Response to Newman's "Idea of a University"

In the excerpts from “The Idea of a University,” John Henry Newman makes some strong arguments about the value of a “liberal” education and the duty a university has to provide a broad and varied learning environment in order to mold and socialize young minds. He stresses that the ultimate aim of a university is to “raise the intellectual tone of society,” and that the goals of specific occupational training or the cultivation of genius are secondary. Although I agree with Newman that universities should expose students to a variety of subjects and encourage socialization with other students, I argue that it is those very “works . . . of genius” (p. 53) produced within the university that give it its substance and power. Creating the greatest minds possible with the resources available to a university (professors, labs, texts, or other students) should be one of its foremost goals; this example set by the academic elite will encourage others to pursue knowledge as well, ensuring that the other benefits of a liberal education will naturally follow. Newman correctly argues that universities provide the foundation for a person to participate successfully in society. What he fails to recognize, however, is that society constantly progresses and that universities must progress as well in order to provide up-to-date preparation. The best way to ensure that progression is to support intellectual innovation – or “works of genius.”