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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Vol. 37, No. 10. May 22, 1974

Questions for Commerce students

page 12

Questions for Commerce students

Cartoon by Dacey of a man wearing a suit about to eat a bag of money

Commerce students come in for a considerable amount of criticism simply because they have enrolled in a course that revolves around business studies. New Zealand is not a country where the business men enjoy the professional prestige that they do in America, for example. But there is nothing wrong with studying business practices as such — even many socialist countries need business managers, marketers and production managers and economists of a certain type.

To a certain extent management and production practice depend on the principles underlying the system within which they operate. But there are certain concepts in economics, mathematics, work-flow control etc that apply in all production systems. So to merely criticise the study of commerce because it's commerce, is not enough.

Students should understand the principles underlying the business system which they are studying and must be given an opportunity to evaluate these principles in the light of various alternatives or reforms. Students and indeed everyone should relate such concepts to the status-quo and also to themselves. Very few commerce students are attempting to relate theories on the nature of man and society to the present orientation of business and associated business studies. As if that isn't bad enough many students have not felt a real need to analyse their motivation in terms of their origins and their likely consequences not only for themselves but for others who have different motivation and different opportunities.

Certainly there are many different types of commerce students, but a large number are motivated by the monetary rewards and even status they may gain from their studies. Regardless of what the business community sees as good value there is some real worth in studying business but too often the student is motivated merely to use certain skills for his own personal ends. This student is not therefore keen on trying to understand principles or why the business community does yearn for those imbued with certain skills and so on — but is merely interested in possessing these skills.

Some mention of the role of the university must be made. When the university was a place for reflection and dialogue it catered for an intellectual and social elite. But, in the process of opening the doors to the less economically and even intellectually fortunate the study environment and approach has changed. The commerce department here illustrates this point. It is an organised machine sponsored by a government and business community who have generally inflexible ideas as to the sort of qualification that is of benefit to business and society. The whole system of assessment, evaluation and classification allows little scope for those tutors who want students to have time and initiative to seriously reflect on certain concepts.

Yet one can not be naive when one actually tries to formulate an education "system" that is independent, yet can relate to the rest of the community, egalitarian yet not wholly related to developing skills that will be of benefit to the individual and society. Certainly, in formulating an educational plan for modern man, one must seriously question the existence of a university such as we have here.

If we are not being anarchistic and accept that some sort of system is initially desirable then we must realise that there must be some sort of organisational stability and this presupposes a certain amount of conformity. Yet above this minimum conformity there is a tremendous amount of room for flexibility. Certainly there are parameters in terms of finance and so on but we can enhance what is a "system" within the existing parameters. However it is possible that sometimes the only way to achieve change of consequence is to change the basic constructs of the system.

Commerce students should have some sensitivity to areas of philosophy that relate to business practice. It is not a matter of anyone necessarily discovering answers but at least everyone should be asking themselves certain questions. BCA students should continually walk the tight rope of questioning and evaluating the ethics of the very system their studies are relating to. This is the meaning of being a student rather than someone who merely attends courses.

There are some students who view university study as a hard slog that will reap rewards later in life. They are deaf to those who warn that if they are not enjoying studying how to use the skills then how can they meaningfully enjoy using them. So we have to look at the BCA degree not only in terms of its worth, which is admittedly a subjective judgement, but also its enjoyment.

There were several students who during orientation week gave brief talks to Stage I students on education and personal development at university. The talks were also more specifically related to the course the student was taking. They were certainly talking theoretically to an extent but much of what they said originated from gut feeling. They felt that there was something wrong when informal discussions on matters just previously raised in lectures were notoriously unsuccessful; when students more often talk about how easy or how hard a course is rather than how enjoyable or stimulating it is, or how boring and what they are going to do about it.

They also felt there was something wrong with a process of education that was incredibly devoid of academic reflection but riddled with competitive assessment methods. Not surpisingly the talks achieved very little although it is hard to gauge their effectiveness. But in the BCA course a group has developed which is studying various questions. They feel that if students are not willing to question the adequacy of the present degree structure, content and aims, they will scarcely be prepared to question the structure and aims of modern business practice. The main questions are:

Is the commerce degree too narrow?

Are all the core units necessary?

Have the Accountancy and Business Administration Departments the right to require four units of their subject for a major?

Is the semester system successful?

Do the teaching methods prevent student interaction and participation?

Are commerce students attempting to relate their skills not only to society as it is but to society as it ought to be? Should they?

Are various staff members uncooperative and/or threatening?

What is the place of the part-timer and what are their problems?

Does the commerce faculty pander to the needs of the business community or are they realistically independent?

Could the faculty encourage more women to take a BCA?

Should the accountancy degree be in line with ACA requirements?

There are many other more specific questions. A recently formed group called the Commerce and Administration Students' Society (CASS) hopes to look into some of these questions. They are acutely aware of the need for change but do not want to be naive. They want to gather information on course regulations, student altitudes, assessment methods and so. They must also consult staff members.

It'll cost ya!

It'll cost ya!

There are many ideas on methods of change. Whether to keep to a small group that purports to represent the 'best interests' of the majority or whether to broaden out and be open but also perhaps bogged down in trivia and basically inactive. What communication channels to be used, and how pressure is to be exerted must also be given a great deal of thought. Some will regard it as bad tactics to print this article in such a rag as Salient! But CASS wants members, it wants discussions but it also wants to form in each department small highly informed groups that see the staff and SRC representatives regularly.

This approach is successful to a certain degree -perhaps some more radical approach is called for but the group wants to be cohesive and accepted by students and staff. We are faced with many staff members who will listen to us to the extent that we develop communication channels but do not really want real change. We are faced with students who vote for more piss-drinking yet call SASRAC intellectual wanking and do not bother to try to confront staff over workloads. There are students who may help us cut down workload because they want the courses to be easier rather than more stimulating.

There are many students who feel something is wrong and want to at least delve into the problems and conflicts involved. There are problems peculiar to Stage I students and these must be considered but unfortunately not many Stage I students are forthcoming. One can hear them moaning but they just sit and suffer — they won'd do anything.

CASS offers a support group. It costs 10c to join so watch for the subscription table. The society wants to undertake a questionnaire of all commerce students, it also wants to explore the possibilities of making CASS an organiser of social activities, and it wants to arrange various debates on topics of vital concern to commerce studies.

The society doesn't necessarily want to be always bogged down in "heavy" matters. This university is humourless enough without yet another group taking themselves and their aims so seriously that they appear interested only in increasing the anxiety and pressure of student life.

Yet it's main concern is to establish a group that gathers information, represents students, considers proposals and finally makes some demands. A group from CASS want to undertake a project that would find out all the courses running next year, who is taking them and would then a print a student evaluation of the course that would have a right of reply attacked for staff members.

One could hardly describe the atmosphere as optimistic but determined not to be superficial and rush things, and determined to be taken seriously. We need your help. You can join or get further information initially at Contact although other channels will be developed.

The views in this article are those of one person in the group although most would agree with many points raised. Whatever the ideology of those individuals in the group they are keen to get together to discuss what to do about what we agree is wrong with the BCA. We are prepared to listen to anyone and hope to hear many suggestions as well as complaints. It needs students who will be here for a few years as quite a few of the group will quite likely be leaving. CASS as yet is little more than a name but if commerce student do feel it can serve a purpose it will go some small way to making the study of commerce at a university worthwhile in a wide sense, and enjoyable.

—Peter Conway