Another School Year: Why?

John Ciardi (1916-1986) Speech orig. p !. in the Rutgers Alumni Monthly" #o$e%!er" 19&' from: http://jonboeckenstedt.wordpress.com/2008/11/21/another-school-year-why-by-john-ciardi/ Presented to the high school students of New Jersey by Rutgers State University with the belief that those who read and think about the enclosed message will find a real inspiration and a challenge. John A. iardi! associate professor of "nglish at Rutgers University presented a most inspiring address at the opening convocation at the olleges for #en. #r. iardi! one of the foremost American poets! came to Rutgers University from $arvard where he had served as an assistant professor. $e was a member of Phi %eta &appa! author of several well'known volumes of poetry and had (ust published a translation of )ante*s +nferno at the time of this address. ,his translation was well received by the critics and Professor iardi was now at work on translations of the second and third parts of the )ivine omedy when he addressed the high schools on this occasion -and his translation of the entire )ivina omedia went on to become .the/ translation for four decades0. At that time associate professor of "nglish! iardi condensed for the Alumni #onthly this address at the convocation opening the academic year.

Another School Year: Why?

There was a time when even the fac lty knew what made a colle!e. "rom the time the niversity tradition took form in the #enaissance$ ntil the time the fac lty committees were first heard to disc ss %&d cation for 'odern (ivin!$) a professor co ld afford to be forthri!ht abo t the classics$ philosophy$ history$ theolo!y$ mathematics$ the sciences$ and lan! a!e st dy. *hether the st dent meant to be a teacher$ preacher$ doctor$ lawyer$ or scientist$ the core of his trainin! was essentially the same. *ithin the last fifty years$ however$ colle!es have been addin! new co rses at a fantastic rate. +ons lt a colle!e,s catalo! for the academic year 1-00-1-01 and then cons lt one for 1-.01-.1. /o will find that where fifty co rses were offered in the earlier catalo! e$ two h ndred and fifty are offered in the later one. This increase in speciali0ation is$ of co rse$ implicit in the

2 nat re of the twentieth cent ry technolo!y. ' ch of it is absol tely necessary if the wheels of modern livin! are to be kept t rnin!. 1evertheless$ we on the fac lty have had many occasions for head scratchin! as we read of new developments in ed cation. *e have seen the process one of my former collea! es described as %makin! 2arvard the second-best en!ineerin! school in +ambrid!e$) and we have seen '3T workin! to make itself the 1ew 4thens of the 2 manities. 5ohn 'ason 6rown once described the '3T process as %h mani0in! the scientist.) The 2arvard process he described as %simoni0in! the h manist.) 1evertheless even a man as d ll and insensitive as a professor has somethin! in mind as he ponders this e7plodin! c rric l m and as he faces each new school year. *hat is a colle!e for8 (et me tell yo one of the earliest disasters in my career as a teacher. 3t was 5an ary of 1-90 and 3 was fresh o t of !rad ate school startin! my first semester at the :niversity of ;ansas +ity. <art of the readin! for the freshman &n!lish co rse was 2amlet. <art of the st dent body was a beanpole with hair on top who came into my class$ sat down$ folded his arms$ and looked at me as if to say: %4ll ri!ht$ damn yo $ teach me somethin!.) Two weeks later we started 2amlet. Three weeks later he came into my office with his hands on his hips. 3t is easy to p t yo r hands on yo r hips if yo are not carryin! books$ and this one was an nb rdened so l. %(ook$) he said$ %3 came here to be a pharmacist. *hy do 3 have to read this st ff8) 4nd not havin! a book of his own to point to$ he pointed at mine which was lyin! on the desk. 1ew as 3 was to the fac lty$ 3 co ld have told this specimen a n mber of thin!s. 3 co ld have pointed o t that he had enrolled$ not in a dr !store-mechanics school$ b t in a colle!e$ and that at the end of this co rse$ he meant to reach for a scroll that read 6achelor of =cience. 3t wo ld not read: > alified <ill-?rindin! Technician. 3t wo ld certify that he had speciali0ed in pharmacy and had attained a certain minim m @ alification$ b t it wo ld f rther certify that he had been e7posed to some of the ideas mankind has !enerated within its history. That is to say$ he had not entered a technical trainin! school$ b t a niversity$ and that in niversities st dents enroll for both trainin! and ed cation. 3 co ld have told him all this$ b t it was fairly obvio s he wasn,t !oin! to be aro nd lon! eno !h for it to matter: at the rate he was !oin!$ the first markin! period mi!ht reasonably be e7pected to blow him toward the employment a!ency. 1evertheless$ 3 was yo n! and 3 had a hi!h sense of d ty and 3 tried to p t it this way: %"or the rest of yo r life$) 3 said$ %yo r days are !oin! to avera!e o t to abo t twenty-fo r ho rs. They will be a little shorter when yo are in love$ and a little lon!er when yo are o t of love$ b t the avera!e will tend to hold. "or ei!ht of those ho rs$ more or less$ yo will be asleep$ and 3 ass me yo need neither ed cation nor trainin! to mana!e to !et thro !h that third of yo r life. %Then for abo t ei!ht ho rs of each workin! day$ yo will$ 3 hope$ be sef lly employed. 4ss me yo have !one thro !h pharmacy schoolAor en!ineerin!$ or a!!ie$ or law school$ or whateverAd rin! those ei!ht ho rs yo will be sin! yo r professional skills. /o will see to it d rin! this third of yo r life that the cyanide stays o t of the aspirin$ that the b ll doesn,t j mp the fence$ or that yo r client doesn,t !o to the electric chair as a res lt of yo r incompetence. These are all sef l p rs its$ they involve skills every man m st respect$ and they can all brin!

B yo !ood basic satisfactions. 4lon! with everythin! else$ they will probably be what sets yo r table$ s pports yo r wife$ and rears yo r children. They will be yo r income$ and may it always s ffice. %6 t havin! finished the day,s work what do yo do with those other ei!ht ho rsAthe other third of yo r life8 (et,s say yo !o home to yo r family. *hat sort of family are yo raisin!8 *ill the children ever be e7posed to a reasonably penetratin! idea at home8 *e all think of o rselves as citi0ens of a !reat democracy. Cemocracies can e7ist$ however$ only as lon! as they remain intellect ally alive. *ill yo be presidin! over a family that maintains some basic contact with the !reat contin ity of democratic intellect8 Dr is yo r family !oin! to be strictly penny-ante and beer on ice8 *ill there be a book in the ho se8 *ill there be a paintin! a reasonably sensitive man can look at witho t sh dderin!8 *ill yo r family be able to speak &n!lish and to talk abo t an idea8 *ill the kids ever !et to hear 6ach8) That is abo t what 3 said$ b t this partic lar pest was not interested. %(ook$) he said$ %yo professors raise yo r kids yo r wayE 3,ll take care of my own. 'e$ 3,m o t to make money.) %3 hope yo make a lot of it$) 3 told him$ %beca se yo ,re !oin! to be badly st ck for somethin! to do when yo ,re not si!nin! checks.) "o rteen years later$ 3 am still teachin!$ and 3 am here to tell yo that the b siness of the colle!e is not only to train yo $ b t to p t yo in to ch with what the best h man minds have tho !ht. 3f yo have no time for =hakespeare$ for a basic look at philosophy$ for the comm nity of the fine arts$ for that lesson of man,s development we call historyAthen yo r have no b siness bein! in colle!e. /o are on yo r way to bein! that new species of mechani0ed sava!e$ the < sh-b tton 1eanderthal. D r colle!es inevitably !rad ate a n mber of s ch life forms$ b t it cannot be said that they went to colle!eE rather$ the colle!e went thro !h themAwitho t makin! contact. 1o one !ets to be a h man bein! naided. There is not eno !h time in a sin!le lifetime to invent for oneself everythin! one needs to know in order to be a civili0ed h man. 4ss me$ for e7ample$ that yo want to be a physicist. /o pass the !reat stone halls$ of say$ '3T$ and there c t into stone are the names of the master scientists. The chances are that few of yo will leave yo r names to be c t into those stones. /et any one of yo who mana!ed to stay awake thro !h part of a hi!h school co rse in physics$ knows more abo t physics than did many of those !reat makers of the past. /o know more beca se they left yo what they knew. The first co rse in any science is essentially a history co rse. /o have to be!in by learnin! what the past learned for yo . &7cept as a man has entered the past of the race he has no f nction in civili0ation. 4nd as this is tr e of the techni@ es of mankind$ so is it tr e of mankind,s spirit al reso rces. 'ost of these reso rces$ both technical and spirit al$ are stored in books. 6ooks$ the arts$ and the techni@ es of science$ are man,s pec liar accomplishment. *hen yo have read a book$ yo have added to yo r h man e7perience. #ead 2omer and yo r mind incl des a piece of 2omer,s mind. Thro !h books yo can ac@ ire at least fra!ments of the mind and e7perience of Fir!il$ Cante$ =hakespeareAthe list is endless. "or a !reat book is

9 necessarily a !ift: it offers yo a life yo have not time to live yo rself$ and it takes yo into a world yo have not time to travel in literal time. 4 civili0ed h man mind is$ in essence$ one that contains many s ch lives and many s ch worlds. 3f yo are too m ch in a h rry$ or too arro!antly pro d of yo r own limitations$ to accept as a !ift to yo r h manity some pieces of the minds of =ophocles$ of 4ristotle$ of +ha cerAand ri!ht down the scale and down the a!es to /eats$ &instein$ &.6. *hite$ and D!den 1ashAthen yo may be protected by the laws !overnin! mansla !hter$ and yo may be a votin! entity$ b t yo are neither a developed h man bein! nor a sef l citi0en of a democracy. 3 think it was (a #ochefo ca ld who said that most people wo ld never fall in love if they hadn,t read abo t it. 2e mi!ht have said that no one wo ld ever mana!e to become a h man if he hadn,t read abo t it. 3 speak$ 3 am s re$ for the fac lty of the liberal arts colle!es and for the fac lties of the speciali0ed schools as well$ when 3 say that a niversity has no real e7istence and no real p rpose e7cept as it s cceeds in p ttin! yo in to ch$ both as specialists and as h mans$ with those h man minds yo r h man mind needs to incl de. The fac lty$ by its very e7istence$ says implicitly: %*e have been aided by many people$ and by many books$ and by the arts$ in o r attempt to make o rselves some sort of storeho se of h man e7perience. *e are here to make available to yo $ as best we can$ that e7perience.) 3 hope yo will want to enter those minds and those worlds that books can !ive yo . That is essentially what we have to offer. Dn the letterheads and on the banners$ this is # t!ers :niversity. 3t is a !reat niversity and o r pride in it is part of its tr est e7istence. /et$ once inside the letterhead and the banner$ what we really are$ is the # t!ers #eadin! and Cisc ssion =ociety. 3 hope yo will enjoy the meetin!s. 3 hope we won,t have to cancel too many memberships. ?ood l ck$ and !ood learnin!.