"If We Hurry, We'll Finish Just In Time For
The New Tenant T+ Redecorate"
AT
'TE
V-1
Army Changes El
-For the Worse
ELVIS IS BACK from the army' with his first picture in two years
called appropriately enough, "GI Blues": Filmed in technicolor and
featuring ten (you count 'em) ballads and blues numbers belted out
by the rock 'n roll king, the picture relies almost entirely on Presley's
name to attract audiences. And this it will surely do.
But the picture lacks a decent plot and merely provides the
semblance of continuity between songs and the terpsichore of redhead
Juliet Prowse. Miss Prowse's num-
bersb certainly add to the credit of
the production. Since Elvis has cut:
some of the bumps and grinds
from his routine, Miss Prowse's
.-.-. xprovocative d a n c i n g partially
makes up for 'the loss.
Presley's acting has been panned
in his previous pictures and he
t seems to be maintaining his repu-
tation in that area.
* #*
ALTHOUGH PRESLEY'S singing
has turned from rock 'n roll to
the ballsd since Uncle Sam re-
leased him, the transition is not
evident in this film. The tunes are.
(1- for the fost part standard rhythm
and blues tunes with new words,.as
witness the title song, GI Blues.
Two of his better efforts, Pocket-
ful of Rainbow, and a song se-
quence in a puppet show, demon-
strate Presley's ability to exercise
- his vocal cords. However, as usual,
he is better heard than seen, espe-
cially with his typical sneer and
twitchy leg.
"GI Blues" will not produce any
big-selling tune on its own merits
as Presley's past films have done;
there just . is no outstanding or
- even catchy song. The acting and
plot definitely fall below Mr. Rock
'n Roll's past cinema endeavors,
- but the Presley voice and long
black hair is still there for those
p a s Elvis aficionados.
--.r- -Michael Burns
'U' OF DETROIT:
Bard
Scores
THE SCIENTIFIC ORIENTATION:
Lab Courses For Humanists
N
HERE IS at least one play
frankly dealing with debauch-
ery and sex that is not likely to be
be banned in Boston..And certain-
ly not at the University of Detroit
.Repertory Theater, where Shake-
speare's "Measure for Measure" is
on the repertory schedule.
Often called one of the Bard's
"unpleasant" plays, it dramatizes
the theme that one may not judge
others without being judged in
like manner. Angelo, deputy to the
Duke of Vienna, sets out relent-
lessly to enforce the law prescrib-
ing decapitation as the penalty for
incontinence.
A condemned offender, Claudio,
sends for his virtuous and attrac-
tive sister Isabella to plead with
Angelo on his behalf. Angelo finds
her so attractive indeed that after
much torment he proposes to spare
Claudio at the price of Isabella's
honor. This upsets Isabella no end.
, , ,
AFTER a temporary resigna-
tion, brother Claudio loses his
head at the prospect of being de-
prived of it and importunes his
sister to bargain on Angelo's terns.
In a fit of. pique Isabella tells
Claudio to go hang.
This dilemma is resolved in 'a
series of schemes proposed by the
disguised Duke of Vienna himself,
one of which is a sort of bed-
room Blind Man's, Buff whereby
Angelo is deceived by switching an
old flame of his in place of Isa-
bella.. Not morally satisfying, but
quite a trick.
To add insult to injury, Angelo
reneges on his promise- and or-
ders Claudio's execution, appar-
ently to assuage his remorse at
having fallen.
* * *
DIRECTOR Richard Burgwin
took advantage of the intimacy of
the theater by occasionally bring-
ing the actors down into the audi-
ence Elizabethan-style, with some
of the entrances coming from the-
rear of the auditorium. An excit-
ing touch was the use of tympani
in slow crescendoto provide a
dramatic rhythmic background at
critical moments. especially effec-
tive in Angelo's temptation scene,
Thomas Stumpo's penetrating.
interpretation of the complex An-
gelo was blemished by overagon-
ized facial expressions that were
not needed to supplant an other-
wise thoughtful portrayal of the
character.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the
first of two articles on Univer-
sity science requirements.s To.or-
row's article will discuss non-
laboratory science courses.)
By FAITH WEINSTEIN
Daily Staff Writer
"The classics were necessary
to the cultivation of gentle-
men and the manufacture of
clerics, but science was essen-
tial only to a few vulgar, util-
itarian professions."
William Irvine, "Apes, An-
gels & Victorians"
IN THE CENTURY since Darwin,
the relative position of science
and the humanities has seesawed
wildly, but the prime importance
of science in the modern educa-
tion has established itself for-
ever.
It was possible to be a gentle-
man and a scholar in the early
1800's without knowing the dif-
ference between chemistry and al-
chemy. It is not possible today to
be a student and not know vague-
ly about the theory of relativity,
or evolution.
The pre-Victorian contempt the
humanities student once had for
science has been replaced by a
half-humiliated awe. The mod-
ern non-science major tends to
have a defensive fear of science
and especially of beginning sci-
ence courses. He fears a set of
facts which will be outside his own
realm, he fears a scientific jar-
gon which sometimes sounds like
English but isn't. Most of all he
fears the teacher who, he is sure,
has a mental set totally alien to
his own.
NONE OF THESE fears are to-
tally valid, but neither are they
as foolish as some science teach-
ers may think. The non-science
student is faced with scientific
writings in every form, from mag-
azine articles to television ad-
vertising. Scientific subjects have
slipped into the most humanistic
pursuits. In the face of this, he
often comes away with the hope-
less feeling that while scientists
can read literature, humanists can
rarely even begin to figure out
science.
The basic problem is one of
orientation. The scientist and the
humanist, the so-called analytic
and verbal personalities, are sep-
arated young by neat objective
tests. The budding scientists learns
to think in specifics, deriving all
generalities from a great body of
facts. "Scientists like to substan-
tiate what they say," a zoology
teaching fellow said,
THE NON-SCIENCE student
tends to be trained in intuitive
thought-he tends to think in
concepts, to be annoyed with what
he considers "petty details," to
turn away from the concrete facts,
or to fit them to the theory he
has created in his mind.
Coming to science with this
orientation, he finds himself
scared, He searches madly for a
basic science course that will be
"easy," or for one that will speak
his language, deal in theories
rather than arousing his disgust
and anger by forcing him to dirty
can, and then feeling resentful
about the mass of information,
which he knows vaguely is im-
portant, but which he does not
understand, and cannot grasp, be-
cause he cannot see the concepts
for the detail.
* * *
ONE ZOOLOGY teaching fel-
low, recalling his beginning zoo
course, said that "there were peo-'
ple on every side of me who
thought of the course as a mass
of meaningless detail. But for me,
it all fit perfectly into a beautiful
pattern." This was the result of
his orientation, of his pre-con-
ceived attitude toward science.
It is clearly the job of the basic
science courses to give the non-
science students a new glimpse
into the great pattern and an
understanding of a different ori-
entation.
Sometimes, but only occasional-
ly, the third semester of required
science, the non-lab course, be-
gins to "speak his language," and
some of the overall pattern of
science and discovery begins to
come faintly clear. But by this
time it may be too late, or too
frustrating to go on.
THIS IS A serious problem, and
one of which the teachers of the
courses are only half aware. Not
really recognizing the basic dif-
ference in orientation, the teach-
ers try to eliminate student re-
sistance by frontal attack: "Noth-
ing develops the scientific frame
of reference better than constant
exposure," Prof. Frederick Smith,
who teaches Zoology I, said. But
while rapid-fire exposure may
break a student's will, it will hard-
ly change his orientation. Several
of the science departments (zool-
ogy is a typical example) -have
made serious efforts to meet the
needs of the non-science 'major
in basic science. In general, zoo
has done better than any of the
other departments which offer
basic laboratory science courses in
designing a course which does not
give up content for popularity.
But the complaints and the ser-"
ious misunderstandings persist.
"Zoo I just has .too much detail,"
one non-science major said. "A lot
of it is interesting, and I really
feel I learned a great deal, but
I've lost all the detail in the year
since I took it, and there weren't
enough concepts-it doesn't seem
worthwhile having taken it."
THE QUESTION of detail is
central to the whole problem of
the separate orientations. If Prof.
Marston Bates,whodesigns his
upper-class zoo course on a philo-
sophic, generalized basis, says that
"purely descriptive courses get
bogged down in detail," the men
who teach the descriptive courses
will justify detail with determina-
tion And a good deal of validity.
"We're having trouble - we al-
ways have trouble-about requir-
ing the mastery of detail," Prof.
Smith said tiredly. "But since we
can't give the students actual re-
search experiments to do,' they
have to experience them by learn-
ing a body of facts."
Zoo I isn't Prof. Smith's dream
course. But it is regulated by fac-
tors beyond his control-vast
numbers of students, limited
space, severely limited funds. The
ideal course, a small, research-
oriented group of students work-
ing out the important, fascinat-
ing problems of zoology, is com-
pletely precluded by these limita-
tions. And all attempts to pro-
duce this course on a large scale
(the now defunct Zoo 11, for ex-
ample) have failed.
* * *
PROF. SMITH'S dream course
might very well work-it would
be ideal for the student with the
scientifically oriented mind, and it
would benefit the non-science
major as well. It could be the
kind of course where the intuitive
mind could shine. But it is not
likely to happen here. And in its
place, Prof. Smith will still
staunchly defend the requirement,
of detail.
"Take a clam, for example, and
show it to a bunch of students.
Tell them to look closely at it.
They look at it and look at, it,
and they'll swear they know what
it looks like, but if you tell them
to draw a picture of it, you won't
get anything remotely like a
clam."
"You have to make them mad
by insisting that they look at de-
tail, so you can be sure they real-
ly see what you want them to see."
* * *
CONSIDERING this problem of
judgment, Prof. Smith said "It's
very hard to help a student. They
don't see why certain details are
so important and we can't ex-
plain why."
Vocabulary is another basic
block for the non-science stu-
dents. As Prof. Smith pointed out,
students who are perfectly will-
ing to go through two years of
German irregular verbs balk ab-
solutely.,at the prospect of learn-
ing 100 necessary scientific terms.
These terms are as vitally neces-
sary to work in science as the ir-
regular verbs are to reading in
German literature, he says.
The point is valid, but the
analogy, for the humanities stu-
dent, does not quite hold. The
humanities student who is moti-
vated to take a language knows
what literature is like-he is will-
ing' to learn the verbs because
he has experienced the joys of
literature, and wants to learn
more. But he only has the vague
idea that he ought to learn sci-
ence, that it might be interest-
ing, none of which amounts to a
genuine spur to learning. Science
students who have had to struggle
through an English lit course
without knowing quite why, will
- know the feeling of frustration
which comes when you can't see
any purpose in what you are do--
ing.
SO, TEACHER AND student
grope blindly towards each other,
in the intricate scientific setting
-the student either apathetic, or
bitterly resentful of the things he
is asked to learn, ("who the hell
cares about a worm's-insides,") the
teacher, fully aware of the resent-
ment, but unable to dispel it, hop-
ing helplessly that the student
will "see the reasons later."
Sometimes they do, but all too
often they do not.
The suggestion of a course con-
cerned more with theory than
the present basic science course
is not popular with the science
teachers. Prof. Smith said that
"an intellectual experience can be
somewhat misleading-manipulat-
ing things in a ;lab gives more
adequate training." A colleague
urgently, denied the "mereness"
of facts, and stressed the obvious
importance of the details on which
every scientific judgment must be
based. These statements cannot
be denied, but the fact remains
that science and the scientific at-
titude towards the world are sim-
ply not getting through to the
average humanities student.
IF THE SCIENCE teachers are
ever to reach the blk of human-
ties students, they must includel
some kind of transition between
the two orientations' The only
apparent way to do this would be
to teach a course which does deal
more with concepts, with theories
-not naked in the snow, but
clothed inall the detail they re-
quire. This may mean a limita-
tion in the amount of material
covered in one semester, which
is a distinct disadvantage, as a
teaching fellow said. "It's hard
annn..l. na*inrr +l.'r..n hn -,.r .
ALICIA ANNAS provided a gra-
cious and appealing Isabella who
could whip up a fury at the ap-
propriate moment.
Alfred Story commendably en-
deavored to highlight ' Claudio's
desperation, but he overstepped his
implorings, becoming almost in-
fantile.
The performance contained sev-
eral well-executed characteriza-
tions in lesser roles. Paul McGaffey
turned out a laughably sarcastic
and insulting Lucio, something of
an all-round heel, and newcomer
Oliver Glenn connected as a rather
rotund and mirthful bawd.
A functional, versatile set per-
mitted a fluid shift of action from
scene to scene.
-William Giovan
DAILY
OFFICIAL
BULLETIN
Tue Daily Official Bulleti
official publication of The
sity of Michigan for whi(
Michigan Daily assumes noe
responsibility. Notices she
sent in TYPEWRITTEN fi
Room 3519 Administration B
before 2 p.m. two days pr
publication.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER
General Noti
Regents' Meeting: Fri., Dec.
munications for consideratio
meeting must be in the P
hands not later than Decemb
THIS IS A VALID considera-
tion. The typical humanities ma-
jor will note the clam's general
shape, its color, its clamminess,
and little else. He will have really
seen the clam, but not from a sci-
entific viewpoint. It is both logi-
cal and good for the science
teacher to require more than this,
Univer- but not without some definite,
ch The ' conceptual indication of why it
editorial is important to notice more. For
orm to the student who has not the eye
uilding, to see it for himself, the outlines
receding of the great pattern have to be
drawn clearly. And Zoo I is the
29 place to do it.
Most of the troubles non-sci-
>c s ence majors have in zoology, as.
well as other sciences, can be
16. Com- traced to therbasic difference in
n at this oret
'residents' orientation.
er 6. The humanities student, not
LETERS
to the
EDITOR
Daily Criticism . .
To the Editor:
CRITICISM seems to flow from
the Michigan Daily at quite an
even rate. Now, the time.has come
to make this an alternating cur-
rent. My criticism is waged against
those at the Daily who feel they
have obtained the status of full-
fledged theater critics. On what
grounds do these "critics" judge
the different productions?
Do they watch a production and
then judge it on an amateur-pro-
fessional continuum? It is true
these shows are not done by pro-
fessionals. but then how profes-
sional are the critics-they seem
to be quite amateurish to their
readers.
PERHAPS I HAVE been a little
too harsh; after all, the Daily did
have a few "nice" comments about
Soph Show. Then again . . . per-
haps' I still stand on firm ground.
The Daily's review of this vear's
i