Washington State University - Chinook Yearbook (Pullman, WA)

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pass that there may be brought to the task the feeding and clothing and shelt¬ ering and rendering healthy and happy the masses of mankind the highest results of the trained mind, and that these subjects in turn may serve the noble purpose of constituting the food upon which the mind may grow and develop into its highest maturity and strength. I think I make myself clear. The bridge that spans yonder mighty torrent is as high and wonderful a prod¬ uct of mind as the world knows of. On the common physical laws about us, with the common material over which the common artisan labors, the mind grew to the possibility of this achievement which daily ministers to the com¬ fort and welfare of mankind. But I should fail to make clear to you that which seems to me the great¬ est thought in modern education and which it is the mission of this institution to realize, did I not point out that no narrow interpretation is to be put upon this type of education. Mere manual training, the mere acquirement of skill in doing things, the mere empirical knowledge of the results of scientific in¬ vestigation, are helpless to give you the power which you seek. The results that will be of avail are not to be learned as a trick. They are not to be ac¬ quired in a day. Only broad knowledge acquired by patient, persistent plod¬ ding will help you. If we are true to our trust, we will offer the best that science has to offer. We will here lead the student deep into the mysteries of Nature. We will bring to his aid linguistic and literary and philosophical study and historical research. We will help to develop him into a well- rounded, a full-orbed man. New subjects of study, new methods of work need bring to him no narrower culture—rather a broader view and a truer grasp of life and things.

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(Etotortt Qfturattmt (Extract from an address delivered by President Bryan, on the occasion of the dedication of the Administration Building.) m rHAT then does this institution stand for? What educational thought does it embody? Why should we find in it such a source of the people ' s strength? It would be a task too onerous for me, too tedi¬ ous for you, to trace the growth of educational thought in the world’s past history. It has had its evolution just as plant life and animal life. The philosophy of education and the art of education are not today what they were a century ago. Were I asked wherein has come about the greatest change I should answer, in the attitude of man toward the material world— in the study of what by common consent we have come to call “science.” How feeble the lamp of learning as revealed in the trivium and quadrivium and the mummeries of the recluse of the middle ages. It was the only lamp, and we are thankful that it was not extinguished. What a stride in educa¬ tional thought from the refinements of the schoolmen to the inductive phil¬ osophy of Bacon. And yet the full results of that change were slow of reali¬ zation. With that quickening of the human intellect which we call the Re¬ vival of Learning there came a practical application of a philosophy which recognizes literary study as the only source of the development of intellectual power. As the glories of the Greek and Roman intellect burst anew upon the world during that age, not only did the vital thoughts contained in those literatures seem to be the only source of intellectual power, but the devotees of the new learning bowed at the shrine of the languages that conveyed them. The Greek and Latin Classics thus became the sole instrument of learning and almost the exclusive elements of the college curriculum. And I would be untrue to my own intellectual mother were I to deny that they rendered a high and effective service. Along with this theory of education there ran a theory of life which was no more true and complete and adequate than the former. “On earth there is nothing great but man; in man there is nothing great but mind.” Education must develop mind; and language, philosophy, and later, mathematics, are the effective means of mind development. Ma¬ terial concerns arc sordid. Material pursuits are servile. Only mind culture through the classic learning is liberalizing. The “learned professions” are wholly remote from the common concerns and common needs of the masses. On this theory higher education proceeded, whether its leaders were conscious of it or not. But a newer and truer philosophy of education has arisen. We have come to know that the mind grows by what it feeds upon. We have come to know that it may feed upon the common things of nature about it and receive as true a growth as from words; that it may gather strength from the fresh and living facts of nature as well as from the dried and preserved facts of books. That the mind frees itself from its servile condition, that it rises to as true and high a culture through science study as it does through the study of literature. And along with this has come a higher appreciation of the task of administering to the daily needs of men. Nothing is mean or low unless the mind makes it so. The commonest insect is glorified when seen in the light of all truth. And so, with this new belief, it has come to 12

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Cft? ©narft nf i l I- M15KKS OF TIIK liOARD iiflrmhprs uf Iljp IBoarii J. C. Cunningham D. S. Troy R. C. McCroskey Arthur Gunn aklo (r. Paine E. A. Bryan, Ex-Officio Governor Ernest Lister. Ex-Officio iE.vmrtUu? Iffimi uf % (Sullrge Enoch A. Bryan.... President Osmar L. Waller.Vice-President Elton Fulmer.....Dean of College Frank T. Barnard. Registrar W n. C. Kruegel.Accountant Rhoda M. hite....Dean of A omen n