the university of hard knocks-第13章
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I asked the keeper who was showing me thru the insane asylum at Weston； West Virginia； 〃You say you have nearly two thousand insane people in this institution and only a score of guards to keep them in。 Aren't you in danger？ What is to hinder these insane people from getting together； organizing； overpowering the few guards and breaking out？〃
The keeper was not in the least alarmed at the question。 He smiled。 〃Many people say that。 But they don't understand。 If these people could get together they wouldn't be in this asylum。 They are insane。 No two of them can agree upon how to get together and how to break out。 So a few of us can hold them。〃
It would be almost unkind to carry this further； but I have been thinking ever since that about three…fourths of the small towns of America have one thing in common with the asylum folksthey can't get together。 They cannot organize for the public good。 They break up into little antagonistic social； business and even religious factions and neutralize each other's efforts。
A lot of struggling churches compete with each other instead of massing for the common good。 And when the churches fight； the devil stays neutral and furnishes the munitions for both sides。
So the home towns stagnate and the young people with visions go away to the cities where opportunity seems to beckon。 Ninety…nine out of a hundred of them will jostle with the straphangers all their lives； mere wheels turning round in a huge machine。 Ninety…nine out of a hundred of them might have had a larger opportunity right back in the home town； had the town been awake and united and inviting。
We must make the home town the brightest； most attractive； most promising place for the young people。 No home town can afford to spend its years raising crops of young people for the cities。 That is the worst kind of soil impoverishmentall going out and nothing coming back。 That is the drain that devitalizes the home towns more than all the city mail order houses。
America is to be great； not in the greatness of a few crowded cities； but in the greatness of innumerable home towns。
The slogan today should be； For God and Home and the Home Town！
A School of Struggle
Dr。 Henry Solomon Lehr； founder of the Ohio Northern University at Ada； Ohio； one of Ohio's greatest educators； used to say with pride； 〃Our students come to school； they are not sent。〃
He encouraged his students to be self…supporting； and most of them were working their way thru school。 He made the school calendar and courses elastic to accommodate them。 He saw the need of combining the school of books with the school of struggle。 He organized his school into competing groups； so that the student who had no struggle in his life would at least have to struggle with the others during his schooling。
He pitted class against class。 He organized great literary and debating societies to compete with each other。 He arranged contests for the military department。 His school was one surging mass of contestants。 Yet each student felt no compulsion。 Rather he felt that he was initiating an individual or class effort to win。 The literary societies vied with each other in their programs and in getting new members； going every term to unbelievable efforts to win over the others。 They would go miles out on the trains to intercept new students； even to their homes in other states。 Each old student pledged new students in his home country。 The military companies turned the school into a military camp for weeks each year； scarcely sleeping while drilling for a contest flag。
Those students went out into the world trained to struggle。 I do not believe there is a school in America with a greater alumni roll of men and women of uniformly greater achievement。
I believe the most useful schools today are schools of struggle schools offering encouragement and facilities for young people to work their way thru and to act upon their own initiative。
Men Needed More Than Millions
We are trying a new educational experiment today。
The old 〃deestrick〃 school is passing； and with it the small academies and colleges； each with its handful of students around a teacher； as in the old days of the lyceum in Athens； when the pupils sat around the philosopher in the groves。
From these schools came the makers and the preservers of the nation。
Today we are building wonderful public schools with equally wonderful equipment。 Today we are replacing the many small colleges with a few great centralized state normal schools and state universities。 We are spending millions upon them in laboratories； equipment and maintenance。 Today we scour the earth for specialists to sit in the chairs and speak the last word in every department of human research。
O； how the students of the 〃dark ages〃 would have rejoiced to see this day！ Many of them never saw a germ！
But each student has the same definite effort to make in assimilation today as then。 Knowing and growing demand the same personal struggle in the cushions of the 〃frat〃 house as back on the old oak…slab bench with its splintered side up。
I am anxiously awaiting the results。 I am hoping that the boys and girls who come out in case…lots from these huge school plants will not be rows of lithographed cans on the shelves of life。 I am hoping they will not be shorn of their individuality； but will have it stimulated and unfettered。 I am anxious that they be not veneered but inspired； not denatured but discovered。
All this school machinery is only machinery。 Back of it must be mengreat men。 I am anxious that the modern school have the modern equipment demanded to serve the present age。 But I am more anxious that each student come in vital touch with great men。 We get life from life； not from laboratories； and we have life more abundantly as our lives touch greater lives。
A school is vastly more than machinery； methods； microscopes and millions。
Many a small school struggling to live thinks that all it needs is endowment； when the fact is that its struggle for existence and the spirit of its teachers are its greatest endowment。 And sometimes when the money endowment comes the spiritual endowment goes in fatty degeneration。 Some schools seem to have been visited by calamities in the financial prosperity that has engulfed them。
Can we keep men before millions； and keep our ideals untainted by foundations？ That is the question the age is asking。
You and I are very much interested in the answer。
Chapter VII
The Salvation of a 〃Sucker〃
The Fiddle and the Tuning
HOW long it takes to learn things！ I think I was thirty…four years learning one sentence； 〃You can't get something for nothing。〃 I have not yet learned it。 Every few days I stumble over it somewhere。
For that sentence utters one of the fundamentals of life that underlies every field of activity。
What is knowing？
One day a manufacturer took me thru his factory where he makes fiddles。 Not violinsfiddles。
A violin is only a fiddle with a college education。
I have had the feeling ever since that you and I come into this world like the fiddle comes from the factory。 We have a body and a neck。 That is about all there is either to us or to the fiddle。 We are empty。 We have no strings。 We have no bowyet！
When the human fiddles are about six years old they go into the primary schools and up thru the grammar grades； and get the first stringthe little E string。 The trouble is so many of these human fiddles think they are an orchestra right away。 They want to quit school and go fiddling thru life on this one string！
We must show these little fiddles they must go back into school and go up thru all the departments and institutions necessary to give them the full complement of strings for their life symphonies。
After all this there comes the commencement； and the violin comes forth with the E； A； D and G strings all in place。 Educated now？ Why is a violin？ To wear strings？ Gussie got that far and gave a lot of discord。 The violin is to give music。
So there is much yet to do after getting the strings。 All the book and college can do is to give the stringsthe tools。 After that the violin must go into the great tuning school
