r
Seventy-Second Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
"Where Opinions Are Free STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG. * ANN ARBOR, MICH. * Phone NO 2-3241
Truth Will Prevail"
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 10, 1962 NIGHT EDITOR: CYNTHIA NEU
Grade Point Average
Hinders Education
IT TOO OFTEN OCCURS that grades and
meaningful knowledge are different matters.
So many students take some courses merely
to fulfill graduation requirements or to add
credit hours or because the professor is an
easy grader and with a fair amount of work
one can get a "B" or "A" and bring up the
omnipresent, all-sacred Grade Point Average.
Does a friend ask you what new knowledge
and insight you gain from a course-or does
he ask you what grade you got? Even if the
grade is an indication of new knowledge and
insight (as it frequently is not), does he care
to share that knowledge?
Chances are that he, like almost every stu-
dent, is G.P.A. oriented. It is partially his
and partially the fault of the system.
T HE SYSTEM chops up knowledge into three-
hour, four-hour or two-hour divisions and
gives them names. The system glorifies the
calculating machine, which figures out G.P.A.
standing to any decimal point wanted. The
system ranks students according to your G.P.A.
ability, and snugly fits them into a slot in
class standing. And at graduation the system
furnishes employers with many statistics.
But can personal worth be measured in sta-
tistics? It appears that the Intelligence Quo-
tient (which is worshipped along with grades)
can designate a statistic to a person with
general consistency, but can statistics measure
the ability and desire to use intelligence? Can
statistics measure creativity? Can they meas-
ure drive and perseverance? Can they measure
initiative and energy? Can they measure de-
votion or resourcefulness or honesty or self-
direction or fortitude? Can grades, which are
one kind of statistic, measure these?
Grades don't even stand up to Shakespeare's
description (in "Hamlet") of man:
"What a piece of work is a man!l
How noble in reason!
How infinite in faculty!
In form and moving how express and ad-
mirable!
In action how like an angel!
In apprehension how like a god!
The beauty of the world!
The paragon of the animals!"
GRADES FAIL this description because many
teachers permit them to measure not over-
all personal worth but merely the ability to
take exams well. This ability and the grade
depends further on the type of exams a
teacher gives. Some students may be poor
at essay exams because they cannot express
their thoughts well in writing. Other students
are weak at fill-in-the-blank exams because
they are not able to recall names, especially
technical names. Such exams frequently test
not understanding but memory and at that
a particular kind of memory, the memory of
difficult terms.
The best kind of exam for most subjects
is the multiple choice exam, but the use of
this kind of exam by itself would not cure the
maladies resulting from - the grade-oriented
education.
Some of these maladies are especially bad
because they defeat the purpose of education.
One malady is the taking of a course for the
sake of the credit hours or the boost in G.P.A.
Another is the confinement of knowledge to
performance in a course. Too many students
study merely to do well on exams. When the
course is over, they throw away their notes,
sell their books or, if they keep them, stick
them away in a bookshelf never or seldom to
be looked at again- but to stand there erect,
a testimony that the owner once searched out
knowledge, probably with boredom.
KNOWLEDGE should be a living organism, a
thing to apply and to make use of, at
least for undergraduates. The pioneers in know-
ledge-the pure researchers and the dissertation
writers-may come up with a product that
is not immediately usable, but the under-
graduate should put together a product that
he can work with now and the rest of his
life. The classroom experience should be mean-
ingful. But for too many, it is not.
How many persons discuss outside of class
what they are learning in class-except to
prepare for an exam and the grade it will
bring? How many persons relate their class-
room experience to the daily challenge of life
and the deepening appreciation of it and the
universe that college professors and textbooks
and libraries make possible?
No, many students shrug it off, commenting
that they will forget most of it anyway and
so it is of little use, the only use lying in
the methodology of gaining knowledge. This
is defeatist, for it denies the purpose of taking
courses: the gaining of knowledge and insight
as to the state of the world today and as to
that which has led up to this state.
TO MAKE KNOWLEDGE more meaningful
than grades, grades should be abolished
except for three: Satisfactory, Failure and
Incomplete. There should be no "A"s or "B"s or
"C"s or "D"s. Elimination of them would mean
that the student will be working for the know-
ledge and insight available from books and
teachers rather than to gain a positive status
symbol as an "A" or to avoid a negative status
symbol as a "D".
Instead of a grade a professor should put
on the record an appraisal of the student: how
thoughtful is he, how. well-informed, how
creative, how thorough in his approach to the
subject. Does he pursue varied and good
sources of information? Does he ask provoca-
tive questions? Does he take an enlightened
position on the issues brought up? What par-
ticular subjects or issues does he have appetite
for? How interested and interesting is he,
academically?
These personal academic appraisals would
better measure the total individual worth of a
person better than would a grade. They would
be more meaningful for an employer. They
could be as long or as short as a professor
wishes; he would be able to write more ex-
tensive appraisals for students he-knows better.
And, of course, he would have to be honest
and unprejudiced. In addition, he would be
more inclined to try to get to know individual
students better and students would try to
do their best. The communication of scholars
would improve.
IN ALL THESE WAYS, personal appraisals
would be better than grades. There would
be difficulties in a system of personal ap-
praisals, but the faults of a grade system are
much more severe.
-ROBERT SELWA
"Ho Hum - It's Sure Dull Around Here"
ijj/
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S4 .
L F .
.tC 3
WATCH ON THE POTOMAC:
Kennedy a ndCongress
ONE OF THE FIRST of the wholly American archetypes was Invent-
ed (unfortunately) by David Belasco about 1905. The Girl of the
Golden West was received into great exultation both then, and several
times later when no lesser men than Puccini and Sigmund Romberg
attempted the transmogrification into song, each spinning his magical
web of lyrical enchantment.
It was received again with a little less exultation but in the right
spirit, last night at the Campus. The Operetta Festival, now in its
fourth week, is beginning really to grab hold; fully eighty-seven people
attended the seven o'clock, and of those, at least three (old ladies at the
end of my aisle) had made the pilgrimage all the way from Dexter.
The rest of the audience was most -________________
ly constituted of a younger gen-
eration anxious to learn what DAILY OFFICIAL
pleasures it had missed. It hadn't BULLETIN
missed much.
I
Sing Romberg
AT THE CAMPUS:
Even the Indians
A~
HERE IS NELSON EDDY, at his
rosy-cheeked, greasy-lipped prime,
When he opens his mouth to sing,
his voice roars across the old
southwest like feeding time at the
Bronx zoo. This is a thrill usually
unavailable to Ann Arbor except
for one last precious recording of
"Shortin' Bread" in the Sugar
Bowl juke box.
Jeanette MacDonald (back
again, ostensibly, because of last
week's great performance) doesn't
do so bad herself. She sings duets
with a fife, played by a boy black-
smith who rides the most incredib-
ly stupid looking donkey ever de-
vised by God or man. And when
Miss MacDonald sings Liszt, she
holds a hundred bearded prospec-
tors, any one of whom might give
the donkey a run for his money,
spellbound. But, then, this is the
Golden West. *
WALTER PIDGEON plays a
sheriff, although I ,am unable to
say why with any great certainty.
But then that's Walter Pidgeon.
There is only one real moment
of truth in this film, but when it
comes, it comes with such cosmic
force that even the most calloused
heart cannot but be rent from rib
to rib. Miss MacDonald and Mr.
Eddy, now forbidden lovers, dis-
cover that they were childhood
sweethearts by singing a simple
Indian tune. The tune; I am sure,
sounds Indian only to Sigmund
Romberg, but no one can deny its
simplicity.
To fill in the various holes be-
fore and after this fine moment,
there is a series of spectacular
celebrations, culminating in a
grand fiesta which, I must admit,
looks for all the world like one of
the better commercials for Green
Giant Corn.
In case a movie of such great
pageantry is not enough to satis-
fy the hungry college boy, there
was also a short, a most indelicate
film showing thirty wild horses of
all ages nipping each other's flanks
in slow motion, to a background
score that sounded like a bad tape
recording of the anniversary waltz,
played backwards on a glass har-
monica.
For ninety cents how could you
lose?
-Dick Pollinger
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Spivack is sub-
stituting for Walter Lippmann, who
is on vacation.)
By ROBERT G. SPIVACK
THE PRESIDENT'S feeling of
frustration as he examines the
Congresional "record" is under-
standable. At the beginning of
July a Democratic Congress had
approved only 20 of 285 legislative
requests submitted by the White
House-a mere 7 per cent.
Even President Eisenhower, with
an opposition Congress and in his
second term when his power of
reprisal was diminishing, didtbet-
ter than that. Of 198 requests at
mid-session he won 9 per cent
approval.
Statistics, of course, do not tell
the whole story.
The White House can argue that
the legislation it has proposed was
much more fundamental, so na-
turally opposition was more deep-
rooted. The Congressional Repub-
lican leadership, on the other
hand, can argue that the legisla-
tion was defective and that Con-
gress, in its wisdom, was forced
to exercise a veto power over the
White House.
Both are legitimate views and
we can expect this debate to go
on from now until November.
* * *
HOWEVER, there are many
other reasons for the dismal show-
ing the Administration has made
on Capitol Hill which have little
to do with the merits of the legis-
lation. The basic difficulty is that
there are too many at the White
House who think the government
of the United States is like a poli-
tical convention. There is virtually
no recognition of the fact that
entirely different techniques are
required.
There are Congressmen who may
be boors and their crude behavior
may be legendary. But the day-by-
day relations between the Capitol
and the White House are subtle.
Those who do not understand the
delicate nature of these relations
have often paid a high price to
learn the lesson.
In a recent medicare debate, for
instance, there were innumerable
lawmakers who complained pri-
vately at the tactics used by the
White House.
Whether these complaints ever
got back to the President is not
known. But there reports of Ad-
ministration "lobbyists" who had
only the most casual acquaintance
with the lawmakers impatiently
outlining what the President want-
ed, inferentially warning of how
powerful the wrath of the White
House could be, and then ending
a conversation without the fog-
giest notion of the bad impression
they were making.
The same thing happened on
the farm bill.
* * *,
THERE IS NO NEED to endow
the members of Congress with
qualities they do not possess, or
to ignore the basic misrepresenta-
tive character of the House with
its rural predominance. But this
is nothing new; Congress has been
like this for years. Other Presidents
have accomplished more even with
members of the opposition party
in control.
Why are thing different now?
Congressmen are saying private-
ly that some in the Administra-
tion can scarcely conceal their
low opinion of those with whom
they have to deal, especially if
they lacked the wisdom to be "for
Kennedy" before West Virginia
Others say that some of the young-
er men show little understanding
of the problems that Congressmen
face, or their real needs. Still
others say the Administration for-
gets its friends.
It only takes a short backward
glance to see how some of the
difficulties developed. For example,
there was the question of the
House leadership. Richard Bolling
of Missouri, a strong advocate of
most New Frontier policies and a
protege of the late Sam Rayburn,
had earned the No. 2 position. But
Bolling was no "yes-man," and
somehow the White House bought
the idea that he would have trou-
ble "putting across" the Admin-
istration program.
INSTEAD Carl Albert of Okla-
homa was chosen, a likeable chap,
but not particularly sympathetic
to the objectives of the New Fron-
tier. He has, of course, been un-
able to deliver the votes while
Bolling spends a lot of his time
these days out fishing.
Then there is the matter of
Congressmen in shaky districts.
Any number have warned that
the Republicans will exploit the
issue of "too many Kennedys" and
that the decision to run Teddy
Kennedy for the Senate could
cost them their seats. No one
would have objected to starting
him at the bottom on a public
service career, but starting at the
top is a different matter. This
issue alone could lose the Demo-,
crats a half-dozen votes in the
House.
Until the White House recog-
nizes that Pennsylvania Avenue is
a two-way street, it is unlikely
that members of Congress will
knock themselves out to make the
Administration look good.
(c) 1962, New York Ierald Tribune, Inc.
The Daily Official Bulletin is an
official publication of The Univer-
sity of Michigan for which The
Michigan Daily assumes no editorial
vesponsibility. Notices should be
sent in TYPEWRITTEN form to
Room 3564 Administration Building
before 2 p.m., two days preceding
publication.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 10
General Notices
Hopwood Awards: All manuscripts for
the Summer Contest must be In the
Hopwood Room (1006 Angell Hall) on
Fri., Aug. 10, at 4:30 p.m.
Events
Degree Recital: Ann Labounaky, or-
ganist, will present a recital on Sat.,
Aug. 11, 8:30 p.m. in Hill Aud., in
partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree Master of Music. She
will play the compositions of Lynwood
Farnam, Ernest Krenek, Samuel Bar-
ber, Leo Sowerby, Marcel Dupre, Jean
Langlais, and Maurice Durufle..Her re-
cital is open to the public.
Degree Recital: Barbara Merkel, pian-
ist, will present a recital on Sun., Aug.
12, 8:30' p.m., Lane Hal Aud., in par-
tial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree Master of Music. Com-
positions she will perform are by J..
Bach, Mozart, Bartok, and Schumann.'
Open to the public.
Doctoral Examination for Arthur Ben-
avie, Economics; thesis: "The Impact
on the Strength of Monetary Controls
of Asset Shifts Involving Intermediary
Claims," Sat., Aug. 11, 105 Economics
Bldg., at 10:00 a.m. Chairman, W. L.
Smith.
Doctoral Examination for Leslie Tay-
lor Hefner, Psychology; thesis: "Reli-
ability of Mothers' Reports on Child-
Development," Fri., Aug. 10, 7615 Haven
Hall, at 7:30 p.m. Chairman, S. A.
Mednick.
Doctoral Examination for Raymond
Edward Lekowicz, Mathematics; thesis:
"A Characterization of the Analytic
Operator among the Loewner-Benson
Operators and on M-Dimensional Area
of Continuous Mappings," Fri., Aug. 10,
3217 Angell Hall, at 1:00 p.m. Chairman,
Lamberto Cesari.
Last Performance Tonight: Opera dou-
ble-bill: U-M Players, Dept. of Speech,
present Opera Dept., School of Music in
Puccini's "Gianni Schcchi and Per-
golesi's "'La Serva Padrona, " 8:00 p.m.,
Hill Auditorium. Box office open 10-8.
Placement
Teaching vacancies for the school
year 1962-63.
Chelsea, MIch.-Libr.
Allen Park, Mich.-Girl's PE, Elem.
Vocal Mus.
Ashland, 0.-Gen. St.
Charlexoiv Mich.-Phys/Math or SS
or any acad. sub. except Bi ,,.
Farmington, Mich.-Grades 1, 2, 3, 5 &
6; SS/Gen. S . (Woman), Jr. HS Engl.,
SS/Engl., Gen. Sci/Guid.; HS Amer.&
World Hist/Coa. Bsb., & Cross Country
(Man).
Ferndale, Mch.-th gr. Engl., 7th gr.
Homeroom,. Sp. Corr., Deaf & Hard of
Hear., % time Elem. Vocal Mus.
Flint, Mich. (Atherton Sch.)--8th gr.
Math, 2nd gr. Libr.
Fraser, Mich.-Earth & Explor. Sl.
(9th & 10th gr.).
Fredonia, Mich.-Elem. Art.
Holland, Mich. (west Ottawa Junior-
Senior HS)-Jr. HS Math, Girl's PE.
Interlochen, Mich. (Arts Academy)--
-HS Art.
Lake City, Mich.-HS Ftbl. & Bsktbl.
Coach.
Muskegon, Mich.-9-10 Alt. & Arith.,
French/Engl. (11-12).
New Boston, Mich. (Huron HS) -
Instr. Music (No Vocal)-grade 4-12.
Olivet, Mich.-Early & Late Elem., Jr.
HS & HS Engl., Sl.,
Oxford, Mic.-9th & 11th Engl., Visit.
Teach., Sp. Corr., Jr. HS Type "A."
Port Huron, Mich.-HS Eng.; Typ/
Short., HS Libr.
Romulus, Mich.-HS Home Ec., Vocal
Mus., HD Bsebl., Jr. HS Math, Early &
Late Elem.
Rose City, Mich. (63 mi. N. of Bay
City)-Elem.& HS Vocal/Instr. Mus.,
Biol/Phys/Chem.
Stambaugh, Mich.-Girl's PE, HS Fre/
Engl.
Weidman, Mich. (Near Mt. Pleasant)
-Engl. (7-12).
For additional information contact
the Bureau of Appointments, 3200 SAB,
663-1511, Ext. 3547.
(Continued on Page 3)
A
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Less Butter than Guns
Tragic Criticism
To the Editor:
I THINK Mr. Pole's able article,
"Depression in America will Fol-
low Disarmament," is somewhat
unduly pessimistic. Let me submit
some further considerations t~o
your readers:-
1) Most military expenditure is
in itself sterile and wasteful; de-
fensible only on grounds of mili-
tary necessity. "Guns instead of
butter" may mean full employ-
ment, but it means less butter.
The minor part of military expen-
diture which is productive can
continue in time of peace: for ex-
ample, space research and peace-
ful uses of atomic energy.
2) The short readjustment de-
pressions which followed the
transition from war to peace im-
mediately after both World Wars
did comparatively little harm; in
four years' time in both cases pro-
duction was at a higher level than
before the wars. There was, to be
sure, a major depression in 1929,
but this was a full decade after the
first war ended and was not due
to turnover from wartime to
peacetime manufacture. '
3) Taxes are, and will remain,
at an all-time high until there can
be a large measure of disarma-
ment, since military preparation
in this country, and all countries,
is the main charge on the national
budget. Disarmament would re-
move the heavy weight, which ex-
cessive taxation now lays on in-
dustry and must needs continue
to do so until sanity strikes the
Russians and they are willing to
agree to an internationally super-
vised limitation of armaments. We
are already willing so to agree,
preferring the risks of a temporary
industrial slump to the strain of
a war which would completely
wreck our economy, or (without
war) place such a continuing
economic burden on our industry
as has no precedent.
-Prof. Preston Slosson
THIE REPUBLICAN DECISION to make nu-
clear testing a political issue is an ill-
advised and unfortunate view. It robs the
United States of the flexibility needed to con-
duct test ban negotiations with the Russians
and more importantly their decision drives
another nail into the coffin of test ban treaty
hopes.
Sen. Everrett Dirksen and Rep. Charles Hal-
leck have taken the emotional view about deal-
ing with the Russians-a criticism that never
brings results. By declaring that the United
States went "hat in hand" to the Russians in
their latest compromise offer, the two Repub-
lican leaders have stirred fears that are hardly
conducive to negotiating with the Soviets.
Recent scientific evidence had given the
United States an opportunity to back off from
their own intransigent position. The U. S.
offered to reduce the number of control posts
and the number of required on-site inspection
of suspicious events in the Soviet Union if
Editorial Staff
FRED RUSSELL KRAMER .................. Co-Editor
PETER STEINBERGER .............Co-Editor
AL JONES .............................. Sports Editor
DENISE WACKER ....................... Night Editor
CYNTHIA NEU........ ....Night Editor
the Russians would commit themselves to
the principle of international inspection. This
small concession is based on United States
ability to detect quite small atomic blasts with
its delicate and complex system of devices.
THE MOVE concedes no basic principle. It
only makes the United State's former po-
sition more palatable to the secretive Russians.
It hardly goes "hat in hand" as the GOP
would have it seem, nor is it even adequate
to end the testing stalemate between the two
world powers.
Further, the issue is a rather moot one for
the Russians rejected the United Staaes offer
out of hand, saying it was the same old Amer-
ican line, window-dressed for the benefit of
neutral nations.
By playing on the American public's fear of
the Russians, the Republican criticism will
make realistic negotiations on this issue im-
possible. If the United States is ever to get
a treaty it will have to, in large measure,
abandon its rigid demand for inspection. Se-
crecy is basic to Soviet society and the Russians
could hardly agree to have international in-
spection teams snooping about.
SO THE GOP has insured a continued impasse
on nuclear testing. Meanwhile, the bombs
continue to explode and the unknown terror
of fall-out spewed upon the planet. Further,
the stalemate allows more nations to develop
and test nuclear devices. As other nations test,
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