Evening star., 1928-05-06
rs Culture Worth Whie?" Queries Educator
By DR. ELMER ELLSWORTH BROWN.

By DR. ELMER ELLSWORTH BROWN.
Chancellor Of New York University.
rs CULTURE worth while7 HIM,
That depends. What do you mean
By culture2 II Is all sorts Of things
Il 10 all sorts Of men. II is repre-
sented some would say. by Mat
thew Arnold. Oscar Wilde. the Poetry
Society. Variety enough there. But
others would 60 on 10 say: 1t Is the
making OF a good ciubman or dinner
guest: It. is bric-a -brac: 1t Is the Aca-
demie Francaise: it is oxford.
But AT Oxford, undoubtedly. and IN
our own colleges. unquestionably, the
word is Just as elusive. Cultural sub
jeciS are discussed. You hate the word,
and so do I. but We go on using II.
Us economies a cultural sub1ect?" And
the answer Is sure To come, But what
do you mean by culture?" Well, 10
means to keep alive the tradition OF
liberal education" 1t means 10 give
prospective doctors a general founda-
ton for their special studies and some
one growls. "civiliZe them II you can,
the barbarians!" II means first Of all.
they are 10 be citizens" II means
Latin and Greek 1t meanS-a1d so
the talk goes on
Whatever 1t may mean. culture seems
20 be set over against something else.
President Hadley said long ago that IL
Is ''the opposite Of absorption In the
obvious" With less OF subtlety, IT Is
commonly set over against money and
working for money. The college is for
culture and the professional school for
bread and butter. So they used to say.
and many are saying IL yet. Bread and
butter are tangible, but this culture
stuff what iS ii and what is IL worth
have happened on one more way
of Judging Of its worth and meaning.
This iK method available tn every
college which conducts an evening divi-
sion and that number includes most OF
the urban institutions OF higher educa-
ton In America.
Here. for example. is such a college
with 5000 students In attendance al
. the present moment. candidates for the
! r A. or the r. s. degree OF this num-
ber about 900 are evening students
They are candidates for the same de-
grees as their fellow students In the day
coursef are subject 10 the same scholas-
nc requirements and are taught by the
same or equally competent instructors.
They are earning their living by some
ordinary day work and are paying their
ordinary college fees from their earn
ings. n viii take them FIVE or six years
OF more Of this evening work 10 attain
their b8ccalaureste
AND when they have gained the COW
eted degree. 1t will have no aSsignable
Ysiue. The courses they are pursuing
d. not tell them how 10 master their
trades Or occupations, nor how 10 dou-
bic their salaries. In the sense In which
James Russell Lowell used the words,
~
useful is taught" Moreover, this night
YorE is for the most par, stripped bare
of the extraDe0us sliurements of college
life To en- extent which Is impossible
even In the day division Of this same
college It's learning and teaching n
2 concentrated upon the subjects studied
, and the training which goes With those
studies Could we find anywhere a
/ cleaner isolation and definition Of the
( problem Of culture, considered a. a
1 scholastic pursuit.
( THESE hundreds of students, many of
them sufficiently mature 10 know
what they are about~~why do they 90 to
all ~ this labor and saeriflee for some .
thing that cannot buy bread or pile up
> bank ace0tiut9 Why not ask them
( and see what they themselves have N
( say for ~ That is exactly what ] nave
! beeH doing Dean Rufus Smith hAs
, seni me = number of samples from thls
! body ef students m which he takes snch
/ unlimited pride and hAR had a most
! interesting time ~ IL, talking the mat
/ Ter over with them, fsos 10 face and
one by 0ne.
Here IL capable young fellow wfn
| IN his early iweDties had q l1h ~ ship
| ping clerk Ne end fsilo@ clerk