1931

Changing attitudes towardlearning

BY WILLIAM BENNETT BIZZELL

THIS convocation marks theformal opening of the fortieth annualsession of the university. Year after yearthroughout the history of the university,faculty and students have assembledabout this time and considered togetherthe work and the problems of the newyear . No two college years are ever ex-actly alike . A constantly changing stu-dent body, as well as rapidly changingworld conditions, make each year uniquein the life of an institution of higherlearning . Today is not like yesterday,and tomorrow will be different from to-day. This we know from experience .The world in which we live is charac-terized by change, and we experienceall the influences incidental to the silentforces that are at work about us .Think for a moment of some of the

important events that have occurredsince we last assembled in this place forour great commencement exercises inJune. The president of the United Stateshas proposed a moratorium to the na-tions of Europe ; Germany has passedthrough a serious financial crisis ; andmore recently the labor government inEngland has been dissolved and a coali-tion government has been formed in aneffort to prevent a political upheaval .Only a short time ago, the press of theworld reported the renewal of the con-flict between church and state in Italy ;and Spain, after overthrowing her mon-archy, has established a republican formof government . While these eventswere taking place abroad, our own stateand national governments have been en-gaged in desperate efforts to solve theproblems of unemployment, crime pre-vention, the conservation of our miner-al resources, and the stabilization of theprice structure .While political history of the greatest

significance was being made throughoutthe world, men of courage and daringwere breaking records through their ex-ploits in the air. August Piccard, aSwiss scientist, soared in a balloon to analtitude of 52,000 feet, breaking theworld's record . Harold Gatty and WileyPost, the latter an Oklahoman, circum-

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navigated the globe in an aeroplane .They traveled 15,474 miles in eight days,fifteen hours, and fifteen minutes . Theday after these daring aviators left NewYork, Otto Hillig and Holger Hoiriistook off from Harbor Grace, Newfound-land, and landed in the late afternoon ofthe following day at Bremen . A fewdays later Russell Broderson and JohnPolando flew from New York to Con-stantinople, and set a new non-stop dis-tance record by flying over 5,000 milesin forty-nine hours . One morning inJuly Frank Hawks, who many of youwill remember was the pilot for WillRogers when he came to the universitylast spring, ate breakfast in London,flew to Rome for his lunch, and wasback in London for an early eveningdinner . The leisurely flight of Coloneland Mrs Lindbergh over an unchartedroute in the far north from New Yorkto Tokio is of recent occurrence .These events merely illustrate the na-

ture and importance of daily happeningsin the dynamic world in which we live .History is being made every day . Tra-ditions are being discarded and prece-dents are being broken on every hand.The spirit of adventure is in the air.Life is being lived dangerously on newlevels of experience .Some of the things that have happened

during the past summer will influenceworld affairs for all time to come . Edu-cational institutions cannot ignore thetemper of the times . Our thinkingabout life and destiny is being perman-ently altered . Our attitudes towardmany economic, social, political, and mor-al questions are being profoundly mod-ified by the cross-current that chill andthrill us day after day.There is not a subject of instruction

that can be taught in exactly the sameway as it was taught last year. The cur-rents of thought and the spirit of ad-venture that are so much in evidencemust penetrate every classroom . It istrue that acids will still react on solublesalts in test tubes as they have always re-acted . The smears upon microscopicplates will look as they have in the past .

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Mathematical deductions will lead to thesame conclusions . But all of these factshave new meanings in the light of worldevents about us . The fact that Coloneland Mrs Lindbergh flew to Tokio givesnew meaning to the history of humanrelations . The historic fact that Ram-sey Macdonald placed country aboveparty and became the head of a newcoalition cabinet in England makes itnecessary for college professors to revisetheir repertoire of Scotch jokes to en-liven classroom instruction .

The conditions of life about us havegreatly changed the attitude of freshmen .Until very recent times the transitionfrom school to college was looked uponas an adventure . Every freshman en-tered college with a sense of timidity andgenuine anxiety . ' I recall the words ofPresident Albert Parker Fitch of An-dover Theological Seminary in describ-ing the state of mind of the freshmanin 1914 .

For that year (the Freshman), says Dr Fitch,is always and everywhere a high adventure. Itis compounded of delightful if terrifying un-certainties . It is the exploration, big with fate,which each awakening youth makes into thereal world of his fellow human beings, intothe real convictions, desires, and powers of hisown soul . There still comes once, to every boy,even in our safe and comfortable and com-monplace world, a morning when the mysteryand thrill of the unknown lay hold upon him ;when the call of the undiscovered country is inhis ears ; when he knows that, at last, he is freeto walk on an untrodden path and do and bewhat no one else has ever done or been before .That is the morning of the day when collegeopens, and he, once a schoolboy, now an un-dergraduate, stands, his own master, at hisdormitory door .

This description seems far-fetched andremote to us today . The "safe and com-fortable and commonplace world," towhich Doctor Fitch referred, no longerexists . The freshman does not feel todayas he enters college that he is "to walkan untrodden path." While he is fullyaware that he is an undergraduate, thisdoes not cause him to have an inferioritycomplex . The average freshman has anassurance that the freshman of otherdays did not possess . Sometimes thisassurance borders on sophistication, butperhaps even this state of mind is to bepreferred to one of depreciation and un-certainty .

In my younger days as a college presi-dent one of the most serious problemsthat confronted the faculty at this seasonof the year was that of ministering tohomesick students . In those days, thefirst weeks of most college students werecharacterized by frequent spells of home-sickness . I became an expert diagnosti-cian of homesickness . The disease tookmany forms and manifested itself inmany ways. But I came to know itsvarious symptoms and, in time, I ac-

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quired great resourcefulness in treatingthe malady . Homesickness, however,like typhoid and smallpox, is on the de-crease. I do not attribute this fact to alack of affection for parents or attach-ment for home life . The conditions oflife about us have widened the experi-ences of youth and developed a spirit ofindependence that was not possible in thepast.

This does not mean, however, thatthere are not anxieties incident to enter-ing upon a college career . These anxie-ties of course change from year to year .I am sure that at this time the economicdepression is giving deep concern tohundreds of you. I have never knownas many students in any one year to needfinancial assistance to enable them to en-ter college . Throughout the summerhundreds of students have sought loansor opportunities to earn part of their ex-penses . It has been impossible for theuniversity to extend assistance to allworthy students who have applied to usfor help, but the earnest efforts thatcountless thousands of the youth of theland are making to acquire a collegeeducation demonstrate the ambitions andaspirations of our young people and re-veal a willingness to make sacrifices toaccomplish their ambitions that is trulycommendable .

Times like these demonstrate the val-ue of a college education . Millions ofmen are out of work; but, generallyspeaking, the marginal man is alwaysthe first to suffer in vocational compe-tition when periods of industrial and fi-nancial adjustments come . In otherwords, the ignorant and the untrainedare the first to experience the adverse ef-fects of hard times . While it is true thatthe extent of this depression has broughthardships to countless thousands that donot belong to the marginal group of em-ployees, it is, nevertheless, a fact that themarginal man has been the first to suf-fer and he will be the last to obtain re-lief . This fact not only demonstrates thevalue of a college education, but it bringshome to every boy and girl the need forpreparation for vocational and avocation-al life .

I remind you, also, that every educa-tional institution in the country is ex-periencing the hardships that have cometo individuals and corporate groups as aresult of the economic depression.Almost every educational institutionin the country will be compelledto operate this year on a reducedbudget . The University of Oklahomaand other state supported institutionseverywhere have been compelled to cur-tail activities or to reduce their admin-istrative and teaching forces . Some havebeen forced to do both . This situation

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has created serious problems of admin-istration . A number of our educationalinstitutions have undertaken far-reach-ing experiments in an effort to find away out of their difficulties . It is noteasy at the moment to predict what willbe the ultimate effects of our present ec-onomic situation upon our educationalinstitutions .But there are compensations connected

with every situation of this kind . Hu-man nature is such that mankind can en-dure just so much prosperity for a lim-ited time . It was inevitable that the fatyears following the World war mustend some time. We were rapidly losingthe sense of relative values . Many hadcome to believe that speculation couldbe substituted for thrift, that sophistrycould replace clear thinking, and thatspiritual values were no longer essentialto human happiness.

It is regrettable that it often takes ad-versity to restore reason and sober-mind-edness to a people . In the mad rush ofthe last decade we forgot that the great-est perils to nations and civilizationscome in times of prosperity rather thanin -times of adversity . History teachesthat the seed of destruction in nationallife is usually sown in times of greatestprosperity . The fall of Assyria, Baby-lonia, Greece, and Rome all bear witnessto this fact . The Periclean Age inGreece was followed by the Peloponnes-ian war, which marked the end of Ath-enian supremacy . The Augustan Age inRome was followed by a steady declinein political leadership until an alien peo-ple marched through the mountainpasses to the fair plains of Italy and oc-cupied the capital of the Caesars . Yearsof adversity seem to follow periods ofprosperity as night follows the day .Natural law seems to underlie the onealmost as surely as it does the other .Both play their part in determining lifeand destiny .What are the lessons that we should

learn from the adversity of our times?This seems to be an appropriate questionfor us to raise and attempt to answer .It was not easy to maintain a spirit oflearning during the recent period of pros-perity. The years following the WorldWar were hard ones for educators every-where . Life could be lived so freely thatlearning seemed superfluous . The ex-acting demands of scholarship were aliento the temper of an easy age . Moneywas plentiful and it could buy the com-forts of life . Why should one spend la-borious years in the study of philosophy,literature, history, science, and art? Suc-cessful business men, who measured lifein terms of dollars, were telling us thata college education was not essential tosuccess . In times of wide spread pros-perity, such preachments are hard to re-fute . But, I dare say, there are a few men

today who would attempt to disparagethe value of a college education . While,of course, the intellectual is sharing thehardships incident to our general situ-ation, he is mentally better able to en-dure the strain, and do it philosophical-ly, than any other type of our citizen-ship .

October

I have been interested in the numerousproposals that have been advanced forthe relief of economic distress . Someof our most forward looking statesmenhave proposed that the way to prosperitylies through vast governmental expendi-tures for public projects of various kinds .It has been proposed that large sums beexpended on public highways . Congresshas already entered upon a vast publicbuilding program in Washington. Im-provement of our water ways and theincrease in our water-power resourceshave been suggested.

Strange as it may seem, no man inpublic life has proposed vast expendi-tures on our cultural resources as an aidto the restoration of prosperity . I haveno disposition to disparage governmentalexpenditures for public works as a meansof solving the unemployment problemthat is so serious today . On the otherhand, I think that this movement -shouldbe encouraged ; however, I am frank tosay that any program involving publicexpenditures that does not include ourcultural resources is inadequate andshortsighted . I was gratified to read ina recent issue of the New York Times(Sunday, September 6, 1931) a statementby Carl E . Grunsky of San Francisco,president of the American EngineeringCouncil and recently appointed by Presi-dent Hoover a member of the organiza-tion for unemployment relief headed byWalter S . Gifford, advocating this verypolicy . He says :The nation's spiritual and cultural advance-

ment are of greater importance than provisionfor material well-being. Expenditures of pub-lic funds for such purposes comparable withthose for the safeguarding of life and property,for the protection of health and for facilitatingthe exchange of products would not be unrea-sonable ; but there is fear of the tax burden.Under a well-balanced program the nation

would get vastly more scientific research andeducational opportunity. Art should be en-couraged by the erection of monuments, theestablishment of museum's, art galleries, con-servatories of music and opera houses withmaintenance of opera companies in all centersof population. Expenditures for these purposeswould contribute to the spiritual uplift of thepeople and to the progress of civilization .

Provision for outdoor recreation should bemade throughout the land on a scale never yetapproached. Lands should be reserved and ac-quired so that those who get into the openmay find suitable places to picnic and to camp .During periods of declining prices there shouldhe also a speeding up of public works on asane program . Recourse to pick and shovel, in-stead of to modern appliances, is but a trifle

TURN TO PAGE 28, PLEASE)

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attended the university last year and receiveda degree in library science will be librarianof the high school in addition to the physicalC. E . Costley, '29 educ., is now principal of

the Stand Watie elementary school at Oklaho-ma City.

1930Al Mayhew, '30 arts-sc ., has recently been ap-

pointed athletic coach at Claremore highschool.Mayhew's teams at jet had splendid records dur-ing his past year as coach at that highschool .

Ross Taylor, '30 lib. sc ., is secretary to thehead of the educational department of theGrolier Society at Kansas City. He plans tocontinue with work in buying, collecting andselling rare books .

Paul Kennedy, '30 journ., is writing radiocontinuity for station WKY at Oklahoma City .

1931A scholarship for one year's study at South-

ern Methodist university, Dallas, Texas has beenawarded to Clarence M . Ball, '31 arts-sc ., bythe Oklahoma City district of the Oklahomaconference, M . E. church, South. Mr Ball hasserved the Norman circuit for two years as amember of the Oklahoma conference of theMethodist church .

Albert Walker . '31 bus ., is teaching type-writing and bookkeeping in Seminole highschool . He is also sponsor of the senior class .

Ross G . Hume, '31 law, son of one of thetwo first graduates of the university (RossHume, '98 of Anadarko), made the highestscore in the state bar examination held lastJune . Mr Hume had 1,578 points out of apossible 1,800 points.Arlo Ralph Davis, '31, versatile all-roundathlete, has been appointed athletic coach forFrederick high school, it has been announced.He succeeds Paul Allen, who has been madeprincipal of the school.Mrs Christine James Tant, '31 mus., has an-

nounced the opening of a piano studio at 412Park Drive, Norman. Mrs Tant, who was astudent of C . F . Giard, professor of piano inthe university, has conducted studios at Bartles-ville and Altus . She has installed a new grandpiano for instructional purpose's.

Robert Weidman, '31 arts-sc ., arrived inParis early in September en route for Zurichuniversity where he holds a fellowship for theensuing year.Ed Mills, '31 journ., is covering the court-

house run for The Oklahoma News at Okla-homa City.

Ross Maxwell, M. S. '31, of Drumright, is afellow this year at Northwestern university.

Miss Mildred Armour, M . S . '31, is instruc-tor in geology at Oklahoma City university .

Benton Ferguson, '31 arts-sc ., is on the adver-tising staff of the Birmingham Post .

1933Hardie Lewis, '33 eng ., of Duncan, Sooner

wrestler, was injured June 6 near Chickashain an automobile accident while en route homefrom the university.

CHANGING ATTITUDESTOWARD LEARNING

(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16)

above giving a dole with its encouragement ofidleness and of return to primitive conditions .

A five-day week and a shorter work-ing day have been suggested as one ofthe means of solving the employment

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problem . Unless there is a wider rangeof human wants, there seems to be noother way out of our existing difficulties .This redivision of vocational opportunitywill, of course, enlarge the avocational,cultural, and recreational opportunitiesfor every one ; but for society to enlargevocational opportunities without, at thesame time, providing for the wisest pos-sible utilization of the free time and en-ergies of the people would merely beshifting the problem from one sphere ofactivity to another. It seems, therefore,that it is highly important for all of usto see this problem in all its relations.In other words, it is equally as importantto provide adequate cultural and recre-ational opportunities as it is to solve theproblems of unemployment by reducingthe labor load.One of our great daily papers said

editorially last summer that "There isone debt for which no moratorium canwith safety be declared. That is theeternal debt of maturity to childhood andyouth---education ."

After health and physical safety it is the firstobligation of the state. Not only should theschools now be kept going at their best, butchildren and youth who are normally drawninto industry at a younger age should be en-couraged to continue their schooling rather thanseek employment in competition with older per-sons, who cannot so readily adapt themselvesto changed condition's . This may often meanparental sacrifice, but it is the best investmentthat can be made when it is at all possible.

Little has been said about the aid thatour schools and colleges can render inhelping to solve the unemployment prob-lem. There is no question that theschools can assist in this enterprise . Stu-dents should not only be encouraged atthis time to enter college for their ownbenefit, but as a means of withdrawinghundreds of them from competition withmature men who have families to sup-port-

I am hoping that you have entered, orre-entered, college today with a full reali-zation of the conditions of life aboutyou . It is possible for each of us to feela deep sense of our pressing obligationswithout sacrificing happiness or content-ment . The time has come for us tothink soberly and seriously about life andits possibilities . If there ever was a timeto practice plain living and high think-ing, it is now . The student who livesextravagantly this year is unworthy ofcollege Opportunities. Student groups ofevery kind should encourage and prac-tice economy. The closest possible scru-tiny will be exercised on the part of uni-versity authorities in an effort to impressstudents with the importance of livingsimply and sanely .

But there is a much higher obligationresting upon each of you than the merepractice of economy . I refer to the ob-ligation of making the best possible useo your Opportunities . I admit this

October

sounds trite, but it is a truism that re-quires emphasis today. This universityis no place for a loafer. Indifference tothe acquisition of knowledge and itsvalues is a deadly sin here. Every oneof you will be expected to report to class-es promptly, to attend regularly, to sus-tain an attentive attitude while in classes,and to respond cheerfully to the demandsmade upon you by your instructors .That is not all . You will be expected

to assume the right attitude towardknowledge . All that any professor cando is to expose you to knowledge . It,is your duty to assimilate it . The higherethics of college life involves responsiveattitudes toward truth . No man can liveat the higher intellectual levels unless'he has an adequate perspective of allknowledge . An adequate understandingof some sphere of knowledge is essentialto rational living .From time to time during your college

course you should attempt to make anevaluation of the knowledge you haveacquired . I read of a student recentlywho attempted to do this. He set downa list of things he had learned . Some ofthem were:How to sleep in a chair while sitting

erect .How to turn off an alarm clock with-

out waking up.How to read a book by scanning the

first sentence of every paragraph .That the ancient Greeks were smart

people .That psychology is more interesting in

novels than text books .That Columbus didn't discover Ameri-

ca .That it is bad to always split your in-

finitives .We are inclined to laugh at this stu-

dent's intellectual accomplishments . But,certainly, he had learned something. Itis quite an art to sleep while sittingerect in a chair . He certainly did notlist all the things he had learned. It isquite apparent that this student had ac-quired the spirit of fortitude and patiencewhile sitting in class suffering at timesfrom insomnia . I remind you, also, thatthis youth had learned that an infinitivecould be split . There are still some peo-ple who are entirely ignorant of thisfact .

A university campus is a place whereevery man and woman should seek themaximum opportunity to enrich his orher life by the greatest possible numberof valuable experiences . H. G . Wells in.his First and Last Things declares thatit is an essential duty of every man toutilize his experiences to this end . "Thegeneral duties of a man," says he, "hisexistence being secured, is to educate,and chiefly to educate and develop him-

1931

self . It is his duty to live, to make allhe can out of himself and life, to get fullof experience, to make himself fine andperceiving and expressive, to render hisexperience and perception honestly andhelpfully to others," There is no betterplace in all the world to accomplish theseends than in a university .

I invite each of you to share fully inthe life that is lived on this campus .Seek the best that the institution offersto you . Live daily in the consciousnessof what is going on in the world thatlies beyond our campus . Remember thatthe spirit of adventure is in the air .Translate this experience into your ownconduct by adventuring far into the un-known land of knowledge . Adapt yourattitudes toward learning to the chang-ing world situation .

I think I can do no better than to re-call, in conclusion, the familiar words ofSolomon :Get wisdom, get understanding : forget not :

neither decline from the words of my mouth .Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee :

love her, and she shall keep thee.Wisdom is the principal thing ; therefore get

wisdom : and with all thy getting get under-standing .

Exalt her, and she shall promote thee : sheshall bring thee to honor, when thou dost em-brace her .

She shall give to thine head an ornament ofgrace : a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee .

Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings ; andthe years of thy life shall be many.

I have taught thee in the way of wisdom ; Ihave led thee in right paths .When thou goest, thy steps shall not be

straightened ; and when thou runnest, thou shaltnot stumble .Take fast hold of instruction ; let her not go :

keep her ; for she is thy life.This is sound advice from a high

source . A great promise is held out tothose who utilize instruction for the pur-pose of acquiring knowledge and wis-dom, but the faith of thousands has beenstrengthened by seeing this promise toyouth fulfilled time and time again . Icommend the admonition of the wiseman of old to you today with the utmostconfidence that if you heed it thy stepsshall not be straightened; and when thourunnest, thou shalt not stumble.

TOWARD RECOVERY(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17)

to make the full conditional paymentson reparations a year or more ago, asshe is unable now, but she would nothave had the present acute problem ofstaving-off the short-term payments . Al-so, under those condition's, it wouldhave been necessary to have dealt di-rectly with the reparations question longbefore now . Short-time loans frombank credit by citizens of one countryto citizens of another should be dis-

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Drinka biteto eat

Sugar and fruit juices are good foreverybody and water's a necessity oflife . Three year old "Buddy" can takehis along with "Grampa" who is 87"by heck" but still a boy at heart.

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