Philosophy in Higher Education 523

through a mill in order for them to obtain a superficial title to
favored employment. The well-educated man or woman, whether
fortunate or unfortunate in the occupation he or she follows, is
never without intellectual and spiritual resource; and a good test
of the quality of the education we are giving will be found in the
reaction of our pupils to adversity. On this test, a considerable
portion of higher education in recent years is a lamentable failure.
We note that many who draw books from public libraries and
who have suffered in the depression, have been turning to Phi-
losophy in their choice of readings. Those who had charge of
higher education would have served the needs of all such persons
better if, when laying out the program of their studies, they had
given them more opportunity to acquire Philosophy. We also
observe that compilations of the great books of the world, such
as are placed before the educated public from time to time by
critics, scholars and men of affairs, invariably contain a quite
large percentage of works on Philosophy. The ratio of Philoso-
phy to other subjects in these listings is approximately the inverse
of the ratio of Philosophy to related subjects in the curricula of
the Southwest. We believe this indicates a false direction on
the part of our educational program and a need of prompt and
vigorous corrective measures.

The Southwestern Philosophical Conference is prepared to sup-
ply information and counsel to institutions that may desire (1)
to introduce courses in Philosophy where none exist; (2) to re-
consider the position of Philosophy in relation to other subjects
in the curriculum; (3) to strengthen existing Philosophy pro-
grams, either through reconsideration of their content or by
giving assistance in finding the best available personnel for con-
ducting instruction in Philosophy.