The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-07-14
, REsIDENT-ELECT WILLIAM
ALLAN NELSON Of Smith Col

on education In general and on COL
legiats education for women in par
ticu,ar, always bearing in mind OF
course that Smith is now the centre OF
his collegiate universe. President Nell
son. who was formerly OF the Harvard
faculty, spoke in part as follows;
The type OF education offered by such
en- institution as ours Is costly one
that can never be enjoyed by more than
Q small minority, and 1t is and will be
necessary to devote energy and In
genuity to devising means Of selecting
those students whose abilities entitle
them to this particular opportunity.
Birth and wealth, pious aspirations and
social ambitions have no claim to spe-
cial consideration--this career should
be open 10 talent and character. and TO
talent and character alone. 1t Is a
betrayal OF our trust and a cheating
Of those who have a right to be here
10 allow our class rooms to be cluttered
by the UNIT to tolerate in the academic
community those whose presence lowers
the moral tone or reduces the intellec-
tual life to mediocrity.
The old Scottish communion service
used to be preceded by a preliminary
exercise called ''the fencing Of the
tables" In which the unworthy were
warned not to approach. These intro
ductory remarks on the selection Of the
guests at our academic board may be
regarded as kind of fencing OF the
tables But what is the nature OF the
feast which the worthy are invited?
How are we to conceive the educational
opportunity which such a college as this
should offer?
generation ago the leading thinkers
on such matters were roughly to be
classified as belonging to two camps
the scientific and the classical. The
tn.- fievat ,r,I,
throughout the nineteenth century had
teal and theoretical. had been 20 dag
cling that Its eNpsnents were asserting
more ana more boldly their demands Tor
larger snare IN ire time ana resources
oeNoteu 10 tne euucation OF YOUTH me
unitarian character OF the age and the
weakness or opponents deoiiitated ny
long period OF scholastic privilege COM
eIned to insure large measure or sue
cess TO these champions OF modernism ;
yet the defenders OF the older culture
held many points OF vantage, and the
war ended for the time in a compromise
But II was a truce, not a permanent
peace. Every ten years TIE quarrel is
reopened with changes in the terms and
In the precise form OF the issue. but at
bottom with the same old antagonists. 1t
IL at least as old as Aristophanes; it
which rent the France of Boleau and
Perrault; It is tie battle of the books
OF Swift II ranges to-day in the pages
of the Atlantic Monthly. where the rival
hosts are led by Mr. Abraham Flexner
and Prof Paul Shorey II will prob
ably never disappear since Il is based
upon conflict OF temperaments and
so long az human natu e remains as we
have known II, its variety will provide
n succession of irreconcilable protago-
uists
Deadlock Must BE Broken.
d.. oa,,,a,ior, irs,,,r.io,,, ,,,,o, rs,
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5irrsront Sro,, ito economic value II ia
=, ~ s,,,dins a. ;nsti,r,ion, Iu,o mi.
,,hi,h ,i-, a, .ort rih,,i,,, IN the rorract :
irg ~ ,Ia individual not because IL
ral,as r,en rirbar ar ufe moro comforta
Ill but he,aus4 it helms 10 explain the
word we live in. IN make nature more
int..i;;y.n and IN roach the student 10
srasn ono kind ~ truth "It also" to
nuota great I,urii,, .obolar gives
unan an aer.ne rror, tha noisy -re 40 Mt
int, , raeior of facts which sre as thev
are and NOT as foolish human beings
van. them 10 he an escane from tho
conuonness Of daily hanrenines into
tho remote world OF hiyh and severely
,rained in,asipation. an oscane iron,
morality in tho service n, a growing and
durable purpose. the progressive dIscoy-
cry VI tias -. ~, Iinsns.t -, .t ~ ss
not merely a cultivation OF the hand and
eye; II is a training in the indispensable
quality of precision and begets a moral
disgust at slovenly inaccuracy. These
are things which even the classical
scholar cannot afford to despise unless
he wishes to undermine his own
foundations
The educational value OF science in
cludes not merely, not even primarily, as
Is often assumed, the learning of Latin
and Greek, but the history Of earlier civ
tlGzation and what Is meant by philoso-
phy i'm the broadcast sense. In it, as thus
understood, there is no antagonism te
science. The science OF mast ages is
within i,s scone the science OF TO-DAY
IN only ,he latest chapter.
The ,oethod Of course ia dirferept
Modern science deals with natural phe.
noneua. and with the apnaratus OF on.
seryatiou and experiment emnloyed tc
al ~ ,,,u,a a, "a i,,,,,v ~ ,Lago ,ha