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Quotation from The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois
“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.”
The Souls of Black Folk, Chapter V, Of the Wings of Atalanta (Project Gutenberg text)
After warning that Atlanta may be tempted by the golden apples of wealth, Du Bois defends the university's higher purpose.
Citation: "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, The Souls of Black Folk, Chapter V, Of the Wings of Atalanta (Project Gutenberg text). (id the-souls-of-black-folk-q5)
Portrait: W.E.B. Du Bois by James E. Purdy, 1907 (cropped), James E. Purdy / Adam Cuerden, CC0.
