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The Ben_efit of the Educated Man to Society
STUDENT LIFE
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The Benefit of The Educated Man
to Society
J,nrns
A. )B:\'EU
Education is the development of one's powers: the power to work; to serve; to feel and understand existing conditions; to love and cherish all that is true, noble and edifying. A man who possesses these powers can logically be said to be an educated man.
There are men who can rightly be called educated, who are trained outs,ide of the classroom; they are, however, the exception rather than the ru le. The greatest of all schools is that of life, but to acquire a thorough education in this school requires a long time. The majority of our educated men, therefore , go thru our colleges as short cuts to a thorough education .
Society makes it iiossible for those who earnestly desire learning to obtain it in her in
stitutions 0f learning. It costs ten times as much, in labor, in money, in care and anxiety to develop a college graduate as it does to develop an average man, and fifty or a hundred times as much as it costs to rear a boy or girl without any education at all. In view of these facts, should not society be compensated?
It is clearly the duty of the €ducated man to edify the society of which he is a part by virtue of his power to work, to ~erve, to feel and ;rndcrs~and exi.sting conditions, which power comes as a result of his education gained at the expense of society.
The educated man's power to work should be superior to that of the uneducated. Better able to get a good perspect ive of the field before him , he can lay
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STUDENT LIFE
specia l stress where necessary. distress. After discovering He wastes no time .by_, s,la,rling ., them he, and he only, has th e at one place and working power to start action that will awhile only to find that he has do away , wi~)l tpem; so in thi s begun at the wrong · place. He way the educated man can perknow s how and when to attack form a duty which he owes to problems confronting him. society. Therefore, by virtue of his edu- The educated man has th e cation, he can accomplish more power to adapt himself to his work than would otherwise be environment. Austerity and possible, and at the same time haughtiness are not his attrido it more efficiently. butes; he is able to mingl e
The educated man is able to with the uneducated, and serve society because he can make them feel as though they judge its needs. If there are are as good as he. He neve r corrupt politicians in th e com- stoops to belittl~ anyone. To munity he can and will bring to be able to fit into one's environlight their dishonesty, in order ment is a requisite of an eduthat society may handle them cated man. in the prop€r manner. The The educated man loves educated man of character will home, life, count rv, and race. not permit anything to be car- He str ives to make his home ried on detrimental to society. holy, to create a spirit within Men who devise sche mes to rob it which will command respect their fellows are positively of all who enter into it. He sfraid of th e educated man of lives an exemp lary life, as far character, because they know he as nossible, before his family. will disciose their acts . In these To love one's home embodies ways, thrn, the educated man the Iovino; of life and country . can serve ; and, in so far as he It is not sufficient for the edudoes, he is filling his obligation cated man to live well himsel f to society. by refrainin.o.: from evil; indeed
The educated man, knowing he is not educated unless he what will make for the advance- helps others to live. Henr y ment of society generally, is Van Dyke has very aptly said potent in start ing reforms, both that some people put their chareconomic and social. Better acters in little bags of respecqualified than any one else, he tability and keep them in the takes th e initiativ e in all such sto rehouse of a safe reputation . movements. "It is not enough for man to
More sensible of the poverty stand high. he should stoop and distress about him than down and lift mankind a littl e the untrained, he ameliorates, high er." The educated man does if not elimin ates , these condi- not scorn the drunkard but ra- tion s about him ; for he has the ther the drinking. If a man is power to search out the funda- to be a factor for good among mental causes of poverty and his fellow he must not keep
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his head in an atmosphere above them, but he must mingle with them, just as salt must come in contact with meat if it is to preserve it from decay.
In conclusion ' it may be said that the duty of the educated man to society is to live in such a way as to get the most out of his life, and at the same time do a maximum amount of good to his fellows who make up so- ciety. Thomas Guthrie, a truly educated man, has expressed this sentiment sta nzas: in his beautiful
I live for those who love me, For those who know me true, For the heavens that bend above me, Ancl the good that I can do; Fo1· the cause that lacks as- sistance, For the wrongs that need re- sistance, For the future in the distance, Ancl the good that I can clo.
Oh Save Not The Rose
D . . ~. SWEXSOX
Oh save not the rose, till thy friend has departed,
To lay it as emblem of love on his grave. But give it today to a fri end bi·olcen-hearted,
To chee1· his sad svirit, to make his heart brnve.
Oh spare not the vrnise, yon so freely are giving
To those, who ha1;e passed from this troi,blesome svhe re; Bi,t lencl it to brighten the clays for the living,
To call forth new efforts from those who are near.
Oh stay not thy hand till thy help is required
To carry thy lcin to the last resting v lace; But give thy aicl glaclly, whenever desired,
Then mankind will bless thee and Goel give thee grace.
