Seventy-Third 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 ezpress the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in al' reprints. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1964 NIGHT EDITOR: GERALD STORCH The Lecture System: Who Needs It.? FAIRLY RADICAL CONCEPT of edu- through a whole semester this way, with- cational philosophy seems to offer one out ever going to one class. road away from some of the educational Lectures, and most recitations for that matter, contain a great amount of built- chaff at the University. in waste. They are an unproductive means The idea: end lecture teaching alto- of developing the mind. gether, put the lectures on tape in the Undergraduate Library and let students THIS SUGGESTS the second problem. take them as they will. The time saved The core of educational philosophy is by eliminating lectures could either be the development of a free, independent used for discussion sections or directed, human mind. Perhaps too few students independent study. realize it, but this is why both they and This theory attacks two problems of the University are here. the educational process. The first is what But educational methods do little to one dean has referred to as "sitting time." execute this goal. Most of the education Students, in other words, get grades and here is "spoon-fed." Knowledge often be- credits merely for being in attendance at comes unimportant in and of itself. The a particular class; neither the grades nor degree is a material symbol, not an edu- the credit correlate to the actual value cational one. derived. This thought can be worked into A survey would probably show that a cliche, but it is relatively valid, most students matriculate with an eye (perhaps two eyes, and their parents four CONSIDER: The student attends a par- as well) firmly fixed on that "extra $400,- ticular class x number of days over 000 you can earn in your lifetime if you however many weeks constitute a semes- stay in school." ter. Preparing for the trimester, the Uni- The lecture system contributes to this versity cut the number of weeks in the atmosphere by providing education with- semester last term; all statistical indica- out challenge. It tends to discourage in-, tors point to the fact that students didn't dividual initiative, replacing freedom with suffer very very heavily, if at all. the security of direction. Moreover, few students faithfully at- tend all their lectures. It is relatively ELIMINATE the lecture system altogeth- simple to borrow someone's notes. More er? It's a wild idea. than one student has actually journeyed -H. NEIL BERKSON ASIAN COMMENTARY: Japan's Search for Markets I "You Can't Do This To Me!" By WILLIAM CUMMINGS Daly Correspondent T O K Y O0- Overshadowed by French President Charles de Gaulle's Asian maneuvering were the Joint Japan-United States economic talks of Jan. 27-28 held in Tokyo. The United States and Japan have unique ties, rooted in their long, historical friendship, their mutual experiments in democracy, and the impressive economic sha- dow they cast over the Pacific. Japan properly should occupy a big place in the United States' Asian policy. Her industrial power is unmatched in the area and her 95 million citizens make her the fifth largest nation in the world. Thus she stands as the most logi- cal counterpart balance to Com- nunist China as a successful dem- onstration of democracy. * * * FURTHERMORE the United States has been experiencing con- tinuing difficulty in her Asian aid program because of personnel problems: it is quite difficult for an American technician to appre- ciate the weight of Asian patterns of organization and behavior. The Japanese, living in an Asian environment, have a fuller under- standing of the human elements in foreign assistance. And the Japanese economy is becoming large enough these days for it to expand its program of aid and assume some of the American projects. * * * AFTER the Occupational recon- struction was completed in 1952, the United States government gave little attention to stimulat- ing Japanese concern with Asia; the Japanese have long recognized the need. Coupled with their desire to be- come a first-rate power is their development of the Pacific Com- munity concept. This is primarily a commercial concept which rec- ognizes Japan's need to develop her trade in Asia and consequent- ly to build up the Asian countries since their economies are current- ly unable to support significant trade. The developing countries have little capital. The European coun- tries are concerned with their re- gional progress and thus have set up tariff walls which handicap outside competitors. The Com- munist bloc is concerned with in- ternal development and has lim- it-d foreign exchange so they have not traded extensively with Japan. The United States is one coun- try which has kept its doors rea- sonably open to Japan. Japan oc- cupies second place in both our imports and exports totals where- a we take first place in both ave- nues of her trade. * * * THE "reasonableness of the crack in our trade door has been a question under discussion for some time. When President Kennedy came into office, a careful scrutiny of the Asian scene revealed a con- siderable accumulation of resent- ment in Japan against what was considered as United States com- mercial discrimination. The concern of President Ken- nedy that the United States' prin- cijle Asian ally was being alienat- ed by our trade policy was reflect- ed in his dispatch of the first American cabinet level United States-Japan Committee on Trade and Economic Affairs to Hakone, Japan in November of 1961. The recent conference is the third one of ministerial status that the countries have engaged in. It was called "not as a forum for negotiations to seek solutions to particular problems, but to deepen mutual understanding for closer future cooperation." In this spirit we find Secretary of Labor Willard Wirtz playing "Go", a game that faintly resembles chess and which finds its origins in China and its champions in Ja- pan, with the Japanese Minister of Labor. * * * HOWEVER, the exploratory na- ture of the conference did not pre- vent the particular issues that ex- ist between the two countries from coning to the surface. Japan is striving to become a first rate international power. To this end she ha- promised to lib- eralize all her tariffs. The specific complaints she raises against the United States are restrictive trade practices, the possible interest equalization tax, the Buy America and Ship Amer- ica campaigns and the fact that the American market is so temper- amental that the Japanese have been "requested" by the United States government to place volun- tary restrictions on a number of their exports to the United States. The goods under such restric- tions amount to about one-third of Japan's exports to the United States. They irclude textiles, um- brellas, baseball gloves, sewing machines, thermometers, and a host of other goods. * * * AMERICAN diplomats are con- cerned with explaining the need for the interest equalization tax that is likely to be imposed on all United States capital exports. The STATE: Wilted Disney THE MISADVENTURES of Merlin Jones," now showing at the State Theatre, shouldn't be. The third in what threatens to be a long, long series, "Merlin Jones" is contrived, banal, boring, embarrassing, trite, overdone, mes- sy, and worst of all, wasteful. "The Absent Minded Professor," the first in this shaggy series, was clever and carefully conceived. Merlin Jones is an abortion. * * * AS USUAL any talents that Tommy Kirk or Annette Funicello may have are effectively hidden beneath a huge pile of poor script and haphazard direction. The one character who rises above the mishapen heap of the plot is that of Stanley. The actor (not credited) outshines even an old pro like Stu Erwin and easily brings more laughs than Kirk. The part is a minor one but by sim- ple gestures and subtle voice in- flections, the part becomes the one shining moment in the film. Stan- ley's swearing in the scene in court is the funniest moment in the film as well as the most mean- ingful. The rest of the film, actually two segments barely connected in- to one flimsy whole, is of the cate- gory of "Losers." The locale is un- believable as either a high school or college, the characters are so stereotyped as to be grotesque and the plot is out of an aged copy of "Boys' Life." * * * WALT DISNEY, it can finally be said, is only human. He, too, can grow old and make mistakes. One needn't follow his example, how- ever, there are other theatres in town. -Hugh Holland tax is designed to erase the cur- rent deficit in the United States balance of payments through dis- couraging United States firms from investing overseas. Also the United States was interested in boosting Japan's Asian aid activi- ties. The concerns of both sides were clearly presented and met with mild assurances. Walter Heller, chairman of the Cooncil of Economic Advisers to to the President, stated the im- r. oving United States balance of payments situation might allow the United States to drop the in- terest equalization tax by the end of 1965. Secretary of Commerce Luther ;:odges assured the Japanese that the United States would take ap- propriate measures to meet the prblem "if the Japanese economy faitered, contrary to expectations." He also stated that the United States is willing to discuss the vloluntary restrictions in the econ- o'mc talks this May. This indicat- ed a change in the United States position since the United States formerly contended that these taxes were in Japan's best inter- ests and refused to discuss them. *. * * THE REACTION of the press in Japan was generally realistic. "The Yomiyuri Shibun" com- plained of United States protec- tionism and its dogmatic adher- ence to across-the-board tariff lowerings. "The Mainichi Shim- bun," a second leading daily, re- iterated this view but pointed to the balance of payments crisis of the two countries as limiting any bold steps. This paper came out with the additional request that the Japan- ese government come to the next conference with a more Independ- ent economic policy. It chided the Japanese government for its re- action to the United States inter- est equalization tax, and suggest- ed that Japan's real need was to develop more diversified markets and thus be able to face the Unit- ed States on equal terms in future negotiations. Of particular interest in the light of Chou En-lai's statement of Feb. 5 that China would adhere to the principles of the United Nations Charter were two state- ments Secretary of State Dean Rusk made in an interview with the Japanese press. It is almost possible to read into Rusk's words the beginnings of a more concilia- tory official policy toward Com- munist China. "The United States remains loyal to commitments to China. When mainland China has a gov- ernment which is prepared to re- nounce force to make peace, and to honor international responsibil- ities, it will find us responsive. "The American people' have deep sympathy for the plight of the people of the Chinese main- land, with whom we had close and cordial relations for a century and a half." * * * OF PARTICULAR interest in the light of Chou En-lai's state- ment of Feb. 5 that China would adhere to the principles of the United Nations Charter were two statements Secretary of State Dean Rusk made in an interview with the Japanese press. It is al- most possible to read into Rusk's words the beginnings of a more conciliatory official policy towards Communist China. "The United States remains loyal to commitments to China. When mainland China has a gov- ernment which is prepared to r nounce force to make peace, and to honor international responsi- bilities, it will find us responsive. 1 o,,a . \ \\\ err 1rsT ia . ./ k r 4 "f, LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Neutrality Impossible In Viet Nam I (' THE LIAISON: Setting Priorities Philip Sutin, National Concerns Editor : - r y .. " t X11 k t. / THE INDIVIDUAL with a general back- ground is needed more than ever; yet today's educational trends work toward increasing specialization. While the vast amount of knowledge makes the "univer- sal man" impossible, a general under- standing of the sciences, the social sci- ences and the humanities is needed for the nation's educational, business and political leaders to use this country's re- sources effectively. These leaders today must allocate funds and manpower among expensive, but highly competitive enterprises. Setting priorities is not a simple issue. There are no easily comprehensible yardsticks to use, and often administrators and legisla- tures let technicians make the decisions, abandoning all attempts to comprehend their significance. Unfortunately, endeavors such as space research, medical research and higher ed- ucation are as expensive as they are com- plex. These fields also have complex sub- divisions and need scarce resources, which must be carefully allocated. 4ESE HARD DECISIONS have to be made. Is high energy physics as impor- tant as nuclear engineering? Should more research effort be placed on heart disease or cancer? Which should be stressed, en- gineering or the social sciences? Ulti- mately, the general public has to make these decisions for it elects the legisla- Editorial Staff RONALD WILTON, Editor DAVID MARCUS GERALD STORCH Editorial Director City Editor BARBARA LAZARUS ........ ..... Personnel Director PHILIP SUTIN ............. National Concerns Editor GAIL EVANS ...,........,....... Associate City Editor MARJORIE BRAHMS .... Associate Editorial Director