The Washington times., 1934-03-19

Type
S m a II Collie e e
Strikes Back at
Mourners
By GILBERT SELDES

By GILBERT SELDES
OLIVET, Mich.-A few weeks
ago I wrote a wish: that a
college professor would strike
back at the dozens Of educa-
tors who have been belittling
education. They have been
beating their breasts and say
ing, ''It isn't true that college
education pays in dollars and
cents; so keep away from col
leges."
I have scores of clippings all
saying the same thing. I
hoped that someone would get
up in meeting and say, "Quite
possibly a college education
will not pay you in dollars and
cents; will not get you a job;
but it will make your life
richer, whether you get a job
or not"
AS I was writing, Joseph
Brewer, the new president Of
Olivet College. was saying to
the alumni and undergradu-
ates: "The attitude that edu-
cation is only a preparation
for life. has tended to re-
move colleges from the proc
eSseS Of normal human inter-
course" He was saying (if not
in so many words) that getting
q job for a student is not the
function Of a college; the func.
tion is "to promote. the
growth Of the individual in
knowledge and wisdom"
Education-Or Else!
As for going to college, Presi-
dent Brewer says: "Our edu-
cational system has been built
up on the theory that the DEM
ocratic ideal is impossible Of
achievement on a basis of popu-
lar ignorance. But we are now
beginning to realize that if our
civilization is to survive the
tests to which it is being put,
simple literacy is not going to
be enough. And if we have
any real desire to build a bet
ter world than we have yet
known, we shall have somehow
to make it possible for all of
us in accordance with our vary
ing capacities to extend our
knowledge and wisdom to the
utmost limits Of our capabili-
ties"
I'd rather hear words like
this than the mewling Of heads
Of great institutions who have
collapsed and surrendered the
moment they saw that they
couldn't promise their students
$4,000 a year. Our great uni
versities turned out thousands
of bond statesmen in the days
when selling bonds was a noble
profession. Now that the bonds
have been shaken, the univer-
sites find nothing to do. They
forget that their first intention
was to help men and women
to be more interested in life,
and get more out Of it, and
possibly contribute more to the
general good.
On a train: For the first
time, I have travelled in the
Middle West in winter. The
effect isn't good, because over
cast skies, gray snow and
black roads are depressing: I
had always thought that
America was unique in enjoy
ing bitter cold with bright
days. Running into a week Of
bleakneSs has disappointed me.
Perhaps because it is my
own country and I can read
the names of the little sta
tions, I wasn't so depressed as
I had been abroad. Going
through lower ermany.
Czechoslovakia, and parts Of
Austria, I felt myself driven
back into the middle ages the
snow was so deep, the forests
50 black, the skies so leaden
and forbidding. There were so
many hours Of travelling
through a gloomy desert. All
the people you saw seemed
apathetic, almost lifeless in
their surrender to poverty and
cold.
From Cleveland to Toledo,
following the shores of Lake
Erie most Of the way, the
houses, factories, and even the
barns are ugly, lacking color
and form and liveliness. Peo-
pie living in both these cities
told me that they were ugly:
I heard the same thing from
native Detroiters. But I can
stand almost any big city.
The patches between need the
services Of good architect
and a master Of landscape.
All