The Power of Education at the University
A local minister delivers a sermon to graduates, arguing that knowledge and moral discipline are the foundations of both the individual and the republic.
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The services of Commencement week at the University were inaugurated on Sunday with the delivery of the Baccalaureate sermon by Rev. J. R. Thompson. The church was thronged with the friends of education. The sermon was simple and appropriate, followed by prayer and singing by the regular choir. The speaker urged that 'knowledge is power' and that an uneducated populace is dangerous to a republic, as they become the prey of demagogues. He emphasized that education must include moral and spiritual discipline to be truly excellent. He concluded that students must continue to be earnest workers, as no man is of value to the world who is not a working man. He urged the graduates to use their education as a conserving, up-building force rather than a destructive one, and to live as disciples of the great teacher, Jesus Christ.
“The ignorant (with honorable exceptions) are the most dangerous members of our politic.”
This sermon reflects the mid-19th century belief in the university as the moral guardian of democracy. Today, the debate has shifted from the 'moral fiber' of the student to the practical economic value of a degree in an increasingly expensive housing market.
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