Every school gains renown not only through the scientific achievements
of its professors, but also because of the industrial successes of its
former students. Schools have been a potent factor in the development
of an intellectual elite, the class responsible for the progress of
civilization in any country. If Europe is superior to Africa, the
sole cause lies in the possession of leaders. The blacks of savage
countries may be good manual laborers, but they lack a select class to
direct them, either as governing officials, as officers in warfare,
as scholars, as engineers or as organizers of their industries. The
formation of an intellectual superior class should be the dominant
preoccupation of any country that expects to cut a figure in world
affairs.
The geologist, de Lapparent, in a didactic statement declared that
every terrain is, of necessity, divided into three strata; the
upper, the middle and the lower. The intellectuals likewise may be
placed on three levels; the men of genius, whose fame and influence
extend throughout the world for many centuries; the great men, whose
renown, however great at a given time, is finally eclipsed by that
of their successors, and lastly, the lower elite, who temporarily
exert a useful influence within rather narrow boundaries, but never
attain far-reaching notability. Each of these three categories of
intellectual superiors renders about the same value of service to
humanity; the men of genius are certainly the greatest benefactors, but
they also occur most seldom. In algebraic terms, the product of the
number in each class multiplied by each individual’s usefulness gives a
constant.
In a talk to the students of an American university Carnegie said:
“I am speaking only to those of you who are ambitious to become
millionaires; the others do not interest me.” The present speaker
wishes to emphasize a parallel thought: “I am speaking only to those
of you who have an ambition to raise yourselves above the average, and
I believe this will include all of you.” It would surely be folly for
anyone to deliberately set out to become a genius, because this goal
can only be reached through exceptional qualities, but we all can and
should strive to be numbered among the elite, to use this term in its
proper sense. With the exception of certain afflicted individuals,
fortunately not numerous, all of us from birth have the requisite
qualities. The rest is dependent on will power and on the method of
developing and applying our natural endowments.
Let us examine together, using the experimental method, the conditions
attendant upon the recruitment of the intellectual elite. For this
purpose we need not distinguish the levels of attainment, for they do
not differ in nature, but only in degree. We can then cite as examples
great men with whose lives you are more familiar, and from these we
may draw conclusions applicable to the formation of the ordinary elite.
What qualities are essential and how may these be developed?