Evening star., 1932-04-21
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRdCEWELL.

realize that they are giving themselves
away thereby; that they are oenllo Ine
times and, what is worse, unWnlng 70
learn.
Unwillingness to learn!
What is it but a form of jealousy
which says as plainly as words: Wnat!
You know something of which nave
not heard? Impossible! You cant 40
it. I won't let you do it!
1t is this latter phase CT the matter
which the average person becomes III
volved in when he thoughtIessly-not
always with any real malice-SuccumoS
to the temptation to make joking sub
iect out of a worthwhile, although 70
him strange. piece Of knowledge
Egotism. that terrible wart on the
spirit of man, is at the bottom OF TINS
perversity, which has done more 10
block the spread of true knowledge tnan
all the other inimical forces IN tne
world. What is the use OF universal
education, of little red school houses On
every hill. of millions of children forced
to bow their heads before standardized
knowledge, if the divine curiosity which
is at the root of all learning is to be
withered in the bud, blasted by crude
laugh, the braying of fool?
Mankinds glorious Intelligence, the
very flower of life, is based upon
unceasing curiosity. Why? What?
Where? When? Man wants to know
and he finds out Parents sometimes
smile at the ceaseless questions of chill
dren, but they are on the right track
That Is the way to find out. 1t Is
striking fact that no question Is too
small for a child to ask. 1t is another
striking thing that never once does he
put on the sneer when asking ques-
ton. He has not yet learned to hide
lack OF knowledge by making jokes
about the matter. Ncr has he reached
the point in life when he fears to ask
quf1t.on because it may reveal his lack
of knowledge.
Fear, in one of its many diSguises,
is seen at the bottom of the pit. Ignor-
ance is the result Of fear, in any one OF
its many forms. Relative ignorance, of
course, because the wisest man is ignor-
ant, and knows it. No one can take
knowledge, in some form, away from
him. Not to know, he realizes, Is a
sort OF knowledge. To know one does
not know-often that is che highest
knowledge.
What does the josher fear, when he
makes joke out of anything which has
engaged the attention of intelligent
men, and which has been solved to
point of usefulness and satisfaction for
them, if not for him? He is afraid, no
doubt. that he will be asked to discuss
something about which he knows moth
ing. Instinctively he feels that the best
way out of this possible and unwanted
denouement is to pretend a distaste for
the whole matter. Thus at one blow he
rids himself of the necessity for further
discussion and aims a blow at the
knowledge of another, preferably one
whose intelligence he has reason to
suspect is of more forward looking ma
.ure than his own.
1t is this aspect of intelligence which
has no place in the curriculum, but
which must have prominent position
before education can ever take its
rightful place in the world of men.
The serious mind. as such, must be
recognized definitely as the true means
of progress of the universal intelligence
which girds the globe of life. When
it comes into its own, the "kidder" and
the Joker" will be removed from the
educational channels. as hindrances to
the more steady souls, and these latter
will be permitted to receive the entire
benefits which now. unfortunately. are
partly wasted on those who get little
good from them. Educators and select
scholars alike will benefit from this
procedure. The sheep will be separated
from the goats. The world will no
longer waste its precious learning, culled
in a universe which seems to have no
conscious knowledge of its own knowl-
edge, upon those who find in it food for
laughter. The test for admittance will
be changed from memory to desire
Education will not be a great
water wheel, endlesly going round and
round, and never getting anywhere: it
will be sum- warming into life the bodies
and minds and spirits of men, it will do
good with every particle of energy of its
rays. not permitting much to drip away,
as the old wheel did. Universal educa-
ton is only few hundred years old, in
our sense; a glorious future stretches
before it, in the course of which it will
achieve unheard-of results, but even
then it will suffer from the laugh of
ignorance.