The Humanities in a Divided World--A Review

It is virtually impossible to write a conventional review of President Conant's Education in a Divided World. As a series of lectures or essays, the book is packed with ideas on the whole range of education. Its greatest value lies in the stimulation it gives the reader to think things through for himself, rather than in any systematic and detailed program for action. In this respect it is good teaching. The following remarks might be considered the reactions of one to Mr. Conant as in a seminar on the function of education, and particularly higher education, in the Western world today. Like any deeply interested participant, the writer has both agreed and differed with the teacher in an attempt to find for himself an acceptable working basis for decisions which cannot be delayed. Discussion along a score of other tangents could arise out of such a seminar, but extended analysis must be left to faculty groups in those precious moments when education, rather than course assignments, is the first item on the agenda. Mr. Conant says: I venture to conclude this discussion of the university by returning to my original proposition: the health of our universities depends on keeping a balance between the advancement of knowledge, professional education, general education, and the demands of student life. From time to time, every institution will be threatened by the overgrowth of one of these four elements or the atrophy of one or more. But by and large it seems clear that in the next few years it is the advancement of knowledge that will be in need of the greatest encouragement and support

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