resistance to anxiety than of educational attainment.
It was recognised as early as 1891 (if not before) that the examination, is used as the sole criterion of success, is an unmitigated evil. Superintendent
It came to be understood very early (although obviously not in New Zealand) that the best study is done where there is the freest play of motives and of natural curiosity; and the worst study where there is the most absorbing interest in examination marks, leading to overpressure, strain, waste, dishonesty and mis-education.
A more modern criticism is given by the sociologist
"Examinations unquestionably do great harm, at all levels of education. They alienate the student from his personal interest in the subject he studies, rob him of initiative, and encourage whatever kind of learning is easiest to test, irrespective of its relevance. Original work is discouraged, because it is difficult to mark: original interest, because it upsets the curriculum. The teacher's role is confused with that of assessor, and the student is inhibited from seeking guidance for fear of being judged."
Evidence has been accumulated over the last 70 years in Britain, Europe and America to show that no amount of care in setting and marking essay-type examinations can eliminate the fallibility of subjective judgements. The publication of the Parkyn report represents, I hope, New Zealand's realisation of this simple fact.
It is a moral atrocity to rate an individual by a system which, when required to work to a moderate degree of accuracy, is wrong nearly as often as it is right.
Examinations cannot be improved until the examiner knows what he really wants.
One of the things he should want is to discover and encourage originality and diversity. The attempt to make all of a group of students satisfy a certain task equally is a reductio ad absurdam.
Nor should the purpose of examinations be that of passing some students and failing others, but rather that of discovering how the students stand in relation to each other, and how they differ from each other. This cannot be done by setting up a standard of passing or failing, as if there were only two conceivable students A and not-A (the elect and the nonelect), nor by the a priori assumption that there are four conceivable classes of students, A, B, C and D (of which D stands for the non-elect). There are, in fact, as many classes as there are students. It follows that the system of giving marks or grades for creative work is based on an artificial theory for which there is no foundation, as is shown by the variation of marks given to the same paper by different markers.
In an ideal system of education the notion of "failing" would have no place. Educational thinking would centre around the notions of growth and development — true success, after all, is not to be measured primarily by the accumulation of units, but by the degree and kind of growth achieved along the lines of individual capacity and personal needs.
This would culminate in a university where each student would follow his own course of education, guided by his teachers within a broad disciplinary framework of his own choosing, but free of the stultifying pressure of narrowly fixed curricula and final examinations.
Graduation certificates would be granted to all those who had made the growth possible for them within a given period of time, with the degree of development achieved indicated on the certificate.
Certificates of professional qualification — for example, in medicine, law, or engineering — would be issued to those who chose to meet the requirements for practice.
Granted that such a system — called by Marris the "spontaneous university" — would have drawbacks for personnel selection, the allocation of scholarships, and even for the arrangement of programmes of instruction. But would they really be much worse than those of the present system, with, its spurious quantitative standardisation and its blatant disregard for individual differences in aptitudes and interests?
The question involved here may be asked in another way: how much education has an individual received if he has failed, or just passed, and so on—How much more has a person with first-class honours learned than a person with second-class?
The traditional examination, like a hurdle, is a crude thing: it divides people up into those who manage to make it over the top and those who don't. But the purpose of an assessment system is not to provide a jumping contest, or indeed a contest of any kind. It is to assess the extent to which an individual has profited from exposure to the experience of education. And, inevitably, it remains as much a test of the teacher as of the taught.
One of the worst troubles with the whole examination system is that it has been devised by professors, and professors are generally experts in their subject matter rather than experts in the learning process or in instructional practices. As a result they tend to be inflexible in teaching according to the patterns to which they were exposed.
New Zealand's academics, it must be admitted, are by and large a rather sorry lot. Many of them
home-grown, and consequently inbred, they are usually both bored and boring on their own subjects. My own experience with them suggests that very few know anything about teaching, and they react defensively or evasively to honest criticism of teaching methods or course content.
There are naturally many exceptions — individuals who, by their competence and enthusiasm, stimulate thought and make a university education worthwhile — despite low salaries, overburdened courseloads, and the general intellectual smog that chokes the place.
And most university lecturers are, I believe, basically able and open-minded, distant more by tradition than by inclination, inept more by provincialism than by innate limitation.
Perhaps, when all is said and done, we need fewer academics and more educators, fewer examiners and more teachers, fewer lecturers and more tutors. Perhaps, indeed, university teachers should spend half their time studying their students as individuals, and the other half doing what that study shows to be desirable and necessary. The first question they might ask is, "Are we evaluating ourselves and our students adequately?" — since the answer may well determine the future of higher education in New Zealand.
References:
Brook, G. L. The Modern University (London:
Marris, Peter. The Experience of Higher Education (London: Routledge and
Parkyn, G. W. Success and Failure at the University, Vol. II, "The Problem of Failure" (Wellington: N.Z.C.E.R., 1967).
Bernard Levin usually seems placed as a second-class Time as the "all-purpose bore").
Levin's views on Vietnam might be a foregone conclusion, but for a recent article in his regular column with the London Daily Mail. After expressing the hope that his readers had enjoyed last evening as much as he had, with a visit to the opera, Levin remembered the arm-chair critics of the U.S.A. Did they have a pleasant night? "A lot of Americans and South Vietnamese, however, spent it dying."
'They spend it dying," continued Levin, "so that you can go on watching television, reading books and helping the children with their homework, and so that I can go on listening to Wagner. I don't know about you, but I am grateful and will now say why."
To Levin, the war in Vietnam is "confused and horrible, its aims blurred, its cost in innocent blood unaccountable. But if it is lost, if the Americans finally get tired of doing the world's work for nothing but the world's abuse, if South Vietnam is left to its fate, then what will follow, as surely as Austria followed the Rhineland, and Czechoslovakia followed Austria, and Poland followed Czechoslovakia and six years of world war followed Poland, is a nuclear confrontation on a global seale between the forces engaged in one tiny corner of the globe."
As Levin's readers got over their shock, the mail came flooding in. But the most surprising part of the whole episode was that it ran three to one in favour of his stand. Perhaps a note of caution here for our profs. and protesters lining up their consciences for the oncoming session even the South Vietnamese have a right to life, let alone peace.
The strength of the vociferous minority of anti-Americans in our community has very little relation to the dust they raise. The results of a properly run poll on the Subject would interesting.
—
Ascent: A Journal of the Arts in New Zealand. Vol. 1. No. 1. November, 1967. Published by the Caxton Press. $1.50. Reviewed by Mary Everett.
Since the Arts Year Book ceased publication in 1951, there has been no regular art periodical in this country. In recent years there has been a considerable increase in the number of serious artists working in New Zealand, and dealer galleries have been established in several cities. Many exhibitions have come here from overseas, and in Auckland in particular, local exhibitions of contemporary painting have aroused much interest. However, there has as yet been comparatively little informed art criticism, and no attempt at the documentation of these events.
The news that the Caxton Press was planning to publish an art review had created keen anticipation that at long last we were to have a publication comparable with overseas art magazines. Now that "Ascent" has appeared, one's first impressions are of an attractive, well produced publication. It is printed on good quality art paper, and it has plenty of large, clear reproductions. The magazine has articles by
"As things stand in New Zealand there is danger of national insipidity. In too many cases one can observe the whole mental mechanism involved in trying to be thought nice, but nothing to be clear . . . Most of our problems arise from our unadmitted smallnesses and fear. New Zealanders tend to resent and resist outside standards that are difficult to compete with, and as a result remain closed in."
R. N. O'Reilly's review of the art section of the New Zealand encyclopaedia is a scholarly examination of an unsatisfactory approach to the writing of art history.
Unfortunately, however, much of the writing in the magazine lacks clarity. Most literary criticism in this country has competence and a considerable degree of sophistication, but comparable standards have not yet been developed in the field of art criticism. In his leading article on
Among the painting reproduced are works by
There are two full-page colour reproductions of excellent quality, and it is difficult to understand why one of these was not used on the cover. As both of the reproductions are of abstract works, one can only conclude that the editors feel safer with the landscape image. With its timid typography, the cover would be more suited to a literary magazine of the 1930s than to an art publication of 1967. There is no indication as to how often it is to appear. The pretentious title page could well have included the list of contents, as is usual in publications of this nature.
There are no notes on contributors, and no information on current and forthcoming exhibitions. This failure to cover activities in the art centres throughout the country leaves the reader with a feeling of isolation from the events taking place.
If "Ascent" is to be successful, it will have to be both critical and selective; but in this, its first issue, no clear sense of direction is apparent.
Excitement is mounting. The first group leaves tomorrow at the crack of dawn, to return in time to farewell the other group at noon. However there is so much intoxication abot today that it seems to me doubtful whether we shall leave at all. I am in the second group to leave.
Dawn has cracked, and they are off! The beasts of danger are travelling first: the basilisks in their velvet cloaks, the dragons, the giant moles, and so on. The farewell so carefully planned failed to happen, because of intoxication on the part of the money. I am glad to relate, however, that I was there myself to see them off. waving my handkerchief emotionally in the air.
The first of them are back already, more sober than when they left, the jolts of travel perhaps having sobered them. Something indicates to me that the second farewell will be heartier than the first. But this is unfair to those who left first. Perhaps we could give them another ceremony of farewell on an occasion such as leaving the mountains.
We are on the way. I am travelling in the third wagon, drawn by a giant (but docile) elephantgiraffe. On top of our wagon is a platform and shelter for the roc-albatross. Buxtehude, because of his small size and little weight, rides the bird. The others with us are the old woman
It is late afternoon and we are at the appointed spot, waiting for the first group to catch up. There is no sign of them yet. Perhaps they are confused about the arrangements and are waiting for us to return in order to farewell them once more. If they do not arive within an hour, somebody will have to go back and get them.
They have not come. We have drawn lots to see who will go back. Since this is safe territory, well known to all, two wagons and one beast of danger should be ample. This wagon, and that of the magician Ottoman, are chosen. Since Ottoman's wagon is fourth in the procession, it could be that the cards were not shuffled. No matter! On a fine July afternoon such as this, it is more pleasant to roll across the tussock than to wait impatiently.
We arrived just before sunset at the gathering-place where all the wagons were assembled last night. Deserted! The signs showed that they left hours ago. We followed their tracks, which ran parallel to ours made a few minutes earlier; but theirs run closser towards the hills. They must be miles ahead of us. Never mind! It is a very pleasant evening.
We have just arrived at the appointed spot. To our dismay we have found nobody here. They have gone ahead. Ottoman surmises that while waiting they saw the other half, winding its way up towards the first pass. Buxtehude is flying off on the noble bird, to test Ottoman's guess.
Ottoman was right. Buxtehude has seen all the rest of our people camped just over the other side of the pass, waiting for us. An impressive sight, he says; all snakes are standing on their heads. It is almost dark. Shall we travel by night? Why not? On this desolate plateau all creatures must struggle to keep alive . . . . They have no time to be dangerous. It is a calm night. There are no pitfalls in the path. Many times I have ridden to the top of the pass and up the hill beside. On the flat top of that hill I have sat and looked eastward, to the valley and the next line of hills, and behind them is a valley, and another line of hills, and behind them is a valley, and another line of hills, and behind them is a valley 1 presume, and behind (hat I do not know, except that is where the sun sets. But the earthquake may have created chasms and abysses. In darkness, one might easily fall down such a hole, never to be seen again. Imagine waiting, month after month, at the bottom of such a pit, scarcely able to see the sky, calling for help that will never come because all the other people have rediscovered the ancestral homeland where they are at once enveloped in peace and luxury; slowly starving; and at length collapsing from the heat experienced towards the centre of the earth; and when the pit shrugs it will be the earth closing its mouth.
However, we may as well subject ourselves to this risk, since we could all My out of the hole on the back of the roc-albatross.
So we lit torches and set out, and at midnight rejoined the remainder of our people. Most were asleep. Unusual! It must be the travelling that tires them. Some of the elders who never sleep were strolling around the camp. A few I could see on the hill I described earlier. Cagliostrstro, Quidditas, and such magicians were hard at work in the bronze wagons, continuing as fervently in their search for the alkahest as if they had never left their ancient cavern deep in the rocks. Others, including Sparadrap, were gathered around a small fire, talking of old times: it was only this group who welcomed us. and thanked us for our trouble. Myself and a few others joined them. We talked till dawn.
The path that we have worn down over the centuries finishes here. Most of us have made trips as far as the next pass; some years ago I even ventured into the valley beyond, and for several days travelled up the river there. But I do not think that any of us has been as far as the pass after the next. The danger—if in fact there ever was any —must have been passed years ago; but there is something that makes people uneasy at the third pass, says Sparadrop, who has been there several times. Last night he described his feeling at that point as a "vestige of fear" (well-put, I thought) . . . I wonder what we shall experience when we all arrive there.
I do not like to discredit the ancients, but upon rereading the Journal of Duodecimo (and also, to a lesser degree, that of Niddle-noddle), I am forced inescapably to the conclusion that in fancying that they were pursued beyond Aggabug, the melon-tree of their suspicions overpowered the carthame of their reason. The enemy must have been idiotic indeed not to have captured us. Our strategy was lamentable, to say the least.
I do not with to encourage dissension; nor do I wish to disappoint Sparadrap, who so kindly allowed me to be the writer of this official journal; therefore I shall later tear off this page, pretending that I spoiled it.
Valley Of The Dolls. Mark Robson (director) once upon a lime made many a jolly good movie
Jacqueline Susann, author (and mother), conned the paperback publishers into estranging the cover so all film ads could risk reprinting it without loss of any detail. With the phrase running into extremes as "Any person coinciding with events living or denture is purely a figment . . . . " thus asuming (if one hasn't been) that somewhere amongst its
The Young Captives. After his first successful feature,
He frightens hell out of the kids. There's a lovely pre-coda boy scouts campfire sequence, where the now sinister menagerie a trois atmosphere becomes alarmingly real; and a cop chase in which the hero is killed by quick editing and a superb soundtrack, limited to police whistles and the young Canadians limping into one another's arms.
As in One Born Every Minute, where dialogue from a "supposed" Peyton Place was heard, we hear the opening words to a tomato sauce advertisement on a car radio, interrupted as usual by the dreadful drawl of "we interrupt this programme to bring you . . . ." It was good to notice too. that most of the violent knife movements were intact—something our censor may have thought had to do with the barbeque atmosphere, I suppose.
Protest has taken many different forms in Unity Theatre's rather erratic career of the last 25 years.
In 1942 a group of politically pale pink people combined to perform a "living newspaper" play exhorting patriotism and struggle during World War II. Its propaganda was abundantly obvious, and during the first years of production Unity's impact on its audiences, while welcomed as a significant contribution to the rather sparse dramatic fare of the city, gave the establishment qualms and led to the branding of the theatre's entire membership as "a bunch of communists".
But now, as then, protesting is by no means confined to left-wing agitators, and having become reasonably well dug in after a quarter-century of production, Unity still keeps its basic ideals although most of the original personnel have long departed.
The latest production, "The Night of the Ding Dong" which opens at the society's theatre in Aro Street on March 14, is a delightful example of history disguised as entertainment and principles presented as major comedy.
The play concerns the Russian scare off Adelaide in the 1870s, but the period setting in no way conceals the basic problem which confronts the Pacific nations today—the efficiency of government expenditure on short-term defence or longer-term education.
And with hawks and doves squabbling over Vietnam, it can be pointed out that really this isn't anything new—a century ago the birds were here before, as the Australian magpie and the Russian eagle fluttered over New Guinea and led to panic stations in the adjacent colonies.
Colonialist policy and aggressive defence have been most effectively satirised in this Ralph Peterson play. First performed by Unity in 1961, it has been revived as being of particular relevance to the current world situation.
Student participation in the production is considerable, and Unity works as closely as possible with the University regarding ideas exchange, productions of readings related to curriculum, and concession rates for student members.
"The Night of the Ding Dong", produced by
Alexei Arbuzov's "The Promise", V.U.W. Drama Club's first production for 1968, failed completely to live up to its name on Saturday.
The 20th Century melodrama is set, somewhat arbitrarily, in Leningrad during and after World War II.
From start to finish it was too sentimental, corny, and hollow for even the most willing in the audience to suspend their disbelief.
The plot is a varialion on a well thrashed theme— a girl and two young men are thrown together by the circumstances of war (the terrible reality of which is suggested by periodic explosions and bursts of gunfire backstage).
Sooner or later she is forced to make a choice between them. She does so and the rejected one stifles his tears and goes off to build bridges.
After six bridges and 13 years he returns and proclaims general disillusionment (comrade civil servant Arbuzov must have had his heart in his mouth writing this part)—all three realise their adolescent ambitions have failed and decide a change of husband for the heroine is the only decent way out.
Perhaps an experienced company could have brought some style, if not pointfulness, to such a hapless script but this production (bar one or two lighting effects and a good set) had nothing.
Margaret Brew was just a little loo physically unprepossessing for the heroine's role.
All three actors were too nervous and diffident for the thing to work at all—I got the impression they were in sympathy with the audience and didn't believe it either.
In the first issue of Salient I mentioned worthwhile films being shown by the Roxy/Princess, and the fact that some of these have been recommended to the management by the V.U.W. Film Society.
I am pleased to report our efforts have unearthed one movie of outstanding merit-Robert Rossen's "Lilith", a delicate, mysterious, extraordinarily beautiful film which by any standards must be considered one of the undisclosed masterpieces of the cinema.
"Lilith" comes as a revelation in the light of Rossen's previous work, excellent though some of his other films have been.
In the period "They Won't Forget", "The Roaring Twenties", "A Walk in the Sun", and "The Treasure of Sierra Mad re"), and directed ll of these.
"The Hustler" (1962), Rossen's best film after "Lilith", was screened by the Film Society last year.
It is undeniably a very skilful piece of work, both in the pyrotechnics of the billiard scenes and the subtle observation of the Piper Laurie-Paul Newman relationship.
Nothing in Rossen's output, however, has prepared us for "Lilith", a film that is in so many ways superior to the rest in conception and technical execution.
This story of the love of a sanitorium orderly for a gifted patient is a blend of fragile, baroque lyricism and those Gothic qualities that imbue every foot of "The Night of the Hunter".
It is a fairy tale vision of the beauty and destructiveness of madness, presented with sympathy and insight.
The bewitching dream of this nightmare world is depicted in a stream of alluring, hypnotic visuals-"the enchantment of horror lurks beneath the images that beguile and bewilder the rational, unsuspecting viewer.
Eugene Shuftan's monochrome photography, ranging from high contrasts to muted whites and greys, fits perfectly the intermingling of reality and symbol.
Rossen's way in "Lilith" is stealthily quiet (lingering close-ups—a slow, constant internal rhythm), but with an underlying tension that occasionally errupts on to the screen as outbursts of frenzied camera movement and cutting-like in the jousting sequence at the 'carnival' (an excursion into the 'real' world that makes reality look like a madhouse) and the use of the hand-held camera near the end, an effective indication of Vincent's imminent disintegration.
Kenyon Hopkins' music is quite weird, seeming to be unrelated to what is happening in the film, yet at the same time creating its own aura of suspense and ambiguity.
Warren Beatty does well as Vincent, although he has not yet (even in "Bonnie and Clyde") been able to discard the self-consciousness that is characteristic of much of his acting.
But as
"St. Joan" (1957) was one of the classic flops in films, and who later starred in Godard's "Breathless", gives under Rossen's direction an outstanding performance, even better than her too brief appearance in "A Fine Madness".
She relates in "Cahiers du Cinema" how Rossen and his team were sadly disappointed at the reception given the film by critics and public alike.
Only an enthusiastic reception by the "Cahiers" group, and a later, grudging acknowledgment by "Sight and Sound", have rescued "Lilith" from total obscurity.
Rossen was already seriously ill when he made this, his last film, and one can sense how much of himself and his life went into its making.
"Lilith" is quite unlike any of his other films In its own haunting way it is quite unlike any other film ever made.
First indications were that today's sale would be up considerably on Hue's last Thursday. This was only to be expected in view of new guaranteed prices announced by Government yesterday.
The trend was most noticeable in areas around American bases where there was a heavy demand for four-year-old crossbreds and in markets around Saigon Hospital where buyers showed interest in slippings and crutchings.
In Australian and New Zealand sectors there was a good supply of two-year-old "oddments" which caused mild amusement among overseas buyers.
However, although response was fairly good, a note of caution was evident throughout.
Not only were the Iron Curtain countries conspicuous by their absence but the British had previously announced they could not even afford to bid.
Saigon, Today (Special Correspondent) —The Thieu administration has decided to pay seven dollars for each child killed in the war and up to thirty dollars for each mother.
An official source told Press conference today been made late
Added to this was the obvious dissatisfaction with the presentation of the offering.
In fact much of the offering looked underfed and tended to have its appearance marred by barbedwire and the over-enthusiastic use of chemical "fertilisers."
It might also be noted some charring appeared to be evidence "a fact which tended to disgust certain overseas visitors.
Generally speaking the fault might easily be traced to the Romney/Westmoreland crossbreed which is clearly not suited to local conditions.
At the moment only the imported Texan breed is proving sufficiently greasy to be accepted by local "authorities."
Amongst local buyers by far the most popular offering was one presented in black cotton. There is no Government subsidy on this line.
There can be no hiding the fact that there was a very strong feeling amongst buyers today that unless things improve very rapidly the chairman of the world's largest potential export company may yet decide to flood the market.
V.U.W.'s Penny Haworth took two national titles at the 73rd New Zealand Athletics Championships in Dunedin last weekend.
She ran 220 yards in 24 seconds—equalling the New Zealand record—and 440 yards in 55.2 seconds —beating pre-race favourite
Penny was entered in three events but found programming of races such that she was forced to scratch from the 100 yards.
Other VUW representatives included sprinters
They performed with credit but were not up to title-winning standard. Robinson and Burgess both reached the semi-finals in the 100 and 220 yards respectively, but Leech and Leadbetter were unplaced.
Prospects for the coming NZU Australian tour are bright although some athletes at the championships were disappointing.
However, good performances were recorded by Auckland's
Otago's
In Wellington during the week. end Philip Kear, an outstanding junior, recorded 50 seconds for 440 yards and 10.1 seconds for 100 yards—both very close to Wellington junior records.
His prospects for a place in the NZU team are good should he decide to switch from the Hutt Club to VUW.
Kear and other promising juniors will be closely watched by NZU selectors at the National Junior Championships at Whangerei this weekend.
Victoria has started the academic year with a predicted increase of 200 students and over 30 of 250 staff positions unfilled.
According to Vice-Principal Dr.
"A number of vacancies are normal at the beginning of the year since many departments delay advertising for staff overseas until June or July when the academic year in the northern hemisphere is drawing to a close," he said.
He admitted, however, that devaluation and a worsening of the comparative salary position could increase difficulties in finding adequate staff.
Of the positions vacant only five are chairs but none of these are heads of departments.
Late enrolments have increased considerably and at least another 200 are expected before the end of the month—bringing the total student population to about 5,100.
"The biggest and most dramatic change has been the marked increase in single unit enrolments, no doubt caused by the Increase in the number of full-time students," he said.
The usual male-female ratio of three to one, with males outnumbering females in all faculties except the Arts, is expected once again this year.
Professor R. H. Brookes. head of the School of Political Science and Public Administraton.
Awarded an international Fellowship in American studies by the American Council of Learned Societies, he will pursue research into voting behaviour at the University of Michigan and expects to be away till mid-1969.
Professor Brookes said the main purpose of his journey was to be in on surveys of voting in the 1968 federal elections.
This experience would then be applied to a nation-wide survey of New Zealand voting behaviour in 1969 to be carried out by the Victoria University Political Science Department Co-ordination with A.N.U. and the University of Michigan will ensure internationally comparable results
12-1 p.m. Lawn outside Sub. Gym display arranged by Physical Welfare Officer.
1 p.m. Forum on Sub lawn if fine: in Common Common Room if wet.
6-8 p.m. Common Common Room. Joint Religious Socs. welcome to Freshers
7.00 p.m. Gymnasium. Open Night—displays of activities for students. An opportunity to see Sports Clubs in action and to see what the Physical Welfare Service offers Free to all students. Make a date for Open Night!!
7.30 p.m. Memorial Theatre. VUW Labour Club shows Czech Films.
8.20 a.m. Quiet Room. Holy Communion.
1-2 p.m. Sub lawn. VUW Debating Soc. debate.
1-2 p.m. RBI04. Mr
7.30 p.m. Memorial Theatre. VUW Film Soc. Screening John Frankenheimer's "Seven Days in May".
8-12 p.m. All Common Rooms.
Samoan Students' Assn. Dance.
1.10 p.m. Music Room. Hunter Building. Weekly music recital by
7.30 p.m. Memorial Theatre. VUW Folk Club Concert.
7.30 p.m. Common Common Room. VUW Law Faculty Club welcome to Freshers.
7.30 p.m. Women's Common Room. Surfriders' Club AGM. A must for all Freshers! The meeting will be followed by a terrific locally produced surfing film. Be there!
12.30-2 p.m. Women's Common Room. Catholic Society Mass will be celebrated.
7.30 p.m. Memorial Theatre. VUW Debating Society A.G.M. followed by Debate "That Democracy promotes the Mediocre".
8 p.m. Memorial Theatre. Opening Night of Ngaio Revue club "Fings Ain't What they used to be".
9 p.m. Student Union Budding. Commencement Ball. Tickets $5.00 double obtainable at the Stud. Ass. Office.
7 p.m. St. Mary of the Angels Church. Academic Mass.
8.00 p.m. Memorial Theatre. "Fings Ain't Wot They Used to Be" Staged by Ngaio Revue Club.
Auditions For Extrav. are coming up soon-watch the noticeboards in the Student Union for details.
Scripts, Jokes, Gestures And Ideas Wanted For Extrav. Leave them at the Stud. Ass. Office. If you want to be in a script writing session, phone Roger Hall 82-134.
Students are warned that valuables should Not be left in cloakrooms. For property lost in the Student Union Building, see the Custodian in his office, between 4.50 p.m. and 5.10 p.m. All last year's lost property not claimed by Friday 15th March will be sent to charity. If you lost anything last year, this is your last chance to get it back.
In future Newsheet copy closes at 10.00 am Thursday in the Stud. Ass. Office. New-sheet forms are available there for entries. Be as brief as possible Stale time, date and place of events.
The Gymnasium is open daily from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday to Friday as from Tuesday 12th March for use by students. Saturday 9 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. Sunday 2 p.m. to 10.30 p.m.
Freshers are particularly welcome to call, see the facilities and perhaps discuss their sports interests with the Physical Welfare Officers. (Ring 70-319).
Wednesday 20 March. 1-2 pm. Pol. Sci. Soc. Mrs. Tirikalene-Sullivan MP for Southern Maori, will speak on "The Maori People and Political Change". All welcome. Questions from the floor will be answered. Thursday 21 March, 7.30 p.m.
Ski Club AGM. Election of committee for current year. Financial report. If possible the ex-VUW
Incidentally VUW Ski Club is well on the way to being the biggest student Club in the University. If you want to join, do so now. Ring 26-863, and ask for
All Students Interested In Joining A Subcommittee Of The Executive. Application forms are available at the Stud. Ass. Office. Please complete and return as soon as possible. This is your chance at participating in the running of your Association.
(Whitcombe and Caldwell)
Half-way along Willis St.
Long standing connection with University sport. Every one of Vic's 24 sports catered for.
Phone 50-435
Secondhand Dealers
Furniture - Electrical Goods
Crockery . . . Anything
A Business Card
Barry & Sargent Ltd.
Opticians 118 Willis St. Tel. 45-841
Bill's Mart
129 Vivian St.
(10 minutes walk from varsity).
— For all used
Furniture (desks, chairs, beds, etc.)
Remember . . .
Bill's Mart
Telephone 52-818 (Bus.) 82-961 (Private)
Reginald Collins Ltd.
Wholesale wine and spirit people. Vintners to the Students' Association. Carry stocks of all brands of ale, spirits, table wine (from 55c), sherry in flagons ($1.60) or quart bottles.
Free delivery—Cellars located at
No. 3 Ballance Street
(Customhouse Quay end)
Zealandia Stationery Co.
36 Courtenay Place
Household Stationery Pens - Pencils
Souvenirs
Lecture Note-books and
Refills
Mignon
*
Flowers For All Occasions
*
Telephone 54-118
Situations vacant
Bureau
Administrative Accountant
Student aged 21 to 35 who has passed some units and has had at least three years' accountancy experience in an office, including the handling of clerical staff, is offered a good career opportunity by a distributing firm, where he will be In charge of 5 girls, control the daily output of work and generally handle debtors' ledger and wages. Salary is $3400 negotiable.
Senior Audit Clerk
A well known public accountancy firm has two openings for bright young men, not older than 30, who have passed at least 6 units of accountancy and expect this to be their final year in studies. The team they are invited to join consists of a number of enthusiastic and highly successful young men whose average salary. Auditing experience is pre-$4000. Auditing experience is preferred, but not absolutely necessary. Starting salary $3600 negotiable.
Senior Accountant
One of N.Z.'s leading manufacturers wishes to appoint a qualified man in the 30 to 35 age bracket, to the position of senior accountant with duties extending over all accountancy matters. This is a top level position and warrants the selection of an accountant with vast experience. Full details will be discussed at interview. Salary $4400 negotiable.
Senior Development Chemist
A young B.Sc. graduate straight out of University and intending to make a career in Wellington is offered an enviable opportunity is commence with a manufacturing firm specialising in enamels end varnishes. Work will be in the senior department where duties will include the development of new products. Youth is immaterial, provided applicants are capable of controlling staff. Salary of $2800 is offered.
Tel 56-747
154 Wills St. next Ymce
Don't Wait
Don't Write
Call Today
Attractive part-time (8-10 hours per week) positions, obtaining advertising for Salient, Rostrum and other university publications.
Absolute Minimum Earnings Will Be In The Region Of $2 Per Hour.
Don't Delay, Call Today . . .
55-922
(Business)
26-260
(After Hours)
Organ Recital
*
Young N.Z.-born artist now world acclaimed.
". . . each piece, from Bach to Messiaen, reached the ears as a fresh, invigorating experience."
—Musical Times, London. From London Proms And Expo 67
Popular and Critical Acclaim
*
St. Paul's Cathedral Wellington Saturday, 16 March
Organ Music Of Bach, Haydn, Widor, Hindemith, Messiaen Student Half-Price Concession Price 55c at D.I.C. Booking Office.
This price includes booking fee and programme.
Went to the Labour National debate last week to see if university politics would be about anything this year. Was saddened. Barry Saunders sent up the National Party with a well-chosen pot pourri of elementary Tory economic fallacies.
Usually the parties which extol "action" for its own sake, while never defining what form that action will take, are on the extreme right.
* * *
Public Service story of the week: Hear about the graduate who had to ask her supervisor for permission to leave the room during working hours—you know, like at primary school? (It happens in some Training College classes, too.) As last year's Careers Supplement put it: "A career in Government administration may well be the opportunity you are looking for."
* * *
If it's good enough for cars, why not for people? I mean traffic control and all that. You know these dangerous walkers-people who rush past you as you're going into
* * *
That very r-r-r-radical group of people, the Committee on Vietnam are having trouble finding a chairman. Seems that everybody's bourgeois careers would be lighted if they took a public stand for their beliefs.
A new course regulation comes into effect this year which will enable some students to enter for a B.A.(Hons.) course before completing the language requirement for B.A.
Professor Minn, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, told Salient: "The student would have to be excellent in every way except languages to be allowed to do this."
He pointed out that no student would he allowed to complete his Honours degree without the langauge requirement—the new regulation simply allowed him to have another try at the Reading Knowledge concurrently with his Honours course.
"The question of the Reading Knowledge requirement is not a dead subject," he said.
There have been changes in the curriculum for Stage 1 of some of the Romance langauges and Council has agreed to reconsider the matter of the Reading Knowledges at the end of the year, when the success of these changes can be guaged.
"But there is no change at the moment."
The teenage gonorrhoea rate in New Zealand is exceeded only in Sweden and Denmark, Dr W. M. Platts, a venereologist at the Christchurch Public Hospital told a public forum on venereal disease at the W.E.A. recently.
Sixty to seventy per cent of New Zealanders affected by gonorrhoea are under 20.
Gonorrhoea is "almost an epidemic in New Zealand" and second in dispersion to hepatitis in infectious diseases, he said.
Eighty-six in every 100,000 New Zealanders are effected by gonorrhoea. This compares with 45 in every 100,000 in England.
The symptoms are a burning discharge in the male, but are generally unnoticeable in the female.
Although the disease is of little danger to males, it can lead to female sterility and death or damage to the infant if the affected female is pregnant.
"The cure is very simple," Dr Platts said.
Penicillin was a perfect drug for gonorrhoea until recently, when resistant strains developed.
For these, more expensive and difficult treatments were necessary.
"Syphilis is a killer," he warned.
About one third of those affected died of heart or nervous diseases. Fortunately, syphilis cases were rare in New Zealand. Only 25 were reported in New Zealand last year. But "it won't be long before it will appear on the New Zealand scene," Dr Platts said.
Dr Platts said that venereal diseases had to come from somewhere. Each person affected was therefore, only one of an infectious chain.
Intercourse was generally necessary to spread the disease, but syphilitic sores were occasionally infective.
Homosexual carrying was a problem in England and had become "a world-wide trend", he said.
The diseases were not notifiable by law because this tended to discourage prospective patients.
But medical officers were entitled to examine contacts given by the patient.
Only in this way could venereal disease be fought.
In 1955 venereal diseases seemed to have nearly vanished, but internationally since 1956 the rate had continued to rise.
Dr Platts blamed this on "teenage behaviour."
Teenagers were more promiscuous, lacking in responsibility and had "total disregard of consequences", he said.
When questioned after the forum, Dr Platts said student cases of gonorrhoea were not numerous at present in New Zealand, but were rapidly increasing overseas, a trend that could occur here.
"The incidence of venereal diseases is increasing at an alarming rate, we are told, but this is merely a symptom of something underneath," said Mr
Parents must be decisive on moral issues and standards of conduct.
Young people wanted a decisive and plain lead, he said.
Parents should instruct teenagers on the best way to live before they had sexual experience.
"You can't undo an experience. Total abstinence is the only answer," said Mr Cross
He will employ computer models in the study of problems of international stability in the nuclear age.
A major arrival in the Political Science Department this year is Dr
A graduate of Victoria University in law and arts (majoring in political science), Dr Palmer later studied at the University of Chicago where he gained the degree of J.D (Juris Doctor).
Recently he was worked as an "intern" at the United Nations in New York.
Dr Palmer will specialise in international politics and American Government.
Insurance at "very favourable terms which arc not available to the general public" is available to students.
According to an information sheet published by the New Zealand University Students' Association the advantages include reduced premiums, and acceptance irrespective of health (within certain limits).
N.Z.U.S.A. receives a commission for every policy sold.
"In the three months that the N.Z.U.S.A.'s Insurance Scheme was operating in the 1968 academic year, 48 students took advantage of the scheme's special concessions for students," the president of N.Z.U.S.A.,
"The most outstanding support for the scheme has come from students at the University of Canterbury, where 28 students have taken out policies," he said.
"All other local student associations have endorsed the scheme except Auckland, whose student association executive declined to adopt it," John said.