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The Spike: or, Victoria College Review October 1907

The New Zealand University System

page 12

The New Zealand University System.

TThe public press of Wellington has of late been considerably exercised by a solicitude for the well-being of University Students such as it has seldom before displayed. The particular phase of University life which has been the subject of discussion in the stage reached at the end of each College year, when the student who has been engaged in study six months is called upon to present to the examining tribunal the evidence of the advantage which he has derived from it.

To the average student the attitude of sympathy, nay, almost of pity, displayed by the press towards his hard lot in having thus to submit to a judgment upon his work seems rather out of place. If he has been conscientious, and if other rather duties have not trespassed upon his hours of study, he looks forward with a justifiable confidence towards the verdict; if he has been careless, or if his hours of study have been otherwise necessarily curtailed, he cannot indeed regard the prospect of failure with pleasant expectation, but he will accept the unfavorable verdict, if it does come, fully recognizing its justice, and feeling that any other would exceed his deserts. Examinations are by no means an insuperable barrier between work and its reward, nor is it proper that the reward should be given to efforts less arduous than such as would surmount it.

Probably a large part of the interest awakened in these matters is due to the visit of Professor Starr Jordan to New Zealand, and to the criticisms which that eminent authority has passed upon the New Zealand University system. The character of the suggestions which he has made is so radical that it may well be assumed that they would not have been much different even if his visit had been longer, and his opportunities of observation greater.

The first reform which Professor Starr Jordan would like to see made is the abolition of the matriculation examination, and the substitution of a system under which a student would be admitted as an undergraduate upon the recommendation of the Head-master of the school at which he was attending. To this we see little objection, providing that the duty of making the page 13 recommendation is performed by the Head-master himself, as it easily can be if he makes it his business to the acquainted with the qualification of his senior pupils. Our experience of the secondary schools shews that if there is "cramming "anywhere, it is in the preparation for the University entrance examination. The examiner is asked to judge the qualifications of the candidate in each subject upon three hours work in it, and it is hard to imagine that such a judgment would be as accurate as that of a Head-master of a school, whose knowledge of his pupils is far more personal and intimate than that which a College Professor has of his students. There seems to us no reason why, under this suggested new system, the raising of the matriculation standard should not be consistent with the removal of the "cramming "evil attendant upon the examination. Head-master could soon be brought to see that they would serve the interest of themselves and all concerned by strictly observing the standard which the University Senate would direct them to adopt. It would be necessary to provide for the selection of schools from which such recommendations might be allowed, and for pupils who have not attended such schools.

Professor Starr Jordan then suggests that, in the next stage in the student's career after matriculation, each student should be placed under a Major Professor, and that he should not, except "consilio et consensu" of his Major Professor, be allowed to alter or extend his course of studies, we cannot see what there is to recommend this plan, for whilst we would not suggest that a student should go through the University without ever seeking a Professor's advice, we do-with all due deference to our American critic—like to see a student allowed the use of his own discretion as much as possible. The University life of a student ought to be in part a training in the exercise of his own judgment.

The next proposal made by our eminent visitor is the total abolition of degree examinations. He suggests that the efficiency of a student in each subject should be determined by his Professor in that subject, and that each Professor should present to his Board would in turn recommend to the Senate the conferring of degrees upon such student as has, in its opinion, attained to a sufficiently high standard of efficiency in the subjects required: and the Senate would be expected, as a matter of course, to grant degrees to students in accordance with the recommendation. Such a system seems to us as page 14 undesirable as it is impracticable, and the following among others are the reasons for our opinion : —
(1.)No Professor has a sufficient personal knowledge of the individual students under him to make the necessary recommendations of any value,
(2.)Students of the four Colleges would be judged form four entirely different standpoint.
(3.)Compared with the present system, or with that which we see about to suggest, that which is proposed lacks the impartiality of either.
(4.)It would involve a real diminution in the public estimation of the degree.

From this somewhat too detailed consideration of that which might well have been dismissed with fewer words. We pass to other suggestions for the present system, and especially to some which have been advanced by Mr. T. A. Hunter, M. A. As that gentlemen has pointed out, the system of sending the answers of candidates to England for report involves the loss of what might be two useful months of the year's study. Even if the student desires to commence work early in the year, the uncertainty of the result of the previous year's examination makes that impossible except as a venture. To us this appears to be the principal objection to the system of Home examination.

On the other hand, that system possesses two advantages : the unquestionable impartiality to the examining tribunal, and the uniformity which arises from the fact that all four Colleges are judged by the same standard. But any other system which possesses those advantages, and lacks the disadvantages already referred to, is obviously preferable to it.

With regard to the alleged greater value of a degree granted after examination in England, we cannot allow any force to the suggestion. If the examiners were not, as they in fact are, in all things subject to the general direction of the Senate as to the standard to be required for a pass, their names in the diploma to show the standing of those upon whose recommendation it is awarded.

In substitution for the present system, we should like to see the examinations conducted by the Professor from the different Colleges in conjunction. The Professors in each subject would page 15 constitute an examining board in that subject. Their work would, of course, have to be divided, and we believe that the best division would be one such as has been suggested by Mr. Hunter, namely that two of the Professor should set the papers in a subject, and that the other two should mark the answers; the four, sitting together, would then consider the marks gained, and pass or fail as they thought fit. This system would prevent any one examiner from making necessary a special study of the particular side of a subject which he was known to admire. Moreover, the fact that, in granted in their adjudication by their knowledge of the student' work during the year, would make it more certain that students could not obtain degrees merely by "cramming."

Upon one question we agree most heartily with the comments of our late visitor. The taxation of University students by making a large fee payable on the diploma, after success in the examination, may have the authority of unbroken precedent, but it is just one of those obstacles in the way of higher education which it is in the best interests of the State to remove. Even the elevating influence of a University course cannot raise the student above those financial questions, which present themselves at the various stages of his career.

The question of University reform is fairly before the public, and whatever else the discussion may do, it has aroused public interest in the matter. It is now the part of the Senate to weigh carefully all the considerations, and while its endeavour should be to act in a progressive spirit, it should see that in all things the interests of higher education are carefully guarded. The suggestions which we make are not intended, as are some of those contained in letters which have appeared in the press, to make easier the obtaining of University honours : on the contrary, they are intended only for the purpose of maintaining and raising the standard of learning of which those honours are the badge. The advancement of learning in a democracy consists, not in bringing the standard nearer to the student, but in leading the student upwards towards the standard.