"Double Life"

Walter Lippman, chief editorial writer of the New York World, delivered a lecture at the University of Virginia. Said he: "I believe that the body of educators has hardly realized the power it could exercise if it chose not to endure this perpetual bullying by ignoramuses. The teachers will be slaves if they act like slaves. Weakness always tempts the bully. If they cower they will be bullied. The tragedy and absurdity of the thing is that they could so easily rally a following if they had the imagination to realize how strong they are. If they chose to say that they would not endure the intolerable indignities to which they are subjected they would very soon command a new kind of respect in the nation. Nothing can excuse or explain away spinelessness. But if the educators in the public schools have to lead a double life it is not due wholly to personal timidity. It is due to a confusion of mind."