Gainesville daily sun. (Gainesville, Fla.) 190?-1938, 1907-05-29

NIB VI faluS, OF question as W
their accuracy or truth.
"The great function of education is
to shatter the idols Of tribe and cave
and market place, and to lead men
from the outward traditions OF the
tribe, from the cheap shallow chatter
of the market place from the shadows
and unrealities OF their idol-hlled
caves into the sunshine and the glory
OF the real and true.
Culture is a certain by-product of
the educational process. taken in its
broadcast sensej a kind of efflores.
cence Of all educative experiences; the
active, vital, originating life spirit be.
hind all knowledge; a certain mental
attitude to the world, and the ex-
preston Of this attitude in character
and conduct. II we seem to use 'edu.
cation as synonymous with culture
1t is on the basis Of the definition of
education, as not mere receptive
process. but process Of quicken
ing and inspiration. 1t is a
new birth and all the power
and the promise, the growth and glory
of new and boundless life. There is
in man, though he may never have
read a book or crossed the threshold
of a school-there is in man, because
he is mana latent capacity for
personal enlargement so great, and
achievement so high, that imaglna-
tiou cannot compass it. Often, in
deed. like the wheat In old Egyptian
tombs, the mental and spirit life has
been sealed up in cold and silent iso-
lation But education bursts the tomb
of ignorance and lethargy and little
ness and impotence, and brings forth
the precious seed into the sunshine
and the dew, and, lol a hero. a saint,
a power IN life and death, and herit.
age of glory for the race. This is
"That education has devoted itself
nobly and magnanimously, and with
great success, TO the task of freeing
man from his pathetic bondage to adj
verse physical conditions, no man will
deny II was only by the develop
ment OF the brain Of primitive man
that he was able to cope with the
great dangers and difficulties that
him, and the very survival
Of the race and its progress, however
slow and tragic but finally triumph
mt, has been due and viii be due
not 70 muscular superiority but to big.
ger and better brains. The history OF
science, especially OF medicine. has
been largely the story OF this conflict
Tor the freeing Of the race. Primitive
man died under the scourge OF un-
known diseases. Medical science at
last came to HIS rescue and freed
him from a terror which he did not
Primitive man was limit
ID by mountains and rivers and the
narrow confines of his own small
range Science harnessed steam and
yoked the lightning to her chariot,
md brought to man the message that
he should become a free inhabitant
n great free world And steadily
against adverse conditions education
has fought for freedom; has won It's
In the past; and will win |
rs greater victories in the days to
ZONE.
In is second and highest ssense |
he liberatiug power OF culture has
% do with narrowness. bIgotry preiu- !
lice and pride. Here. too, education
has done a mighty work for the cause
IF freedom, but a mighty work re-
mains yet for 1t to do For here it
touches ourselves and our dearest
lreposessions: and here, as in the
past, We hesitate and stumble. VIII
ngly or unwilllngly we recognize the
,lalner facts OF history, but we refuse
% learn their lesson. mislnterpret /
hem or set an arbitrary limit to
heir significance. II is here we en-
,ounter the misshapen and malicious
idols OF the cave, which are the
deepest fallacies Of the human mind.
Here has always been the bitterest
ight for freedom, and here always the
brightest victories Of truth and knowl
.a.n NloLnru d "a lnnNlln he M. |