Evening star., 1927-10-20

Eighty-nine years ago the building
which now houses q number OF the
administrative Offices was dedicated
under the name Pathological Hail. AS
its director, William Dunn was called
from Edinburgh. and with this enter
prise there came from the coi!ege
press a bi-weekly journal, The Edu'
Gator.
Here is an institution which nearly
80 years ago established in connection
with it's study of education a model
school. probably the first of its kind
in America.
teacher, like the true genius In any
field of human endeavor. Is born. not
made. But the expression, like many
another which rolls glibly from our
tongues, leaves much to be desired.
Modern teaching Is as truly a learned
profession as Is any other. And In
any learned profession knowledge and
technique are inseparable requisites.
We have gone far in recent years,
through orientation projects. in ad-
justing the freshman to his new sur
roundings. But another group needs
orientation no less. The young In
structors. fresh from their graduate
studies, should not be thrown into the
CuIIiDilCdleu anu lEyI1tS hOI n VA ILIC
classroom without that guidance
which will give them direction. The
trial and error method is hurtful TO
student and to teacher alike.
I'VE are too prone to express un.
certainty as to the mission OF the col.
lege. And this is so because the
product of the college is men. II the
product were bookkeepers or physi.
clans or aviatorS there would be no
such confusion. The requirements
for vocational training are fairly we'll
understood. But men! Here is some.
thing which erudite scholars do not
always understand: men who have the
versatility to meet new problems; men
who face life unafraid because they
understand the world in which they
live. If men must have this capacity
then they must have culture. And
here the critic laughs. Culture.
What is it but high sounding phrase
to conceal academic indirection? Stop
a minute. Culture is capable of a
clear definition. Culture is the adz
shaping man to fit snugly into the
social structure of his day. Just out
side these chapel doors, beneath the
figure of Lafayette we find chiseled
these words of his: II read. / study,
l listen. / reflect and out of all this
l try to form an idea into which /
put as much common sense as can."
Here is the process of the man of
culture.
Culture Is Not Ephemeral.
Socrates and Plato might well be
dull dinner companions today. Cul-
ture is not a frozen thing. II it
were, the old narrow classical cur
C,,H L.
an ephemeral thing. II it were, we
might turn our backs upon all the
rich intellectual stores Of past CEN
turies. There are no subjects today
which can claim cultural promi.
nence. The poet needs mathematics
In the scheme of his cultural develop.
ment no less than the engineer needs
literature. But all need--what all have
not received In our colleges-the cul.
tivation Of taste for esthetic things.
1t should be true that every college
graduate has some musical appre-
citation. some appreciation Of the great
things in painting and in sculpture, a
discriminating love of books. Some
channel there must be by which these
finer things Of life are made to flow
about every student. A weakness
which besets us in this hurried age
is that Of loose and inaccurate think.
ing.
'If accuracy is an essential to true
culture then increasing attention must
be paid to accuracy of expression. A
growing disregard for the correct and
discriminating use Of the English IAN
guage must be stopped unless we are
to lose an element not only OF i'm.
measurable value in true cultivation,
but in the field Of business and pro.
fessional affairs as well.
There are many who maintain that
the curriculum Is a thing Of the past;
that the extension of the boundaries
Of human knowledge during the past
century render it necessary to give