SCHOLARSHIP AND THE STATE 5^ 



The future welfare of the state depends on economic and moral 

 conditions. If the natural resources are used up and new resources are 

 not discovered to supplant them, if the soil is worn out, the coal and 

 other minerals are used up and wasted, the rivers are allowed to fill up, 

 then organized human life will be almost impossible. On the other 

 hand, if all the natural wealth were preserved and the coming genera- 

 tions should not be taught so as to appreciate proper moral standards, 

 then obviously the natural wealth would be of no use. 



The postulates naturally lead us to declare that it is the state's duty 

 to investigate how it may best safeguard its future, and also to take 

 what action best judgment may dictate. The first question that arises 

 is whence is this best judgment to come. Plato's ideal state was to be 

 provided with seers or wise men selected and trained according to the 

 judgment of the wise men of the previous generation. But this idea is 

 fundamentally at variance with the ideals and practises of our democ- 

 racy. The people of the states of our time do not believe that any wise 

 man, or any set of wise men, have the ability or the right to know be- 

 forehand what youths will when matured fully be best suited to direct 

 the welfare of a single generation, much less the ability to select the 

 future men of best judgment. 



The idea is pretty well grounded in the American states, particu- 

 larly in the west and the middle west, that the state should with all its 

 power endeavor to see that every youth within its bounds should have 

 equal opportunities to make the most with his native ability. No human 

 power can distinguish a Lincoln before he has well matured. It is the 

 privilege of the state, yes, it is even its duty, to see that every person 

 shall do as much as possible, leaving it in a large measure to the indi- 

 vidual to know what he should do. We must therefore admit that it is 

 the duty of the state to offer educational assistance to all who will take 

 it, and that this education must usually partake of two ideals which 

 are apparently diametrically opposite. The ideal education will fit the 

 individual to be proficient in some useful line of activity, and at the 

 same time give him such a general education that he may be morally 

 sound. The first is the element of the professional education and the 

 second is the element of the liberal education. Excellence in the first 

 requires, providing the number of individuals are properly distributed, 

 essentially a narrow life, and gives a high efficiency with large immedi- 

 ate rewards both to the individual and to the state. Excellence in the 

 latter gives a broad view of the functions of the individual and of the 

 relative values of the various activities. So long as we maintain our 

 democratic habits and insist on selecting our wise men fully developed 

 from among the masses, the state should insist, as far as its wealth and 

 its power will permit, that all the individuals should have a liberal edu- 

 cation. No method of reasoning or no experience of the past can show 



