A Broader
Mission for
Liberal Education ...
Baccalaureate Address,
Delivered in
Agricultural College Chapel,
Sunday, June 9, 1901.
By....
J. H. WORST, LL. D.
President.
A Broader Mission for Liberal
Education.
Baccalaureate Address, Delivered in Agricultural
College Chapel, Sunday, June 9, 1901.
BY J. H. WORST, LL. D.
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE P. O.,
North Dakota.
A BROADER MISSION FOR LIBERAL EDUCATION.
BACCALAUREATE ADDRESS, DELIVERED IN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE
CHAPEL, SUNDAY, JUNE 9, 1901.
BY J. H. WORST, LL. D., PRESIDENT.
In America we recognize no aristocracy except that of genius or ofcharacter. Our countrymen are all citizens. Our government was foundedupon the principle that "all men are created free and equal" and thoughintellectual endowments differ widely in individuals, yet specialprivileges are accorded to no one as a birthright. Therefore the collegegraduate, as well as any other aspirant, must carve his way to fame andfortune by energy and perseverance, or lose his opportunity in thetremendous activities going on about him. His only advantage is superiortraining which must nevertheless be pitted against practical minds instrenuous rivalry for every desirable thing he would accomplish. Themere fact of education is considered no badge of merit. Educationrepresents power, but until it manifests itself in action, it is merelystatic, not dynamic, potential, not actual. It conveys to its recipientno self-acting machinery which, without lubricant or engineer will reeloff success or impress mankind, as a matter of course.
The question is no longer asked by practical men "what does a man know"but "what can he do?" Knowing and doing have thus become so intimatelyassociated by common consent as to be inseparable; for knowing withoutdoing is indolence and doing without knowing is waste of energy. Theformer is sinful, the latter wasteful. For many years progressiveeducators have been striving against the culture-alone theory andadvocating the education of the whole man—hand as well as head, body aswell as mind. As a result the ancient educational structure is prettywell broken down, and the erstwhile curriculum has become areminiscence. Many wealthy parents still educate their children for thelarger pleasure which they believe education of the old type will affordthem in life, but parents generally have come to look upon life as aperiod of intense activity rather than a brief round of pleasure, andhence provide an education for their children that will fit them for theevery day demands that duty or necessity may make upon them. Since it isa matter of common observation that wealth is easily dissipated,especially when inherited, farseeing parents prefer an education fortheir children that is adapted to some useful end rather than theeducation that is largely ornamental or fashionable.
The vicissitudes of life are many. Fortune is fickle and but few youngpeople can hope to command perpetual leisure even should their badjudgment make such a thing desirable. There can never be realindependence of thought and action apart from one's conscious ability tocope with others on equal terms in any human emergency