purpose of a liberal education is not to cram
the mind with facts and principles, but "to build up and build out the
mind" by the natural process of growth, so that all knowledge from
without will be assimilated by a living mental organism. The important
work of the college is to develop intellectual power. It is to aid in
giving such a directive power of mind as will enable the student, by a
fixed determination, to recall facts, apply principles, and perform
acts as if they were spontaneous. It is so to train the judgment and
reasoning faculties of the student that in the end he will have
acquired power to do earnest intellectual work.

The direct aim of the instruction in college is to give the student
access to vital and formative knowledge by studying man and his
works, and nature and her works. He is thus led to know himself and to
know the world, and the laws which govern nature, and man as a part of
nature. He comes to see things as they are and to understand the laws
of things, and thus he thinks and acts on more perfect knowledge. If
the student is to be trained to independent thought and action, he
must have a sounder basis of knowledge than the teachings of those
whose ideas and opinions are shaped by current, ephemeral literature.
The majority of men act on too imperfect knowledge, because they will
not take the time and exercise the patience to study the facts and
principles relating to any given subject, and to do their own
thinking. Goethe says: "To act is easy, to think is hard." The remedy
is found in the college courses of study which involve the study of
ourselves through psychology, logic, and mental, moral, political and
social philosophy, and the study of nature through the sciences and
the laws of the world about us.

Another method, aside from the nature and scope of the studies
pursued, to attain the end, is through the strong personality of the
college professor. Alexander the Great said: "Philip gave me life,
Aristotle taught me how to live well," and Emerson's judgment was that
"it is little matter what you learn; the question is, with whom you
learn." It is within the power of the college professor to help
enlighten the understanding, strengthen and guide the intuitions and
reasoning faculties, and to awaken within the student a consciousness
of his new powers and capacities, and incite him to mental activity.
The highest scholastic training demands that the professor studiously
avoid all