SMAD. An Organ of Student Opinion. 1932. Volume 3. Number 6.

Aim of University

Aim of University.

As the end of the academic year approaches, and the thought of a degree becomes writ large in the minds of many students, the question naturally arises, what mark does a university education leave on a man or a woman? Does the increased amount of knowledge make a graduate more fitted to tackle the problems of life, or does it imbue him with a sense of superiority, and give an excuse to despise, or more mildly pity those members of the community who are supposedly less educated?

Unfortunately, we fear, there is a tendency to rate a university education merely in terms of letters conferred, or by what has been learned by rote. Many of those who pass through an institution of higher learning, fail to realise that the one aim of a university is to teach its students to think. Whether a degree is taken or not, if a man or a woman leaves the portals of college having learned inside to think, then a possession is secured more precious than gold or rubies. If a person thinks, he has secured the very highest that a university can give him. It he thinks lie will look upon others not so fortunate as himself with sympathy instead of scorn; he will attempt to better or remedy the wrongs and evils that he sees in the world outside instead of turning them to his own advantage, and, most important of all, he will have the broadness of mind and magnanimity of spirit that go to make up that elusive thing called character.