Editorial

Mens Sana In Corpore Sana

The problem of student health is fundamental to the whole field of higher education. It is a problem to be tackled realistically and without flinching. These times have proved the place of the University in New Zealand and shown clearly that the University is the training ground for the citizens, the teachers and the scientists of the future. The people of New Zealand have made their contribution and their sacrifices to provide this training ground, and for this they have the right to expect that there shall be a steady flow of competent citizens, teachers, and scientists from the University Colleges.

The introduction of periodical physical examinations is a contribution from the students to the people of New Zealand. It adds the words "corpore sano" to every sheepskin handed down from the Senate. It is a step, a long-needed step, in the rounding out of higher education, and it is a step that the student body must take if they are to keep faith with the past and honour the obligations of the future.

The first item is the decision. Your part in this places in your hands the power to save future lives, or to condemn future students to weeks or years of suffering. If this proposal does not go through, ten years from now the price may be paid in the lives of fellow students in whose bodies disease has raged unchecked because undetected. In the near future you will have the chance to support or reject this proposal. There can be no doubt of the outcome from a student body capable of sound, clear and intelligent thinking.

The second item is co-operation. The health of the student body is no more and no less the sum of the health of individual students. Each must play his or her part in the programme if the ultimate aim is to be achieved. It is your health, and the health of the students of future years with which this project is concerned. You will have your part to play, a small but essential part, and without your co-operation in the safeguarding of your own health, the project cannot succeed.

Victoria University College can lead the way to a great advance in the field of higher education. The time has come, the choice and the future will rest in your hands.