Hutchins v. Melby

In educational philosophy the University of Chicago and Northwestern University are separated by a far greater distance than the few miles that lie between their campuses. Even farther apart are Chicago's young president. Robert Maynard Hutchins, who likes Plato, and the dean of Northwestern's School of Education, Ernest Oscar Melby, who likes John Dewey. Last week these two opponents were brought together in Chicago's Mandel Hall, jampacked with professors and students, to debate Dr. Hutchins' widely discussed educational theories, which in essence mean return to a classical curriculum. Dr. Hutchins won most of the laughs, Dr. Melby most of the applause. Excerpts:

Hutchins: "We have got ourselves into such a state of mind that if anybody outside of natural science says he knows anything, he is a dogmatist, an authoritarian, a reactionary and a Fascist.* Anybody who says, 'Everything is a matter of opinion' or 'I will take no position because I am tolerant and open-minded' is a liberal, progressive, democratic fellow to whom the fate of the world may safely be entrusted."

Melby: "In this human-centred universe there is no perfect hierarchy of truth, there are no criteria beyond the realm of experience. . . . Anything to be learned must be lived. . . . The building of a bridge may be more effective in teaching Johnny Jones to think than the study of Plato."

Hutchins: "We cannot understand the environment by looking at it. ... We attack old problems not knowing they are old and make the same mistakes because we do not know they were made. . . ."

*Said Gertrude Stein to Hutchins in her last book, Everybody's Autobiography: "You . . . know the answer . . . but I do not even know whether there is a question."

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