On the Firing Line in Education

by Adoniram Judson Ladd

But let us look at it from another point of view. How is the matter regarded by those of the present time most deeply interested in the future well-being of man and of the nations of the world? By those people and those forces who feel the responsibility of providing leadership for the next generation? What steps are being taken to reach the end—to provide the leaders? On any hypothesis other than the one assumed in my initial statement can you account for the lavish expenditure for the endowment and maintenance of higher institutions of learning that so characterize our generation? From one side to the other of our broad land, aye, from distant lands and from the isles of the sea comes the same testimony: benevolent individuals seem to vie with one another in the munificence of their gifts for higher education. Even soveren states and great nations, under the guidance of far-seeing leaders, are planting these institutions and, in a truly generous manner, providing for their present and future needs.

That the college is the only source from whence can come our supply of leaders is a real conviction in the minds of men the world over, is shown by a recent incident in war-stricken Europe. It was only a few months ago and during the terrible campaign in Eastern Poland, even while shells were bursting and men were dying, that the Central Powers stopt, as it were, in the mad rush of wanton destruction, to re-establish and reorganize the old University of Warsaw. More than that, they added to the old institution two new faculties, or colleges, as we would call them.

Strange, isn't it? In the incident I can see but this logic: a recognition of the fact that, with the forces of destruction reaping such an awful harvest, their civilization was doomed unless some step could be taken, not, primarily, to check the present war but rather to provide, at its close, an adequate supply of leaders. That seemed to them the only way to prevent a permanent impoverishment and a dropping back into a state of, at least, temporary semi-barbarism as was so common during the early Middle Ages under analogous circumstances. And the step taken by those shrewd, coldly-calculating war lords was the strengthening of the forces of higher education. One reason why, during the Middle Ages, there was this frequent dropping back is the fact that this relationship between leadership and education was not recognized.

Under the powerful impulse of this conviction, namely, that the well-equipt college as a part of the broad university community is the only source of leadership, men and states and provinces and nations are sacrificing for higher education as never before. New institutions are being founded and old ones strengthened. Magnificent buildings are being erected with seemingly little thought of cost provided only that they serve their purpose. Libraries so thoroly equipt as to leave nothing desired, laboratories unsurpast in completeness, vast gymnasiums containing every possible apparatus for bodily development, and other facilities of every kind and description, all irrespective of cost, are daily being added. And better than buildings and grounds, more vital than equipment and endowment, are the trained minds and pure hearts that, in ever increasing numbers, are being freely offered on the same shrine. Abilities, and training, and attainments that in the world of business would yield their possessors independent fortunes, or in the fields of authorship or politics result in honor and fame, are here freely offered. The material return rendered for such service is the merest pittance absolutely needed for family support, and the immaterial, but one's enshrinement in the heart of an occasional grateful student plus the consciousness of having done one's duty. Can such a generous outpouring of material and spiritual treasures be accounted for on any hypothesis other than a recognition of the great world's needs and a firm belief that those needs can be best satisfied thru an educated leadership? Nay, verily, all these things are being done because the best thought of the day feels, both instinctively and with reason, that only thus can the kingdom of God come among men.

What unique, important, and responsible position the State or Provincial University occupies among civic institutions! What splendid opportunities for usefulness are his who is the executive head of such an institution! Aye, and what weighty responsibilities rest upon him! Fellow teachers, what manifold opportunities for usefulness are yours, and what weighty responsibilities rest upon you by virtue of the fact that you are teachers in such an institution! And my message to you is the same as to the student body—Noblesse Oblige! Freely have you received, freely must you give. Tho the state does not, nor ever can, adequately pay you for your best services, still you must not falter. You must continue to live up to your own high ideals of your noble profession. The very acceptance of such positions in such an institution carries with it the obligation of performance—Noblesse Oblige!

But who are these college and university students who have such a large and important future before them and for whose training and development, because of that future, such elaborate preparations are being made? The university man—who and what is he? Likewise the university woman? Let us answer the question simply and briefly by merely saying that, tho sometimes rude and crude because immature and undeveloped, they are yet the keenest, the brightest, the most far-seeing, the most promising young men and women of the land. They are the choice souls found, one here, another there, one in the hamlet and another on the farm, one in the city and another on the prairie, one in a palace, another in a sod house. They are a picked lot selected not only from the so-called upper ranks of thought and action, but as well from the highways and by-ways of our broad land, chosen because of intellectual strength and moral fiber, because of high ideals and lofty purposes; chosen by themselves, it may be true, but chosen nevertheless, thru their equipment of mind and heart. The very fact that you are here and others are not is testimony sufficient to your greater worth. Exceptions, to be true, there are, but none too many prove the rule. I am not saying these things in a spirit of flattery, not at all. I am merely stating facts, and thru these facts trying to help you catch the vision—to see your opportunity and accept the responsibilities. But note the significance—those already best equipt by the superior quality of their brain matter and of their mental fiber and of their moral nature and who therefore without further preparation would easily distance the others, are here giving themselves even better equipment. There can be no question as to the relative position of the two classes in the years to come—the one class is to furnish the leaders, the other the followers. The one is to form the ideals, to set the standards, to decide upon policies, to mark out courses, the other to try to reach the goals set. The two classes may be equally good morally, equally worthy of respect and honor because equally faithful in the performance of duties suited to their tastes and abilities, but yet, from the very nature of things, the one going ahead, the other following behind. And in the years to come your competitors will be not from among the non-college men and women—you have already put yourself out of their reach—but from among those who, like yourselves, ambitious for better and greater things, are to-day, in this and other similar institutions, using every means, straining every nerve, to attain the highest possible degree of efficiency for future service. You are not only to be leaders, but in some way you seem to know it instinctively and to be putting yourselves in a state of readiness.

But does some one raise the objection that this theory of leadership does not seem to be in harmony with the spirit and genius of our American institutions; that under a democratic form of government all are equal; that all men, irrespective of intellectual attainment, share equally, not only before the law but in the very making of law; that in America all men are rulers? All this is true theoretically and, to a certain extent, practically, but it does not lessen the need of efficient leadership; it increases that need, or, at any rate, it makes it necessary that the number capable of efficient leadership be greatly increased. The very fact that all have a voice in the government, that all do share, consciously and potently, in its exercise and in its responsibilities, speaks more loudly than anything else can of the need of wise leadership. If the great mass of people were not factors, they would not have to be taken into account. They might need drivers but not leaders. But being factors and yet, in the main, not being capable of adequate analysis of our most complex and highly intricate problems, they must be provided with safe and efficient leaders. I believe in the honesty, in the good intentions, and in the good sense of the common people. But I do not believe in their ability to detect relations, to draw wise conclusions, and to formulate policies touching the complicated political, social, and economic conditions of our times.

It is a well-recognized fact that, as some one has said, "speaking broadly, the striking disadvantage under which a democracy labors, as contrasted, let us say, with certain types of autocracy, lies in its inability to plan effectively with reference to remote goals.... What we call 'far ahead' thinking is difficult for the individual, but it is vastly more difficult for the group, and its difficulty is intensified in both cases if it demands large measures of present sacrifice." No, democracy must be led. Leaders they must have. If honest and disinterested ones are not at hand, selfish and dishonest ones will be accepted. I grant that leadership is not the greatest need of democracy, that, of course, is a higher level of knowledge and intelligence, but I do claim that leadership is, and always will be, the greatest present need of democracy, since it is only thru that leadership that the higher intelligence can be reached, without loss, and in the shortest possible time.

But again, do you point out certain great victories of the common people, so-called, when they have risen in the power of their might and, in the exercise of their right, have put down men who had assumed the right to lead them and were leading them astray? Do you point to the State of Missouri of a decade ago, and to New York City again and again, and to England a generation ago, as illustrations? True, in all these cases and in many others, notable victories had been gained by and for the people. But is it not also true that in every such case the people won victories because wisely led? Think you that corruption and violation of law would have been so checked in Missouri a decade ago and the breakers of law been so thoroly punished, had it not been for the clear-headed work of that fearless, public-spirited Joseph W. Folk? Does not Charles S. Whitman come to your mind when the great struggle in New York City is mentioned? And Hiram W. Johnson in California? And when we recall the victories of the people in our own Motherland across the sea, do we not have at once a mental picture of the "Grand Old Man," William Ewart Gladstone? Had it not been for these leaders or others who might else have taken their places, half of the people whose votes helped win the victories would never have known that there were such victories to win. They would never have realized the extent to which they were being wronged and mis-ruled.

Certain conditions were not quite satisfactory. All people felt, half unconsciously, that rights were not being respected, that justice was not being done—that something was wrong somewhere—but that was about all, about as far as they went or could go. But these leaders, who, in years gone by, in the colleges and the universities, had been trained to search for causes, to see relations, and to draw conclusions, had scented danger from afar. And to the task of ferreting out the evil and of finding remedies they devoted the strength of their splendidly equipt minds and the purity of their strong hearts. Following up the lead of surface manifestations they finally unearthed corporate greed, political domination, and Satanic selfishness in such kinds and amounts as to be really appalling. But they did not stop there—they searched for remedies and then went before the people and told them a plain simple tale of what they had found—of how grossly the people were being wronged—and they outlined programs of reform. The people believed them; they rallied to their standards, accepted their leadership, and won the victories. And such victories, in greater or less degree, are being won all over the land, thank God! And back of every one of them you can find, if you search, a smaller or larger edition of Folk, Whitman, or Gladstone.