has gathered the formulated statements of faith of all of the youth organizations.
Now at twenty years of age she is still young enough herself to speak not as an
onlooker, but as a participant in the upsurge of youth consciousness. She would
be studying economics or some other kindred subject, rather than majoring in
philosophy, if she were committed to radical views, and so could not be trusted
to think straight. Her grades in her major subject have been exceptionally high.
At the end of a4 years in college she has been elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Her
thinking has been termed mature. Her proposed inquiry was in the field of ethics
as youth movements interpret and apply ethics to their own problems. But the
philosophy department refuses to permit her to think originally in a new field of
philosophical exploration because no one has yet done so. There are no already
existing authorities for her to quote! There are no predecessor's footprints

for her to follow. So in the name of education she is denied the right to step
out originally and think novelly on her own account!

Now I'm not a philosopher. Perhaps this explains why I find that attitude
so maddeningly incomprehensible. It seems to me that it is polishing the very
essence out of education, robbing it of essential vitamines. The world, above
all things, needs new but sound and trustworthy thinking, and thinking in which
there is a vital, a living interest. Our old approaches have certainly not saved
us from ideational bankruptcy. Education assumes responsibility for preparing
young minds to face an unpredictable future. That it should refuse to tolerate
exploratory thought on the part of a student, however meagerly equipped such a
student may be - (for the college is still there to inspire and guide, to criti-
cize and influence that thinking) - that such an institution should refuse to
permit such thinking on the sole ground that it is novel, that there are no
already beaten paths for it to follow - well, it goes to prove there are more things

in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamed of in my philosophy at least! It

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