The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1929-10-18
Editorial Comment
The Test Of Education
Golfers

Thomas A. Edison. a few weeks ago. supervised a COM
pctNive examination among youths from every state In
by ability. to follow In Edison's footsteps. These boys
were required to answer q formidable list Of questions.
ranging the sphere Of human knowledge from geometry
schoolboy won the competition and will 60 through life
burdened BY the honor Of his victory.
Or course, this contest will not serve its published
purpose-to produce a successor to Edison. Genius is
not evoked by competitive examinations. Edison's wasn't.
Neither was Henry Ford's. nor Herbert Hoover's.
But this convention Of young scholars demonstrated
that standards Of American education are comprehensive
and practical: otherwise 90 many immature minds from
showing in q test prepared BY mature ~intellects.
It's easy to cram and coach any bright boy to pass an
examination IN any given subject. Plastic minds Of
adolescence can Be impressed for good or evil almost as
readily as photograph records.
But to give lads in their teens . general acquaint-
ancc with culture that enables them to discuss intelli-
gently a dozen different subjects Of scientific and human
interest. h to approach measurably nearer to the ideal
Of education-a mind ~hospitable to Ill knowledge.
It was said Of Isaac Newton. or by him, that the sum
Of q mans education was the knowledge Of his own ig-
norsnce-a back-handed epigram that means . man
doesn't begin to grow mentally until he knows his own
For centuries the secular teachers Of mankind have
Experimental TO produce = system that will combine util-
perinents have not been ~strikinsly s~uccessful, for in .
competitive world, and especially In the United States
where there is. At least theoretically. no leisured class.
hnood tnas may, IN time, earn the leisure Tor general
culture.
uucas.osls eApeiAnen!S O! KINGS are speculative.
No two faces are exactly alike: neither are any two
mentaiities. systems Of study may be devised and stand
ardi1ed. and methods Of manual and mental training
may be facilitated and made more accessible to young
men and women. All ouch benefits may make training
easier without making 1t better. Multiplication Of the
means to learn y always progress. The final test Of any
astem q schooling Is not what II gives the student but
what he takes.
A man may win the highest academic honors and still
be uneducated, because he can store erudition like .
miser without enjoying It In use. Also q man may have
avoided books o. been denied them. and through native
intelligence and steady industry achieve mental assets
that mako him useful and interesting and successful.
In every human being Is the capacity to develop. to
cduce the faculties Of memory, Of understanding, and,
perhaps most important Of all, OF wil-faculties which
may be called al sorts Of vague organic names BY the
higher psychologists and the lower matcrialsts. but
which are united IN the ancient and enduring definition
Of Aratotlo-the soul.
Tho test 0f true education y not what schoonng does
Tor the student. nut Whist the student does for himsef.
Teachlfs provide his mental tools. but only he can de-
cide h6& Vel ~ may uk them.