Friday. April 3. I970

SCARLET AND BLACK

The Nature of a Liberal Education: Par’r 4 )Moiiyrs
The Development of Hie Mind is Discussed

in the development of the mind
we have included a Career, the
development oi the intellect, and
the appreciation oi the arts Each
oi these requires a discussion;
first, let us consider a career.

Some careers are purely
technical and require knowledge
and-or skill mainly within a given
iield, e,g,, surgery, physical
education, and the teaching oi
mathematics, or of a language
(not including literature). Others
require an added knowledge oi
a variety of related Iields for
their completion, e.g., drama,
economics, politics, law,
philosophy; tor a good dramatist
must have strong insights into
human nature and be somewhat
oi a philosopher; a good
economist must be sufficiently
informed of political theory,
practice, and tendencies; and a
good lawyer needs logic,
psychology, and knowledge of
human nature. In general, the
more a career becomes com-
prehensive, the more it requires
a iorm or a proper ordering or
its various elements tor its
completeness; and as it becomes
more complete, it becomes more
successful and so adds more
enjoyment to its activity, '

A career is a dominant or the
dominant part ot a man’s ac-
tivity; and since interest in a
career contributes a great deal
to one’s happiness, the proper
choice of it becomes a matter
of importance. Some students
decide early on a career and do
not change their minds. Others,
due to a variety oi interests or
a change or mind, need time to
get acquainted with a number oi
iields before making the proper
choice; and an institution which
allows them this time and en-
courages them to be exposed to
a number of fields is more likely
to contribute to that choice.
There are also those who do not
know what they want, and with
time these too may iind what they
want. The decision on a career,
then, should not be hastened by
iullilling requirements early;
and while most students decide
by the end or the second year
in college, a iew need more time
and should not be left to those
who know less (eg, to the
student), but should be deter-
mined by those who know more
(i.e., by the experts in each
lield). Such rhetorical phrases as
“relaxing or liberalizing the
requirements," “the student
knows what is best for him,”
“keeping up with thetimes,““it's
time ior change," are slogans or
coniusions and not arguments. So
while colleges may iind it ad-

visable to make changes ior
practical reasons, such changes
must be tactical and not
strategic, Strategic changes
must be made mainly because
of theoretical considerations As
tor the argument that
requirements should be lessened
to make a liberal education
possible tor a greater proportion
oistudents entering colleges, and
that the better students will
choose or be advised to choose
what is best ior them anyway,
this substitutes chance and
mediocrity for excellence and
may postpone what is needed,
thus cheating the able student.
So While some colleges with low
standards need this argument ior
survival or for bettering the
education of disadvantaged
students, the better colleges
should avoid it altogether if a
liberal education is to be such
as already deiined.

The problem of whether a
Career should be part of a liberal
education or not, is also resolved
by what has been said; tor the
more a career requires elements
from other fields for its per»
iection and proper eiiectiveness,
the more its own technical
aspects become only matter tor
a higher iorm. But the aim oi
a liberal education is happiness,
which includes an ordering of
pleasures, and one oi these is a
dominant or the dominant and
is present in a career. Hence a
career, especially when it
requires elements rrom other
fields, should be a part of a
liberal education.

The next problem is the
development or the student’s
intellect, or of his general in-
telligence, if you wish, and it is
concerned in a general way with
our present civilization, what it
is, how it has come to be, and
where it tends to be going and
should be going; and one might
call this “the history cl our
present civilization.” Man is a
political animal, to be sure, aiid
his “human vector” has (a) a
slariing point: the distant past
(1)) a quantity’ the orderly suin
tolal oi his development up to
the present, and (c) a direction:
an ideal goal or its promise in
the future, and to understand
himseli and where he is going,
in general he should have some
knowledge oi these parts, The
two parts of our present
civilization are its being and its
becoming. Its becoming is the
historical movement and the
ordered accomplishments up to
the present, with some intimation
of the future; that of its being
includes the general principles

 

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and truths which we regard as
constituting the nature oi our
present civilization. The terms
“static“ and “dynamic,” or
“permancncc” and “change”
have often been used for “being”
and “becoming.”

Knowing nothing about the past
is to some extent like starting
over again and making the same
mistakes; and trying to learn
everything about it leaves no
time [or progress. So there should
be a sense oi proportion and a
golden mean, limited to what is
outstanding (truth, goodness and
beauty) and studied in a general
way and not intensively Man’s
becoming, then, is man's history
since the dawn of civilization, and
it should include its main
aspects: political, economic,
intellectual, artistic, and
religious; and the study oi this
should be part of a liberal
education, Part of the material
tor this should be direct sources,
ior works oi great men cannot
be achieved with the same
adequacy and accuracy by lesser
men The integration (ti-historical
sources, on the other hand,
always remains a problem, and
one may use what seems the best
available; tor example, Ranr
dall’s “The Making of the Modern
Mind” was Successfully used for
this purpose for a liumbcr of
years,

As [or the other part, the being
or our present civilization, it is
concerned with art, science, and
method, regarded as permanent
contributions or almost so, being
also to some extent good for
everyone to know. Every
scientist or artist should have
some training in the general
prerequisites of his special
science or art; and all others,
businessmen and lawyers and
bankers and the rest, would
derive some benefits from such
prerequisites or “logical"
training Such a course may be
called ”methodology,” and it is
concerned with the principles of
any science (the nature oi
science, or logic and scientiiic
methods) and those oi any art
A scientist, tor examplc, should
have a deiinitc idea of the nature
oi his particular science, and

LIBERAL EDUCATION—

Continued on page 5

GLASSES

Made and Repaired
in Our Laboratory

Contact Lenses

Cases and
Solutions

Eyes Examined
Phone 236-3779

E. J. Jensen, 0.0.

OPTOM ETRIST

Across from Post Office
Clored riturr. r.M.
mid Sat. RM.

Continued from page 1

member of the Grinnell class of
1960, will lead his jazz combo in
an a PM concert in Roberts
Theater Saturday. A concert-
dance at 9:30 P M. Friday in the
North Lounge oi the College
Forum will feature the Soul
Brothers Band.

Admission to the Hancock
concert will he by ticket only,
A limited number of lickets have
been set aside for the public and
are being distributed at the Fine
Arts Center office. Holders of
college activity cards can secure
tickets at the main desk of the
College Forum.

Errril Jones, actorrin-rcsidence
al Gflllnell, and members of the
Concerned Black Students will
present Black Theater producA
tions in the Hallie Flanagan
Arena Theater at 2:30 P,M
Saturday and an RM. Sunday.

The Rev. Joseph H. Williams,
a minister-educator from Minr
iieapolis, Minn ,will speak at the
College Church Service
scheduled [or ii A.M, Sunday in
Herrick Chapel.

The Rev. Mr. Williams, who
earned a B, from Tennessee
State University and a ED. h-oin
Central Baptist Theological
Seminary in Kansas City, Mo,
is currcntly doing doctoral work
in education administration at
the University oi Minnesota. He
also serves as assistant principal
oi Lincoln Junior High School in
Minneapolis and as acting pastor
oi Pilgrim Baptist Church in St.

Page Three

Piiul,
Special music tor the service
will he provided by the Chicago

Ellscnibic Gospel Group.

An open house is slated irom
5 P M, to 7 P M, Friday at the
Black Cultural Center, which is
located on Tenth Avenue. north
at Norris Residence Hall,
Exhibits oi black paintings.
photography, poetry, and other
arts will he on display in the
cultural center,

The complete Black Martyrs
Weekend schedule iollows-

FRIDAY

5 PM. — Fast. with proceeds
gmlig to the Martin Luther King
Jr ScholarsliipFund.

577 PM. 7 Open House, Black
Cultural Center. »

a PM 7 Concert, Baritone
Arthur Thompson, Herrick
Chapel.

9:30 PM, 7 Concert-Dance,
Soul Brothers Band, North
Loungeoithe College Forum.

SATURDAY

9:30 A.M. 7 “Do Your Own
Thing," Black Cultural Center.

11 AM. 7 AllCollege Conr
vocation. Herrick Chapel.

3-00 PM 7 Black Theater
Production, l-iallie Flanagan
Arena Theater.

7:30 PM 7 Concert, Herbie
Hancock Combo, Roberts
Theater.

10:00 P M. 7 Movie: “Nothing
ButA Man,” any.

SUNDAY

11 A M. 7 College Church
Service, l-lerrick Chapel.

7 PM 7 Black Theater
Production, Hallie Flanagan
Arena Theater,