The Gavelyte, May-June 1914

THE GAVELYTE VOL. VIII MAY AND JUNE, 1914 N0.8 The Meaning of Education B y DR. H EN R Y VA N DYK E "Any definition of educ•a:tion wh,ich conflne,s it merely to s:c'hool, co!Jege or university, is impeirfec.t. It means· w,h•at bhe whole of Me <loes with us to bring out our manbto•o d. It means Nving ,,o that one will grow. A man ·whos•e education is finish ed ought to be put in his cr,flin 1 ;ght away, because he is dead. 'Ne live to le•arn. Life -itself is an education fo,r immortality, and as, J,ong ·as' we live ·we ought to be 1in the proce::s of education, in the pro cern of unfolding and of so ad just– ini?; ourselves to everything that it •should not only draw out some nerw force from within us , but a lso add something new to us and to •our power to use our knowledge. Effect iven ess in Life. "The fi1 st aim of education is eff 1 \: iency, efficiency in life. The "eeond aim of education is richne,sis •and fulln e,s 1 s of intellectual •being, and these two aims cannot we ll be separated. A man 1earns the three H'8 in order that h e may make w,e of t·hem in the ordinary processes of life. H learns to master s•ome sipedal kind •of mac'hin•e.ry or sotme a:p– p:ied science so that he may become an engiineer, or an electrician or take charge of i omc businEss-in order that ,he may be more efficient. But that is not the true object of educati on, ,because th E"re is not only this work to (:onsider, there iS' bhe man himself to consider..........Jbis o,wn lirP and tbP satisfaction he gets out of it. vV 1 ha,t iin t:he wor ld wou1d be the use of a city full of people who we•re able, to do certain v,a r ious thiugs perfectly well, and y•et who in them '"e1ves had ll'O ideas, no thoughtf', 110 feelings of t:beir own, no intellectual lite, no personality, 110 (·harac-ler, no humanity in fact! \i\'o u;,ct you call that a weH-edu– c·:.tlt.d con11nunity ? I would c·all it a clock-work ·S·hOP. I would, call tit a total fai:ure or a community. l<'rom a persoual point of view, the 0<bjec t or education is not simply to make more efficient men, it is to make lar<Jer and richer and stronger and more intelligent a nd more t hought– ful and happier men. The Association's Educatio na l M otive. "Tl!P educational work of the Young Men' s C'hris,ti,an Af-'tsocia;tion 11pplP11w11tH the work don by ot'lle1· Existing schools and ag nci s.