214 



NATURE 



[October 21, 19 15 



be able to write after his name, his undergraduate 

 course should have aimed at making him a bachelor 

 of arts, skilled in the art of learning, and only inci- 

 dentally have given him a body of scientific know- 

 ledge capable of immediate application. 



This view of the chief aim of a university course 

 insists that there shall not be overmuch lecturing; 

 that information shall be acquired because it is imme- 

 diately and urgently needed for the solution of some 

 practical problem ; that a larger proportion of the 

 most able students shall remain "up" after taking 

 their degrees for the purpose of undertaking original 



course must be at all detached from practical things* 

 It is no more possible to develop skill in thinking 

 without knowledge than to acquire skill in the use 

 of tools without material to work upon. Technical 

 knowledge is, in fact, a most excellent foundation 

 and medium for cultivating skill in thinking. 



England is fortunate in that most of her highest 

 study and research in technology form part 

 of the work of her universities. For a uni- 

 versity is more than a university course or 

 an aggregate of such courses. The oppor- 

 tunities which a university affords for studying elective 



5cK«ol- 



EDUCATION AND INDUSTRY. 

 Diagram illustrating proposed modification of present organisation. 

 Horizontal Scale : The spaces between adjacent vertical lines represent one year. 



Vertical Scale : The vertical scale increases from the bottom of the diagram to the top. The intercept made on any ordinate by the enclosed 

 area which corresponds to any course varies with (but not strictly in proportion to) the number of students of the corresponding age who should 

 be followins; the course in question. 



~^^^\!n,i;.of„. .t,,,/'*'^ great majority of the - - ■ -\ g^ns leaving the course which corresponds to the area in which the arrow- 

 --^>j-.ndicates that|a ^°^«'»^"^t^^^PPnj °f systematically selectedj-P ^^^^ ^^^ ^j,^^,,^ p^^^^^j ^^ ^^^ ^P^^^^ ,^^^,j^ ^^^^^ j^ ^^^^^ 



The unshaded portion of the diagram is concerned with " full-time " education ; that is, with schools and classes meeting in the daytime and 

 occupying all the working hours of those by whom they are attended. The central singly shaded area relates to part-time classes : classes meeting 

 either in the day or in the evening, and intt^nded for persons whose employment occupies the greater part of their time. The doubly shaded region 

 on the right of the diagram corresponds to those later years of industrial practice when a man has ceased to attend organised courses of study 

 bearing upon his trade or profession. 



research; and that, while the most distinguished pro- 

 fessors shall take part in the teaching of the under- 

 graduates from the outset, they shall do so, not 

 because of the knowledge they are peculiarly able lo 

 Impart, but because " the personal influence of the 

 man doing original work In his subject Inspires belief 

 In It, awakens enthusiasm, and gains disciples." ^* 



In urging that the chief aim of a university course 

 must be to cultivate skill In thinking rather than to 

 impart Information, we do not mean that such a 



13 Final Report of the Royal Commission on University Education in 

 London, p. 29. 



NO. 2399, VOL. 96] 



i 



subjects are Important. But far more Important is 

 the Intimate and constant association In the various 

 students' societies, as well as In the lecture rooms, 

 drawing offices, or laboratories, between students In 

 different faculties, from different countries, and with 

 entirely different outlooks.'* 



But the State cannot afford to provide a university 

 training for all Its citizens. The majority, even of 

 class B, will be compelled by economic pressure to 

 begin earning money before they are twenty years 



14 See Newman's eloquent words quoted by the Royal Commission on 

 University Education in London (Joe. cit., pp. 26, 27). 



