Abstract
THE debate on university education in the House of Lords on May 14 was noteworthy for an important speech by the Lord Chancellor, Viscount Jowett, and for a contribution by Lord Cherwell which men of science should find of special interest. Lord Cherwell, in a cogent argument dealing with the dangers of central control of the universities, made a plea for the safeguarding of their autonomy in the increasing dependence of the universities on the Government for financial support ; and he urged again the vital importance of not divorcing research from teaching, or teaching from work on the frontiers of knowledge. Speaking of the importance of the student having an opportunity of both studying the advance of knowledge and having it expounded and explained by those who were themselves working on the frontiers of knowledge, Lord Cherwell formulated admirably the function of a university teacher. This, as he sees it, is to develop in young people the habits of exact and logical thought, to show them how and where the underlying facts can be ascertained on which our conclusions are to be based, to indicate to them how the great minds of the past have tackled problems, to show what conclusions they have reached and how they have justified them ; and, above all, to arouse the students' curiosity and interest and to stimulate them to spend laborious days and nights in an effort themselves to contribute something towards the advance of knowledge.
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SCIENCE AND THE HUMANITIES IN THE UNIVERSITIES. Nature 159, 789–790 (1947). https://doi.org/10.1038/159789a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/159789a0