Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Getting and Forgetting an Education: Commencement Address, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, June 8, 1936
For long generations, man crept slowly from point to point Of progressive civilization, handing down to his chil dren his record of the past as a foundation upon which to shape the future, but we in this convocation, because Of the development of physical and biological science, chie?y during the last fifty years, are forced to rely more upon the present and future than upon past experience. We are probably more remote from our grandfathers of 1836 than our grandfathers were from the first man in recorded history. Repetitive society, recreating itself generation by genera tion after established and inherited patterns, no longer pre vails. Ours is the singular position of pioneers in an Old world, armed as never man was before not only with physi cal endurance and spiritual courage but also with engines fired by powers Of the heavens above, the earth beneath, and the waters under the earth. Through scientific discov eries we have appropriated mighty forces which even one generation ago were regarded as lawless, supernatural or destructive, and have made them servants and ministers to our comfort. These fruits and goods are available to the rich man, and also to the laborer in the field, but the time is not ripe, nor will it ever be, to say, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry, for progress brings increased Obligation and responsibility. The major things of the mind and of cul ture must be supplied continuously with life; they must be forever renewed.
This scientific or mechanical age, call it as you will, has forced those of us who follow education to revise our think ing. NO longer can it be considered that the attainment Of a degree, be it Bachelor's, Master's, or Doctor's, indicates an educated man, full-panoplied for the business Of life. At best it can signify only that the graduate possesses a mind carefully trained towards the making of critical judgments. Education, we now admit, is continuous from birth to death, and must always project itself ahead. -the education Of youth, one authority says, is a forward-looking process.
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