EDUCATION FOR FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY.
Essays by Edmund EzraDay '05 Edited by Milton R. Konvitz.Cornell Univ. Press. 1952. 203 pp. $2.50.
Edmund Ezra Day, a native of New Hampshire, a graduate of 1905, and an instructor in economics at Dartmouth from 1907-10, had a rich opportunity to develop his ideas on education as he went on to the Universities of Harvard and Michigan, the Rockefeller Foundation, and finally to Cornell as President and later Chancellor.
Education for Freedom and Responsibility is a collection of his addresses made while President of Cornell University. Four of these addresses stress the theme of general education; ten emphasize some phase of higher education; and five of them emphasize responsibility for enduring values.
President Day believed that democracy is inconceivable without education and that the essence of democracy was freedom and responsibility. Freedom entails responsibility and the substance which joins freedom and responsibility is tolerance. He stated that the world conflict of ideologies would not be resolved by the intellectual, but by common man asserting his newly acquired powers. To give him knowledge commensurate with his present responsibilities is the task of education.
He believed that the social responsibilities of general education are to transmit and perpetuate the culture and also to adjust and elevate it; that the overall responsibility of education is to raise the level of people's practical, social, and moral intelligence; that the ideals of liberal education should be introduced at all levels and to all classes: and that if we are to remain free we must effectively train for democratic ideals.
He felt that the teacher was a most important part in this educative process and repeatedly emphasized the need for attracting good people to the profession and training them for this opportunity. He stated that such training should give the teacher an adequate understanding of what teaching is about, what it is designed to accomplish, a thorough understanding of the process of learning, as well as of teaching, a thorough knowledge of the nature of the human material which underlines this process of learning, and an adequate understanding of the nature of the devotion to public interest which goes with this great vocation. We need to emphasize the teaching of English, mathematics, history, and music but at the same time we should also assume responsibilities related to the establishment of ideas, attitudes, understandings, and loyalties, all of which are of the very essence of the living of free men in a free society.
He added that there should be teacher training for college and university teachers and that if these teachers wanted recognition such as given research men, that they would have to develop reliable appraisals of teaching efficiency and continually strive to improve the effectiveness of the teaching process.
While talking about higher education he also discussed the function of universities, the needed changes in the liberal arts curriculum, the conflict between faculty and administrative staffs, and the opinions and attitudes of students.
The essays of President Day which were edited by Milton R. Konvitz are well-organized, easy to read, and individually and collectively emphasized Edmund Day's clear thinking on education, freedom, and responsibility.
