cherishing the views

General Francis A. Walker, President of MIT in 1887:

Cherishing the views I do as to what constitutes a complete education, I would allow no pupil to graduate from a high school who was not as proficient and exact in mechanical as in grammatical exercises; I would not make myself responsible for adding to the number of youth who have been trained in description, without having been taught to observe the things they should describe; who have spent years in the art of rhetorical elaboration and ornamentation, without acquiring any adequate body and substance upon which to exercise those arts; who are clever in dialectics and declamation, but purblind in perception and feeble in execution; great at second-hand knowledge, but confused and diffident when thrown upon their own resources; skillful with the pen, but using any other tool awkwardly and ignorantly.

This week I am wrapping up another school year, reviewing pages of my new book, checking for errors before it goes to press, and working on text for an article for Fine Woodworking. Our hearts go out to the people of Joplin, Missouri, who have suffered a tragic tornado, destroying nearly 25% of the city. My wife and I had been to Joplin on Saturday and had driven through the area hit by the deadly storm, and so seeing the damage on TV brings special sense of relationship and concern.

Today, my article on slow making appeared on p. 17 of the Summer 2011 UU World Magazine. If you are a UU, your own copy of the UU World should be arriving soon.

Make, fix and create.