St Francis College - Franciscan Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

Page 20 text:

ADMINISTRATION FACULTY STAFF A college is comprised of a variety of elements; there are its president and his administrators, the secretaries, a faculty, students and of course, there is the building where all these groups come together. The building holds within it an office for each administrator, a desk and typewriter for each secretary, but for faculty and students there is a uni¬ que arrangement. Faculty and students share classrooms. Within the classroom the faculty member is assigned the desk at the front of the room while the students are seated in front of this desk. A faculty member face-to-face with students; here is where the important difference between school and education lies. It is the transference occurring between student and teacher that distinguishes this building from other buildings. Without the presence of faculty and students and their daily engagement in the pursuit of knowledge, this building would not be unlike an of¬ fice building. While all of the elements mentioned are necessary for the establishment of a college, it seems to be somewhat obvious that without its faculty and students there would be no need for its maintenance. The relationship shared by faculty and students is one which has come down through history. While the circumstances un- derwhich this relationship functions have changed the need for teachers by students has remained throughout time. Socrates: Since, then, not only by knowledge would men be good and useful to their cities (if they were so) but also by right opinion, and since neither knowledge nor true opinion comes to mankind by nature, being acquired — or do you think that either of them does come by nature, perhaps? Menon: No, not I. Socrates: Therefore they come not by nature, neither could the good be so by nature. Menon: Not at all. Socrates: Since not by nature, we inquired next whether it could be taught. Menon: Yes. Socrates: And if it could be taught, it would be wisdom. Menon: Certainly. Socrates: And if there were teachers, it could be taught, if no teachers, it could not? Menon: Just so. Socrates: Further, we agreed that there were no teachers of it? Menon: That is true. Socrates: We agreed, then, that it could not be taught, and that it was not wisdom? Menon: Certainly. Socrates: But, however, we agree that it is good? Menon: Yes. Socrates: And that which guides rightly is useful and good? Menon: Certainly. Socrates: Again, only these two things guide rightly, right opinion and knowledge; and if a man has these, he guides rightly — for things which happen rightly from some chance do not come about by human guidance: but in all things in which a man is a guide towards what is right, these two do it, true opinion and knowledge. —THE MENO Plato