Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-12
4.32G. v. GRADUATES
ARE GIVEN DEGREES.
Dr.. Hill Warns of Limitations
and Responsibilities of
Education.

With the admonition to shun cyni-
eism In their search for truth and accept
the challenge of an ever-changing civil
ization to contribute to its progress
ringing in their ears, 432 George Wash
1ngton University graduates accepted
their coveted degrees in the university's
commencement last night in Constitu-
ton Hall and sailed forth into life.
1t was DR.. David Spence Hill, former
president of the University of New
Mexico and now research associate of
the National Advisory Committee on
Education, who warned the young men
and women Of the limitations and re-
sponsibilties which education gave
president of their own alma mater. who
conferred upon them through their de-
greeS the mantle of education and who
gave them his wishes for success in the
never-pausing life which DR.. Hill has
depicted for them.
This graduation class" DR.. Hill de-
clared, "embOdies the faith of parents,
their love and ideals; the collective
confidence of many citizens in the eff
cacy of formal education to bring about
changes in human nature for the bet
terment of society through the per-
petuation Of the culture of centuries,
ana through the protection of civiliZa-
ton by combating the evils resulting
from ignorance, namely, disease, pow
erty. superStitions and premature death.
whether the scientist or the poet por-
trays the stages of life. existence never
actually pauSes; it is. never at a stop
page or resting place. Life is ceaSelesS
The important practical question is
since We are confronted by and are a
part Of universal change-are our own
beings and inner life only a phase of
the universal blind process? Are we
merely victims of mechanical forces, or
can we in considerable degree become
masters of our own lives?"
Cites Development of Life.
An open consideration of this cues
ton, DR.. Hill commended, shows that the
findings OF science, philosophy and re-
Hglon, as distinguished from mere
theologtes, are not as hopelesSly contra
dtctory as they seem. Life itself is de-
Velopment, he asserted, but not merely
an uncomfortable chemical process that
makes man victim of fate. He cited
preventive medicine and surgery, and
In the business field advertising and
persuasion, as evidence of the daily
modification of bodies. minds and or
ganismS, adding:
"And formal education is nothing less
than the struggle to change human
beings in accordance with the standards
and ideals which society has painfully
erected
Mental life" DR.. Hill said. 'is the
highest product of the university and
the choicest fruit of the life is self de-
termination" Continuing, he told the
graduates that while the acquisition of
scientific knowledge is essential in order
TO conquer even a fragment of nature
and to attain freedom of spirit, sheer
knowledge is capable of destroying both
an individual and also the civilization of
which knowledge Is a part" Scientific
knowledge, he explained, has brought
most of the practical good man enjoys,
but while that knowledge gave the world
labor banishing machines, he commended
It gave 1t also "the possibility of the
Few exploiting the many" in economic
injustice, slavery and bloody revolution.
The problem of securing the maxi
mum good while avoiding the evils of
fast-accumulating scientific knowledge
DR.. Hill declared, is an issue today
which knows no superior.
knowledge Brings Good and Evil.
Knowledge purchased by a price in
calculable in gold and by struggle and
human suffering" he declared. brings
both good and also evil into the world
But one need not elapse into that form
% dGtSulpCcQ eScdpe 1IOIl realty kIlOWn
IS pessimism and cynicism In order to
solve this enigma"
DR.. Hill referred at this point to Soviet
RusSia's efforts to crush religion, char
acterizing those attempts as "a mani
In his conclusion DR.. Hill told the
graduates that the energies of men
that have been used for aggression and
mutual destruction in wars must be
directed constructively. Citing the
progress in bacteriology which has
brought control of plaques, in miner
ology which brought the ores that have
been fashioned into discriminating
machines and in psychology which has
provided improvement In industry's
personnel, educational methods and in
sanity prevention, he declared:
"All these activities of men offer
fields for joyful struggle to the youth
of TODAY and invite him to give his