A Lament For Modern Students And Teachers

Paupertatem quoque lectoribus suadere voluit, id est, superflua non sectari, quod maxime ad disciplinam spectat. Pinguis enim venter, ut dicitur, tenuem non gignit sensum. sed quid ad haec scholares nostri temporis respondere poterunt, qui non solum in studiis suis frugalitatem sequi contemnunt, sed etiam supra id quod sunt divites videri laborant?nec iam quid didicerit quisque iactitat, sed quid expenderit. sed fortassis quia magistros suos imitari volunt, de quibus, quid satis digne dicam, non invenio.  Hugonis De Sancto Victore, Didascalicon, Lib III, Cap XVIII

One would wish to exhort students to poverty, that is, that they not seek superfluities, something which should be viewed of great importance for their discipline. 'A fat stomach,' as they say, 'does not produce a sharp mind.' But what reply will the students of our time give to this, those who not only despise to hold to frugality in their studies but even labor to appear more rich than they are? Each one boasts not of what he has learned but of what he has spent. But perhaps this is because they wish to imitate their teachers, of whom I cannot find anything worthy enough to say. Hugh of St Victor, from the Didascalion, Book 3, Chapter 18