Febeuaky 8, 1918] 



SCIENCE 



129 



of vocational efficiency the severer ranges 

 of thought involved in the study of the 

 fundamental sciences, mathematics, eco- 

 nomics, civics, psyeholog}', language and 

 literature should be reduced to a minimum. 

 Can any one of us who has traveled the 

 academic road and recalls the varying reac- 

 tions upon his intellectual vision and 

 equipment of the several subjects which 

 engaged his attention as a student believe 

 this is the needed training for such leader- 

 ship as is demanded? Ask graduates from 

 ultra-practical courses of study who have 

 entered the service of a college or station, 

 or who have attempted leadership in a 

 rural community, how they regard this 

 matter and you will get enlightenment 

 from those whose experience justifies an 

 opinion as to the adequacy of their under- 

 graduate training. They will tell you, as 

 many of them have told others, that they 

 are called upon to enter into ranges of 

 thought and to meet problems for which 

 the college did not even lay the foundation 

 of an adequate preparation. 



Insistent questions arise just at this 

 point. Can we reasonably speak of voca- 

 tional efBcieney or efficiency in any direc- 

 tion as apart from intellectual efficiency? 

 Are technical expertness and practical 

 facts a substitute for the development of 

 the reasoning powers and the establish- 

 ment of a soimd basis on which to rest con- 

 clusions? For the future citizen, will the 

 ability to judge a steer take the place of 

 ability to judge a political candidate's civil 

 and political theories? As a factor in the 

 economic success of a rural community, 

 will a knowledge of fertilizers take the 

 place of wise plans for the disposal of the 

 crops produced? For a human being 

 whose life will be less than a success if he 

 accomplishes nothing more than vocational 

 prosperity and does not enter effectively 

 into the problems of community welfare, 



which is worth the most — ability to think 

 clearly concerning human conduct and re- 

 lations or mere expertness in farm manage- 

 ment? Is anything a substitute for the 

 development of high ideals of conduct and 

 a clear understanding of human relations? 

 In short, what are the major objects of 

 human living and in what way can educa- 

 tion serve these? Is the educational pol- 

 icy of our land grant colleges sufficiently 

 directed toward the larger issues of life? 

 Is it not entirelj'^ possible that the educa- 

 tion provided at these institutions has be- 

 come too material and commercial, and 

 that we need to pause and consider whether 

 vocational success without human efficiency 

 is a result greatly to be desired ? These are 

 questions for serious thought and they now 

 demand our attention. 



If we accept the view, as obviously we 

 must, that the mentality of a man or woman 

 is a dominating factor in his or her human 

 value and individual success, then we should 

 carefully scrutinize the relation of the sub- 

 ject-matter of the college classroom to the 

 development of intellectual acumen and vis- 

 ion. We may make a grievous error if we 

 too fullj^ abandon what is termed the cul- 

 tural point of view in education and fail to 

 nourish the intellect and to establish with 

 our graduates a basis for correct and sound 

 thinking regarding the broad relations of 

 life. It will be a fatal error if we allow the 

 demand for commercial advantage to cause 

 us to ignore the need for soul and mind 

 culture. Should we not, therefore, revert 

 to some extent to the older and somewhat 

 abandoned point of view held by the earlier 

 educators that the function of the college 

 is to establish with the student not so much 

 a mass of facts as the ability to deal with 

 facts ? 



Putting these questions in another form, 

 we ask whether the ultra-practical course 

 of study is not a mistake and whether the 



