NOTES 651 



A Proposal for the Formation of a British Universities Guild (By a 

 Biologist) 



This proposal is not an entirely personal and spontaneous one, but has been 

 suggested by a recent, very efficiently managed agitation among the junior 

 members of university staffs. This latter agitation is, of course, an entirely 

 independent one, but it cannot long be continued without developing into some 

 such propaganda as are here outlined. Frankly, the suggestion to form a British 

 Universities Guild is to be linked up with the similar proposals that are now being 

 thought about in relation to organised and unorganised labour, and is to be 

 thought about primarily as an integral part of the general organisation of the 

 productive workers of the country. 



One of the better results of three years of war conditions is that some degree 

 of discredit must now cling to those who are not engaged in Service of some kind. 

 The stress of war needs has sent thousands of "gently brought-up" men and 

 women to engage in monotonous and often disagreeable work — with results that 

 have generally (but not always) been satisfactory. Possibly this experience may, 

 in time, lead to the conviction that it is disgraceful for any normally minded and 

 able-bodied man or woman to have been educated without attaining some craft 

 or technique, some skill of mind and limbs that may be of service to the State. 

 Reflection upon the conditions of the present time will convince any candid man 

 or woman that immeasurable good would be attained if every one were taught (for, 

 say, two years of early life) some useful handicraft. Now one might expand these 

 suggestions, but in the meantime it will be sufficient to state what is the nature of 

 the proposal that we have in view with regard to the organisation of university- 

 trained men and women. 



The British Universities Guild. Objects 



(1) The attainment of a higher degree of efficiency in all branches of Imperial 

 and local, public, civil administration. 



(2) The organisation of all men and women trained so as to apply original 

 thought and an acquired craft or technique to the making of knowledge in the 

 widest sense ; or otherwise the organisation of all investigators, literary and 

 historical or scientific. 



(3) The application of the influence, which it is expected will be attained by 

 the Guild, to securing a rational system of appointment of public officers and 

 administrators. 



(4) The maintenance of a supply of skilled investigators concerned with the 

 development of industrial processes. 



(5) The more complete organisation and study of the methods of education. 



(6) The further improvement of the status and remuneration of all men and 

 women employed in university, technical, secondary, and elementary education, 

 and in original research of all kinds. 



The direct objects for which it is suggested that the Guild should be established 

 are those stated in paragraphs (1) to (5). The further improvement in the status 

 and remuneration of those who will compose it is, it is true, an object in itself — 

 one of some importance, it will surely be conceded. It is being recognised that 

 the objects (1) to (5) cannot easily be promoted so long as the conditions under 

 which university-trained men and women remain as they are at present. We can 

 discern several ill-defined categories of employment of graduates : (a) non- 

 professorial university, technical and secondary school teachers, (£) elementary 



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