Individuals matter more than Organisations

Much follows from this.

Any education worthy of the name must be concerned with the education of the whole person. I would agree with Julian Huxley that the central aim of education must be towards greater fulfilment for more human beings and for greater achievement by more human societies.

Society and its culture is built on its people. Society exists for its people, not the people for society. Culture enriches a society and its people.

With the growing complexity of social organisation it is becoming increasingly difficult for anyone to comprehend the whole. To obtain an efficient system there are measures of man-power and economic planning. The ensuing bureaucracy limits our freedom.

Young people feel that the world is impersonal, and that they are powerless. So they feel that responsibility does not rest on them. Increasingly their attitude is:

If I can do nothing effective, If I cannot understand the system, If the system is impersonal and cares nothing for me, how can I be expected to feel any responsibility for the system?

Unfortunately, society, if it is to retain freedom for the individual, must depend on the individual remaining concerned.

In educating our young people, we must educate them to a full realisation that freedom to do as one chooses carries with it responsibility. True freedom is not freedom to do what we want, but freedom to be responsible.

It is inevitable -indeed, desirable -that in joining the Currie Hall community I will import my own value system. I know that I have an implicit value system, only part of which I can state explicitly. One of my aims is to convert more and more of my implicitly held values into explicit values. Those implicit values, which are part of me, will permeate all my actions in the Hall and some will be transmitted to others.

However, I should not impose my own value system to the exclusion of others. The Hall should provide an environment where initially many different value systems are held up to scrutiny. The ethos of the Hall should evolve over a period of time.

In expressing some of my beliefs in the importance of individuality, of freedom and of responsibility, I am aware that the English experiment in individuality in the eighteenth and nineteenth century was a failure. Today the movement towards a technological and socially organised age tends to limit our individuality.

Although I feel ignorant and uncertain about life, I am attracted to aspects of existentialism, to Martin Buber's notion of the "I-Thou" relationship, to the importance of the individual and the humanistic outlook. I sense a reverence for life and an open questioning of religious belief. On this I shall build my philosophy.

As I take up residence with a body of students, it is important that, at the outset, I have a positive attitude. As Goodman pointed out in his book, The Community of Scholars, society, en-masse, has many expectations of the university.

He states that these include:

(a) to fit the young for a useful life;

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_(b)

to maintain the status quo in society by So, the Hall should encourage:

manning the professions, religion and _government; [1] Individuality and growth of its members.

_(c)

to train young people for immediate _service; [2] Growth of maturity and acceptance of

_(d)

to get the scholars to affirm with their ^{responsibility as a necessary con}

sequence of freedom.

authority the social ideology.

[3] A striving for excellence of being:

A wise society, says Goodman, does not _{excellence of personal development, in} have these expectations. Rather it wishes to _{scholastic and social ways, and for} ^{prepare the way for progressive change; it} striving for high ethical standards of truth

wishes to have critical, disinterested _{and behaviour, and in reaching for}

^scholars. understanding.

^{The scholars themselves are concerned} Julian Huxley summarised these ideas by

with furthering and passing on the Arts and _{stressing that we must struggle against}

^{Sciences, with advancing one's chosen} conformism; we must resist dogmatism,

career, and in learning the philosophical _{including our own; we must remember that}

^{bearings of one's vocation. They should} cultural and individual diversity is precious.

be concerned with setting ablaze the

Nature itself, he reminded us, is not

^{mind of youth with fundamental ideas,} egalitarian, and we should strive continually and with developing a youth's capacities

to encourage outstanding young men and

^{and powers until he finds himself,} women needed by our complex society. unmaking the limitations and prejudices with which he entered the university.

To this end, he says, we need a greater recognition of the common humanity of young and old. We need a new intimacy of ^{Practical Aspects} personal relationship between teacher and student. (As also outlined by Keller, ^{[A] The Academic Community} Existentialism and Education, page 114).

In a modern university, most students see _{We need to foster identity, and the} themselves as being in transit to a job for _{exercise of choice at many levels. We} which the university, far from offering the

need greater encouragement of initiative, ^{ideal of study, is but a means to}

_{and of taking responsibility.} qualification. Although the academic staff of a university generally provides the ideal _{We should take it for granted that a} personal environment for growth, since they

university education implies the highest ^{span the entire age group and come from} scholastic standards, and studies at a high ^{cultural backgrounds that are widely}

_{intellectual level.} diverse, some have very little contact with students. Some are research workers,

I would agree with Farnsworth (Mental ^{others spend much time on academic} Health in College and University) that, in all ^{administration, supervise graduate students,}

_{aspects of education,} teach small honours classes or large first-year classes.

the way to make a man critical is to

_{expose him to the first-rate until the} There is little sense of community, and

inferior ceases to attract_. there is some justification in the student impression that staff are not sufficiently concerned for them.

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In the very area where there is closest personal contact -in the tutorial or laboratory - the most junior staff is used. The very diversity of people within the university gives it great potential for a community of an educative character.

I believe that the university is not facing the challenge of community squarely. I believe that a Hall of Residence can foster a sense of academic, intellectual, vital life. It can start this by bringing as many persons with as much diverse background as possible into the day-to-day life of the students. These persons should be relatively mature, and should build up personal contact with the student community.

In this group we can include:

(1)

Resident visitors to the University.

(2)

Academic staff resident in the Hall.

(3)

Academic staff who are non-resident but who attach themselves to the Hall and spend some time in it.

(4)

Academic staff and others, invited to the Hall for special occasions.

Such senior membership could do much to create a sense of community, and to counter the impersonal, formal work of many undergraduate courses.

Crowther, in his 1960 Commencement Address at the University of Michigan, said:

The high intelligence, the really original mind, is likely to be the first to revolt against a drudgery which, in his case at least, is pointless and unnecessary. Let us go back to fundamentals. What does a university exist for? What is the purpose of education? Is it to accumulate knowledge? Or is it to acquire understanding?

The proper question for educators to be asking themselves every day is not 'Am I cramming my students with the proper facts?', but 'Am I succeeding in setting their minds ablaze?'

And we all know that what is needed for a good roaring blaze is plenty of fresh air.

If we are concerned with understanding, then we need to expose the undergraduate to mature minds in a personal relationship. We need to educate within the residential community by cross-fertilisation of ideas.

If we are concerned with total education towards understanding, the student needs to understand the culture, and he needs to understand himself. We need to introduce the student to the fundamental concepts and the great ideas of humanity, which, for many students, rarely emerge throughout their course.

In this, the Hall staff should play an indirect role. They should help create an environment where interaction is possible. They should let that interaction occur in its own way. They should help the Hall become a friendly, personal place, since it is only under these conditions that true communication will occur.

In addition to natural community interaction, most Halls provide a formal tutorial service. Where formal university instruction does not provide contact through small, personal groups, the Hall may make such provision. In recent years the University has increased the number of small group tutorials for first-year students, so their direct value in the Hall may be diminished.

Tutorial meetings in the Hall may serve the following purposes:

[1] They may supplement the formal tutorial system in the university.

[2] They may enable more personal and less structured groups to meet to discuss the implications of the subject more effectively. It is here that the tutorial might help in setting the students' mind ablaze, and in widening his horizons.

[3] They may provide a formal point of contact between the senior and junior members of the Hall. The tutorial gives

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an acceptable reason for contact be-units, the typical student is a "studenttween these two groups. as-apprentice," not a "student-as-critic."

From this greater intimacy of _{communication may result, and many} E.C.Zeeman, Chairman of the school of _{wider issues discussed under less} mathematics at Warwick University, writing _{formal conditions.} in the book University Choice, discussed the

aims of a new university and stated that two I believe that a good tutor will accom-^{principles seemed to emerge:} plish more through discussion that has little to do with the formal content of his ^{(a) A student should study at least one} _{academic subject.} subject sufficiently deeply to affect him for life.

_[4] Many _{young students find the break} (b) The student should choose to study between school and university, with the ^{what he enjoys most.} consequent increase in freedom, a difficult period of transition. Although the ^{He went on to say that a man generally has} _{Hall must not act like a school and} to touch a few things deeply in his life, and _{closely control their study, there should} the academic experience gives him a power _{be constant encouragement to develop} and an insight into how to do so, by _{a study discipline. The formal tutorial} providing a model of how to mix integrity, _{can help in this.} discipline, objectivity and excitement.

_{By far the best encouragement is that} The time spent at a university is a climax of _{which should arise spontaneously from} a young person's education, never to be _{the atmosphere and ethos of the Hall.} repeated, and it will not be a success unless

it is tackled with enthusiasm and intellectual If the general moral tenor of the Hall is ^curiosity. that "life is for kicks," then one can _{hardly expect a new student to be} A consequence of this is that the formal part _inspired. of one's university career is likely to be specialised and deep. It cannot be of true

_{If the general moral tenor of the Hall is} educative value unless it is. But it needs _{that life is to be lived fully and} balancing with the wider intellectual and vigorously, in all its aspects; if a vigorous ^{emotional aspects of living, and these could}

_{encounter with important ideas and with} be provided within an integrated academic _{understanding one's chosen field of} community. It should be within such a _{study is a matter of fundamental} community that the balance should enable

importance to the way of life in the Hall, ^{people to live happier, richer and more} _{then a new student is likely to be imbued} rewarding lives. Thus, some of the aims of _{with these same feelings.} personal fulfilment should be met.

[5] It is in this area that there is a real ^{[B] Education through Experience}

possibility within the Hall of creating a _{vigorous academic community to} The university experience is the climax of a _{counter the growing impersonal ma-}young person's education. As such it should _{chinery of a large university. I must} be the true culmination, the not-to-be-_{agree with Graham Little (writing in} forgotten experience that will colour the _{"Crux," August, 1966) that automated,} remainder of life. If this is to be the _{mass techniques may meet the demand} experience of a young person, he needs to _{for the acquisition of skills, but that for} find personal fulfilment within that experiintellectual and emotional experience of ence. Huxley, in his essay on Education and value, personal contact is essential. Humanism, states that we should provide With the development of professional opportunities for personal fulfilment in every possible way - through knowledge; through

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disciplined adventure; through expeditions and travel; through painting and acting and making music; through the enjoyment of nature and beauty; through fun and games; through inner peace; through organised discussions, and responsible participation in group activities.

It is within the framework of a Hall with its potential diversity that opportunities for this fulfilment could be provided. A large measure of self-government can educate through experience to the intricacies of inter-personal relations, of democratic principles (i.e., freedom of association, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and the rule of law), of realising that freedom is not freedom to escape from responsibility but freedom to accept it.

The Hall administration should provide a maximum opportunity for students to explore inter-personal relations through providing maximum autonomy in running their own affairs. Undoubtedly the Hall with its diverse population will contain its share of prejudice and pressure-groups. It is desirable that it should. Within reason, provided the atmosphere of the Hall is not so seriously disturbed as to prevent it functioning in other areas, young people should not be protected from local politics. The more the local experience can mirror the real world, the more the Hall can provide a miniature society in which to try various forms of behaviour, to experiment and to learn.

There is much that a young person has to learn about responsible living. Niblett, in his book Moral Education in a Changing Society has pointed out that most people fit easily into the expectations of their times, and that when we conform to common usage or custom, or to the norms of the particular age group to which we belong, we are not really exercising moral responsibility.

Thus, conventional morality requires no moral effort or initiative on the part of the individual.