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“The function of the university is not simply to teach bread-winning, or to furnish teachers for the public schools or to be a centre of polite society; it is, above all, to be the organ of that fine adjustment between real life and the growing knowledge of life, an adjustment which forms the secret of civilization.”

W. E. B. Du Bois

Source
The Souls of Black Folk
Date
1903
Attribution
Source identified
Meaning

What does this quote mean?

Higher education has purposes beyond immediate earning because Du Bois sees it as connecting growing knowledge with the larger demands and meaning of real life.

Source context

Where does it come from?

The Souls of Black Folk, “Of the Training of Black Men.” This is the opening clause of a longer sentence in which Du Bois describes the university as an organ connecting real life with growing knowledge of life.

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Attribution

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This wording is connected with the named source shown above. Translations and editions can vary, so consult the source note when exact wording matters.

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