“Your Idea of a University” English Essay, Paragraph, Speech for Class 9, 10, 11 and 12 Students.

Your Idea of a University

Universities in India have increased very rapidly during the past four decades. The University Grants Commission has sanctioned liberal grants for them. Gigantic buildings have come up in different towns and cities and they are supposed to be centres of learning. But as a matter of fact, they have turned out to be hot beds of political intrigues. Whereas they were expected to radiate learning and scholarship, they are promoting indiscipline, into the House of Satan. violence, strikes and even vandalism. The House of God has turned

It is not buildings that make a university. It is the quality of the teachers and the students. Teachers are the life-breath of a university. In recruiting them the utmost care is to be taken. They should be real men of learning, men devoted and dedicated to their subject. Leacock has well said that if he could get such teachers, he would buy them, coax them and even kidnap them so as to strengthen his institutions. Nothing should count besides securing the services of these teachers. These teachers create the proper climate for studies. Students worship such teachers. Indiscipline disappears as fog disappears before the sun.

A university should not enroll students indiscriminately. Only those who are genuinely interested should be given admission. “Fit audience, though few” should be the watchword. A teacher should not be burdened with crowds of students. One score, two scores, and that is all. He should have personal contact with his students. Just as one lamp lights another, he should arouse curiosity in his students. One learns more by discussion and argumentation than by mere lecturing. It is exhilarating to no man to sit like a passive bucket and be pumped into. Big numbers prevent that flow of knowledge. They only foster instruction and imitation.

A good university should lay great stress on libraries. Students should be encouraged to make a free use of them. The teacher will serve as a guide, a philosopher and a friend while the student will drink his fill at the fountain of the libraries.

Equally important are the laboratories. Whatever we learn from books is tested in the laboratories. They are the temples of the modern age. Money spent on them is money well spent. They should work round the clock. An experiment is an unending quest. It is the pursuit of truth.

We should not attach undue importance to games and sports. In universities, minor games and exercises are all right but to make a fetish of sports, to organise matches and tournaments, runs counter to the spirit of a university. It distracts attention. Universities should have a quiet and sober atmosphere. University teachers and students are silent workers and not drum-beaters.