The Purpose of a University
SIR.—Do not the opening sentences of the article by Mr. W. R. Moss, No Jobs for the Boys, in the Spectator of December 2nd: "To gel a degree. To the undergraduate that is the be-all and end-all of existence," show what a very mistaken view is beginning to prevail as to the two purposes of a university? Surely these arc, to provide higher educa- tion, but, at the same time (and this is of enormous importance), to act as a cultural centre. It is this side of university life which is in danger of being smothered by making the universities open to very greatly increased numbers of people who arc there simply to get a degree, who are too numerous to be absorbed into the cultural life of the place and, more serious, who think they have not themselves got time for such "distractions." This is far more evident at the " Redbrick" universi- ties than at Oxford er Cambridge, which fortunately have firmly enough based traditions to have withstood the assault so far. Some compromise must be found to preserve the cultural life of the universities without interfering with their raison friar, i.e., higher education. This is not to defend the now almost extinct specimen—the rich who go up solely for a good social life—but there are relatively very few jobs which are better done by the person who has done nothing but " cram " than by the more all-round person who may not have got a " first."—Yours. &c.,
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