For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.
—II Timothy 4:3
6081 To Ring For Him
On the bells of one of our New England universities are inscribed these words:
For him who in art beautifies life,
I ring;
For him who in letters interprets life,
I ring;
For the man of science who widens knowledge,
I ring;
For the philosopher who ennobles life,
I ring;
For the scholar who preserves learning,
I ring;
For the preacher of the fear of the Lord,
I ring.
6082 “A” For Intelligent Question
One of the most fruitful moments in my life came when my old zoology professor, Dr. Stephen Williams of Miami (Ohio) University, told me that he would give any student an A in his course who asked one intelligent question.
Up to that time I had assumed that intelligence consisted of giving answers. Now I began to see that the question is as much a part of knowledge as the answer—often the more important part.
Men had assumed from the beginning of time that a heavier object fell faster than a lighter one—until Galileo said, “Does it?”
It has been 36 years since my old teacher startled me with his pronouncement. For 30 of those years I have myself been a teacher. Most of the facts he taught me—most of the answers he gave me—have been forgotten. But I have not forgotten the questioning student is more important than an answering teacher.
—This Week
6083 Unusual Degrees
“Dr. Edward Francis Green, headmaster of Pennington School for Boys, a school which does not confer degrees upon graduates, says he will not be happy unless all of his boys have, before they leave the school, won the five following degrees:
“A.B. – Ardent Believer.
“M.D. – Magnificent Dreamer.
“Litt.D. – Devotee of Literature (especially the Bible).
“F.R.S. – Fellow of Regular Supplication (Prayer Life).
“D.D. – Doer of Deeds.”
6084 Churchill On Collegians
Winston Churchill, whose marvelous gift of words rallied his nation and all free peoples when invasion threatened England, in an autobiography written in 1930, My Early Life, expresses his regret that he did not have a university training. But that regret was tempered by his observation of how college men wasted their time, and he wrote:
“But I now pity undergraduates, when I see what frivolous lives many of them lead in the midst of precious, fleeting opportunity. After all, a man’s life must be nailed to a cross, either of thought or of action. Without work, there is no play.”
—C. E. Macartney
6085 Westmont: Burning Heroism
Fast work by nearly 400 Westmont College students saved virtually all valuable records, books, and furniture during a morning blaze that gutted the school’s $750,000 administration building. Santa Barbara, California, officials say faulty wiring ignited the fire.
Although ceilings collapsed during rescue operations, there were no injuries. Firemen, praising the heroism of students, bitterly contrasted the scene two weeks earlier when rioting University of California arsonists burned a bank building and drove firemen away.
“You kids deserve free tuition for this,” the fire chief declared to a drenched, weeping Westmont coed. “No, sir,” she replied, “we just love Westmont.” Then she returned to study for quarterly finals.
—Edward E. Plowman
6086 Antisthenes’ New Master
Antisthenes, when he had heard Socrates, shut up his school, and told his pupils, “Go, seek for yourselves a master; I have now found one.” He sold his all, to become a disciple of the Philosopher.
6087 Give Thyself!
Aeschines perceiving every one giving Socrates something for a present, said unto him, “Because I have nothing else to give, I will give thee myself.” “Do so,” said Socrates, “and I will give thee back again to thyself better than when I received thee.”
6088 On Stilts to School
Schoolboys on the tiny western Pacific islet of Ou in the Ryukyus must walk on water to get to school. They do it on stilts. Looking like juvenile circus performers, they balance themselves and their schoolbags on long, wooden poles and wade across the 1500-foot-wide channel that separates their village and school. That happens when ebb tide makes the channel too shallow for their school boat, or when the water is too deep to wade on foot.
One advantage the Ou students have over other children is extra, unexpected holidays. There is no school when the weather is bad and the water is rough.
—Pacific Stars and Stripes
6089 Youngest Doctor at 21
Orlando, Florida (AP)—At 21, Thomas A. Gionis is the youngest medical school graduate in American record books. But he says studying for his degree gave him gray hairs and made him look and feel like 30.
Dr. Gionis, a surgical resident at Orange Memorial Hospital in Orlando, breezed through a preparatory course in 12 months after graduating from high school at age 16. He completed medical school in the regulation four years.
“When you’re 17 and in medical school competing with students who are 24 or 25, it makes a difference,” says Gionis. “It gives you gray hairs.”
According to the American Medical Association, Gionis became the youngest doctor in modern American history when he graduated from the Medical College of South Carolina in Charleston.
During his last year of high school in San Diego, California, Gionis began taking college courses at the University of San Diego and San Diego State with a medical career already firmly fixed in his mind.
6090 Mark Twain Distributes Diplomas
Concluding an address to the 1902 graduating class of Hannibal High School, Mark Twain said: “I have been told I am to distribute diplomas. Now, I have never distributed any diplomas before; therefore I can do it with great confidence. There is nothing that saps one’s confidence as knowing how to do a thing. I am going to distribute these as they come, and you may toss for them afterward.”
The Hannibal Morning Journal reporter covering the speech wrote: “Mr. Clemens then distributed the diplomas to the class, remarking, as they began to diminish, “We want these to go round,” “that’s a nice one, take that one,” and so on, much to the students’ delight and amusement.”
—National Observer
6091 Handy (Other) Hands
Abraham Lincoln told this story of Daniel Webster’s boyhood:
Young Daniel was not noted for tidiness. One day in the district school the teacher told him if he appeared in school again with such dirty hands, she would thrash him. But the next day Daniel appeared with his hands in the same condition.
“Daniel,” the teacher said in desperation, “hold out your hand!”
Daniel spat on his palm, rubbed it on the seat of this trousers, and held it out. The teacher surveyed it in disgust. “Daniel,” she exclaimed, “if you can find me a hand in this school that is dirtier than this one here, I will let you off.”
Daniel promptly held out his other hand. The teacher had to keep her word.
—Sunshine Magazine
6092 Who’s Afraid Of Who
A disgruntled schoolteacher handed in her resignation with the following comment:” In our public schools today, the teachers are afraid of the principals, the principals are afraid of the superintendents, the superintendents are afraid of the board, the board members are afraid of the parents, the parents are afraid of the children, and the children are afraid of nobody.”
—Journal of Education
6093 Greeted Revelation
Gus Buswell, executive secretary, American Educational Research Association, quotes this story from Mortimer Adler, former professor at the University of Chicago. “If when I entered a classroom and said, “Good morning,” my students responded “Good morning,” I knew they were undergraduates. But if they took out their notebooks and wrote down my greetings, I knew they were graduate students.”
—National Education Association
6094 Reporting On the Teacher
President Eisenhower recently received a letter from the heart of a 12-year-old schoolboy. It read:
“Dear Mr. President: I would like to know if the law makes schoolteachers get drafted in the service. If they do, I know one who had not been. His name is James Smith. Thank You.”
6095 “A” Without $50
Ed Graham, advertising genius, went to Dartmouth with a writing career in mind. He flunked his first freshman theme but sent it to Saturday Evening Post who bought it for $50.
This brought him some fame on campus; his next theme brought an A from his professor with this note, “Sorry I can’t give you $50.”
6096 Looking At Books Not Apples
The teacher was trying to impress on the children how important had been the discovery of the law of gravitation.
“Sir Isaac Newton was sitting on the ground, looking at the tree,” she said. “An apple fell on his head, and from that he discovered gravitation. Just think, children,” she added enthusiastically, isn’t that wonderful?”
The inevitable small boy replied, “Yes, an’ if he had been settin’ in school lookin’ at his books, he wouldn’t never have discovered nothin’!”
6097 Two Extremes In School
At one extreme is the popular writer who said recently that the only thing he learned at Yale was how to sleep sitting up. At the other extreme would be Harvard’s famous Chauceran scholar, George Lyman Kittridge. When asked why he did not study for a Ph.D., he replied, “There was no one around who knew enough to examine me.”
6098 Paderewski’s Pupil
Paderewski arrived in a small Connecticut town about noon one day and decided to take a walk in the afternoon. While strolling along he heard a piano, and, following the sound, came to a house on which was a sign reading:
“Miss Jones, Piano lessons 25 cents an hour.”
Pausing to listen he heard the young woman trying to play one of Chopin’s nocturnes, and not succeeding very well.
Paderewski walked up to the house and knocked.
Miss Jones came to the door and recognized him at once. Delighted, she invited him in and he sat down and played the nocturne as he only could, afterward spending an hour in correcting her mistakes. Miss Jones thanked him and he departed.
Some months later he returned to the town, and again he took the same walk.
He soon came to the home of Miss Jones, and, looking at the sign, he read:
“Miss Jones (Pupil of Paderewski) Piano lessons $1.00 an hour.”
6099 Mascagni’s Pupil
Mascagni, composer of the famous Cavalleria Rusticana, was leaving the opera house one evening when he heard strains of the “Intermezzo” from Cavalleria being played at a galloping speed, and, arriving on the sidewalk, found an organ grinder at the curb. Mascagni took the handle from the operator and began turning it in the correct tempo. The grinder protested most vehemently until a second person, coming from the opera house, interceded and informed the Italian who was playing the organ.
Mascagni encountered him again the following day. He was playing the “Intermezzo” again, but in correct tempo. On the side of the organ was a large placard reading:
“Pupil of the Illustrious Mascagni.”
6100 Epigram On Students
• I believe there are no poor students, only unmotivated students.
—Frederick Mayer
• No man really becomes a fool until he stops asking questions.
—Charles P. Steinmetz
• He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.
—Chinese Proverb
• The teacher can light the lantern and put it in your hand, but you must walk into the dark.
—William H. Armstrong
• Jimmy: “Dad, can you sign your name with your eyes shut?”
Dad: “Certainly.”
Jimmy: “Well, then, shut your eyes and sign my report card.”
• Friend: “Has your son’s education proved of any real value?”
Father: “Yes, indeed; it has entirely cured his mother of bragging about him.”
—The Lookout
• Joe: “That college turns out some great men.”
Bill: “When did you graduate?”
Joe: “I didn’t graduate. I was turned out.”
See also: Books ; Education ; Knowledge ; Teachers.