Letters to the Editor

Letters

May 1953
Letters to the Editor
Letters
May 1953

Faith and Education

To THE EDITOR:

Professor Berthold's article in the January issue was entitled "Faith and the Dilemma of the Educated Man." It opened a rusty, old door that many of us who attended Dartmouth thought was shut for good years ago.

It takes no great power of discernment to say that man is in a dilemma and for that matter, the educated man too. Why is he? If he went to Dartmouth, he got a modern version of the Liberal Arts curriculum with plenty of elective courses. If he did not, the chances are he got the same thing elsewhere, or perhaps something less desirable. At a Liberal Arts College there were many doors opened for him, and he learned to be skeptical of everything except the principle of free inquiry. He was told we live in a changing world and that standards of values must change to meet changing conditions.

Why then the dilemma? Somehow it persists in spite of the Great Issues Course. Fred Berthold touches on the answer. Some day someone will state it boldly and clearly as a startling discovery of something new under the sun. His message will be this: At the very center of the curriculum must be the study of the Christian faith and the worship of Our Lord Jesus Christ; otherwise there appears a vacuum which no amount of emphasis on Great Issues Courses or anything else can fill.

The modern educational prophets had best look where they and their flocks are. The word "Christianity" is worthy of more than a casual acknowledgment by those who profess to teach us the ways and means and ends of this world. To embrace the consequences of Christianity and not its essence is not only to put the cart before the horse; it is to disbelieve while appearing to believe. Without a profound awareness of what Christianity is, the curriculum becomes a short, dry run. In the presence of the full meaning of Christianity, the curriculum becomes a rich tapestry and education acquires a purpose.

Cincinnati, Ohio

Some of Sidney Cox

To THE EDITOR:

Perhaps some of your readers may recognize some of Sidney Cox in this poem. The Teaching of English was, I believe, his first book, and from what I remember of it would read now as the best record of his accomplishments.

THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH

He would be glad to hear us talking Navy talk now, tactile speech: Of rigs and reeving tackle, walking Anchors out a further reach;

Would grin his sympathy with our distaste, But holding out for the authority of love Knowing love forms a particular breast, Eccentric, but true to the hand above

Would quickest join all talk of gear, Biology, baseball, And throw specifics at the fear Of the strange shapes in the dark hall;

And speak to us, the sensitive boys Who lacked the strength of a trade or magic. But when he won the delighting poise Of magic and trade, hands and speech Strung close, our lives were true, in reach, And nothing was less than comi-tragic.

USS Lindenwald (LSD-6)c/o F.P.0., New York, N. Y.