Undergraduate Page
NIGHT SCHOOL
By E. J. ANDERSON (London School of Economics) CC S that man educated ? " asked a former editor of The Times
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as a new face passed him in one of those historic corridors of Printing House Square. " Yes, sir," was the reply. " He went to night school." The irony here masks a problem I shall attempt to outline. I should also like to show how those who attend the university in the evenings should be encouraged.
There are many in this country who are unable, for a variety of reasons (in spite of the strong desire and, perhaps, the ability to do so), to attend a university during the day, but who must improvise by attending lectures in the evenings and doing their other reading when opportunity offers. There arc many obvious disadvantages in this arrangement. Less time is available for reading, and such reading as is done is often scrappy and irregular. There is seldom time, except at week-ends, to sit down in a quiet place and do the concen- trated reading which is the normal practice of the day student. Lectures, too, can become irregular if other duties interfere. Often they are attended in a spirit, and with a stomach, unsuited to con- centrated attention. There is little time usually for any dalliance after lectures to discuss, either with the lecturer or with other students, any problem or uncertainty which may have arisen during the lecture itself. From this arises a further handicap. The normal intercourse between students and the participation in college and other activities is part of university learning. This part of college life is, in fact, one of the main broadening influences which are so :ssential to a complete education. The evening student seldom has time to take part in these activities, and consequently misses not only the broadening influences but much of the fun as well. The browsing in the libraries, the educational trips over factories and museums, the beginnings of original research and the general inspiration of the atmosphere of a university—all these are missed by the part-time student. At all times he must be severely practical. Not a minute may be spent on any pursuit which does not contribute an immediate and direct addition to his learning. Each moment spent in diversion seems to involve the loss of one of those vital marks so necessary at Finals.
It is easy to erect a wall of disadvantage, so that to attempt to graduate by evening study would appear quixotic. Nevertheless, there are still those who come on. Perhaps they arc encouraged by those who have successfully gone before. Perhaps they derive encouragement from some of the undoubted advantages of working and studying at the same time. The advantages are few, but they do have some weight. They vary with the group of subjects which are being studied. The embryo chartered accountant, for example, obviously benefits if he gathers some practical knowledge of accountancy by working with a firm in that profession (as indeed he must). His academic training can only become real when he sees the principles he is taught being worked out in practice. His workaday problems may be solved in accordance with the precepts he learns from books. To a lesser degree the same can be true of university studies. An embryo economist, for instance, can supple- ment his knowledge and improve his understanding of economic problems by dealing with the financial mechanism he meets during his work in the world. Perhaps from the intelligence department of a bank or from a Government department he may see some of the practical workings of economic theories. (How much easier it would be to understand the nation's financial accounts if one could watch little men with bags of gold, some " above the line " and some " below the line," going into little doors marked "Other consolidated fund services " or " Surplus receipts from certain trading services.") This, then, is the biggest advantage an evening student has over his day-time counterpart. He can reinforce his academic knowledge with practical example.
His other advantages do carry some weight, but they do not have the same general application. An evening student may meet more practical men of affairs, and through his day-time job, in the place of academic intercourse, mix in a wider world—a world where practical application of academic theories is bread and butter and not merely specious talk between starry-eyed idealists. (The barrow boy at Marble Arch understands the practical effects of supply and demand probably more quickly and thoroughly titan any under- graduate.) The very fact of having limited time in which to study makes that study more intense and, perhaps, more thorough. Thera are no union meetings to attend, no quaint societies to receive attention and no fellow students, who can afford to take matters lest seriously, to distract. In addition the evening student, more often than not, is paying his own way through a university course. He may not be bound by the severe limitations of a scholarship or a Government grant, but he will probably be spending his hard-earned beer-money in order to gain that elusive bit of extra education so necessary in many careers today. He will not, therefore, tend to frivol any time for which he is paying.
These few benefits supplement the encouragements of graduates, and what is perhaps the real driving force—the fixed intention of attaining a degree—the old " Berlin or Bust " spirit. At this point day student begins his admiration of his evening comrade. From the light of day the grind of evening study outweighs its benefits and the task of graduation this way seems impossible. However, evening students do not seek admiration. Too often they feel inferior in their lack of understanding, in the lack of depth and width to their studies and their loss of those thousand and one small things which go to build the cultural side of education. In spite of this the evening student will probably drive on until he graduates. No encouragement to him will be misplaced. And here follows, unashamedly, a forthright plea for some practical encouragement.
If a student is willing, after contributing to the national output, to devote his spare time to further education, and if he can demon- strate his ability to derive some benefit from this by attaining a degree at the end of his course of study, then, surely, in a country with millions of semi-educated people, he should be assisted in some practical fashion. Would it be too much to ask that the State, which must benefit in the long run, should repay his fees ? This is no idle charity. The evening student will still be out of pocket and out of spare time. He could have spent his money and time on youthful pleasures. He is offering his degree as evidence that he has worked and that the State is not supporting some trifling fancy, nor encouraging some nebulous study which is often concealed under the name of "arts and crafts." It would be a cheap investment for the State. For a small outlay it will secure one subject with wider knowledge and better judgement. State recognition of graduating under adverse conditions would do much to overcome the prejudice against " night school." And if thereby some others were encouraged to improve their understanding, a small step would have been taken in the direction of a sounder democracy.
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