Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-07-25
Controlling Policy of
Mo dern Education
Is rade Preparation

proper role of academic instruction
The criticism, If criticism there be, is
not that modern education is addressed
to useful ends, but that mechanical
efficiency and personal success arc
made the exclusive tests OF what is
useful. 1t Is the overcmphass of the
immediate and the technical that calls
for explanation If one is to understand
the moral significance of this the
latest step in educational develop
mcnt
The industrial revolution" dates
from the eighteenth century. and is
said to consist in the substitution of
machinery for tools. This description
is correct far as material events
are concerned. but the essence of that
revolution, the thing that gives II
historical character as read from the
development OF industry during the
past IFS years. is the discovery of in
venttons and the recognition of their
social and industrial function There
are many instances In the history of
the Western world when craftsmen
have attained unusual excellence. but
in the most hourishing periods of the
arts and the crafts the forces of ma
ture have remained free and uncon-
trolled. Every industrial achievement
OF the past was made to rest on labor
Every outswing of civilization which
the history Of man records has been
arrested by the fund of available hu-
man labor. The prison thus built for
the soul Of the race has been broken
by the discovery of invention, or rather
by the general appreciation OF the
fact that the forces of nature bound
TO the wheels OF industry, could be
made substitute for human labor
and thus free mankind from unneccs-
sary and painful toll.
UNIVERSITIES HAVE
RESPONDED TO DEMAND
II is not necessary to follow step
by step the industrial evolution of re-
cent years nor to trace lii detail how
trade education found Judgment In our
universities. II was inevitable that the
spirit Of scientific inquiry, a spirit that
began to work its influence on history
when the painters of Florence turned
to the professional study of anatomy
should have passed over into the pur-
pose OF universal application of scien-
iihc knowledge for useful ends. l. for
one. cannot feel that tho dignity OF
scientific inquiry or OF scholarly re-
search is impaired by the frank recog-
h'tioH VI al cQudi QlEhltS Tor COnStruC-
tive analysis. Consciously \or uncon-
sciously, II matters little which, our
universities have come to acknowledge
the idealism that lies back of the cur
rent trend OF industrial evolution and
of business organization. They have
responded to the demand that some !
practical use should be made Of scien-
tific and psychological discoveries. and
that professional training should be
provided for those upon whom devolves
the responsibility OF making effective.
each In his own special line, that won !
derfully complex social organization
the product of our materialistic
past The current trend toward the !
recognition OF technical and profess |
sional instruction was inevitable and
he who considers this tendency in it's
relation to the potential benefit which
it offers to mankind must concede his
approval.
But, nevertheless. one cannot fail to
re!terate the query: what place is left
on the campus for academic or nom