Slater's
Pay
What Is the Future o the
(Continued from Preceding Page) him in more and more commit- How can the flexibility and the the community leaders, the presenft
ment to tasks and duties which tolerance, the humanity, of the teachers have a role to play-they
sities and a large segment of the are not central to the concern with liberal philosophy be sustained by are the ones whose encouragement
watching public act as if he were. truth and ideals, the student lives firm conviction as to what can and support for the student and
He is not a young businessman, in a world of discovery and of pos- and should be done in the modern his interest in ideas will do more
building a good record, getting sibility where nothing is yet com- world. than anything else to make the
what are called "contacts" starting pletely settled, where everything, I suggest therefore that the re- life of the mind a fascinating
his business career in his sopho- including the achievement of forms we must make in American prospect and a goal worth aiming
more year. He is not a unit of man- greatness, is still actively possible. education are not primarily those for.
power, to be classified according A student must make the most of requiring more subject matter,
to skills and talent,sand put of this time, for it may never come although of course there are sub- '~TE IN THE COLLEGES must
through "hard subjects" which again.If his life as a student does jects ranging from mathematics concern ourselves with the life
will be useful for the country's not possess the excitement, the in-!to foreign languages and world of the intellect and the imagina-
military and economic security. nocence and the hope of the true history which must be included in tion again, and remind ourselves
A student is a person who is enquirer, he may never again ex- any good high school curriculum. and the public, that *the purpose
learning to fulfill his powers and perience a time for thoughtful and of education is to develop people
to find ways of using them in the sensitive attention to the big issues THE PROBLEM is much more who can think and act for them-
service of mankind, of human life. If he does possess complicated than requiring selves.
The student at his best has a that quality in his life as a stu- more subjects of more students. We have become so engrossed
purity of motive which is the mark dent, you can be sure it will re- The true scientist, for example, in the practical problems of edu-
of his true function. He wants to main with him as a way of think- depends for his achievement on cation and the culture that we
know the truth, to know what is ing and acting for the rest of his the quality of his total education. find our teachers talking only of
good, not merely for his own or days. The quality of his total education "problems;" we have become
for other people's advantage, but depends not only on the particular lobbyists for the intellect, full of
in order to achieve his maturity as THE REAL CHALLENGE to this training he has had in science or promotional devices for advertis-
a student. He is granted the price- country is not from the propa- any other field, but on the infu- ing and virtues of the humanities,
less advantage of looking openly ganda battle with the Soviets nor sion of a passion for learning into the sciences, or foreign languages,
at the world to discover its secrets. 'Shis intellectual bloodstream. Even in our teaching we have been
He is given the rare privilege of from the science and missiles race, The student who has been in- pressing for attention to cultural
withholding his assent to the nor from anywhere outside the spired with the desire to learn and and aesthetic values rather than
claims that the world makes for United States, who is given encouragement to ful- allowing the values to be seen, en-
its own particular brand of truth, The ieal challenge lies deep fill his desire can and will learn joyed and savored by ourselves and
and he can decide what he thinks within American culture. It is anything which lies within his our students.
on the basis of the evidence, not simply, How can we give to our capacity. If we are to have first- We must let the poem speak for
on the basis of pressure, because students-those who will become rate education, we must look first itself, in its own purity and en-
this is in fact what it means to be scientists, artists, writers, teach- to first-rate teachers, and we will chantment, without our eternal
a student, and what the world asks ers, workers, businessmen, doctors, not get first-rate teachers until explanations and analysis. Let the
the student to be, and all future citizens-the educa- we bring into the teaching profes- music he played and listened to,
For a little time before he begins tional support they need to carry sion the very best among our without explanation, with no set
a life which will gradually involve out their mission as Americans? present students. Here the parents, of instructions on how to listen,
- what to look for. Let the idea
________ - - -_ -- - - --________ generate itsoxen response in the
minds of our listeners, let them
see for themselves that the idea
itself is passionately held by the
man who proposes it.
J PC s 1There is too much concern just
now for classifying, and thus de-
feating, the new. This is intel-
lectual promotional work, not
creative thought, nor does it re-
present progress of the liberal
A arts.
GO0 FORVMAI
in the new and exclusive
PLAYBOY"an
TUX
for all
BOOKS
Slater 's
Your College Bookstore
featu'izru
NATURAL SHOULDERS
BLACK
CENTER VENT
FLAP POCKETS
UNPLEATEID
TROUSIERS
$4500
YOUR ID. CARD and
$16.35 As Down Payment
Balance Payable March and
April.
All Accessories In Stock
j(4
I
+)t
I
{
I
m
W H. AUDEN spoke in his poetry
lecture last year at Oxford of
a teacher of Anglo-Saxon who had
lectured to him.
"I do not remember a single
word he said, but at a certain point
he recited, and magnificently, a
long passage of Boewulf. I was
spellbound."
I think we need to have more
people spellbound, entranced, joy-
ful, enchanted. They need not stay
that way permanently, but they
need to know from direct experi-
ence what it means to be captured
by a feeling or an idea.
If we are over-impressed by
money and material values, if our
culture is lacking in spiritual con-
tent, then is it not the task of the
artist, the architect, the dancer,
the playwright, the philosopher,
the composer, the social thinker
to show us what he can do and to
have enough confidence in what
he is doing to work in his own way
without regard to the number of
people he influences or ever
reaches?
With the present resources of
the mass media, the present de-
mand for more ideas and more
talent this will leave few who have
such talent alone in obscurity.
L'IBERAL EDUCATION is the
-means by which the student
achieves his selfhood.
To achieve the flavor of in-
dividuality, for a person or an in-
stitution, it is necessary to be one-
self and not to be simply a cluster
of approved characteristics. It is
necessary to give up wanting al-
ways to be liked, and wanting to
have everything smooth and easy.
It is necessary to discover what
truths are really true and really
valuable, and to discover this by
oneself.
No one can make these dis-
(Concluded on Next Page)
Haircutting
To please you!!
It Costs No More to have the best!
-10HAIRCUTTERS-
The Dascola Barbers
Near Michigan Theatre
WI JLDTS
State Street - On The Campus
jilL
Page Ten THE M ICHIGAN DAILY MAGAZINE
a
Page Ten
THE
ICHIGAN DAILY MAGAZINE