Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 67.djvu/365

Rh decades the educational camp has been sharply divided over the ancient but recurring controversy between the Greek cultural ideal and the Roman utilitarian ideal. I venture the opinion that these two forces of educational idealism will soon reach a compromise which for all practical purposes will take this question out of the pale of serious debate. The classicist will concede that the scope of the term culture may be greatly enlarged, and he may even allow a quite new definition of the cultivated man. It will be generally admitted, to use Professor Bailey's phrase, that 'every subject in which men are interested can be put into pedagogic form and be a means of training the mind.' On the other hand, the technical educator will concede that a college graduate, in whatever course, should be a cultivated man and that there are certain studies with which all cultivated men should have some familiarity. The technical college will, moreover, be compelled to employ instructors who can so teach the technical subject that it shall not only give the knowledge and training desired, but shall also yield sound culture, become truly liberalizing and vision-giving. But a greater question remains. As society becomes more fully self-directive, the demand for social leadership increases. Almost instinctively we look to the college-trained man for such leadership. We expect him to understand and to help. answer the questions that society has to meet. It is not enough that he do his particular work well; he has a public duty. Only thus can he pay all his debt to society for the training he has had. Yet to-day our technical courses are largely engaged in training individuals who, barring some general culture, are highly specialized experts. What preparation, for instance, does the future engineer get in college for facing such a matter as the labor question? He is likely to be brought into close touch with this question. But as a rule he is not especially qualified to handle it. The point of view of the course he has pursued is technique, ever technique. He secures in college little incentive and less training for intelligent performance of his duty as citizen and as member of society. The problems of mathematics are not the problems of industry, and profound study of chemistry gives neither the premises nor the data for sound judgment upon social questions. These public questions can not be left to social experts. A democratic society must insist that all its educated men shall be leaders in solving society's problems. But even the educated men can not lead unless they have first been taught. I believe society has more to fear from technical experts who either neglect their social duty or are ignorant of the social problem than it has from highly trained specialists who have never studied Greek nor mastered Browning. Moreover, under modern conditions, have we a right to call that man cultivated who ignores the great social problems of the age? We face here one of the coming educational questions, how can the industrial course be