Goshen College - Maple Leaf Yearbook (Goshen, IN)

Page 33 text:

GOSHEN COLLEGE RECORD. 29 wander from the beaten track and bring some contribution of l1is own. lt is simpler to follow in college work, especially when it leads to good ex- amination marks. ln such an educa- tion, enthusiasm is chilled by school- ish ideals and the initiative of the in- dividual destroyed. VVith. such an edu- cation for preparation, the business man's complaint is justified. Many college men and women have gone out inefficient, unfiitted for actio11 in the world. They learn to be efficient af- terwards at great cost. But these H1611 and women are l1Ot really educated. A college student may spend four years at an institution and 110t be educated. Dean Swift- said at Oxford in a bitter way, that it was a seat of great learn- ingf' For, said hc, 'tEverybody who enters must bring some learning there, if he wishes to enter, no one when he leaves takes any away. Therefore it has steadily accumulated until there is much therefl Such a theoretical im- practical education which leads to no positive practical results, is like the road described in Longfellowls 'fHy- pcrion, which after leading over pleasant hills and thru smiling mea- dows and shady woods, narrows at last into a squirrel track and runs up a tree. Society today demands efficient men for it leaders. We are living in an age of progress and achievement. Yet so- ciety realizes very keenly the great need of efficient, educated men, for it is only by the guidance and leadership of such men that society can be made to march forward. Signs of ineffici- ency and waste are noticeable on every hand. Consider the great waste of na- tural resources today because of the lack of efficient means of consumption. We waste millions of dollars a year through losses of growing crops, fruit trees, grain in storage by noxious in- sects whose multiplication is largely due to careless methods of agriculture, not only in these lines but in all our activities, political, social, moral and religious, there is a great waste due to lack of organization Hlld inefficiency of leaders. The great need today is for efficient leadership. Wlmat kind of an education should a college give so that the students might become efficient men and women. The answer is given in the popular cry to- day, Practical Education. Practical education, however, in the minds of many of its advocates means primarily an education for purely material ends. The question of concern for them is VVhat education can I get that will help me to make money? Because of this narrow view they say, Banish Philosophy, Latin and Greek from our curriculum. Are Latin and Greek not practical just because they are not spoken at railway stations or in society in general? ls Philosophy not practical just because it may not directly aid you in getting a position? lt is un- doubtedly true that scientific and in- dustrial schools are doing an invalu- able work in thc preparation of men and Women for lifcls wo1'k. They should hold a high place in education- al agencies, but having them because they p1'epare an individual for a spe- cific work should be a subsidiary point. The prime motives of these subjects and in fact all subjects in a curriculum should be that they prepare the indi- vidual to become an efficient promoter of the great interest of society. The true aim of education then, is not to make teachers, farmers, lawyers or

Page 32 text:

28 GOSHEN COLLEGE RECORD. called the college. This fact should bring to the college man and woman with all seriousness a keen sense of re- sponsibility for the ninety-five per- cent. lt should make them conscious of the great need of proper training. so that they might become efficient men and women of their communities. The college then in its training for efficiency, is not dealing with a body of adults in the heat and ardor of life 's struggles, nor of common youths as they walk our streets, but choice niaterial destined for exalted ends. Nearly every village and country com- munity selects, unconsciously perhaps, its most promising young men and women and sends them to college to train them for lifc's best work. The colleges today are training the excep- tional men and women of their society. They are the Helitel' of mankind. The college trained man or woman then, becomes a leader, at constructive, aggressive force in society. lt is to this body of men and women that the world looks for leadership. lt is they who will make society march forward. As a leader of society the college graduate must be efficient, for the true test of leadership is efficiency. Wlizitt is Efficiency? What do We imply when we speak of an efficient man? Efficiency, says Dr. Eliot, is effective power for service during an active life. The phase 'power for service' suggests another very essential question. ls the college graduate, to be a man of service or what ought to be his relation to society? These ques- tions mnst be answered before we can consider the education which will make for efficiency. Man is a social being and as a social being he either becomes a help or hindrance to society. The man of greatest benefit to society is he who loses his life in service to his fellow- men, One of the essential qualities of this man of service is efficiency. Effi- ciency means more than goodness. A man to be efficient, must be more than good. He must be good for something. A man may have an excellent char- acter and yet be wholly inefficient for his life work. Being a good man does not excuse a physician or dentist, who does poor work and is inefficient. He must he a prepared, trained, efficient man. A man must know how to do as well as to be. The modern Diogenes does not go about with a lantern seek- ing goodness. Ile seeks for efficiency which implies goodness. lint if Dio- genes should seek for men of etficiency, whereshallheseek? Where shall these men of fitness and capacity to perform come from U? Theqnestion must be an- swered by the colleges of our land. lt is true that in times past, the great leaders have not come from our col- leges. ln fact some of them were often failures in college life. Our colleges of times past have not given the in- struction which has developed leader- ship. Society was on a lower plane of civilization. Men who half a century ago were considered great and efficient. leaders would be considered today as ordinary and mediocre men. The coin- plaint of the the modern business man is often well founded when he says that the high school or college gradu- ate is often utterly helpless. lle con- not work out any problems by himselt He does not know how to get the in- formation needed for its solution. The school life of this individual has been characterized by conformity of direc- tions, learning so far as required what was put before him, but uninspired to

Page 34 text:

30 GOSHEN COLLEGE RECORD. pl11'sieiz111S. IFS to malie l'l'2ll llliflll- hoocl z1111l 11'o111z111l1oo1l, 'l'l1e11 let vo- l'ill,l01lQfll life he SlFCUlltli'll'Y. 01' in Ollllfl' XV0l'1,lS the l1l'll0 aim off l'1lllUil1l1lOll is the c:o11111le1io11 ol' the i111livi1l11z1l and ltllvll lhe- 2111111111011 of the i111livi1l11z1l to Slllill coo11e1'a11io11 with the soeieiy in which his lol. is cnet, that lll' works at best with 11 E11 111-1'l'eeti11g' its own type. 111 orcler that this lllily be 2lCCOIllpllSl1- cal. two 111'o11ositio11s about college edu- cz11io11 Co111111z1111l lll1lVU1'Sill Elljliltlllilllfjltl l l1's11, 21 wide l'illlQ'K3 of s11l1je1e1s shoulrl he siucliecl 111111, sceeoml, l,l'il,lllll1g,' for 11ow1-1' of work Zllltl sci-rviee should he the lJl'lllllf ohjeel ol' t'LlllU2lllOl1. A 111'z1e- tival Cl,lllCilll01l, 111:11 kind H1111 lll2iliE'S for efl'ieie111'y z1i111s ut the mln-veIo11111e11t of the Whole 111z1.11, pl1ysieiz1lly, Illktlllillly z1111l S1Jll'ltllilllj'. 'lll1U1'0 was 11 1111111 111 the history of l'KlllC?ll'lO11 XVlIlfll the subjects taught sem-1111-d to he the Ul'lllf,'l'2il1tl 1-1111 of eclu- ezltiou. AWe ll2l1V0 sl1ifte1,l l5l'0lll that View lo that of the i111,livi1l11a1l. 'We View this i111,livi1l11z1l not ns 21 lI1G11lEll llliiijllllll' hui' we luke :1eeo1111t of all IJIIEISCS of l1islil'1-. We forgot for 21 long time tl Lf evm-y llllllll G0ll1US to school lll 11. body 211111 1,1111 l, that hotly 111 which it eo111es clete1'111i11es to 11 large extent 11'l1:1t the llllllll 1f:111 2lCC0lIl1lllSlI. 'llll0l'C is llllltill lQ1'llll-l 111 llll? saying. HAS you think, so you 2ll'l'g us you 1-111, so you tI1i11lcg l'll01'l'lcOI'l', as you ent, so you 2ll'l'.', The truly l'lll1CHliCll lllilll H1011 has mlm-1'1-l11pm-Ll his physical as well as lllCll- 1z1l and spi1'il.11z1l. A. well t1'z1i11e1l llllllll is one that can W1-igl1 evicle11ee, cl1'z1w ELCClll'il1'LC l1lfCl'- ences, lllillilj lair C0lll1JHl'lS0llS and fOl'll'l jllllglll0l1lS. I11 the metal LlUVi?l0Plll8liJL there are the two phalses of edmation: the one which fits the individual for his specific work and the other phase lllkl-V he eallecl fl'2ll11l11g' for Cllll'll1'9. For 1111 emlueatioh for efficiency not only his il lllilll for work, but it fits him to live. fl1llllll'l', howeve1', :ls lD1'. lfite says cloes not l1OllSlSl1 1ll'lIllitl'lly in flll- grm-1' howls illlll saying 110-llll0l.' for 11ei1l1e1'. Nor is il Clllllll'Cl 1111111 that lll'YSl llI'lOllS, i111111':1.etief1l l1llt'0l'ft'LlC8l 111z111, who is ll'I'l'S0llll7C, 111-wilclm-1'e1l lll U0lll?l0l' with l'1'2ll IJl'OlJlCll1S, unfit for p1'z1elicz1l life. Real Cllltllllf ll1tlliCS 21 llltlll, not El li1e1':11'y fop, hut it trains 111111 to the host uses of all his 11owe1's 211111 0ll?llJl0S hi111 to choose il' ez11'eer for whieh I1e is tim-11, 111' that gives l1i111 l.hz1t ll1'gl'l'K'l' or c11l1iv11ii1111 that will 1,-11al1le hi111 to live 211111 work lll0l'0 i11te11sely, illltl enjoy it. 0111- Glilllllil-l'l0ll then, to p1'ml11ee the eftieiellt 1111111 must have the p1':1e1iez1l 211111 the idealistic, the 11121- Ic-1'ia1l and the spirituzil, 111i11glecl in pro- per lll'01J0l'll0ll with due l'0g?ll'd for the 1111111111011 1111111.15 211141 also for the special 1lCl'1,lS of all in t'V4'l'y co1111111111it,y. 'lll'lll' 6i,llICZl111l0ll prepares for eomplete living. No one lives co111plet.eIy who 1lK'2'l0ClS to flevelop his spi1'il,1121.l life. The lean-I1111' of whom it was saicflz-I. Cfilll not lllxill' what you say, for what you are iS'1'i11g111g 111 my ez11's, was not :111 1-fEieie11t l'e:1el1e1', though l1e may have lUlClCl'Sl001l all tl1e lmeflagogieal 111'i11ei11leS 211111 have lllHSf0l'C1l the whole lielrl of lil'lOXVl0llgl5. For ?l1l.l1l!l' all it is 11111. so lllllijll what one knows, that is l'SS1'llflHl, as how his lillOXVlIlg effects his heing' z111cl ivliblllg. Erfll1cz1tir111 111021115 ll-111-11i11g to be, as well as to do. The Gdllftitlkil, efficient 11111.11 then, is il, lllilll of large visioug EL llltlll that e11- joys hoth his work and leisureg EL 1111111 that has 11 critical CllSC61'11ll1f'lll2 of beau- ty and excellence in words, thoughts, 211111 11E1tl1l'Q. He has the power to feel, hear, and see. He has the motive pow-