Philadelphia Osteopathic Hospital School of Nursing - Cranium Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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ASSISTANT SUPERVISORS Mary Kochut Ann Kochut Ruth Yoder Eleanor Rapp Dorothy Evans Betty Clancy 13

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SUPERVISORS EVA M. THOMPSON, R.N. Surgical Supervisor ESTHER B. YEATTER, R.N. Obstetrical Supervisor ROSE A. BREESE, R.N. Osteopathic Supervisor MAXINE M. McCOWN, B.S. Dietitian 12

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WHY BE EDUCATED Education has been wisely defined by Haldane as the development of per- sonality; a postulate subscribed to by many philosophers in pedagogy. There needs must follow the natural corollary that education is a process of development of unfolding from within. Mighty oaks from little acorns grow, but with equal propriety we might say that without little acorns there could be no mighty oaks. If, at first, there is no personality to be developed, attempts at education are doomed to be dismal failures. Personalities may be good or they may be evil, which leads to the propo- sition of Davidson who conceives of education as being world building. Our personalities and our vocations create the worlds in which we live. The per- sonality of the criminal is evil, he lives in a world of crime, he does not need education for he displays only the most primitive, warped and unrepressed emotions. The true nurse is educated, her personality is developed, un- folded, to a world of service. Nursing is one of the profession of the healing arts devoted to service. A profession might be thought of as a vocation in which one engages with more concern as to how much service he renders than to how much material gain he receives. This in sharp contrast to business, industry or labor in which gain is a primary objective. It is indeed vastly different to make a living than to make a life. Thus we see that nursing education satisfies the oldest and most idealistic functions of education, viz: to enable the individual to render a greater ser- vice to his community, to be a better citizen, rather than to put and keep a good coat on the back. It would seem that the only purpose for our going through life is that with our passing the world might be a little better from our having been here. Education, then, is not a process of pouring into minds quantities of settled knowledge but rather developing within these minds correct habits of think- ing. The ideal is not the acquisition of knowledge for its own sake, for know- ledge like any other commodity is of no value unless it can be used. The greater to be desired than knowledge, is understanding. Theoretical knowledge has been much attacked as compared with prac- tical knowledge. William James has shown the practical side of theoretical teaching by saying, One who is educated is able to extricate himself, by means of examples with which his memory is stored and of the abstract con- ceptions which he has acquired, from circumstances in which he never was placed before. This puts a more practical, a more tangible value on edu- cation. On this occasion my message to nurses, whether student or graduate, is to bid you to recall the purposes behind your training. Sometimes in the press of human affairs we forget, or fail to see, the most fundamental reasons behind our life. With the present upheaval in labor, industry and business one might well ask, Why be educated ? OTTERBEIN DRESSIER, D.O. 14