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bfIFELUc~kp
.It "iTNAM WAR$ I
View of McCarthy
From a Bucket
'fri
11 f (
SATURDAY, MARCH 23, 1968
'I
NIGHT EDITOR: JILL CRABTREE
Roeky's Withdrawal:
No Alternatives for '68
w
GOV. NELSON ROCKEFELLER'S deci-
sion Thursday to exclude himself
from active campaigning for the Repub-
lican Presidential nomination comes as
a blow to all who had hoped the Repub-
lican party may have been able to offer
the American people a viable alternative
to the present state of affairs.
Unless Gov. Rockefeller reverses his
decision in the near future, Richard Nix-
on is virtually assured the nomination-
and at the same time, the decision vir-
tually assures the Republican party will
lose again, whether to President John-
son or Sen. Robert Kennedy.
(It is only the naive, conservative Re-
publicans who can bear to hold the notion
that a man who has not won an election
on his own in 18 years is able to win the
presidency.)
It may have been true, in Gov. Rocke-
feller's estimates, the majority of Repub-
licans did not wish to see him obtain the
nomination. But the Governor is very
premature if his decision was based
solely on this archaic view that the will
of the people is expressed only through
party lines. ,
Gov. Rockefeller's support is a lateral
one that transcends party politics. He
should not have been reluctant to split
the party between conservative and
moderate wings, as happened in '64, for
many Democrats and independents alike
would have voted in Republican prima-
ries to assure Rockefeller the nomina-
tion. The party is recently a dual ideol-
ogy, and to hope that the tremendous dif-
ferences between the two factions can
ever be healed is pure ludicrously.
AS A RESULT, Rockfeller would have
been disguised as a Republican
nominee, but he would have truly repre-
sented the will of Americans during this
time when party differences are not
valid ones.
Those of us concerned with the con-
dition of the country must now concen-
trate our efforts within the Democratic
party. The fight to oust Presideht John-
son will be much more difficult than the
one to oust Richard Nixon. And if in July
we find the contest is between Nixon and
Johnson, it will not be difficult to assume
the democratic system is defunct.
-JIM HECK
-h '
1'
Las:«EA ir~re. a. %. %"
I hope you will understand .
. My political career is at stake!'
Letters to the Editor
Et Je Vous Accuse, Shapiro
By MICHAEL ROBERTS
T 9:15 IN THE morning the
Diag looks deflated. The trees
jut up from the matted grass, a
few signs lean chained to trees
and posts. There is a hollow, em-
pty air about it. Bucketing money
for McCarthy becomss more than
politics.
"Would you like to help sup-
port McCarthy in Wisconsin?"'
A little old man with a straight
white beard and tiny blue eyes
answered, "Do you know what
you're doing? Why you're pan-
handling. If I was to do that
they'd throw me in jail."
"Yes sir, but I'm not. .
His eyes seemed to swell, "Well
do you know what my last job as
a soldier was?"
"No sir."
"Why fifty years ago I buried
dead soldiers in France, that's
what I did."
"Yes sir."
SOME PEOPLE choose not to
answer at all. They turn their
heads as if on a Listerine com-
mercial. Others, with a little more
forethought work their way
around by way of the muddylawn
or sidewalks which aren't really
going where they'd like them to
go.
"Would you like to help sup-
port McCarthy in Wisconsin?"
Some answer quite honestly,
"Sorry, I'm a Johnson man," or,
"Ha, are you kidding." Others
squirm a bit, "Ah, well, you see
ahhh, I'm really, uh, a Republi-
can."
"Would you like to help sup-
port McCarthy in Wisconsin?"
Two guys stopped, "Yeah sure,
what the hell." One dressed in
denim, with the Canadian flag
sewn on the back of his jacket, a
small swastika on his back left
pocket, one pant leg slashed to
the knee, began digging in his
pockets. The other one, larger,
with a tired looking trench coat,
threw a quarter in the bucket.
"Put it all in," he said, "that
nickel too."
"Hell, I need it for the juke
box," the Canadian flag said.
"Oh, put it in for Christssake."
He threw it in the bucket.
"Would you like to help sup-
port McCarthy in Wisconsin?"
A MATRONLY lady with thick
glasses peered in reply, "I really
haven't decided yet." I suddenly
had the feeling that I had asked
her what kind of cookies she was
going to make. "I'll think about
it, though."
"Would you like to help sup-
port McCarthy in Wisconsin?"
An elderly man who had been
walking remarkably slow turned,
"McCarthy?" He paused for a mo-
ment as his mind locked on the
name. "McCarthy, why, don't you
remember the McCarthy we had
before. No, I won't support an-
other one."
"Would you like to help sup-
port McCarthy in Wisconsin?"
OPINION
The Daily has begun accept-
ing articles from faculty, ad-
ministration, and students on
gub.ieets of their choice. They
are to be 600-900 words in
length and should be submitted
to the Editorial Director.
*
A Nation of Sheep
ONE OF tHE MANY dangerous side
effects of the war in Vietnam is the
masking of the continual danger both
this nation and the world faces from the
apparently unquenchable stamina of the
arms race.
The latest incident to indicate the pre-
carious nature of our balance of weapons
is the unexplained death of more° than
5,000 sheep on a Utah ranch 25 miles
from the Army's major test site for
chemical and biological warfare (CBW).
Second class postage paid at Ann Arbor, Michigan,
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor. Michigan, 48104.'
The Daily is a member of the Associated Press,
Collegiate. Press Service and Liberation News Service.
Daily except.Sunday and Monday during regular
summer session..
Daily except Monday during regular academic school
year.
Fall and winter subscription rate: $4.50 per term by
carrier ($5 by mail); $8.00 for regular academic school
year ($9 by miail).
Editorial Staff
MARK LEVIN, Editor
DAVID KNOKE, Executive Editor
STEPHEN WILDSTROM URBAN LEHNER
Managing Editor Editorial Director
DANIEL OKRENT................. Feature Editor
CAROLYN MIEGEL .......'Associate Editoria) Director
WALTER SHAPIRO ....... Associate Editorial Director
LUCY KENNEDY ... .. Personnel Director
NEAL BRUSS....................Magazine Editor
ANDY SACKS . .......Photo Editor
ROBERT SHEFFIELD................... Lab Chief
While the Army adamantly maintains
that the base is "definitely ,not respon-
sible," the peculiar way the animals have
died has aroused suspicion among many
experts that contamination from nerve
gas is responsible.
Whether this allegation is true, the
entire incident emphasizes the extreme
danger of continued CBW work. And the
loss of four H-bombs off of Greenland
in January illustrates the general uncer-
tainty of the well-publicized Government
security systems.
THE GOVERNMENT'S rationale for all
such efforts is the hoary Cold War
argument that all efforts, no matter how
Indefensible, are necessary because
otherwise we would be at the total mercy
of all our adversaries.
This situation exists primarily because
the Government has failed to make an
adequate effort to reach further agree-
ments with the Soviet Union following
the 1963 Test Ban Treaty.
It's bad enough that this Government
refuses to learn from its mistakes in Viet-
nam. But it is potentially cataclysmic
for the Government to ignore the moral
implicit in both the H-bomb and Utah
disasters.
-WALTER SHAPIRO
To the Editor:
WALTER SHAPIRO has done it:
he has written a piece that
is worse than "J'Accuse." (This
much heralded piece, published in
the Daily, March 9, stimulted a
tremendous campus-wide contro-
versy: Was it satire? or was it
for real?) The first paragraph of
his most recent triumph of astute
insight and political sagacity fol-
tows (March 18-The Enemy With-
in)
The real danger of Robert
Kennedy's Presidential cand-
idacy was hidden in two little-
noticed words uttered during
his maiden campaign press
conference on Saturday.
Here we have it: the very last
word on the TRUE danger of
Robert Kennedy's candidacy hid-
den in two little-noticed words-
so little-noticed in fact, that our
boy Walter his the only observer
who has managed to glean this
rare insight from such slim pick-
ings. By now, we are all waiting
breathlessly for the two words;
but Walter is not going to let us
off lightly. We must wade through
two more paragraphs of revela-
tions which more or less draw us
away from the issues, so can cen-
ter our attack on Walter's favorite
whipping boy - Robert Kennedy's
character.
At last, we get the two words,
at the end of a not unreasonable
quote (for political rhetoric) from
the Kennedy press conference:
"retaliatory action." Here it is
folks: the insidious danger, long-
hidden from the light, of the Ken-
nedy candidacy. Loking at the
title again - The Enemy Within
- we begin to wonder again
whether Walter isn't pulling our
legs.
From this kernel of vital in-
formation, we hear Kennedy com-
pared to Dean Rusk, a slight switch
from "the Richard Nixon of the
Democratic Party." (S u n d a y,
March'17 - The Ballad of Bobby
and Gene) One feels there may
just possibly be a method to this
cat's mannerisms - he is secretly
writing a novel in the "Literature
of Exhausted Possibilities" genre,
cooly and calculatingly trying to
to boggle the minds of hip English
professors.hHis use of the word
"maiden" has a certain flair of
absurdity which goes right along
vith thegeneral absurdity of draw-
ing such an earth-shaking con-
clusion from two words of a pol-
itician's rhetoric at- a press con-
ference. Other diction reminiscent
of the absurd: "vividly illumin-
ates," the tenor of our age being
that anything which "vividly il-
luminates" and is not concerned
directly with light waves, must be
absurd; "political chameleon,"
name one politician who isn't (one
wants to add, name one person
who isn't); "political miracle,"
miracle has a certain absurdity
about it, reminiscent of the God
of the Old Testament.
The hope is, that Walter will be
able to launch his candidacy for
the Presidency in the near future,
with a rhetoric of purity and hon-
esty. Until that day, one sleeps
easier knowing that Walter is on
the job, and that Robert F. Ken-
nedy is running for President.
Hallelujah Brothers and Sisters!!
-John Henderson
Eugene McCarthy
"Yeah," replied a short, serious
looking man. With that he draw
a dollar bill out of his wallet and
dropped it in the bucket.
"Would you like to help sup-
port McCarthy in Wisconsin?"
"Why what's he going to do?"
asked a fragile looking little old
lady. She had a plastic patch
over one lens of her glasses. "I
read he was, going to end the
war."
"Yes ma'am he. ."
"Well he can't do it. Why, do
you know what I was doing last
night?"
"No ma'am."
"I WAS AT an American Le-
gion meeting. Do you know where
they started? In Paris fifty years
ago. That just goes to prove that
you can't end wars, they're in
human nature, we'll always have
them. I'm for President Johnson,
he has been in office long
enough to know what's going on
over there."
"Would you like to help sup-
port McCarthy in Wisconsin?"
A Japanese student stopped. He
stood there looking at the bucket,
thinking. He looked at me, smiled
and then without a word he threw
in some change and walked away.
"Would you like to help sup-
port McCarthy in Wisconsin?"
Three hippies turned around
and one said over his shoulder,
"Sorry man, I'm flat."
THE DIAG began to inflate
again as some classes began let-
ting out. Instead of ones or twos
people, began walking by in packs
and platoons. Bicyclists weaved
by, their heads above the rest
soaring like eagles over a forest
of people. Someone was playing a
guitar'in front of the library.
"Would you like to help sup-
port McCarthy in Wisconsin?"
A girl stepped out from be-
tween two waves of people. "Yes,
I'd like to. Do you have anymore
of those buttons?"
"No, I'm afraid I don't, we . .."
"You don't?" The words had
the consistency of wet cement.
She shoved her wallet back in her
purse and stepped back into the
moving crowd. "Never mind
then."
tI
Voter Registration
To the Editor:
THE FOLLOWING is a letter
to the editor of the Ann Arbor
News.
Unfortunately, the Ann Arbor
News article on Wednesday about
the lawsuit of the eight Univer-
sity students trying to register to
vote in Ann Arbor contained ser-
ious distortions,
First, the statement that a suc-
cessful suit "could add as many
as 15,000 voters to the city rolls"
is erroneous. It is true that this
is the total number of seniors
and graduate students at the Uni-
versity. However, approximately
8,000 of these are already eligible,
and yet only a small proportion
have chosen to register to vote in
Ann Arbor.
Thus, if the lawsuit wins and
7,000 additional could register in
Ann Arbor, probably only a small
proportion would choose to do
so. Many students do not regard
Ann Arbor as their home or de-
sire to register here. However,
that small proportion that views
Ann Arbor as their true home and
residence should be allowed to
register, the same as other mem-.
bers of the Ann Arbor commun-
ity.
Second, the paragraph at the
end of the article states that the
students bringing the lawsuit are
from cities other than Ann Arbor.
These students are originally
from those other cities but now
regard Ann Arbor as their home.
-David M. Cbpi, '68L
-Michael Koeneke, '69 BAd.
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By ANN MUNSTER
IT HAS always been an essential
part of the American Dream to
initiate a total transformation of
the stifling social environment by
simply withdrawing from it into
the peaceful utopian community
of one's choice, and let the larger
society be renovated by example
or be damned.
Despite the long history of
failures among the wide variety
of utopian experiments which
have sprung up throughout Amer-
ica and the pervasive cynicism of
our age, this, dream persists,
though admittedly on a much
more modest scale than in the
past. The Children's Community
School, an independent experi-
mental school in Ann Arbor now
in its third year of operation, rep-
resents a new and local example
of this yet unquenched innovat-
ing zeal.
Three years ago a group of Ann
Arbor parents who could find no
desirable alternative to the pub-
lic school system started the
Children's Community. They de-
plored an educational system gov-
erned by a "tracking system"
mostly based along class lines and
completely subservient to meeting
the manpower needs of a techno-
logical society. Now there are 24
kids, about 50 per cent Negro and
50 per cent' white, representing all
income levels, going to school in
the basement of the Friends' Cen-
ter on Hill Street.
The school aims to correct the
until a
built.
full elementary school is
A FIRST impression of the Chil-
dren's Community School gives
one more of a sense of blossoming
chaos than of a budding utopian
model for more sophisticated
schools of the future. But a closer
examination of the "fun and
games" reveals that the kids are
developing all kinds of skills and
knowledge, some of which is very
sophisticated, and all stemming
from their own personal interests
and experience.
"The regular educational system
sacrifices a child's interests to a
series of standards in both learn-
ing and discipline," says staff
member Skip Taube. Bill Ayers,
'68, another staff member, says
that, in the end, the public schools
in this country turn out children
"who aren't creative but acquies-
cent. The child's self-confidence
and interests are lost-he's dis-
trustful of himself and his own
values-unhappy and confused."
The Community School's answer
to this dilemma follows the tradi-
tional American utopian approach
to eliminating fundamental social
ills. The technique is to penetrate
to the "heart" of the matter-to
discern what is rotten at the very
core of the system. The next step
is to concoct an enterprise based
upon an ingenious solution to the
basic problem. In the case of the
Children's Community School, the
nanacea has sprung from far more
which kids bring are either con-
sciously neglected or simply over-
looked. Subjects have arbitrary
starting points and the child's
interests are seldom, if ever, taken
into account in the teaching pro-
cess. Consequently, most kids learn
that school is irrelevant to their
lives, that there are certain rules
to learn to get by, and that learn-
ing, at least in the schools, is nei-
ther stimulating nor exciting.
The method in the madness of
the Children's Community School
is its effort to make all instruc-
tion result from direct experience
and thereby preserve the child's
natural curiosity and innate de-
sire to learn, now so efficiently
stifled by the public school system.
EXPERIENTIAL learning is the
only way in which children can
maintain any identification with
what they are learning-it is the
only way they can grasp the rea-
sons for knowing certain things.
As staff member Skip Taube says,
"You can't expect a kid to like
learning if you force him to add
and subtract or read, if what's
most important to him is to learn
how to ride a bicycle, make
friends, or just to play."
But the Community School is
not striking a blow against mas-
tering the traditional skills-it is
merely instructing the children in
those skills in a revolutionary way.
Their methods, however, are sus-
tained by the same indomitable
faith which underlies all utopian
"All the kids have done very
well once they have accepted as a
fact that they are not in a situa-
tion where they will be told what
to do and have to get approval,"
Taube says. It is not like the en-
vironment of the public school
which is moulded by alien social
concerns, notby the educational
needs of the children.
AND finally, education through
direct experience is the only meth-
od by which the naturally compre-
hensive view of the world, un-
cluttered by arbitrary thought
categories, with which children
start life can be preserved. The
curriculum of the Community
School is unstructured and pro-
vides a variety of materials which
the kids can make use of in any
way that moves their imagination,
rather than encumbering them
with workbooks demanding the so-
lution to predetermined problems
in terms of answers that adult
teachers can grasp. This enables
the children to continue coping
with their environment in the uni-
fied way that is natural to them
and generally more effective.
The Children's Community also
counteracts the stifling artificial-
ity of the public school environ-
ment in that there is no one
teacher, no one classroom. Every-
one can and does teach and every-
one can and does learn.
The Community School, despite
its confirmed utopian approach to
students are also incorporated as
assistants because although they
are often the furthest from being
certified, they are at the same
time the best qualified teachers
available.
They are eager and creative in
using their own skills in working
with the kids. The most effective
of them (and probably the most
effective teachers in general) are
people who respect kids and other
people as individuals, and who feel
respect for and confidence in
themselves. These are really the
people who have the courage to
learn from children, and to allow
children to be, themselves instead
of the carbon copy of some adult.
The unbounded optimism of
Community School staffers has
led them to limit the roles that
they themselves play in the educa-
tion of the kids to just two. One
of these is called "super-democrat"
-the staff member tells the kids
what they cannot do for reasons
of safety and the like. Activity is
then left to the kids themselves,
pursuing their individual interests
as long as it does not affect the
group as a whole.
The alternative role is quaintly
termed "hippy prophet" where the
staff member does something
himself and the kids are free to
join him if they want to.
BUT THE KIDS learn also
very much from each other, and
one is exceedingly struck, amid
the continual chaos which per-
says Bill Ayers, "comes closer t )
assimilation. They are absorbing
the ghetto child and teaching him
his role in the dominant culture."
"At Children's Community in-
tegration is two-way, with no one
model to look up to as 'correct.'
We discuss differences in race or
class freely-to avoid that would
put some value connotation in the
differences. Instead the kids pick
up a lot from each other-race be-
comes something now to find out
about and maybe to learn from."
The Children's Community
School is also quietly revolution-
ary in its relationship to the par-
ents of its students. Rev. Robert
Hauert, chairman of the Commu-
nity School's Board of Supervisors
explains "The involvement of par-
ents is crucial - both in under-
standing the school, participating
in it and helping to make deci-
sions.
"FOR PARENTS to just send
their kids to school, without know-
ing what goes on there is simply
abbrogating responsibility," Hau-
ert says.
The Community School is not
daunted by the widespread feeling
that the educational system is too
big and too integrally related to
the constraints of a society ruled
by technocrats and that therefore
the existence of such a small
school cannot possibly be effective.
It quietly persists in its own ef-
forts. However, it still feels that
the creation of the Children's