Part 1 - The Institute Libraries - Institute for Advanced Study

These are bat illustrations of the progress that has been
made since he wrote the stirring report which looked
toward improved mdkcal education. But his knight-errantry
has not been confined to the field of medial education,
He has tilted not only sgainst diplm mills but also against
the opium trzff ie. He has dared to say what he thinks abwt
the movies, motors and jazz,
Re has spoken out plainly about
education in high places -- attacking certain traditional
methods and disciplines, bur condemning also the introduction
of new courses r;holly devoid of educstional values just for
the sske of adding to nmbers or gratifying a vulgar demsnd.
He has ksd the temerity even to raise the question whether
we Americans really value education in spite of the amount
we spend for it. HE h2s a bright record of achievement to
his credit, and though he has approached the ti- of official
retirement, it is to be hoped that there will be an e ilogue,
for he is a wholesome challenging force in the world, g5
It would appear that the timing of the Secretary's announce-
ment, rather than the fact of FLexner's esrlier resignation, was in
question. Judging by the letter vritten him by Mr. Rockefeller, Jr.,
on the 9th of April, just tuo days before Flexner sailed to England to
prepare for the lectures, he had given notice of his retirement, to be
effective on the 30th of Bur the suspicion pnisred that he
had been relieved of his position for ridiculing the practices of sme
of the best An-erican universities. However, when be had left, the
General Edu~tion Board's Annual Report took this notice af his departure:
Tfs services in the cause! of education and especially
medical education, a field in which his t-infng and expcri-
ence made him ezinent, were invaluzble. During the fiftcen
years in which he was an officer of the Board he devoted
himself with keen intelligence and untiring energy to its
tasks. His clear insight, his wide and accurate hodedge
and his ardent imgirrztion have beem most stirrmlating and
construct ive."37
As has been said Sefose, Flemer spent the next tuo yeam
studying further, and qlffying his lectures for publication by the
Ofiord Press, Universities was published in the United States in
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