University of Virginia Library

Donn Kessler

Of A Great Dream Dying

Once upon a time a great man
had a dream. He dreamt that he
would found a center in which all
men could live and study. And this
man was great, for when he awoke
he made his dream a reality by
creating a great center for
education He called his center the
Thomas Hughes Edwards
University.

The founder of THE University
based the source of power of the
school in the state government of
the state where the university was
located. He said he wanted THE
University to be the capstone of
that state's system of education but
also to draw its students and
faculty from all over the world.
And everyone said that this was
good.

Sons Of Rich

But soon, something went
wrong with THE University. More
and more sons of rich people came
to THE University not to study but
to play, and gamble, and drink.
These rich sons did not have to
worry about their future for many
of them had great names and much
money so they could live well after
their years at THE University.

Now when people play and
gamble and drink, they don't have
too much time for thinking. And
sure enough, the people at THE
University did not do too much
critical thinking. One sign of this
lack of thought was the founding of
many traditions. Many of the
people thought that anyone who
did not have the same color skin or
same religion as they had were
inferior beings and could not come
to THE University. It was soon
obvious that THE University was
almost exactly like the society in
which the people at the school had
grown up in. Why, the people at
THE University even dressed just
like their fathers. This is not
because they wanted to dress that
way but because they thought it
made them just like grown-ups.

Excluding Blacks

And so, for many years, the
traditions of excluding blacks and
women and of wearing adult
clothes were followed by the
unthinking people at THE
University. And, as all the
gentlemen drank and gambled and
partied all year long, everyone
began to say that THE University
was a playboy's school and a
country club and one could have a
good time there but not learn too
much. And they were right.

But later, things began to change
at THE University. As we know
now, the structure of the society
influences educational institutions
and this is what happened at THE
University. As the general society
began to change, so did the
atmosphere at THE University.
More and more students who were
intelligent and wanted to get a good
education began to come to THE
University. And society demanded
that women and blacks be able to
go to THE University. And THE
University began to change.

The changing university was
opposed by many narrow minded
reactionaries. They wanted to
return THE University to the way it
used to be — an all-white party
school. But the intelligent liberals
and conservatives saw that the new
university would be a better place
than in days past. They said that a
new type of student was coming to
THE University — a bright student
who wanted to work for a good
education. And these students were
correct and a new breed of student
arrived at the school.

Bothered Students

One aspect of the changing
university still bothered the
students of the old university.
Many of the traditions of THE
University were dying off. "Why,"
they asked, "are some of the
students becoming socially and
politically active and why don't
they wear the uniforms that we
always wore?" The more intelligent
liberals and conservatives answered
their questions by explaining that
the new students would no longer
follow tradition for tradition's sake
but were now thinking for
themselves. And they said that the
political and social activity of the
new students, whether it be
conservative or liberal, only showed
that the students were finally
thinking about their society and
their environment. "Look," they
said, "don't you see the old, bad
traditions crumbling while the
students still hold aloft the good
traditions of THE University." And
they saw a good future for their
university.

But soon, the intelligent
students at THE University saw
that something was going wrong.
The progress of a few years before
was not continuing. And they
turned to the administrators of
THE University and asked for an
explanation of what had happened.
And the administrators explained
that a school must grow if it was to
keep up with the times and that
more students would have to be
admitted to THE University. The
administrators also said that the
state in which the school was
located had to pay taxes for the
institution and that the taxpayers
wanted to get more benefits from
THE University. Therefore, in-state
students would have to be allowed
to enter even if they did have lower
qualifications than in the past.

New University

And soon, a new university
developed. And it was similar to
THE University of many many
years ago. The new student was not
too intelligent and the quality of
the education at the school
declined. And the new students did
not do critical thinking for they
were not too intelligent and new
traditions arose at THE University.
Students wore a uniform of
dungarees and workshirts not
because they wanted to but because
they wanted to follow the new
styles. And the new students began
traditions of great bonfires and
parades and beauty queens at THE
University. And they all would
protest to change the society
without thinking about how they
wanted to change it And the new
students demanded professional
athletes instead of athlete-scholars
and they got that too.

Soon, the intelligent students
and faculty became unhappy with
THE University for they realized
that it would be impossible to
obtain a very good education there
with the new type of student. So
they all began to leave and go
elsewhere. And new teachers came
to teach at THE University who
were not as good as the old teachers
and the unthinking students
accepted everything the new
teachers said because they could
not think critically.

Like All Others

And everyone all around the
world said that THE University was
now only a state university just like
all other state universities. And
these people realized that it was
now impossible to get a good
education at THE University just
like many many years ago. But all
the students at THE University
were happy for they thought that
they were going to college. Except
for those people who remembered
the time only a few years before
when intelligent, hard-working and
free-thinking students had come to
THE University to get a good
education. They remembered their
high hopes for their school. But
now they were very, very sad.