University Education. 555 



were taking- up a higher standpoint, the chances were that future 

 progress would be more rapiu still. For example, formerly the 

 Committee of Studies was appomted purely from the Council itself. 

 Now they brought in assessors from the Colleges, who were becoming 

 more and more specialists, the subjects for studv being left more 

 and more in their hands. The latest development was to give them 

 a vote, so that for all practical purposes they were members of the 

 Council, and had almost as much to say as the members themselves. 

 When these specialised reports came before the Council they were 

 very rarely thrown out. It would be seen, therefore, that already 

 there was an evolutio'nary movement going on. The bond between 

 the University Council and the Colleges was beinii; drawn closer, 

 and this, he submitted, was a process capable of being very much 

 further developed. It was just possible that thev would spoil, that 

 movement by any violent action at the present time. If they had 

 teachers examining, if they had professors' certificates contributing 

 towards the degree, if they had the svllabuses drawn up entirely by 

 the professors, then federation would be almost superfluous. There 

 was no question of the old status quo being maintained. The question 

 was one of gradual progress by evolution until thev reached a better 

 position. If they took violent action now thev would be bound by 

 it. If, on the other hand, they continued to draw closer the bonds 

 of union i'n the way he had described, they mitrht in five or ten years' 

 time see a solution which did not exactly reveal itself at present. 



A further assumption was that their sole function had been 

 examination. If that were the sole purpo.se of the University, he 

 would be very sorry to belong to such an institution at all. He had 

 no particular belief in examinations, and still less in their results. 

 If that were all, he should not care about the continua'nce of the 

 University. But what they had done- — what thev knew they 

 had done, by the testimonv of teachers all over the country — was 

 to very largely stimulate education everywhere, in a way in which no 

 College could have done it. Thev had the Schools, and thev had 

 the pupils. It was possible, of course, that the exatrgerated idea 

 which people had of certificates was very useless, but it had at all 

 events had this great advantage — that it had persuaded parents toi 

 make sacrifices for their children, and education had been verv largely 

 extended throughout the countrv, especiallv in the smaller places. 

 They received constant tributes from the teachers, saving how much 

 they had done towards raising the standard, and making the possi- 

 bility of University Education practicable. After all, what was the 

 use of a Universitv without students, or of students without prelim- 

 inarv training? The Universitv had still great possibilities before it 

 in the direction of increasing this stimulus, and if the present svstem 

 were broken up a great deal of this stimulus would disappear. It 

 micht be that thev had arrived at the point when it was no loncer 

 necessary for them to stimulate, but he did not think so. Such a 

 record as thev saw on the charts before them seemed to show that 

 the contrary was the case. He was constantlv preparing for the 

 higher examinations young men who had failed to cet opportunities 



