The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-01-12

Axnc0ln Btene00 In HarporS weekly.
They have students who want to learn.
The average student at q regular
college II one Of the funniest things on
earth. He has no interest In learn-
ing; he IL hardly Wiling to b taught.
One reason for this. Of course. = that
he has no intellectual curiosity. His
mind II an Infants, unawakened; for
the schools don't tell him what he
needs to know: they cram him with
what the colleges require him to pass
on. 30 they go on passing" for the
most part, after they are in college.
And many Of them are just plain loaf
era. with . httbs sporting interest in
football or athletics. Even that isn't
cultural
There b culture to be had In sport.
ana since that b = real student inter-
est. it might serve az a starting point
for a living system OF education. And
there IL, by the way, a sculptor In
charge Of athletics at the University
of Pennsylvania II they would put
the Greek department under him, and
he would see to It that the professors
Of Greek took their departure from the
heroic and physical interest, the stu
dents might see the relation to life Of
a dead language. But. no. Greek is q
science now; so IL Latin. Therefore
two great peoples are host to the life
Of tho American people who are go
ing through the same experiences.
Greek and Roman history are
brought into relation with American
life You hear It cited from the soap
boxes on street corners, and with some
understanding. too. The 'dema-
gogues'' sssm to have read ali history
from the cultural point Of view; to get
the meaning out Of It for modern life.
And. OF course. history 10 full Of hight.
not only on our past and present, but
on our future, too. There - light ON
in political economy ana chemistry; IN
astronomy and metaphysics and
poetry. And that 10 culture, and adj
NIT that tie soap-box orators have
some of it and are giving It to the
common people on the streets. And
college students get 1t there. too.
Many an undergraduate has had his
mind opened to the questions Of life
and to the sources Of hight upon Il in
his college curriculum. at street or So
cialist club meetings. Culture is like
life itself: II must be.
1t has been noted often that gradu-
ate students who loafed through their
UNDERGRADUATE years, woke up In the
law school OF medical department. and
worked with industry and ability.
Why is that3 The answer II obvious.
They saw the relation Of law or medi-
cine to life-to their lives. The his
tory they took" had Q relation to life,
too; and to their lives. So had Greek
and poetry, English and-anything Of
fered them. But it wasn't 80 taught.
1t was taught. probably. as abstract
knowledge, as science. Why? There's
a theory, and q cause to account for
that AThe theory IL that science exists
for tho sake Of knowledge: not for use.
but for its own sweet sake. Like the
own sake: not even the stars. Every
thing IL related to everything else. and
the whole Is greater than any part
greater and more interesting. But the
cause of this anti-social. anti-cuFural
point Of view IN faculties Is that the
is done very large by ex-
grinds who learned what they knew
out OF a moral sense OF duty. had no
lives Themselves, and do not see tho
to life Of which they learned.
In other words, our faculties, hike our
scientists, lack culture. They are day
laborers in the fields Of knowledge;
<1,a - oua 800 sov, univ <1,ev ue< q <7ov
laborer's pay. And they do not know
what their piles Of facts mean till a
cultural mind Nike Darwin's comes
along and sees the significance Of
them to what human beings are think
ing and doing.
Just as the law schools have stu
dents who are interested in their
studies because they. are intending to
practice law, and just as the medical
schools have students absorbed in
their clinics because they are going to
make q living at it-so the agricut-
tural and engineering schools. which
are multiplying ont west and spread
ing toward the east, have the advan-
tage Of a student body who are learn
ing what they are intending to prac-
tice. Parents. legislators. voters and
the youth OF the west, both boys and
girs. are all for these schools Some
Of the old-fashioned cultural cob
leges out west. the state universities,
get money and tive only by hanging
on to the coattails Of the cow-col1eges.
WOMEN IN JAPAN.
From the beginning Of japanese
history to the Introduction OF Chinese
women occupied q very
high place in Japan and filled posi-
tions OF importance and honor In
state. religion and household, says the
japanese Society Bulletin. Several