East Tennessee State University - Buccaneer Yearbook (Johnson City, TN)

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THE CHALK LINE 29 June 5, 1931 equation. Let us admit at once that there are men on whom a college education would be wasted. The old saying about putting a thousand dollars worth of education over a hundred dollar boy is as true as it ever was. Also there are exceptional men to whom a college could give nothing—but only a few of them. Even within these limits what each individual student gets from his col¬ lege depends largely on himself. He may waste nis four years or make them of untold value. The question then returns to this: For the man with an average mind, or better, willing to make good use of his opportunities, does it pay to spend tour years in the general cultural studies included in what we ordinarily term a college course? for the professions the tendency has always been to answer the question in the affirmative. The law student finds some of the best law schools settling it for him by requiring two to four years of college work for admission as a regular stu¬ dent. The same is becom ing true of the medical schools, except that in their case there is a some¬ what more definite statement of the “pre¬ medical” work to be done in college. In both these cases the requirement is justified. A man may make a kind of a lawyer by building his legal studies on the foundation of a high school course or less; if he is a good business man, he may make a success in certain legal fields without a general education—and without much of a legal education either. But if he wishes to go any distance into the history and theory of the law; if he wishes to be able to deal with a new situ¬ ation on general legal principles rather than by a liberal citation of nearly parallel cases; if he has any hope of making any real contributions of his own to the science; then he needs a broader basis in history and philosophy, and the college is the surest and in some senses the cheapest means to get it. Likewise in medicine the physician needs today a broad foundation of pure science for his own specialty. While in both professions, deal¬ ing as they do with all kinds of people and all phases of their business, any item of any branch of knowledge may at some time or other prove useful if not vital. To the clergyman the value of a college course is still greater. I take for granted the need of the classics as a foundation for scriptural exegesis, and of secular history as a background for the history of the Church and its doctrines, of philosophy and psychology for an understanding of religion in itself and its in¬ fluence on human beings. But more than this we have to recognize today the weakness of the hold of the Church upon educated men, a weakness ac¬ centuated by the various failures of organized Christianity in connection with the Great War. One very influential cause of this has been the fact that such men found the clergy their intel¬ lectual inferiors, and have felt that they had nothing to give them, or that what they offered was unreliable. In that condition of things it is apparent that the man who enters the ministry will find the broadest possible education none too much. For teaching and its related professions the need of a college course is self-evident. But what of the man who does not enter a profession, but goes into business, or industry, or even back to the farm? Is a college course a paying investment for him? I answer emphatic¬ ally, “Yes.” Directly it is often of some help, that is some of the actual items of knowledge he has acquired may be turned directly to account. But its great value is indirect. Industry is today very special¬ ized. Most men have each a small field of action which they must know thoroughly. It is rare indeed that they can get just that information at college. But their college course should have given them the ability to learn their work, to see their position and its duties as a whole, the rela¬ tion of one part to another; to analyze it, and deal with each part in succession, so that they can get their work into running order quicker than the untrained man. From this specializa¬ tion of business another consequence follows: No one man can work alone, all must be made to work together; and the highest places and the highest rewards go to the men who can see all these small¬ er fields in their relation to the larger whole, and keep the army of special workers below them moving in harmony without friction or overlap- ing. And this broader vision, this grasp of method which may be applied to many different kinds of data, is exactly what the college educa¬ tion should give a man, and will, if, on his side, he works for it. He may get it without the col¬ lege—many men have, but it is at the cost of much labor and many failures. But whether a man is in business or a profes¬ sion, he must be a citizen whether he wishes it or not. As a citizen, however small, his infinitesimal part of the governing of the country may be, he is responsible for doing it right. Now many if not most of our mistakes in national policy in the past have risen from lack of knowledge of all the relations of our acts; or from heedlessness

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28 THE CHALK LINE June 5, 1931 DREAMS Dreams play an important role in the life of every individual. The small boy looks forward eagerly to the day when he will win the coveted honor of being a member of the team. The little girl thinks of the time when she will wear the cap and gown—not that devoting scholastic at¬ tainment, but the one adorned with orange blos¬ soms. The inexperienced doctor dreams of be¬ coming a renowned surgeon, having constantly before him a mental picture of a great hospital, of which he is the director, where almost miraculous cures are effected, and of scores of white-capped nurses waiting for his directions. The struggling lawyer has visions of winning his first case, of be¬ coming well known for his legal ability, and of pleading his cases before the Supreme Court of his state. The minister dreams of a celestial world in which love, peace, and friendship pre¬ vail. Without dreams the world would be a veritable Sahara; man would give up hope and drift into the sea of despair; education and religion would lose its most important ally. Dreams seem to be universal; yet perhaps the person who has greatest need for them is the teacher. While she is trying to introduce Susie to the delights of Baby Ray, meanwhile attempting to prevent Johnny ' s sticking pins in the little girl in front of him and throwing spit balls across the room, it requires a great deal of courage and patience to keep from giving up in despair. To the teacher without dreams each child is only another cause for worry; while the teacher who knows how to dream effectively sees in each of the unpromising specimens of humanity before her a second George Washington or Abraham Lincoln. Each day ' s preparation becomes not just another lesson, but another link in the chain of physical and mental growth. The successful teacher is the one who dreams, who has high ideals, and puts these into daily use. The dreams ahead are a stimulus to creative thinking and purposeful activity. This idea has been very well expressed by Edwin Carlile Litsey, in: The Dreams Ahead What would we do in this world of ours, Were it not for the dreams ahead? For thorns are mixed with the blooming flowers No matter which path we tread. And each of us has his golden goal, Stretching far into the years; And ever he climbs with a hopeful soul, With alternate smiles and tears. That dream ahead is what holds him up Through the storms of a ceaseless fight; When his lips are pressed to warmwood ' s cup, And clouds shut out the light. To some its a dream of high estate; To some its a dream of wealth; To some it ' s a dream of a truce with fate, In a ceaseless search for health. To some its a dream of home and wife; To some, of a crown above. The dreams ahead are what make each life; The dreams, and faith, and love. —G. H. DOES A COLEGE EDUCATION PAY? To answer this question, I must limit some¬ what its scope. By a college education, I do not mean a course at a technical school. The ques¬ tion of the value of a technical education is one to be determined on its own merits. In consider¬ ing it, we must leave out most of the elements which make up the value of a college education. On the other hand, other elements enter which are more easily measured in dollars and cents. For today and for some years to come, the ma¬ terial losses of the Great War and the need of replacing them have thrown the utility of the engineer into high relief. The only questionings that may come to the graduate in engineering arise from the high wages of unskilled and semi¬ skilled workmen—munition workers at five hun¬ dred dollars a week and potato peelers at six dol¬ lars a day—but those conditions are probably only transitory. Nor do I refer to profesisonal education. Whether it pays to spend three to five years at a school of law or medicine or theology is not a ques¬ tion of whether that education pays, but whether the profession itself pays. The same is true to a lesser extent of teaching and related occupations. The real question about the college education here relates to its utility as a prerequisite to a professional course—a matter which I will dis¬ cuss later. Furthermore, I do not wish to ignore, though I cannot fully discuss, the question of the personal

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30 THE CHALK LINE June 5, 1931 and refusal to see the consequences to which like causes have led in the past. A college education for the man who has it, should fill this lack. Deal¬ ing much with the past—for which it is sometimes condemned—it should give the graduate, when he is acting as a citizen, the historical perspective from which to judge the policies he is asked to support or oppose by comparison with similar policies and their results in his own and other countries. The habit which it should give of looking on things not by themselves but in their relations to others will enable the citizen to ap¬ praise the proposals of either the enthusiastic re¬ former or the rigid reactionary; to search for and if necesary to expose to others the immedi¬ ate or remote consequences which the preponents of a scheme are very apt, with or without inten¬ tion, to keep somewhat in the background. And what of the value of the college education to the man, himself, as a man? It is well for a man to be devoted to his work, but man was not made to work all the time. Outside of his office, he should be something more than the “tired business man.” He can do his work better if his education has enabled him when the day ' s work is done to turn to something entirely different, something which will send him back to his desk refreshed by the rest which comes from an en¬ tire change of ideas and interests. Perhaps it is here that the college education pays best after all. For the other features which I have spoken of have to do only with making a living—this counts in making a life. LOVE ETERNAL Was I long, long ago with you somewhere ? Have we far distant lands ever trod? Since the Spirit returns to the Giver, Were we not long ago then with God? There is something that makes me recal it, But I cannot recall where or when, In the depths of my soul though I feel it, And I know that we love now as then. For our Love is of God, and eternal. It was then; it is now; it shall be, When, with bodies celestial, we enter Into joys mortal eyes cannot see. —I. L. H. THE TRAIL OF LONG AGO (Meditations of a T. C. Alumnus ? Years Hence) As I idly sit and gaze at the stars In the moonlight ' s shinning glow My mind goes back to a well worn track To a trail of long ago. I can see it still as it stretches way ' Twixt a border of maples and oaks With the sunlight here, and the shadows there, And the clouds floating by like smoke. I can feel the cool breeze on my cheek. Hear a ripple of laughter low. I can smell the perfume of the lilacs in bloom Down that trail of the long ago. But others are walking that trail tonight Little dreaming that we may know The mystic delight of those starry nights Down that trail of long ago. They go to the Library, and there they halt. Then up to the main building, slow. To the Cafe and back—they are all on the track In the trail of the long ago. Lost: Two nights sleep. Cause: A girl named Inez. Result: Red present at roll-call but passed right out. “Hello.” “Hello, is this Margaret?” “Yes.” “Do you still love me?” “Yes, who is it?” Frances: You raised your hat to that girl who passed. You don ' t know her, do you? Mr. Brown: No, but my brother does and this is his hat. A dainca A data Out lata Perchanca A classa A quizza No passa Gee whizza.