i Seventy-eight years of editorial freedom Edited and managed by students of the University of Michigan under authority of Board in Control of Student Publications Socrates and scientists at Brandeis 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich. News Phone: 764-0552 Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily exp ress the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.! ! I SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, 1969 NIfHT EDITOR: MARCIA ABRAMSON The McCarthy mystique: Esoteric reasoning ""THE ANCIENT PHILOSOPHIES," wrote Ambrose Bierce, who was renowned for his slashingly sardonic operational definitions, "Were of two kinds, - exo- teric, those that the philosophers them- selves could partly understand, and eso- teric, those that nobody could under- stand." Considering his recent behavior,Sen. Eugene McCarthy fully qualifies under' Bierce's definition of esoteric. From the beginning, his political rec- ord has been consistently erratic. Long, before the abortive Bay of Pigs invasion m a d e the Central Intelligence Agency controversial, the Minnesota poet-pol- 'tician was a vigilant CIA watchdog. Yet poised against this precocious liberalism was his obsequious support of the oil de- pletion allowance. McCARTHY SAW his early campaign for the Democratic nomination last year as a holy w a r of ideology rather' than a grimy struggle for power. Yet when a contender with decently similar principles entered t h e race, McCarthy openly and bitterly resented the intru- sion. As last year's campaign w o r e on, a strain of perversity began to characterize the Senator's style. In the wake of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, he made one of the least diplomatic state- ments uttered by a political figure since Charlie Wilson explained the relationship between General Motors and America. Only recently, however, has McCarthy's behavior gone from the bizarre to the enigmatic. Last week, in the election for Democratic whip, he supported Russell Long of Louisiana, one of the Senate's most backward troglodytes, against Ted Kennedy. Stated explanation: The Sen- ate needs wholesome reform, not token- ism. McCarthy apparently would h a v e the public believe that wholesale reform, would have been imminent with Long as Whip. LINGERING RESENTMENT of the Ken- nedy family undoubtedly and to some extent understandably influenced his 004r rt x ~ig Second Class postage paid at Ann Arbor. Michigan, 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104. Published daily Tuesday through Sunday morning University year. Subscription rates: $9.00 by carrier, $10.00 by mail. Summer Session publishedtTuesday through Satur- day morning. Subscription rates: $2.541 by carrier, $3.00 by mail. Editorial Staff MARK LEVIN. Editor STEPHEN WILDSTROM URBAN LERNER Managing Editor Editorial Director DAVID KNOKE, Executive Editor WALLACE IMMEN ... .. .. News Editor CAROLYN MIEGEL......Associate, Managing Editor DANIEL' OKUENT . Feature Editor PAT O'DONOHUE ..... ... .. .. News Editor WALTER SHAPIRO ......Associate Editorial Director HOWARD KOHN........ Associate Editorial Director AVIVARKEMPNER............Personnel Director NEAL BRUSS..................Magazine Edito- ALISON SYMROSKI......Associate Magazine Editor ANN MUJNSTER ........... .... Contributing Editor support of Long. E v e n less explicable than McCarthy's vote in the whip elec- tion was his decision announced Thurs- day to relinquish his seat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to Wyom- ing Democrat Gale McGee, ;an unabashed defender of Johnson's foreign policy. When he announced in his typically cantankerous fashion that he had decid- ed not to run for re-election to the Sen- ate in 1970 as a Democrat, McCarthy stressed that he would continue to ex- pound his views as a member of the for- eign relations committee. His latest move, given McGee's views of foreign policy, is worse than a revocation of that promise. Tortured reasoning, of course, has been part of the McCarthy mystique from the beginning. His plan for Vietnam, it will be remembered, was to negotiate until terms of peace could be reached. Should negotiations fail, he hinted, the United States was to withdraw unilaterally any- way. Having often announced this plat- f o r m publicly, McCarthy as President might have had a hard time inducing the North Vietnamese and Vietcong to ne- gotiate seriously. THE SENATOR'S explanation for with- drawing f r o m the foreign relations committee does not deviate from this pat- tern of stubborn illogic. Committee Chair- man J. William Fulbright had wanted, for hard political reasons of his own, to reduce the membership of the committee from 19 to 15. According to McCarthy's thinking the foreign relations committee - as a pol- icy-influencing rather than legislation- proposing body - must be small to be in- fluential in checking the power of the Executive. Whatever the merits of that proposition, and they are at least debat- able, McCarthy might reasonably be ask- ed: Influential to what end? Do the for- eign-policy making arms of the executive branch need any more of the kind of in- fluence Gale McGee is likely to bring? The charitable assumption is that Mc- Carthy misguidedly believes his own pub- lic rationales; t h e cynical assumption, always held by his detractors, is that he is a bitter and spiteful man. Neither is an entirely convincing explanation. In- deed, McCarthy's complexity - or is it his simplicity - seems to defy analysis. Is he merely feeding his own legends, hoping to enter the history books as a kind of political Wrong Way Corrigan? Has he given up the system and taken to fomenting revolution through t h e ab- struse means of attempting to make the system as intolerable as possible? Eugene McCarthy in the last year and a half has ,been a controversial figure, and he has been chased' by no dearth of one- word descriptions. Perhaps none fits him better than Ambrose Bierce's "eso- teric." -URBAN LEHNER Editorial Director By RON LANDSMAN Special to the Daily WALTHAM, Mass. - Herman Epstein teaches here at Brandeis University just outside of Boston, where the rolling hills serve to expel a lingering image of the high-powered University of Michigan. Epstein is a graduate of Michigan, an early enthusiast in the Ann Arbor co-op movement and a sometime Daily reporter, now turned into a bio-physicist. He has found a home at Brandeis with its closetful of off-beat departments and academic renegades. Academically Brandeis conforms in theory to many of the structures common to multiversities like Michigan. But in practice it has transform- ed burdens like the much-maligned distribution requirements into a valuable learning experience. AT A TIME WHEN educational standards are being swept over by demagogic and intellectually- unfounded threats, a look at Brandeis is reveal- ing. Brandeis has the equivaent of Michigan's distribution requirements in its "general ed" re- quisities, including a course in biology which Ep- stein teaches. Epstein's course offers an alternative to the standard lecture-survey approach that most stu- dents must endure at Michigan. Under the im- posing title "research studies in biology for non- students" 15 students undertake the study of DNA's role in genetics and reproduction. Rather than using texts, Epstein introduces a series of research papers which comprise the en- tire basis of the course. These papers fore the students to analyze and thereby understand some of the professional research done in bio- physics over the past 20 years. Withrout exception Epstein's students have no previous experience in college-level biology, chemistry or physics. After the first paper is read carefully, students are encouraged to ask ques- tions, barrages of questions. The first paper is rather simple, but the questions provide Epstein with enough material for the next three weeks. Another more sophisticated research paper follows. Since it is on the same topic, the time needed for straight factual explanation is greatly reduced. This time Epstein not only asks his stu- dents to explain what the paper says but also forces them to predict where research in this area will head next. THE PROCESS he uses is essentially Socratic. Careful, directed questioning ascending from sim- ple material to the more complex; leading the students from unsophisticated groping to a' far more refined understanding. By the end of the term, the class really hasn't learned much formal biology. Instead they have absorbed a lot of genetics, some evolution, some bio-chemistry, something on metabolism and a little about semi-permeable membranes.. But what they lack in breadth, they make up for in depth of intellectual understanding. The course, designed primarily for , non-scientists, teaches them to appreciate the strategy of scien- tists, their logic and the way in which they ap- proach the problems they face. "Social science and humanities students want to know what a natural scientist does," Epstein explains. "They want to -know what the scientist's work in the laboratory is all about." What Epstein says is not just rhetoric. There is some intangible and only vaguely measurable skill which encompasses the ability to analyze material, discern meanings and seek new insights. This is what Epstein tries to teach. AS UNDEFINED AS this ability is, Epstein finds that it is possible to measure it through exams. While the exams are routinuely described as "thought questions" and fall within the realm of the class work, they are the sort which demand solutions. Some classes at Michigan, e.g. Anthropology 131, give the same type of exams. But while the questions are good, the students aren't. Unlike those in Epstein's class, Michigan's students are generally unprepared to deal with such demand- ing questions. Although sufficient material is provided in class to enable the formulation of a reasonable answer, most students at Michigan have not had the chance to develop thought processes which can mold relevant facts into a creative and ima- ginative answer. It is in developing these thought processes that Epstein's class succeeds. The problem at Michigan is t h a t teaching thinking is a forgotten goal, Some classes do at- A temptnto deal with this but usually the process is benignly ignored. Many assume, reassuringly but falsely, that all students who enter Michigan have already a well-developed ability to think carefully and analytically. With all due respect to the quality of the Michigan student body, this just isn't so. AT FIRST GLANCE Epstein's course seems to be the sort of thing only possible at a small col- lege and therefore irrelevant to a multiversity like Michigan. However, Epstein has some intriguing com- ments about this. His program is now in its third year. From one original section, it has expanded tenfold. Furthermore eight out of the ten people who teach the course do so voluntarily-in addition to their usual teaching load. There is a reason for the course's popularity among the faculty-it takes almost no prepara- tion to teach and often becomes challenging to the professor as well as the student. Epstein says that after selecting the research papers he has little more to do than checking the lesson plan briefly each week before class. The key to all this lies in the unique nature of the class. "We're talking about my field of study" he explains, "and that's something I can talk about any time without special preparation." WITHOUT ATTEMPTING to assess this ap- proach as a method to acquaint scientists with either social sciences or humanities, it seems clear that in teaching non-scientists some sort of scientific logic ought to take precedence over sub- stance. There have been attempts at Michigan to teach physics in historicaliy or topically oriented courses designed for students with a primary background in the social sciences. But such courses seem to underrate both the students and the science. There is an intrinsic, very human meaning to the sciences which should be im- parted to students in its own discipline, rather than disguised as history or sociology. But this intrinsic meaning to the sciences is not necessarily a massive quantity of facts and theories. Rather it is an understanding of the process, the logic and the strategy of the disci- pline which best represents what science means. It is this, as Epstein's course seems to have shown, that must be imparted to the non-scientists. U ...'. .!MURRA Y KEMP TON s. /A The old dragots RICHARD NIXON having already given us the Christmas present of J. Edgar Hoover, Random House sends along the Christmas present of "J. Edgar Hoover on Communism," known to the committed as "Quotations from the Director." Mr. Hoover is our Mao Tse-tung: what other American has swung with undiminished strength in the currents of the Potomac for 50 years? THE DIRECTOR AND THE CHAIRMAN must have the same translator. Notice how each is introduced to the reader: "Study Chairman Mao's writings, follow his teachings and act according to his instructions."-Lin Piao. "Mr. Hoover's essay and quotations will recall for all patriotic citizens the absolute necessity of their being vigilant, alert and willing to do their share to defeat this conspiracy. Even after 50 years, the battle is not over."--Random House, "A Note to the Readers." They have the same fidelity to rigorous study of the classics: "Realize that to gain factual knowledge about Communism takes time, patience and effort. Too many people think they can learn about Communism in just a few hours or with a minimum of work."-The Director, "On Communism." "Some people have read a few Marxist books and think themselves quite learned . . . Others are very conceited and having learned some book-phrases, think themselves terrific and are very cocky , . ."-The Chairman, speech at the Chinese Communist Party's conference on propaganda, 1957. Their bugles have the identical tone: "America must roll up its sleeves and face the Communist danger ... The times call for courage, resolution and integrity, not cleverness, expediency or love of soft living. No man has a right to a 'time out,' 'a leave of absence'-all must be on the front lines."-The Director, 1967. "A dangerous tendency has shown itself of late among many of our personnel-an unwillingnes to share the joy and hardship of the masses, a concern for fame and gain."-The Chairman, On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People, 1957. AND NOTHING CAN EVER change for either the Director or the Chairman: "It has been said that a leopard will not change its spots. It can be said that Communism, despite the efforts of its apologists, will for- ever be based on the dagger, the assasin's bullet and the use of force." --The Director, 1964. "When we say 'imperialism is ferocious' we mean that its nature will never change, that the imperialists will never lay down their butcher knives." The Chairman, "Cast Away Illusions," 1949. 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