Through the school: The experiences of a mill boy in securing an education
John Stuart Mill · en
“Then what under heaven did you come to college for, if not to increase
your theological information and whatever ability you might have as a
preacher.”
“I came to college,” I replied, “to get the other man’s point of
view. I reasoned with myself that a purely technical education tends
to narrow a man unless supplemented by an education which might be
entitled, ‘The Other Man’s Point of View.’”
“That’s a thrust at me,” replied the Doctor, “as if to say that I,
because I took my medicine with old Dr. Desbrow, and never went to one
of your colleges, was narrow. The idea!”
“I was not alluding to you, sir,” I responded. “I was merely making a
generalization which seems provable. For instance, I have a friend who
is an expert surgeon. He has been trained in some of the best clinics
and has diplomas from the most reputable medical colleges. He has
learned his profession well, in all its finer, technical points. But he
never received any liberal education. The result is, that he is narrow
in his tastes, caring for nothing which is not flavored by anaesthetics
or redolent of carbolic acid. As there are among his friends those
whose stomachs turn at the mention of an operation or at the whisper
of anaesthetics, he has no way of interesting them on subjects in
which they are interested. He imagines that because all the world is
not poking steel points in ulcers and cancers, it had better be left
alone. The result is, that when you mention the surgeon’s name to the
townsfolk, you will hear words like these: ‘A fine surgeon, but as
cranky and bitter as a hobby-rider.’ No one can get along with him. He
loses business by it. He knows nothing but his profession!”
“Well,” demanded the doctor, “that’s a job big enough for any man with
brains, isn’t it?”
“True,” I responded, “but the truly _educated_ surgeon has not only to
know his tools, his diagnoses, his operating methods, but along with
that knowledge, his final success demands that he be liberally trained
in human nature, that he have at least a faint idea of the subjects in
which other people are interested. A liberal education, added to his
professional education gives him that.”
“I’d like to know how?” demanded the Doctor.