The Place of the University in National Life: An Address to the Canadian Educational Association

THE PLACE OF THE UNIVERSITY IN NATIONAL LIFE An Address to the Canadian Educational Association THE PRESIDENT' OF THE UNIVERSITY T I-lE 'Canadian Educational Association has been -discussing various problems of administration, ideal, and curriculum, mainly'in connection with the elementary and secondary schools of the Dominion; but the circle of its interest would not be complete if the relation of the university to the nation were not recognized and discussed. As "education" simply means the nutrition or 'bringing up of the individual to maturity, its process is really continuous from the earliest to the latest . stage of the life of man. The school covers the state 's effort in the fields of primary, secondary" and higher education. These three fields are interdependent. I have, been asked to speak to you on the relation of the university to the general life of the community. The university is at once a source of individual culture and of public service. _ It deepens and enriches personality, and through the enriched personality of its members it can be a servant of the whole nation. Culture and service are its ideals. The university is one of the oldest existing institutions ofWestern civilization. The Christian Church and Roman law are older. The university has witnessed the rise and fall of dynasties and empires, the migration of tribes i:l.nd peoples, the discovety of continents, and revolutions in the intellectual, social, and poEtical life of mankind. It has inspired almost every great movement of the Western world which has an intellectual origin or aspect. Never ' 421 ; THE UNIVERSITY, OF TORONTO QUARTERLY was its responsibility so heavy as it is to-day; never was its opportunity greater. View the university not as a mass of brick and stone and steel, not even as a collection of books, or as a group of laboratories and classrooms, but as a great human ideaL That ideal has been well ex-, pressed by President Nicholas Murray Butler of Columbia , in these words, "the free pursuit of truth by scholars in association, partly for the joy of discovery in the,pursuit of knowledge; partly for the servic~ to one's fellows through the results of discovery and the pu,rsuit of knowledge." Into the thousand years of university history have been built great names, noble characters, and fine achievements. We may be assured that, if it remains true to its best traditions and high purposes, it will endure through the ages to come as a force of discipline and reveren t freedom and as a great benefactor of mankind . The mottoes found in two great universities well express the ideal a true university seeks to realize. On a gate enteiing the grounds of Harvard are these words: "Enter to grow in wisdom; depart to serve thy country and mankind." On the facade of the ancient Italian University of. Padua are Latin words which may be rendered thus: "Enter that you may daily become wiser than in the past. Go forth that you may daily become more useful to your country and the Church." These mottoes suggest two paints: first, what the university is in itself; second, what the university can do for the state. I. THE UNIVERSITY IN ITSELF The university represents the organized will and power of the community to promote all that makes for intellectual 'advance and moral el'elvation. I t is the reflex ofthe ambitions, ideals, and hopes of the age in which we live. 422 THE UNIVERSITY IN NATIONAL LIFE It is the natural centre and culmination of the educational systern of a_country. It is the ultimate, formal expression which men give to their method of properly training their fellowmen. At the heart of the educational process, giving it direction and dignity, lies the most precious thing in the 'Yorldhuman personality. The university is the testing field for personality and for intellectual power. Under this testing new powers are discovered and developed, and responsibility grows for capable and wise self-direction. .. I t is the visible evidence of the respect whieh the state pays to learning and scienc.~. I t- is a symbol of how much there is in life beyond material development and commercial...