Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-01-01
THE COWNSMAN
The unlmportanoe Of Professors

rTIIE December Atlantic contains a bit of
l. serio- comic pleasantly ION the impor-
tance of being asprofossor, by one,' in which
is represented II marvelously cnllow spccl-
men Of that abused profession, teaching. lie
belongs, il would seem, to "one OF those an
stitutions of learning where the traditional
method of meeting increased expenses is to
pcnalize the teaching staff" One wonders
where that "iustitutiou of learning can
possibly be; the increased cost of living is
penalty enough. He has hearty brother
in law who is Sin business. What business
I do not exactly know. 1t has something to
do with mcrgcrs-whatcvcr mergers may
be-" Thus ineptly speaks professor OF
logic" who, after eleven years spent in
school and college and eight years in teach
ing was drawing salary little
more than that of one of Ford's office boys;
and, il we are to take at its face value this
witty caricature, receiving decidedly more
sthan he is worth
IF YOU are running n business and have
L salesman who has sold for YOU a def
mite amount of goods, bringing you perma-
nent trade. which you can figure to penny,
and showing the vigor and capacity to make
it likely that he will continue at his present
pace. you can calculate just what he is worth
to you and keep him until somebody else
can afford to pay him more. You do not
group him with the ribbon clerk who has
often wondered what referendum is, but
''I just don't seem to be able to find out.
BY the same token that a clerk is clerk
and salesman a salesman. professor is
q professor In business there is money,
tangible thing and countable as a measure
of success and there are other results than
money, but measurable by it. In profess
sion such as teaching there is no such touch
stone. What is the money value OF a pro-
fessor of Sanscrt. let us say, to the univer-
sity employing him? If he has two or three
students year his classes are hourishlng
and these students pay for their Sanscrlt
at best about one fifth of fee of say $500
per annum. With three students the pro-
portionate money value to the university of
Sanscrt is $120, not counting deduction for
light, heat. housing and general expenses.
And the professor draws for these services
to put it modestly, $4,000. Sanscrt is thus
a deficit financial drain, on the univer-
sity of $3.50 per annum.
NT WOULD make short work of this an
nual deficit which l keep hearing about
out at your university" said a hard headed
man of affairs. ~ would stop teaching
every subject which is not self sustaining
Do you suppose that l would be such a fool
as to keep on manufacturing an article that
I couldn't sell?" And with the embroidery
of some choice profanity he dismissed the
whole profitless theme. You might as well
say 81 would put up no part of this can't
lever bridge which is not self supporting.
Education is a structure, bridging an abyss
structure dependent on nice adjustment
and balance of the individual parts which
together can sustain q mighty load; apart
are only so much dead material. If the one
ArnI nr
Politics or Philosophy costs more, than it is
worth as piece of iron. it does not follow
that it may not more than pay its expense
in its necessary and sustaining position. The
question is, docs education in the aggre-
gate pay?' not "Is this topic on a money
basis?'' Even trade has losses and profits
not assessable on the pages of the ledger.
DUT we have wandered from the unim-
- portance of the professor. There are
unquestionably some very unimportant pro-
fessors in our schools and colleges; and
there are others whose Importance is anus
ing enough. An unimportant professor"
is young man who wants a respectable
employment not in trade, in which the
hours are not many and the vacations are
long He rather likes to dabble among
books. Perhaps he may study law some day,
or go in for the ministry. He is not quite
sure which he would like. He thinks some
times that he would like to write something,
but he is not certain of just what-a novel,
some free verse or perhaps play. He keeps
languidly ahead of his class in a textbook
and if he assigns exercises to his students,
sweeps them off into his waste paper basket
in ftful moments Of cleaning up as not the
kind of thing he cares to worry about. This
professor" is worth the salary of second
70 ha1l Another nnimDOrtnDt
fessor" is one who has grown old in
service which he has never had the courage
to desert To him the livelihood is the ma
ior thing, and be curses his luck that he
did not get out of this beastly treadmill''
years ago. and going through the PAGES he
gives as little as possible for his money. He
is not worth the wages of any honest me-
chanc. Are such the only varieties of PRO
fessor" which you or I have ever known?
DUT what, after all, does Importance CON
- sist in? The size of your monthly wage?
Then let us bow to the downtrodden Work
ingman and the suffering coal baron. Is it
the nature of the place which you fill? There
are many small crannies, very i'll filled:
and many niche in the smaller halls of
contemporary repute are occupied by plaster
images, remarkable, should the truth be
known. chiefly for their holowncss. An
important man is who is ION his job
and doing that particular thing absolutely as
we'll as it can be done. What may be the
nature of the Job is unimportant: the
digging of ditch. the planning of a cam
paign. the discovery of microbe, the com
position of symphony, the selling-the
honest selling--of an honest commodity, the
reconciliation of warning nations-each and
all of these things are important in the de
gree in which they are well and honestly
doro 'ITbo rcst is rhaff - no CarIvla ,,uod