The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-07-04
THE ALL.ROUND SCHOLAR.
President Schurman OfCornell Gives
a Valuable Definition Of Education.

| IEtSIueut SCuuEIuuu VI SOIuVb
a Valuable Definition Of Education.
From the Buffalo Enquirer.
President Schurman gave utterance
| to a striking epigram when he said to
| the Cornell graduates: What shall 1t
profit a man to know the secrets OF the
university if his own domicile Is to be
the almshouse?" He was speaking OF
the relation of knowledge to the various
professions and pursuits by which men
earn their livings and he declared: Col
legs and universities were not founded
for the increase of the dependent class
es" These generally accepted truths
are put in a striking way and there Is
occasion for impressing them upon the
mind of the graduate. Now and then,
perhaps, the race Is benefited by some
ardent spirit who is so absorbed in the
pursuit of knowledge for itself-so
eager to grasp some new truth-that
providing for his own support becomes
an entirely secondary consideration.
But with the great majority 1t Is per-
fectly legitimate to make the question
of obtaining a livelihood of prime i'm
portance. AS the president of Cornell
putl it. america, which Is another
name for universal opportunity, makes
it the first duty of the educated man to
achieve economic independence" This
is in line with the spirit which has from
the first pervaded the teaching of Cor
nell university and guided the admin
istration of the institution.
Some comment has been made upon
the recent action of Cornell in deciding
to give the Il. A. degree for satisfactory
graduation in any of the courses of the
Academic department. Cornell Univer-
sty now consists of seven special fac
ulties and a general or university fac
ulty. The latter is composed of all the
professors and assistant professors in
the university: its function is to con-
slider questions of general educational
policy; and it will have immediate
charge of all students in the graduate
department. Outside of the graduate
departmc~t the university comprehends
seven divisions, which will be hereafter
designated the Academic department
Cor Department of Arts and Sciences),
the College of Law, the College Of Civil
Engineering, the Sibley College of Me-
chanical Engineering and Mechanic
Arts, the College of Architecture, the
College of Agriculture, and the State
Veterinary College The students In
the Academic department and In each
of the six professional colleges are put
under the immediate charge of a fac
ulty made up of the professors, assist
ant professors, and instructors belong
ing to that division of the university.
Heretofore in the Academic department
different digrees have been given. 1t
has been decided that, beginning with
the first class graduating in the
twentieth century, the b. A. degree
shall be conferred upon every student
in the Academic department who satis-
factorily completes four years of study,
whether the subjects studied be the
ancient or the modern languages. his
tory or philosophy, mathematics.
physics, or biolgy, Or indeed, any COM
bination of the humanities or the
sciences Of nature. or Of both together.
Speaking of this new departure of the
institution, President Schurman, In his
address, said: 1T is folly to suppose
that some parts of human knowledge
are liberalizing, and others neutral or
negative; or that some institutions
yield culture, and others merely science.
The real difference Is in the nature of
the outlook which the several studies
yield. One reveals the constitution and
order of nature, the procession of the
heavenly bodies, the elements Of the
earth, the mechanism and functions Of
living beings. The students of this OBJ
jective sphere are the scientists par ex-
cellence. The other study tells of man,
of his doings and sufferings, Of the arts
he has invented, and the institutions he
has established, of the whole form and
content of human history in its largest
sense. The votaries of this study are
the humanists. The humanities and
the science par excellence. The other
sciences together exhausted theology
aparD the materials of knowledge. Our
extensive ideal of the educated man Is
the scholar who reaches out for them
all: our intensive ideal is the specialist
who has mastered one. Both ideals
have their value: neither excludes the
other. In practice we strike q COM
promise. We do not want a scientist
who is altogether ignorant of the scienc-
eses. That one science is as educatiye
as another all the colleges agree. And
in the twentieth century it will also be
recognized that English and German
literature. history and politics, meta
physics and ethics are as truly LIBERAL
izing and educative for the minds Of
young men and women as the ancient
classical humanitles, though am sure
that Greece and Rome and Jerusalem.
as the fountain heads of human civill-
cation, will always hold q place Of
honor and be an object of homage in
every institution of learning which
nourishes the liberal arts and sciences
or cares for those ideal goods of truth.
beauty, justice and righteousness
wherein consists the true glory of hu.
| man life on EARTH"
EARLY IN THE GAME.
Dear" she sobbed, timidly (she was a
1.rs1 1aA