but as opposed to unpractical and unwise methods of work. The issue is not between practical and intellectual aims but between the immediate and remote aim, between the hasty and the measured procedure, between the demand for results at once and the willingness to wait for the best results. The intellectual road to success is longer and more roundabout than any other but those who are strong and willing for the climbing are brought to higher levels of achievement than they could possibly have attained had they gone straight forward in the pathway of quick returns. If this were not true the Liberal College would have no proper place in our life at all.'

From these passages it is clear that if we follow Dr. Meiklejohn we will not confine the scope of the Arts Faculty within any narrow limits. In his college there would be found not only Literature, the Arts, Philosophy, and Theology, but on equal terms Economics, Politics and the Natural Sciences. In a word no field of knowledge would be foreign to it. The distinctive thing about the Arts Faculty will be the attitude in which it approaches the subjects it would teach. Teachers and learners will be concerned with principles, with universals; they will seek knowledge for its own sake. It is difficult, perhaps impossible, to say what subjects may come within its proper scope. To quote Dr. Meiklejohn again: 'In the teaching of Engineering, Medicine or Law we are or may be beyond the realm of mere skill and within the realm of ideas and principles.' What we have to avoid is the attitude of the Vocational School where 'the selection and the relating of these ideas is dominated by an immediate practical interest which cuts them off from the intellectual point of view of the scholar.' Thus for example the Arts Faculty will, of course, teach the laws of economics which underlie all the dealings of men with each other, but not the details of any particular business, save in so far as they throw light on general principles. Similarly it will teach Law or Science in their broad aspects but without seeking to impart the specialized skill required by the practitioner.

But it may be said: 'Even if you are right, it simply means that the main business of the Arts Faculty is as you say, and

even so surely it cannot do any harm to have Vocational instruction given in the Arts Faculty along with pure Arts subjects.' To this my answer unhesitatingly is: 'Yes; it does harm to an Arts Faculty to have Vocational studies taught therein.' I will go further and say that it does harm to an Arts Faculty to have an infusion of students taking an Arts course combined with some other course. It is always difficult, and especially in a new country where materialistic views are so strong, for any real intellectual enthusiasm to flourish in close proximity to the Vocational or craftsman spirit. The Vocational student manifestly is regarding his studies not as an end in themselves, which is the only proper student's spirit, but as a means to an end. He is interested in his studies not for themselves, but for the material results which he hopes they will bring. He can hardly have, unless he is a very exceptional man, any disinterested enthusiasm for them. Furthermore, the presence in the Arts Faculty of this spirit will almost inevitably tend to give an air of unreality to the Arts subjects. I may perhaps be allowed to cite my own experience. Looking back on my Arts course I realize that I missed in a large measure the things which one goes to an Arts College to get. For this I no doubt am much to blame, but I think I am justified in blaming too the atmosphere. It was such that I actually felt a little ashamed of learning Latin and Greek; and I realize that I had a feeling that these studies were not my real business, that they were a sort of temporary concession to certain principles of education on which I had been brought up, but which when I became a man I would put away with other childish things. So many of my friends were in Arts just on the wing so to speak. They were but strangers there; the Medical or Practical Science Schools were their real home. And they so obviously regarded what I was doing as a sort of amiable eccentricity. I fear that unconsciously I more than half accepted their point of view. It is so easy for the aggressively practical student to make the student who is pursuing purely intellectual things feel that he is a dreamer, unpractical, almost unmanly to spend his time at Latin or Greek or Philosophy. These are considered scarcely manly occupations by the 'he-man'; and while we

should not seek permanently to cloister our virtues or our intellectual enthusiasms, surely opportunity should be given for the cherishing in congenial surroundings of the purely intellectual enthusiasm which is the finest fruit of the human spirit and which at present is sadly to seek in our colleges.

Unless we can create this opportunity I think, in Mr. Leacock's words, we shall presently find that true learning will fly away from our Universities and will take rest wherever some individual and enquiring mind can mark out its path for itself.' Indeed, I think if we will open our eyes to the light we can see that the process has already begun. If we could take a census of the ‘individual and enquiring minds' among us I would hazard a guess that the number who have never been at a University would surprise us.

I have tried to suggest what I think the main business of the Arts Faculty is, and to indicate how in my opinion it is hampered in carrying out its task by the presence of the Vocational spirit. I have not attempted, nor shall I, to say that this or that subject should not be taught, but have contented myself by referring to certain general principles. I come now to consider briefly the argument that the Arts Faculty unless supplemented by a mixture of the Vocational spirit will be unpractical. I believe this to be a fallacy and that even if forced to submit to the most materialistic standards, the Liberal education will not be found wanting; that in Dr. Meiklejohn's words 'the issue is not between practical and intellectual aims, but between the immediate and the remote aim, between the hasty and the measured procedure. between the demand for results at once and the willingness to wait for the best results.'

I had a talk the other day on this subject with one of the chief executives of a large mercantile house, himself a man with a liberal education. He was quite clear that so far as his business was concerned the type of man he wanted for important posts was the man who had been taught to exercise his mind on principles, not the man of mere vocational training. The latter would, he thought, probably find it easier to obtain, without delay, a comparatively junior position, but would be less likely to rise from it than the man with a thoroughly trained mind.

The same point of view is expressed in a report made by a committee appointed to inquire into the position of classics in the educational system of the United Kingdom. Though the reference here is to classics, the same reasoning mutatis mutandis applies to the whole Arts training.

"There is a widespread belief that success in business depends on technical knowledge. It is thought that because an engineer in the full practice of his profession must know all about mechanics, a banker about the money market, a clerk about bookkeeping, that knowledge of other subjects contributes but little to their success. Technical knowledge is, of course, necessary, and in some professions, like Engineering, it can only be acquired by comparatively early application. We have, however, the unanimous testimony of witnesses occupying high positions in the world of commerce that these qualifications will in themselves carry a man only a very short way. In the higher branches of industry and commerce what is demanded is character, breadth of view, judgement, grasp of principle, and the power of clear thinking and clear expression. Modern business is a matter of immense complexity, and success in it depends largely on a man's power of dealing with his fellow-men, whether as colleagues, competitors or employees. In particular the business man is called upon every day, after having clearly thought out a problem, to express himself in speech or writing in terms of unmistakable lucidity; the lack of this power has led in innumerable cases to difficulty and friction or to actual fail

ure. ...

'Our witnesses testified to the value of the classical element in education in developing within the limits of a single branch of study the habit of clear thinking and lucid statement, the sense of perspective and discrimination, the faculty of sustained concentration, the combination of observation and judgement, and the power of initiative which are invaluable in business. We are also much struck by the argument of the importance to a business man of a sympathetic imagination and of the power to appreciate the point of view of those whose interests are different from or even antagonistic to his own.'

It is interesting and instructive in this connexion to note

that in France, which twenty years ago radically reformed its educational system by making it more directly utilitarian, there is a strong reaction now in favour of retracing their steps and restoring the more liberal education which they formerly had. The Minister of Public Instruction, as a result of the experience he has had with Vocational education, thus describes what he considers to be the true aim of secondary education: "To educate without any immediately utilitarian preoccupation young people who in whatever direction they later specialize will distinguish themselves by their faculty of interesting themselves in and of easily adapting themselves to the various creations of man's genius or man's industry."

After all even if 'assets' are what we seek as a result of our University course, can there be any greater asset than a well-trained mind capable of rapid sustained and intense intellectual effort on any problem which is presented to it?

And so my conclusion is that we have done ill to allow the Vocational spirit to enter the Arts Faculty and that we shall do well to eradicate it as speedily as may be. In saying this I have no visionary idea that this can be done in a hurry; but we are dealing with institutions which are permanent, and where movements may be given time to work themselves out slowly. And I cannot leave the subject without pointing out that I have history on my side. For I conceive it to be an indisputable fact that this Liberal education is the training which in all ages has been accepted as that from which the highest development of the human mind comes and that wherever we find a Statesman, a Churchman, a Scholar or Man of Affairs of real eminence we shall find that either in the University or in his own study he has passed many of his best hours in the pursuits which are the business of the Arts College at its best, that he has taken 'the intellectual road to success' notwithstanding that it is 'longer and more roundabout than any other' that he has been 'willing for the climbing' and so has been 'brought to higher levels of achievement' than if he had gone 'straight forward in the pathway of quick returns.' J. M. MACDONNELL.

1By the side of this we may quote the reported words of a premier about his Provincial University: 'a great many of the students were there for luxury purposes, as they did not intend to use the instruction received in their daily life after graduation.'