Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1933-08-24
CRIPPLED INTELLECTUALISM
BY Olaf Palm, Brook Park

l, DTOOh al
have increased, we note with d1smay
that the knowledge which the world
has to offer its growing and develop
! ing generation, and the information
that it is daily dishing out to Its
people is becoming more and more
adulterated with indefiniteness and In
accuracy, falsehoods and misconcep-
tions, and selfish neutrality-suspicious..
In order that the readers may not
swallow this article with the sour
pill that it is mere summary OF
midnight dream, let us turn, for
minute. to a few conditions, in our
contemporary age, that are causing
and perpetuating such intellectual In
stability in man.
Let us look. as starting point, to
our Intellectual pc des ia ls-the
schools 1t is very evident that
school. in order to be an immediate
and ultimate benefit to mankind, both
materially and spiritually, must nee
essarily present an exact catalogue
of the contemporary attachments or
the age. To present to the scholars,
as FACT, THEORIES (things I'M
proven) which are either in direct
conflict or in discord with historically
established principles and beliefs IS
to embed in the immature minds OF
the growing generation and in the in
sufficiently grounded minds of the
and moral instability.
Too Much Experimenting.
The majority of the schools of the
land-from kindergarten through uni
versity-have, I am sorry to say, fall
len into the controlling hands of men
and women who desire to experiment
and play with mankind. In order
to establish certain selfish, un-
grounded, and. oftentimes, false be-
liefs and conceptions, and, them
selves, to be enthroned on that seat
of social guardianship. these men and
women will fill the young folks, with
whom they have been intrusted, with
theories and false conceptions (un-
concerned if they contradict them
selves), thereby failing, not only to
prepare them for an uplifting and
serviceable life to themselves and
others, but also turning their young
minds into chaos, causing them to
fall headlong into disbelief, liberal
ism, and revolt against the highest
and most constructive elements in
our social life, yet, possessing no
thought of what to replace.
Natural science, for example, en-
tangled in the false notion of estab-
fishing mankind as a self-perpetuat-
ing organism-free from the trottle
of the Observation-Disclosures as a lean
ing post the we'll known evolutionary
theory (they have justly termed II
senting it as a fact) which is in
absolute conflict with one of their
most definitely established laws-ey
nihilo nihil fit, (from nothing moth
ing is made). As an inevitable re-
suit, we have the ever growing dis
regard for all forms of morality and
religion, God and man.
Social science and the new system
of education (rooted in psyct ology)
are likewise, constructed on theoret
ical and unfounded grounds. Yet
they are being presented as valid anG
authentic explanations for life anG
death.
, Good Memory Essential.
Also, whereas the "old school
placed stress on memory work, there
by giving the scholars something
definite on which to stand and some
thing concrete upon which to con
} struct stable and well-grounded per
{ sonalities, the new school," primar
) lily under the, auspices of modern
t psychology, practices and urges tina
/ primary emphasis must be placed OF
? generalization and on reason, eithel
: sadly unaware, or else selfishly un
: concerned about the fact that a per
2 son reasons on the basis of what h,
: knows, and that the exactness Of tina
t reasoning will depend wholly upol
: the exactness of memory. The re
5 suit is that a great lot of our youn,
t minds are being led unto the path o
5 rationalism, and the greater portion
d of our present school system, whicl
t is now. being dominated by the new
: science, has now become as, woul'
Q parable, moving picture presenting
to the scholars a constant stream o
impressions, but being decidedly un
v concerned about how thoroughly the
e are impressed, thereby, necessitatin
: Il majority of those graduating t
e point to their carefully framed diplo
J, mas in order to show their so-calle
t intellectual accomplishments"
= / ask the readers sincerely:
}, there any hope of fattening calf o
: merely skinned milk? Or: Can W
y hope to make a straight beam in
/. crooked mold?
s The debauchery of the new scienc