Page:The New Negro.pdf/361

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THE NEW SCENE
317


The last commencement program contains the list of 330 graduates, distributed as follows: Bachelor of Arts, 52; Bachelor of Science, 43; Bachelor of Science in Commerce, 9; Bachelor of Music, 6; Bachelor of Science in Architecture, 1; Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, 2; Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, 1; Bachelor of Science in Architecture, 1; Bachelor of Theology, 4; Diplomas in Theology, 4; Master of Law, 1; Bachelor of Law, 26; Doctor of Medicine, 72; Doctor of Dentistry, 26; Pharmaceutical Chemists, 11; Master of Arts, 3; Master of Science, 2; Second Lieutenants, U. S. R. C., 34. Of the three hundred and thirty graduates who completed their courses last June, 234 were prepared to enter immediately upon their profession or practical pursuit while the other ninety-six are making ready to follow in their train. The leadership of the Negro race must be found in professions which furnish the leader a livelihood in the meantime.

The great responsibilities that devolve upon the Negro professional man and woman make it all the more imperative, however, that their preparation should be laid upon a double basis of exact knowledge and liberal culture. Howard University does not insist less now than formerly upon the cultural idea in education, but rather that this culture should reach and ramify the professional and practical vocations. The ideal of Howard University, as the writer has interpreted it through the years, is to inculcate upon the mind of Negro youth a conscious sense of manhood through the influence of the higher culture. This aroused sense of the highest human values will manifest itself in whatever mode of service the world for the time may need. The writer in this connection may be permitted to quote what he has said in another place. “Man is more than industry, trade, commerce, politics, government, science, art, literature or religion; all of which grow out of his inherent needs and necessities. The fundamental aim of education, therefore, should be manhood rather than mechanism. The ideal is not a working man, but a man working; not a business man, but a man doing business; not a school man, but a man teaching school; not a statesman, but a man handling the affairs of state; not a medicine man, but a man practicing