NATIONAL SERVICE WHEN?
sm,—may I, an ex-National Service undergraduate, add a little to Dr. Thompson's argument? The evil of the modern system of education, as it affects the university student, lies in the relentless drive from School Certificate, Higher and Scholarship exams to Mays, Part I and Part II of the Tripos. There is never a break for careful consideration of where all this is leading. Just this break is imposed by National Service and, while I disapprove strongly of the military nature of this service, I should like to emphasise its importance as an invaluable part of education, which is so often wasted.
National Service for the schoolboy has been criticised for its effect on his morals ; far more serious is the deadening effect on his mind. The average ex-National Service undergraduate is neither interesting nor
interested. The danger is apathy—apathy persisting through the first and even into the second post-service undergraduate years. But it can be avoided in one of two ways.
First, by entering the services with the stimulating experience of the university behind and the assurance of a service job holding a certain amount of responsibility and respect in front, but with the realisation that the enlightenment of the service years cannot be applied to the most creative years of one's life.
Secondly, by very careful preparation at school. And to this, I should like to see added a pre-Service week at the university. During this week, which might well follow the scholarship or entrance exam., there should be a few lectures on the purpose of a university and the opportunities offered by a pre-university break and discussions with those dons and undergraduates who would be only too pleased to help.—
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