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MODERN EDUCATION. .
'' East and West Contrasted.
Mr. Sastri Moots University
Students.
Studeute crowded to overflowing the
Mellw Hall, University grouuds, yesterday
afternoon, and listened for the space of
about three-quarters ot en hour to many
home truths regarding the merits or de-
tticntu of Victoria's mucbvautt ted cduca
tioaal system. The lecturer was Mr.
Sastri, and bis address was mahily a cam
pnrrion between the old edneational eye
tain of the East and 'the newer standard
attained: by Western civilisation- Whe
ther or not the students appreciated to
die full the many pointed references to
die mode of Uicir drtss, the fashion of
their footwear, or lira pxpcnsivemws of
their, taste in cigarettes, chocolates and
other luxuries, would be bard to say. The
loud applause that followed every sneli
remark may have bean merely duo to
polite Acquiescence generally accorded a
stranger; on the other hand, it may
have been an attempt to stilt the inward
protests of a guilty conscience. The
members of the professorial ' board — tome
of whom were pracnt — ateo came hi for
their sharo ot criticism. They, too,- clap-
pod loudly.
Mr. Sastri commenced hy saying that
of ail the educational ' systems in tiro
world, that of tbe older India stood alone,
because it had rawer been connected in
any wuy with profit Tbe teachers
worked for practically nothing, their ouly
reward being the knowledge ot the -good
i liey were doing. These old' teachers
felt that thoy were posmmed of a privi.'
lege, which, when shared with others, bo-
came enhanced in voluu, but when not
shared became a calamity to the owner.
1'lie present educational system of indie
—as typified by the modern colleges and
schools— wss mainly imported from Ute
West. And yet today one found cduca-
UowuhIa declaiming tint hkkIccu uiaiemd
ism thai had crept into lira old system
of«liie East. Jn the old days men taught
miduuilte shelter of tile banyan tree, with
few books and no furniture or labora
tories. f he wao to tdfc(tiw Ml
opinion of the ideal student they
uot core to lunch to him. The student
of the old day hod first to regard his
master as sera ido vine, and, of > course, such
an idea would find no utvor nowadays
(Laughter.). Again, the student had to
dims very simply. (Mors laughter.) Uo
nad to beg his food from door to door,
in India, oven today, there were no
woman .students in -the big universities,
unless in rare exceptions, the ' wife or
daughter of Hie professor attended lcc-
turra. It w-tts 'rati, or wonderful how
hardly any thought at all had been given
to co-education, except at the bottom ot
the system. They would go to great ex-
peine in finding separate jpravfadon for fo-
mate studeute, evuicntiy moving tho pus-
Ability of educating both sexes in tbe
one university. V
But white rtho East bed obsothed a
great deal of the nobler ami larger quoli
ties of Western education, it had also re-
teined tira ancient spirit of its own ays-
One could not but contrast in
thought the conveniences and advantages
—in tira shape of railway tacilities, build.
tags and books-that the modern stiident
possessed over the lrtdia 'that had been
Pfreatow and
imbitiug tira uraient wisdom all down' the
SSd bS?. X tti the
memory, and to this the world today
'"od tho yraen-ation of the most ancient
and noblot litcrsture in the world. There
were no books in which to record this
aneient wisdom because in those days
writing bad not beta invented. ' Bub
genaattan after generation' learned it off
&««,«" .P#WHt " w Tons
¥,,W, "T, Brcat .communities,
which had been tho centre of the old
wisdom, were moot ready- to ndaptthm-
selves to. modern' eonwtidns, and were'
tira ...foremost in ludu to uequiro tbo
English, literature. it wns wonderful
bow, - when learning had become a profes
sion and was confined to certain com
muutira, those communities were -the
quickest: to change end grasp tho -advan
tages- of modern -civilisation. Btt h
regretted ttat. to-day the undent ideal of
smiple living, seemed to hnv been: laid
">% in modern conditions "Tbostu-
drate of Ihdia were' spending. 'a hood-deal
of money on creature comforts, :iio,. nlways
with tlie hearty eoncurrenee' of'--tlimr
liarente. (Laughter.) In fact, thA
iwoix'i: clause are looking with anxious
eyes towards this modern edneulion, that
seemed to Ira getting more and more ex-
lH.-ns.ve. If it was not |Hirilile to. go
lnek to the day wlicn they clothed them-
Helvcs' with a single loin rloth and wore
little er no covering on tlmir feel, surely
ilioy evnlil think profitably of the time;
when students did nut |iay loo much alien-,
lion to their clothing, lira sort of shoes
'tliry worn the sweets they ate, or the
icigareitcs they aiqokcd. (Laughter.) Tbo
great a devotion to Ute things of lira body
look away from that devotion to the
ideals of the mind, without which educa
tion was as noUiing. The rituifcitf- in
: India to-<kiy was becoming possessed of
all that was best in both Western and
iKnstcrn systems of civiliralion. lie worked
|vcry hard— perlutiwi a little lianlcr than
did Uio students at present before him.
|(laiugliter.l Tim Indian student was a
great lover of his l.ookn, pud he .also
attended to fickt sport. Good cricket
was valued in India ItHlay, and there,
just as in 'Australia, to every ono that
(dayeii tiiere were a tlionsand Urnt ivatchcd.
Laughter.) in India, too, llu-y were
also licgi lining to understand tlm more
chivalrous aspects of sports and ynte
ready to appreciate the gted points of tho
feliow on Uic oilier side. He (Mr. Sastri)
looked forward to better intercourse bo-
tween - the sludonts in his own country
and those in Aucirniijt. He believed Urat
knowledge and eultrue were among those
things which thrive best in competition
and rapid exchange. Jn edndttioii, at
least, Utcre surely need not be a 'white
Australia" policy. (Applause.)
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