Seventy-Fifth Year
EDITEV AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
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Where Opinions Are Free, 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, MICH.
Truth Will Prevail
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Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
THURSDAY, MAY 20, 1965 NIGHT EDITOR: ROBERT HIPPLER
'U' Must Prepare Students
For Specialized World
AMERICAN EDUCATION at the univer-
sity level is a curious two-part incon-
gruity. On the one hand is the old con-
cept of the generalized liberal arts edu-
cation, which finds form in the under-
graduate programs of most of our univer-
sities. On the other hand is the highly
specialized graduate school.
The broad liberal arts education is a
relic of the days when the purpose of a
college education was to make a young
man a gentleman with a wider outlook on
the world. The graduate school is the log-
ical product of a modern, technological
society, with its more specialized jobs and
functions.
Piled on top of the broad undergradu-
ate system of education, the graduate
system of education is in many ways
contradictory to and in conflict with the
old liberal arts idea of generalized educa-
tion.
YET THE LIBERAL ARTS cllege still
serves a purpose in that it helps the
undergraduate decide what field to study,
by giving him a taste of many subjects.
Further, it cannot be denied that educa-
tional broadening is necessary.
The student in the engineering col-
lege, no matter how brilliant in electri-
cal circuiting or IBM computing, benefits
from exposure to courses in history and
literature. The literary college philoso-
pher, absorbed only in abstract matters,
may acquire a totally different outlook
from a good stiff course in physics.
Valuable as it is, the four-year liberal
arts system has its definite faults. The
broad range of courses, and the broad
courses themselves, do serve a purpose.
But just how much is unnecessary?
How many distribution courses are too
many? Carrying the question farther,
how many courses are just so much waste
of time even in a concentration program?
One cannot help being reminded of the
way the army trained competent pharm-
acists in six weeks in World War II (much
to the horror of the four-year pharmacy
departments in our universities).
IT MAY BE POSSIBLE that the overrid-
ing problem with the liberal arts edu-
cation in its current form is simply that
it is too broad. Students today well know
that they will be expected to function
expertly in a demanding, technological
world.
And so it may well be that the four
U.S. Must Keep
Voting Age at 21
WHENEVER THE DEBATE over voting
age comes up, the stock argument for
lowering the age from 21 to 18 is if a per-
son is old enough to fight for the United
States, then he's old enough to vote.
However, the analogy is unrealistic and
ought to be reversed. If a man is old
enough to vote, then he is old enough
to serve in the armed forces.
It is ridiculous to assign a voting age
on the basis of the fact that a person
can serve in the army. Voting requires
an amount of maturity, responsibility and
developed intelligence which experience
brings. The army also requires a certain
amount of maturity, however, it is not
the type resulting from experience. It is
maturity brought about by the simple
process of aging. It is this that should be
prerequisite for serving in the army.
A GREAT DEAL of the "ugly Americah"
impression is created in foreign coun-
tries because men in the army do not
have this maturity and cannot handle
themselves. The importance of the ma-
turity of men in the armed forces should
not be underestimated.
It is more rational to allow men to
serve in the armed forces when they can
vote. Especially when the maturity of 18-
year-olds in the forces has yet to be
proven.
It is more rational to allow men to
serve in the army because they can vote.
By reversing the stock argument. there
years of broad, unspecific study (often
even at the concentration level) are con-
tributing to the helpless and often de-
spairing states of mind, prevalent among
so many university students. When stu-
dents start thinking they aren't getting
anywhere, they soon feel that their lives
are aimless and purposeless.
These are the feelings that lead to
apathy and espousal of nothingness phil-
osophies. Even the most capable and en-
ergetic student, rendered helpless by a
tangle of too many broad courses, sus-
pended as if in a state of prolonged and
helpless infancy, may fall prey to such
feelings.
It is not as if the student could do much
of anything to take his mind off the situ-
ation. Like it or not, the student must
study. Gone are the days when the legend-
ary Harvard man, absorbed in a gay round
of country club dances, could afford to
leave an open suitcase on the floor in
the middle of his room and occasionally
show up to change his shirt.
THOSE WERE THE DAYS to which the
liberal arts education was more fitted.
Today's student cannot afford to pick
up a light smattering of this and a touch
of that. Neither can he settle for "the
gentleman's C." Thus the student grinds
away too many hours over too many
courses which are too broad and which
do not touch upon his field.
Obviously, the liberal arts education
cannot be totally abolished. And ob-
viously, the amount of work and the pres-
sure are here to stay. They are integral
parts of today's world, and students must
get used to them. Pressure and hard work
are by no means the evils some try to
paint them.
But what could be done to adjust the
situation in education, particularly at
the University? First, required distribu-
tion course hours should be cut further;
and cut drastically in the cases of stu-
dents who have had excellent broaden-
ing courses in top high schools.
SECOND, it should be made easier for
gifted undergraduates, who know what
they want, to enter graduate schools
after a year or two of undergraduate
work.
Third, and most important, are changes
which should come within the depart-
ment programs themselves. Undergradu-
ate programs should be more specialized
in two ways. First, more specialized cours-
es should be made available. Many de-
parements are sadly lacking in such
courses. The University's famed psychol-
ogy department, for example, currently
has no course in which undergraduates
can even observe from behind a one-way
window the human behavior about which
they spend so much time passively read-
ing and studying. No glimpses are given
into the actual work of a real psychol-
ogist.
Besides the addition of specialized
courses, there is a second way in which
programs should be specialized. Vocation-
al counseling should not be left entirely
to the harried members of the faculty,
installed in the little cubicles in the many
counseling offices throughout the Univer-
sity.
Why shouldn't instructors regard it as
important to tell their students, "This is
a good broad course. Learn the material,
because it is good background. But you
will not need most of the material of
this course when you are working."
STUDENTS OUGHT TO BE told specific-
ally what to learn for specific jobs.
They should be formally briefed, for in-
stance in political science courses, on
what each kind of lawyer does and what
specific pieces of learning would be most
useful for each.
There is nothing shameful about the
fact that hopefully every student will
one day hold down a specific job, with
certain tasks and duties expected from
him.
Why must students turn to relatives
and family friends in order to get infor-
mation on job specifics? It seems both
logical and important for students to
find out about such things right along
By LEONARD PRATT
CURRENT contract negotiations
in the steel industry have been
given great attention by govern-
ment economists becauseaof their
relation to America's balance of
payments, an issue of great con-
cern to the United States.
To understand the relation be-
tween the United States steel in-
dustry and the world economy, it
is necessary to know a bit of
American and world economic
history. Before World War I, Eng-
land was both the world's greatest
"creditor nation"-a nation rich
enough to loan money to others-
and the world's "banker."
The pound sterling was the
world's chief currency; it was
considered "as good as gold" for
purposes of international pay-
ments and for guaranteeing the
worth of other currencies.
BUT THE WAR effected a ma-
jor redistribution of the world's
gold stocks. The U.S. was able to
build its industry at an unheard-
of rate in order to supply its al-
lies. The allies paid for these sup-
plies, in sums as immense as
American output.
U.S. gold stocks rose from $1.2
billion in 1913 to more than $4.5
billion just after the war. America
thus, in the short space of four
years, became the world's chief
"creditor" nation .
Yet America was far from a
position in which it could assume
England's role as world banker.
The U.S. was just emerging from
the struggle of developing its econ-
omy and was entirely unprepared
to lend out the gold.
THE 1929 DEPRESSION further
cut down on American loans
abroad and hence increased the
gold hoard; the recovery was thus
as bad as the depression since
American lending fell from $17
billion in 1933 to $12.3 billion in
1940 and the gold stores rose ac-
cordingly.
World War II duplicated this
experience, but on a much larger
scale.
The only thing which managed
to get the world's economy in mo-
tion again was the Marshall Plan.
This "donation" of $100 billion
from America to the world's econ-
omy was not quite as generous as
it might sound. In practice it was
the only way the world's capital-
ist nations could have enough
money to purchase goods and the
only way theaeconomic collapse
predicted by the Communists
could have been prevented.
TO FINANCE this excess of im-
ports over exports, America "ex-
ports dollars." That is, the U.S.
pays for the goods by turning
over dollars payable in gold on
demand, to foreign nations. And
the gold outfldw is caused by for-
eign demands that the U.S. make
good on our promise, imbodied in
our dollars, to pay a certain
amount of gold to them if they
wish.
In the first place, foreign aid
involving gold transfers is under-
going thorough analysis by key
congressmen; hence the increas-
ed discussion of such aid methods
as gifts of surplus wheat.
IN THE SECOND place, mili-
tary aid is also subject to this
close congressional scrutiny. Ex-
cept for such outstanding excep-
tions as Viet Nam, these U.S. gold
drains appear in the process of
constriction.
The third major drain on U.S.
gold has been foreign investment
of funds by private Americans and
corporations. Hence President
PRESIDENT-ELECT I. W. ABEL of the United Steel Workers,
center, and former president David J. McDonald, right, talk with
R. Conrad Cooper, left, chief negotiator for the basic steel industry,
in Pittsburgh Tuesday where it was announced that contract talks
would be resumed immediately, after a recess since April 28.
A RISE in steel prices would
force producers to raise their
prices in order to cover their costs.
And if prices rise, what will fol-
low? Wage increases and the in-
creases in export spending which
will greatly upset the balance of
payments stability which is now
beginning to appear attainable.
The last step in the causal
chain is to ask what might cause
such an inflationary wage-price
rise. And it is here that the steel
contract negotiations enter the is-
sue.
The late President John F. Ken-
nedy forced the steel industry to
back down on a price rise once
before. Johnson may be able to
repeat Kennedy's success. But it
is antinescapable fact that even-
tually the steel industry may be
so squeezed by union demands for
increased wages, unmatched by in-
creases in productivity that they
will have to raise prices and thus
create inflation.
CONSIDERING current steel
productivity increases, Johnso-
has set a maximum of 3.2 per cer
for steel wage increases; beyona
this, wage hikes would be infla-
tionary.
The U.S. balance of payments
situation is entering a critical
stage which offers the possibility
of ending the "run" on American
gold at the same time that it ad-
mits that a policy miscalculation
could make such a settlement im-
possible.
Johnson's allowing steel unions
to obtain more than a 3.2 per cent
wage increase would be as great a
policy miscalculation as Kennedy's
allowing the steel price rise to
take place.
IT IS TO BE HOPED that John-
son's action will be the same as
Kennedy's if the need arises.
*
Lyndon B. Johnson's appeal to
private business to voluntarily cur-
tail its foreign investment.
In all three of these cases, indi-
cations are that the "run" on the
U.S. dollar will be halted well short
of any dangerous decreases in
the gold stocks. That is, barring
one circumstance.
That circumstance is inflation,
and this is where the steel talks
enter the picture. Inflation has
been markedly absent from the
U.S. economy during the 1960's.
PRICE STABILITY, and hence
lack of inflation, has a great
calming effect on the balance of
payments deficit. When prices are
held down, so are wages; and
when wages are held down, there
is much less tendency for people
to -buy expensive imports whose
purchase results in the eventual
"dollar export."
By the same token, wage-price
stability discourages foreigners
from trying to sell in U.S. mar-
kets, because prices are not ris-
ing as rapidly as in the 1940's and
1950's, and hence profits are not
as great.
Taking the causal relation be-
tween' a rise in the wage-price
spiral and the encouragement of
a payments deficit as an estab-
lished fact, the next question is
just what might cause such a rise.
Steel prices fill the bill. This is
because, in the modern economy,
there are few single items as im-
portant as steel.
*4
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Political Realism-The Other Side
To the Editor:
I READ, with great concern, Mr.
Pratt's article on "Arabs Learn
Political Realism" publishedhin
The Daily on May 7. Its whole
theme and his main purpose seems
to be to launch a mean attack on
Nasser and to give the layman a
false picture of the Arab National
Movement.
Unfortunately, he sees Arab pol-
itics through the personality of
Arab leaders while ignoring the
political role of the Arab intel-
ligentsia.
Mr.,Pratt's argument could have
been true before the 1950's. but
definitely not now. There is no
such thing as Nasser's "party
line," as Mr. Pratt asserts. Al-
though Nasser appeared in the
early fifties, the Arab National
Movement was long before thE:-
shaping and directing Arab goals
and interests.
However, the emergence o Nas-
ser and his adoption of th& cen-
trai ideas and aims of the move-
ment gave it the concrete political
form that it needed.
IN FACT one may suggest that
Nasser never engineered the poli-
cies of the movement; rather,
Nasser's Arab policies were dic-
tated and directed by the de-
mands of the movement for Arab
national interest.
His sending troops to Yemen
was one of many such moves to
protect national rights. To under-
standthe not too intricateepolicies
of the Arab world it is essential
to take into consideration the
goals of the movement and not to
mistake the personalities of the
"leaders"rfor what the movement
stands for.
Mr. Pratt pointed out that
Bourgiba's speech "shows that the
seeds of this political realism are
widespread." May we point out to
the "writer" that such "seeds" are
alien to the movement and the
aspirations of the Arab people.
That Bourgiba's "realism" is an
abstruse remnant of neo-colonial-
ism that aims to keep the Arabs
divided and exploited.
Arab political realism is neither
the self-interest of the bourgeoise
nor of the leaders. Arab "realism"
is identifiable with the political
and national interest of the Arab
Nation which excludes all reac-
tionary elements such as Bour-
giba's.
MR. PRATT also committed a
few factual errors that show the
"depth" of his article. The Egyp-
tian revolution of 1952 did not
offer the "Russians an excellent
chance to obtain power in the
Middle East."
It was rather the unj,-stifiable
interference of 'concerne ." West-
ern mandatory powers in the
Arab countries who offered that
chance. The colonial record of
France in the Levant and North
Africa is self-explanatory to the
informed, not to comment with
the same breath on the British
gift of Palestine to world Zionism.
Moreover, the policies of Mr.
Dulles, according to many Ameri-
can diplomats and observers, is to
blame for alienating Nasser and
the Arab National Movement, and
not Nasser's recognition of Com-
munist China.
Mr. Pratt continued to claim
that Nasser, "backed by Com-
munist power," created the UAR.
One wonders from which source
did he derive his information.
Khalid Bakdash, the Secretary
General of the OP of Syria and
its Deputy in the House of Rep-
resentatives, opposed the forma-
tion of the UAR and fled his coun-
try to Czechoslovakia. Besides,
Khrushchev denounced the UAR
in December 1958 and January
1959.
PROF. DAVID DALLIN, an
American expert on Russian af-
fairs, stated in his book Soviet
Foreign Policy After Stalin that
a "merger, federation, or inte-
gration of Arab states was not in
Moscow's interests."
Needless to say that although
China had then very little to do
with Arab politics, it supported
Abdul-Karim Qasim of Iraq
against Arab national self-interest.
Mr. Pratt's third point was that
"all through the struggle for Arab
unity, the key Nasser rallying
point has been Israel." This is a
false argument and has always
been reiterated by many Western
writers who either ignore or do
not know that the Arabs have
sought their independence and
unity since the turn of the present
century.
One can go on pointing out such
historical mistakes in Mr. Pratt's
article upon which, obviously, he
hoped to build his "article."
In conclusion I would just re-
mind Mr. Pratt that his "ecstatic
happiness" ' over the "political
realism" in Arab politics, as he
understands it, will not last long.
BOURGIBA'S LAST fallacy is
the last relic of the colonial policy
in the school of Nuri al-Said of
Iraq. The Arab movement under-
took to rid the country of such
"leaders" and their prostrations
of "political realism."
-Ahmed H. Joudah
Department of History
To the Editor:
IN AN ARTICLE by Leonard
Pratt in the Daily, May 7, the
image of the Arab world is being
createdy bygpurposeful and false
stereotyping. Attacks are being
leveled against the Arabs, and
particularly against Nasser, de-
pending on whichever label suits
the climate of the moment.
President Nasser has been de-
picted as the "Dictator of the
Nile" and invariably portrayed as
the leader of that brand of Arab
nationalism which sought to con-
quer the neighboring Arab states.
The Zionist version of the Arab
image and his learning of political
realism is very much in vogue in
the United States. The picture has
been developed in the most subtie
style of brainwashing which has
already claimed an enormous
number of American victims. The
prevalent, almost pathological
passion, to conform has simplified
the process.
Ironically and contrary to Lin-
coln, Zionism today can fool all
the people all the tine, by con-
trolling the media of information.
WHAT AMERICANS are losing
is perspectiveness and a reliable
set of values. This moral decline
was sensed by former President
Eisenhower when he said, "Only
America, only America ever hurt
us."
Earlier, Franklin Roosevelt voic-
ed a similar expression, "All we
have to fear Is fear itself." In
America today, honest doubts, ob-
jective inquiry and critical exam-
ination are all blacked out.
Zionism and its style of mis-
information becomes the order of
the day. Control of the press and
other media of information was
indispensable to their plans.
One commentator-on the Ameri-
can scene, a strong Zionist him-
self, noted, "The American press
is reporting the Middle East as
strongly pro-Jewish, because in
America there has been no strong
public demand for a full presenta-
tion of the Arab point of view."
THE CHRISTIAN desire to
make some amends for the per-
secution of European Jewry and
to ease Jewish-Christian relations
swept away any obstacle to the
fullest compliance with Zionist
demands for news coverage.
Supplementing the hundreds of
stories praising Israel and damn-
ing the Arabs were endless items
purporting alleged anti-Jewish
bigotry. An atmosphere was creat-
ed in which it was only natural for
the American, with his reverence
for what he presumes to be the
underdog, to accept Zionist pro-
paganda as gospel.
It is not difficult to under-
stand Mr. Pratt's errors in re-
counting events in history. For
example, Nasser did not set out
to press for the creation of the
United Arab Republic-the Syrians
did.
Being a great leader, Nasser
responded to the Arab people's call
for reunifying the Arab world. He
was not backed by the Communist
power, but rather, he had the
overwhelming majority of the
Arab people solidly supporting his
drive for Arab unity.
JORDAN, contrary to Mr.
Pratt's claim, did not join Bour-
giba against Nasser. Bourgiba, the
Tunisian head of state, is not
only ostracized, but also is feeling
the impact of his mental deficien-
cies as he craves the spot light.
On the other hand, Mr. Pratt
has failed in learning about poli-
tical realism, His repugnance to-
ward thinking has become match-
ed by his resentment of challenge.
When Bourgiba refused to recog-
nize the legitimate right of the
Palestinian Arab refugees, and
breaks away from the Arab ideol-
ogy, he is similar to Gov. Wallace
who adamantly refused to imple-
ment the bill of human rights.
Moreover, Americans, unlike the
Arabs, although lacking in com-
mon heritage, are united in one
nation, each form a single people
with a common destiny. Needless
to say that King Faisal of Saudi
Arabia, the deposed Iman E1-Badr
of Yemen, Tunisia's Bourgiba will
not change the course of the Arab
peoples movement for unity of
their drive to achieve hufaan
rights for the Palestinian Arab
refugees.hGov. Wallace will not
change the fact that the people
of America are united, nor will
they thwart the Negroes' drive to
achieve human and civil rights.
POLITICAL REALISM, Mr.
Pratt, is something you should
study carefully.
-Salah El Dareer,
Medical School
f
Ait
40
TODAY AND TOMORROW:
U.S., OAS Must Back Legitimate Governmrnt
By WALTER LIPPMANN
T HERE IS, we can be sure, no
quick way out of the Domini-
can affair. There is no solution
available which will not, even with
the best of luck, take a long time.
There is no prospect of our being
able to withdraw soon, leaving
behind some sort of reasonably
democratic and stable government.
The reason why the future is
so difficult is that during the 30
years in which Trujillo ruled the
Dominican Republic he extermi-
nated or drove into exile or into
hiding all the educated .onmnptent
is the reactionary military junta,
which represents a revival of the
Trujillist oligarchy. and there are
the Constitutionalists, who repre-
sent the bitter discontent of the
Dominican masses.
THEY ARE without practical
experience in government and vul-
nerable, therefore, to infiltration
from agents of or sympathizers
with Castro. Between these two
groups there is nothing-no middle
group of eminent and respectable
men who could provide a care-
taker government.
The nredicment of the TTnited
is not acceptable in the modern
world.
Another alternative, which has
been favored by the State Depart-
ment, is a coalition government.
Caamano could represent the
Constitutionalists and Imbert the
military junta. Almost certainly,
this is not really a valid option.
IT PROPOSES to ignore the
depth and the width of the con-
flict between those who are fight-
ing to perpetuate the inheritance
of Trujillo and those for whom
life is intolerable without far-
reaching reforms.
and respect of the Dominican
masses.
It is no doubt true that Dr.
Bosch was a weak president. But
he is the only Dominican who has
ever been genuinely elected, and,
therefore, the political succession
from him to Caamano should be
respected and observed.
THE GOVERNMENT which the
OAS backs, and we along with it,
should have as its cornerstone the
Constitutionalist Party.
It would be strange indeed if
there were no Communists in the
rConstittniet. Portyut+ +htrr
There are two great advantages
to be had from treating the Con-
stitutionalist Party as the corner-
stone of a new government. The
first is that with good advice from
its Latin-American neighbors, and
with plentiful economic assistance
from us, such a government would
be the one most likely to succeed.
The second advantage is that
this decision on our part is the
only one that can prove our good
faith, which is profoundly sus-
pected throughout the hemisphere.
For the decision to make the Con-
stitutionalists the cornerstone will
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