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Story
August 21, 1925
Union Labor Bulletin
Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas
What is this article about?
Princeton President John Grier Hibben calls for independent thinking over blind conformity to public opinion, stressing initiative for progress in American life and politics.
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MEN MUST THINK SAYS EDUCATOR
Men must do their own thinking and not blindly accept what currently passes as "public opinion," said President John Grier Hibben, of Princeton University, in urging the need for developing initiative and independent thought in America.
"There is a tendency in American life," he said, "to accept general manifestations of public opinion as final, to seek to discern what seem to be the fashion of the day in thought and then to swim with their currents.
The majority is apparently willing to accept what seems to be prevailing opinion and to conform to it, on the theory that the easiest way is the best way. That may be comfortable, but it is not progressive. It does not develop leadership.
"If American institutions are to progress, we must have those willing to do their own thinking and to contend for the product of their thinking. The colleges have their responsibility to furnish their quota of men of this type.
"In politics and in public life we see the influence of mental inertia. Ninety-nine men out of a hundred are in politics what their fathers were. They give no more original thought to their country's problems than that.
What is needed in politics today is fresh investigation and new evaluation, rather than that the body of the citizens should go along unreasoningly in the party line that has been laid out for them by forgotten ancestors."
-Exchange.
Men must do their own thinking and not blindly accept what currently passes as "public opinion," said President John Grier Hibben, of Princeton University, in urging the need for developing initiative and independent thought in America.
"There is a tendency in American life," he said, "to accept general manifestations of public opinion as final, to seek to discern what seem to be the fashion of the day in thought and then to swim with their currents.
The majority is apparently willing to accept what seems to be prevailing opinion and to conform to it, on the theory that the easiest way is the best way. That may be comfortable, but it is not progressive. It does not develop leadership.
"If American institutions are to progress, we must have those willing to do their own thinking and to contend for the product of their thinking. The colleges have their responsibility to furnish their quota of men of this type.
"In politics and in public life we see the influence of mental inertia. Ninety-nine men out of a hundred are in politics what their fathers were. They give no more original thought to their country's problems than that.
What is needed in politics today is fresh investigation and new evaluation, rather than that the body of the citizens should go along unreasoningly in the party line that has been laid out for them by forgotten ancestors."
-Exchange.
What sub-type of article is it?
Speech
Editorial
What themes does it cover?
Moral Virtue
What keywords are associated?
Independent Thinking
Public Opinion
Education
Politics
Leadership
What entities or persons were involved?
John Grier Hibben
Story Details
Key Persons
John Grier Hibben
Story Details
President John Grier Hibben of Princeton University urges men to think independently and not blindly follow public opinion, emphasizing the need for initiative, leadership, and fresh thinking in politics and American institutions.