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The following is from Rav Shimon Schwab's These and Those that I have posted at</div>
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<a href="https://web.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/these_and_those.pdf" id="LPlnk">https://web.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/these_and_those.pdf</a></div>
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Keep in mind that Rav Schwab left RSRH's "day school" before completing the 9th grade in order to study in Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Zalman's yeshiva gedola in Frankfurt. Two years later he went to study in the Mir and then in Telz. Yet he was known for his broad
secular knowledge which he acquired on his own. He showed that there is no need to attend college in order to gain broad secular knowledge.</div>
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Yitzchok Levine<br>
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in the section "Mensch-Yisroel"</div>
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The object of the true Torah education, therefore, is to make
<div>the student conscious at all times of this Divinely imposed task.</div>
<div>To acquire Torah knowledge is our foremost duty, because without</div>
<div>it, we cannot function at all. However, the prime purpose of</div>
<div>all Torah study is its translation into conscious and enlightened</div>
<div>Torah life. <br>
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<div>At all times must the unchanging teachings of Torah be applied</div>
<div>to the ever-changing derech eretz. All of our actions, our</div>
<div>attitudes, our relationships to man and beast and our positions</div>
<div>within nature and history are subject to the jurisdiction and the</div>
<div>evaluation of the Torah.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>What follows is that the Torah scholar should be well informed</div>
<div>of the "ways of the earth." The laws of nature and the paths of</div>
history should be known to him. He should be well aware of what</div>
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happens in the world which surrounds him, for he is constantly
<div>called upon to apply the yardstick of halachah and the searchlight</div>
<div>of hashkafah to the realities which confront us.</div>
<div><br>
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<div>What also follows is that the greater the wisdom of Torah, the</div>
more mandatory it becomes that this wisdom be conveyed to the</div>
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to a joyous acceptance of the yoke of Heaven. The Torah
<div>scholar must be able to dispel the doubts of the doubter and to</div>
<div>counter the cynicism of the agnostic. He must, therefore, speak</div>
<div>their language masterfully so that he can convince and enlighten</div>
<div>them.</div>
<div><br>
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<div>There is indeed a dire need for gedolei Torah, great Torah</div>
<div>scholars, who devote their entire lives to the study and the dissemination</div>
<div>of Torah. The Jewish world today needs many talmidei</div>
<div>chachamim whose lives' tasks are to enlighten it and inspire it</div>
<div>with the love and the fear of G-d. We are ready to accord to those</div>
<div>"messengers of G-d" the highest respects and a loyal following.</div>
<div>These are the "honorary" Kohanim and Leviim of today. Like the</div>
<div>members of the Levitic tribe of old, they are to serve all the other</div>
<div>tribes and teach them the living Torah.</div>
<div><br>
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<div>Yet, education and leadership cannot function in a vacuum.</div>
<div>Therefore, it becomes mandatory for the present day "Tribe of</div>
<div>Levi" to initiate and encourage an educational system which can</div>
<div>serve all other "eleven tribes" as well, and that means the vast</div>
<div>majority of our people. It becomes mandatory for the Torah-conscious</div>
<div>educator-not to inspire fear of the world and hesitancy to</div>
<div>meet its challenge, but rather, to fortify the vast majority of our</div>
<div>youth to meet head on and overcome victoriously the thousand</div>
<div>and one pitfalls of professional and business life. Our youth must</div>
<div>be inspired to courageously and intelligently brave the onslaught</div>
<div>of scientific arrogance and the sensual poison that is masked as</div>
<div>intellectual liberalism.</div>
<div><br>
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<div>The divine purpose for which Yisrael was created can be served</div>
<div>in every capacity, in every profession, in all human endeavors, as</div>
<div>long as they are not excluded by the halachah.</div>
<div><br>
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<div>During every period of our history we had gaonim who commanded
<div>authority within and became our spokesmen without. To<br>
</div>
<div>do this they added secular knowledge to their profound wisdom.<br>
<div>There is a colorful roster of immortal masters such as R' Saadya</div>
<div>Gaon, Rambam, Maharal and so forth, all the way down through</div>
<div>the ages to the Gaon of Yilna. They all successfully employed the</div>
<div>so-called "outer-wisdom" as the spice mixers and the cooks for</div>
the royal table of the Divine teaching.</div>
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<div>What Rav Hirsch zatzal propagated is not really the principle
<div>itself as much as its introduction into chinuch, into the educational</div>
<div>program for the Jewish school and for the growing youth.</div>
<div>This is the true chiddush which Hirsch initiated! There were always</div>
<div>learned adults who acquired positive attitudes toward worldly</div>
<div>knowledge after they had mastered Shas and Poskim. But Hirsch</div>
<div>innovated a school program for children, starting from the elementary</div>
<div>level all the way up to higher education during the formative</div>
years of life.<br>
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<div><br>
True, there was some Torah im rech eretz in the olden days.</div>
<div>It consisted of all day Torah study with one or two hours thrown</div>
<div>in for writing and basic arithmetic. The program of Hirsch expanded</div>
<div>the scope of the derech eretz by adding the full secular</div>
<div>school program to the curriculum. Ghetto life, with its restrictions</div>
<div>and suppressions imposed from without, reduced the need for</div>
<div>"outer" knowledge to a bare minimum. The derech eretz of the</div>
post-Ghetto society required much more time and attention.<br>
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