New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-03-28
AN ARGUMENT FOR IGNORANCE.

Il remains 10 be seen how serious a blow the
Columbia University statstcians have dealt
American culture by publishing the fact that
Morningside professors either die or retire from
active work at the average age of eOrty-fOur
years. If college professors were not so intel
ligent might suspect that mystical lucky
numbers had something TO do with the brevity
Of academic careers. Getting through college
takes four years, rising to prOfessOrship takes
eleven more; hence the attractvenesS OF the
forty fourth birthday as the prOpitiOuS hour for
knocking off work. But while this may infu-
ence a few mathematical specialists, there are
probably other weighty reasons more widely
offered which turn the tide against wisdom.
Business men are prone TO think they are set
ting the pace that kills; but when they read
the Columbia statistics new light may dawn
upon them The downtown man who retires at
forty-four is a fraG flower. The business dis
tricts of every American city are full Of white
haired hustlers. Why. then, do the men Of
MOrningside drop from the ranks at an age
when their apparently more strenuous fellow
citizens are just beginning to get the hang and
swing Of things? Can it he that underneath
the quiet Of PROFESSIONAL life dangerously swift
current is running that the professors Occu-
patton Is rapidly coming to be Classlfable by
insurance companies along with ballOOnlng, min
ing and blasting, extra hazardous pursuitf
Well it may be that lrregularity Of work. too
much opportunity and encouragement to worry
over health, and the demand that every profess
sOr make some startling discovery or write
some revolutionary book, are conspiring to make
the pursuit OF wisdom as dangerous as tiger
hunting.
Moreover the long vacations OF the professor,
which are the envy of the non-academic world.
may not be an unmixed blessing Nerve spe-
cialists sometimes say with assurance that the
cven all-the-year-round labors of business men
are less trying in the long run than the pro-
fessor's alienation between fifteen weeks or
more of rest and thirty-fve Of high pressure
teaching and research. Whether this be uni
versally true or not there can he little doubt
that continual book study has a tendency 10
make n man unhealthy interpretive. Fine
ness of perception. while n vital necessity to
the wisdom hunter. may cause wart TO look
like a cancer and headache to feel like incip-
lent paresis. And then. what havoc IS played
by the new requirement that every university
instructor shall be a geuius Thank heaven.
the saner heads among collegiate executives are
beginning to protest against this irrational ex-
action But II may be a long time before the
world IS willing 10 let It's sons and daughters
be educated by teachers unknown TO fame. The
student bodies Of large colleges are more or
less infected with the idea that man who has
not written ten volumes ON the origins OF
Shakespearian prosody is unfit to teach sophie
mores the outlines of English literature. Until
this collective insanity is cured premature
death and retirement must continue
1t is to be hoped that statistical proofs of the
dangers lurking the unrOyal road to knowl-
edge will not be construed as a demonstration
that ignorance is bliss. We believe that much
is to be said In favor Of carefully chosen lgnO-
rance, and one need not be fanatical on the sub
1ect of faith cure IN order to admit this. Yet
much of the misery incurred on the way To wis
dom must be charged up against bad rOadmak-
ing, and before very long tho irregularities Of
the academic career may be effaced, II care and
common sense are exercised