Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 77:307 (Jul 1920)
Article: Education Versus Enlightenment
Author: Charles William Super

BSac 77:307 (July 1920) p. 283

Education Versus Enlightenment

Charles W. Super

Most persons, when they see a book or an article dealing with what is popularly called education, at once take it for granted that its contents have no value for them. But the indifferent are of several classes. One class regard the subject not only as written to death but as laid in its quiet grave. Many of these are teachers. They may be called the Weary Ones. A very large majority of our teachers are young women. In the nature of the case very few of these will be engaged in the same occupation by the time they are forty. Their occupation being merely temporary they have little interest in their work and do not much differ from drudges. Not many years ago I heard one of these school-keepers say: “When I have been in the schoolroom all day I hate the very sight of a book.”

Among the men the case is somewhat but not materially better. They may be called the Wary Ones. They endeavor to improve their minds, at least in a limited way, until they have reached the acme of their promotion; then they stagnate, cease to study and even to read. Thenceforth they adopt as their rule of conduct the familiar injunction “Hold the fort.” Many of these men can be found who have no book in their library that has not been donated to them by the publishers. Not widely different is the case of many college professors after they have reached the age of forty. They read the same lectures over and over again until their manuscript is not indeed hoary with age but yellowed, if not mellowed, by time. More care is necessary on the part of those teachers who have charge of laboratory work. But this too can be shirked. A prominent professor in one of our leading colleges said some years ago: “The statutes of this institution require the members of the faculty to examine their students at least twice a year, but they do not require them to examine their papers.”

BSac 77:307 (July 1920) p. 284

A comparatively small number of teachers may be said to belong to the Wise Ones. Early in their career they form certain opinions or formulate theories, for the most part adopted from their teachers, which they imagine to be the final word on the subject. Accordingly, in order to be consistent, they never revise or change their opinions.

This state of mind is largely an importation from Germany. Many young men who studied in that country became imbued with the idea that it would only be necessary to pattern after the German model in matters educational and all would be well. The war threw everything into discard, and we seem to have arrived at a status which will compel us to begin all over again. Everybody, or almost everybody, is dissatisfied, — the public, the teachers, and the learners. This s...