University of Virginia Library

Whitebread Stresses
'How' Instead Of 'What'

By MARK HOGREFE

"The primary purpose of a liberal arts
education is to allow our children to
make decisions about the future. The
value of the university is to guide in
making such decisions," Assoc. Law Prof.
Charles H. Whitebread said last Thursday
night in a speech concluding Founder's
Day activities.

The secondary purpose of a liberal arts
education, he said, "is to provide the
individual with the analytical tools to
deal with his world."

"Teaching should focus on these
tools," he asserted, "and not on the facts
of discipline; on the how rather then the
what."

"But one of the main tools of a liberal
arts education is outside the classroom,"
said Mr. Whitebread, who has been a
leading proponent of University
residential colleges.

He cited two goals for the University:
to be a community of scholars and to
educate students, primarily undergraduate
students.

The 1930's depression showed a
college degree important as a "saleable
label" for making money. Whether it was
doctor, lawyer, architect or engineer, Mr.
Whitebread explained, a label brought
money.

"Today I think nothing contributes
more to the generation gap than the
parents' continual question, 'What is this
leading to? What label will come from
this education?', and the students'
inability to provide answers," he said.

"We are not, within the concept of a
liberal arts education, able to give a
saleable label."

Mr. Whitebread commented that
history, his own major subject at
Princeton, too often focuses on the bare
facts while neglecting the tools of finding,
analyzing and interpreting vital new facts.

"What kind of teachers do we want?"
he asked. "It is hard for me to imagine a
truly great teacher who is not growing as
a scholar while he teaches."

"Public education is on the ascendant,
not only financially but morally as well,"
Mr. Whitebread asserted.

"In order to perpetuate itself, the
private institution must return to an
elitist admissions policy. The public
institution, on the other hand, can admit
women, blacks and other minorities, the
poor and students from differing
backgrounds."