Bachelor of Arts: a means to an end?

In light of all the volatility going on in the world, I find myself pining for wise, age-old, counsel. I need to chat to someone who has been through it all and there would be no one better qualified for that conversation than my great grandfather, John Sheehy Meagher.

I imagine us sitting on the verandah at Ikerrin, his home in Hawthorn, sipping tea in delicate cups and saucers, making the most of a sunny winter’s morning and pondering the state of the world.

John S Meagher at Ikerrin. Undated.

I would seek out his thoughts on the recent federal government announcement to increase the cost of humanity courses.  The Minister for Education’s proposal announced on Friday 19 June 2020 did not focus on supporting the university sector – which has been ravaged by the pandemic – instead, the proposal unveiled an eye watering 113 per cent increase for humanities (putting them on par with a law degree) and reducing the cost of degrees reputed to produce ‘job-ready’ graduates. Under this proposal, the federal government’s overall support of the sector will decline.

What would he say about this proposal? His correspondence attests he was strongly opinionated. He often gave lectures, on a range of topics and was described in the Ballarat Star newspaper early in his career, ‘As an amateur elocutionist, Mr Meagher has very few rivals in Ballarat. Indeed, we feel justified in predicting a brilliant future for the young man in question.’ He enjoyed debating; in fact he was a barrister.

If I could offer a penny for his thoughts, would that money be well spent? Would he argue that it is an ideological attack on intellectuals or a timely shakeup for a sector far too dependent on international students? Perhaps he would take the view that the taxpayer should not subsidise those who want to study French literature or that STEM degrees are the best way to get people into jobs? Perhaps our opinions would align and we’d discuss why the humanities, namely a Bachelor of Arts degree, has such a poor reputation?

The closest I can get to his thoughts is to look back on his education trajectory to distil how a Bachelor of Arts shaped his life. Would he consider his humanity course the antithesis of job-readiness?

Matriculation: unlocking access to university

John S. Meagher was seventeen when he presented at the Alfred Hall in Ballarat to sit for the matriculation examinations on Wednesday 1 December 1880.[1] This was the entrance exam for the University of Melbourne and they were held right across Victoria. It cost 10 shillings to sit a matriculation examination and each subject cost 5 shillings.[2] To matriculate, candidates were required to pass six of the ten subjects on offer. John worked as a market gardener after leaving school and the average wages (in Melbourne) were between twenty to thirty shillings per week.[3] Potentially, in Ballarat, John’s earnings may have been less. To sit the exams, it cost John forty shillings in total, more than a week’s earnings.

Detail of the Ballarat Alfred Hall from the ‘Australian Juvenile Industrial Exhibition’ 1891 lithograph, Ballarat Historical Society collection, Catalogue No. 634.81

The gruelling exam schedule comprised three days, each with three sessions of two hour exams. Knowledge was tested in algebra, Latin, English, arithmetic, geography, French, Euclid, History and Greek, with a final exam of German on a Saturday morning.  If John had any doubts about his performance in the exams, the absence of his name in the matriculation results published in the Ballarat Star on 30 December confirmed his worst fears.[4]

Over the summer and autumn, John continued his work as a market gardener by day and studied under the tutelage of Mr. Nicholls, the Head Teacher of the Mount Pleasant State School by night.[5] John returned to the examination hall six months later, this time at the School of Mines in Ballarat on Wednesday 1 June 1881.[6] On this occasion, John passed both the matriculation and the civil service exams.

Education costs

In 1882, John submitted an essay into a Ballarat Mechanics Institute competition to address the topic “European Wars Since 1854, their causes and results”. Winning first prize, his savings was topped up by the substantial sum of £12.[7] The fanfare in the newspaper also revealed that he was living in Ballarat, at 15 Lyons Street; far from the family business at the Reform Hotel in Haddon.

Ballarat Mechanics Institute advertisement, Ballarat Courier 13 December 1882.

During this time, John was employed as a pupil teacher at Loreto College in Ballarat.  To become a teacher, candidates were required to be ‘recommended by an inspector and must be either first-class pupils teachers, matriculated students at the Melbourne University, or persons who have passed the literary examination for a license to teach.’ [8] As a male first class pupil teacher, John could expect a salary of £50 pounds per annum in 1880.[9]

In 1884, John left his position as the first class pupil teacher at Loreto College in Ballarat for the Resident Master position at the Beechworth Grammar School. With the cost of board likely covered by living on the school premises supervising the boarders, John could save up extra money to help fund the next stage in his career: a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Melbourne.

Teacher by day, student by night

John enrolled in the Bachelor of Arts degree at Melbourne University in the second half of 1884, the same year he commenced teaching at Beechworth Grammar. The Principal, Mr Goldsworthy, leveraged off any and all prestige associated with the teaching staff, and John’s association with Melbourne University was noted in the local newspaper advertisements. In the first year of his Bachelor of Arts degree, John chose the subjects: Junior Greek, Junior Latin, Lower Mathematics, Deductive Logic and Ancient History. He passed all the subjects barring Deductive Logic, however he scored enough to satisfactorily pass the first year of the degree.  The following year John continued studies in Junior Greek, Junior Latin, and commenced French Language and Literature, History of the British Empire 1, and Inductive Logic.[10]

J S Meagher’s student record at the University Melbourne. Bachelor of Arts 1884-1887.

John passed all the subjects in the second year October exams, but possibly ceasing his teaching duties at Beechworth Grammar in July and moving to Melbourne helped improve his marks or enabled the time needed to study for five subjects.[11] It is unknown where he boarded during this time, but it would have been costly for John to study and live in Melbourne possibly without any income.

Head Master of St. Kilian’s School, Sandhurst

With two years of his Bachelor degree under his belt, John took on a new position in Bendigo in 1886, this time as Head Master of St Kilian’s School. ‘Mr J. S. Meagher, a young gentleman well known in this district, has been appointed to the responsible position of head master of St. Kilian’s School, Sandhurst. Mr Meagher, who has just passed his second year B.A was educated in Ballarat, and was for a time assistant master at the Beechworth Grammar School. He possesses considerable ability as a school teacher, and the board of management of St. Kilian’s establishment may consider themselves fortunate in securing his services’.[12]

John’s university record shows that he did not undertake an exam in 1886, but sat for his final Bachelor of Arts exams in February 1887. He passed four subjects including, History of the British Empire 2, Political Economy, Jurisprudence, English Language & Literature 2.[13] The degree was conferred in April 1887. Within two days of having received his degree, John advertised his services as a tutor in the Bendigo Advertiser seeking to take on a limited number of pupils for the Matriculation and Public Service exams. Offering moderate terms, he turned to the model of his former tutors to draw in a second income. [14] He wasted no time in using the Bachelor of Arts acronym, after his name.

J S Meagher’s advertisement in the Bendigo Advertiser, 18 April 1887.

As the son of working class Irish parents, John worked to pay his own way through university. The fees for a Bachelor of Arts in 1884 were £3 per course. John completed fourteen subjects in total for his degree, costing £45. Using the Public Service teaching salaries as a guide, a head teacher for a third-class school comprising 150-250 students retained a fixed salary of £152 per annum in 1885.[15]

Bachelor of Arts: a means to an end?

John Sheehy Meagher at graduation from the University of Melbourne c.1890

John’s academic story continues after receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree.  He studied law, from which he became a Barrister. On one hand, he and others may argue the Bachelor of Arts was a means to an end. It was part of a much broader strategy. Perhaps the strategy evolved as John’s professional network and education expanded.

However, there is no question, John’s Bachelor of Arts was a crucial stepping-stone and an exceptionally clever method in fast tracking from market gardener to headmaster in six years. His employers leveraged off the prestige attached to the degree and the University of Melbourne.

Within days of being conferred with a Bachelor of Arts, John commenced school tutoring to bring in additional income whilst he was a Head Master. One might argue that he taught night school for altruistic reasons, but he didn’t continue teaching for a fee when he joined the Bar, although he frequently gave lectures to the Catholic community on history, geology and astronomy. He published articles and was a joint editor of the Austral Light journal. Researching, writing and subject-based knowledge were skills he derived from a Bachelor of Arts, not a Bachelor of Law. His subjects are case in point; English and French literature and language, history and the philosophy of law (Jurisprudence).  For John, the Bachelor of Arts absolutely made him ‘job–ready’.

The education system of the day did not make a university degree out of reach for the likes of John, a market gardener from Ballarat.

Pursuing a Bachelor Arts wasn’t easy for John. There was no helping hand from his parents. He had to pay his way through university. He built his professional networks from scratch. When he failed, he tried again. He worked hard to expand the choices available to him in life.  Something he reflected on in a letter to his son Lux in 1914 when discussing a financial windfall from mining shares. I shall take more pleasure in hoarding, not for myself but so that you and the rest of [your siblings] may have a better start than I had.[16]

Even with the absence of a better start, John’s intellect and ambition saw him through the hard grind of paying his way through university over a decade. Every step towards obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree was advantageous for John, propelling him up another rung on the career ladder. The education system of the day did not make a university degree out of reach for the likes of John, a market gardener from Ballarat. He drew on his Bachelor of Arts education throughout his life, professionally and personally, giving back to the local community through public lectures, published articles and Church laity work.

Even though it is wishful thinking on my part to sit on the verandah at Ikerrin and mull over the merits of an Arts degree with my great-grandfather, his education pathway has clearly shown that a Bachelor of Arts was celebrated, revered and worthwhile, regardless of the profession it was aiming to buttress.

John S Meagher at Ikerrin. Undated.

[1] ‘Matriculation Examination’ in The Ballarat Star, Thursday 2 December 1880, p.3

[2]  Victorian Year Book 1880-81, p.335.

[3] Victorian Year Book 1880-81, p.141.

[4] Civil Service Examination in The Ballarat Star, Thursday 30 December 1880, p.3. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/200653498

[5] The Australasian Saturday 2 July 1881, p.5.

[6] The Ballarat Courier, Wednesday 1 June 1881, p.2.

[7] ‘News and Notes’ in The Ballarat Star, 4 December 1882 p.2.

[8] The Victorian Year Book 1880, p.434.

[9] ‘Education System in Victoria’ in The Victorian Year Book 1880, p.436.

[10] John Sheehy Meagher Student Record, The University of Melbourne Archives.

[11] Ovens and Murray Advertiser Saturday 19 December 1885 p.8.

[12] The Ballarat Star, Saturday 16 January 1886. p.2.

[13] Ibid., University of Melbourne School Card, Student number 381.

[14] Bendigo Advertiser, Monday 18 April 1887, p.3.

[15] Victorian Year Book 1884-85, p.618.

[16] Letter JS Meagher to Lux Meagher 26 April 1914, Meagher Family Archives.