McMurry University - Totem Yearbook (Abilene, TX)

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Education in »8 truest sense ir. the development and unfolding of the latent powers and capacities of hu man personality to the end that life may be as rich and beautiful and useful as possible. In order to accom- plish this it is not only necessary to have a working knowledge and scientific understanding of the world in which wo live, but also to become familiar with the historical and cultural background of the race and the future hopes and aspirations of mankind. This gives depth and perspective to llfo as well as breadth and scope. One of the chief distinctions between beast and man is that the former lives only in the here and the now. but man is capacitated to live not only in the present, but in the past and the future not only where ho plants his feet, but wherever ho projects his mind and spirit Man is truly a throe dimensional being. When one becomes familiar with the centuries and millenluras that are past, grasps in vision splendid the possibilittes of the richness of the unfolding yearn, explores with his mind the four corners of the material universe, and with his spirit the soda! structure of the race, one then, and only then, comes into possession of his true inheritance. Wo need to understand once and for all the vast difference botween cultural education and vocational training. Training is for the body, whether of horses or men; education is for the mind and spirit. The ono trains men to do certain specific things to run engines, operate radios, handle machines, keep books or till tho soil; the other toaches men to think, to understand, to make judgments, to roason. to approve to love to hope, to aspire to know the good, the beautiful, the true, and to evaluate lifo not in Jerm3 of what thoy can get. but rather of what they can give. This is tho purpose and program of McMurry College and it welcomes the opportunity of revomo! to the artistic and cultural standards of education of the past. We fully realize the advantages of technical skill cis well as the importance of being able to hold a fob and make a living: but we believe that education. In its truest sense, is to know life and its meaning, this world and its real values, tho background from which wo have emerged, the future into which we as Individuals and a race may enter- to know truth, to appreciate beauty, to love goodness, and u grasp with faith the eternal verities of God and the Spirit. This supreme achievement is tho essence and purpose of education. Wherein we fall short of such a standard in McMurry College, we fall short of the Great Ideal.’ HAROLD G. COOKE. President.