British Universities
Uescrtibecl as E xcellent
p3K 'cimcif3 can unicmit csidnt. In general
Itmld be :ble to a cnd a pulic it coild be safe to say
utat rsjty. l t ?ged American iaduate
n n rma iached the Pit tI level, ice
ii d Dc ccci I "cciit dca cx iimmacon Whic moot Briish
t cl'eiccit c i- ciis i''cit l g tccc- ic i c i lii lii '
iit an is the pirma i of an acdeicc
ad intellectual elite wili the out-
look of spcialists. If thi c seems like a : a.'however,
A secoid importat difference it shud b cctrib cic n so
istems from the nature of sec-inuch to Americicnci iii her euca-
ndciy cccatice i. the cci cccn- tion as to the retarding effects of
ici. cour elementary and secondary
For a variety of reasonsAm education. 'ie aciicenct c
For cisaciey '' ""' lie bst Amerciciiundecgraduate,
can high school students work less s
in other words our acacdemic elite,
citham their Briishifor Euopean)il comparec much ciore ifavirably
counterparts. Poor programs pay mithpthat mocfd iie Britih
further retard the student and cihniversiti s.
thtie that ener coliege do so
kiowingcrelatively little. AALTHOUGH British education is
The first two years are usually exceileit, ii does hase its de
spent in getting the foundations fects.
of a liberal education, the stand- On a practical level, for' ex-
UNION-All students may use the facilities of the recently completed Union Building for the Univer- ards of which are often not much ample, the less frequent but all-
sity of London. However, most of the colleges have their own as well. more than the basic introductory important examination is said to
- -education which a well-prepared have the advantage of not exam-
e : British student will have had be- ining the student prematurely and
fore entering a university. The giving him the opportunity for
American undergraduate, required more extensive reading.
to take a wider set of lectures, de- Nevertheless, it tends to be
lays his specialized training, thought of as an end and not a
.d emeans to a greater degree than in
E difference is found this country where individual blue-
W Lthe relative numbers of per- books and final examinations have
sonseducated. Less, than five per much less importance.
cent of a given age group in Bri-
S T A T E S T R E E T O N T H E C A M P U S tain will attend a college or uni- A second type of criticism has
versity; the comparable American larger ramifications. It might be
figure is probably closer to twenty- said that British higher education
Importers of British Tweeds f nqhxcl uinl
those enrolled in tchnical schools ing a. large group of students,
and teacher's colleges. potentially able to contribute a
Sand s t vgreat deal, yet not outstanding
caIt follows that the average edo- enough to be part of the select few
lI I ucational achievemen of a British given university training.
undergraduate who is already part Universality of education is a
of a select group wIll be higher goal important to any democracy,
than those of the average Ameri- but how far can quantity and
quality be mixed?
'K vaiMICHIGAN, and other univer-
ities like it, may have at least
part of the answer in developing
(Continued from Page 2)- honors programs to challenge the -
Ue h r !minds of the exceptional students
C o n f e s s i o n," and "The Red while educating the average as
m t Lamp." For readers who enjoy well.
the Had-I-But-Known school of Perhaps the British could afford
detection, the charm will still lie to open higher education to a
on these stories even after thirty larger group. To be sure, it would
years. mean a lowering of average stand-
Ex-Ann Arborite Ross Macdon- ards, but the impetus to British
ald (Kenneth Millar), highly re- society might be worth it, espe-
garded present-day exponent of cially if the currently high stand-
what has been called the "Hard- ards could be retained for those
Horris Tweeds Boiled" detective story is back able to meet them.
with a new tale The Domsters, If this is a weakness, it should
(Knopf, 251 pp., $2.95). not dim the overall excellence of
The detective, Lew Archer, gets British education. American uni-
tied up in a West Coast thesis versities have experimented boldly
Izod Sport Shi rts story, and, as will happen so oft- in offering education to the largest
en, the philosophy and detection possible number of people.
don't mix. It's a hard kind of Together with our elementary
story to write, and Chandler's the and secondary schools, they face
Jaegecc last person I recall who did it a challenge at a time when it is
Eger Sheiond )V litti) well. so important that our best minds
-Donald Yates be developed fully.
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