Folded Tent
Seventy-First Year
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Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
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SYRIAN REVOLT:
Backward Step
For Mid-East
I1
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1961
NIGHT EDITOR: MICHAEL HARRAH
Teaching Communism:
Good Within Limits
H IGH SCHOOLS are strange places. They
are places where it is all right to be dumb
but not too dumb, or to be smart, but not
too smart. High schoolers who do not plan to
attend college, or those who attain brilliant
test scores, share a mutual fate, which is
usually one of social repression. It is disastrous
to get D's or A's, conformable to get B's and
C's.
It is within this disturbing context that
some educators are curently advocating a
required high school course on Communism.
Such individuals fail to realize that it would
be idiocy to teach such a course on an across-
the-board basis. The teaching of Communism
in high schools would be worthwhile only
within carefully defined limits, and the rea-
sons for this lie in the stagnant academic
state of the high school.
This middle ground scholarship can be at-
tributed to the upbringing of most high school
students. Their adolescence has been directed
in a single cultural direction. Their relation-
ships have been with students of the same
age, the relatively same economical level,
the same neighborhood.
And so the milestones in a person's life up
until graduation are the acquisition of a
driver's license and the first date. High school
newspapers are filled with burning pleas for
better school spirit, while farces called student
councils debate methods of cutting down on
vandalism in the lavatories, or how much to
spend on the next dance. National Honor
Societies base their membership selection 25
per cent on scholarship (only a 3.2 average
is needed), and the other three quarters on
"character, leadership and service," whatever
that means. In short, there is nothing to
indicate that student life in high schools is
even remotely academically oriented. On the
contrary, it is almost exclusively social in
context.
HERE IS a distrinct and discernible line
(at least in theory) between a high school
and a university community. The college stu-
dent is dumped into a position where suddenly
he is his own decision-maker. He is confronted
with a variety of fellow students from many
different backgrounds. He is faced with courses
which at least request him to search into the
core of his ethics. He is forced to realize that
there are people who have entirely different
motivations and possess conflicting values.
And this is why courses on Communism and
other social philosophies should be centered
in universities and not high schools. If it is
true that there are people, in the world who
live a wretched, miserable life, and if there is
a moral duty of more fortunate individuals
to relieve this poverty and anguish, and that
to relieve it involves an understanding of the
forces that exist in and produce this misery,
then it follows that this understanding will
best be nurtured in the environment where
the student is most receptive to new and
dynamic concepts.
O F COURSE this ideal condition of a multi-
farious university, where the probing stu-
dent synthesizes all that he can glean from
the different disciplines and cultures, is un-
fortunately askance with reality. The beginning
course in political science is a case in point.
Students listening to Prof. Peek's lectures
on the theory of, Communism are a little dis-
gruntled -to learn that men in the past have
actually taken this concept seriously, that
it is not entirely the bogey any patriotic
citizen should consider it to be. And so they
are worried, at least in the back of their
minds, until Prof. Peek shows them the way
out-that democracy is really the best way of
doing things after all. The price for the
learning of the tragic flaws in Communism is
a little high, though, because the students
find themselves accepting the tenets of a
welfare-state democracy in return.
This is the way the study of Communism
proceeds here. Self-delusion on a grand scale.
But I shudder to think of how this teaching
would be received in the high schools where
there is very little contact with or under-
standing of differing cultures and hence dif-
ferent theories.
EDUCATION is of little value without rela-
tion to context. The study of Communism
would be relatively /fruitless if its theories
were not applied to the contemporary prob-
lems of the world. At least in the colleges
there is an opportunity to be confronted with
issues and to arrive at an understanding of
other social values, even though the vast
majority of university students do not accept
the chance.
In view of the inherent homogenity in high
schools (the student bodies are assigned on
a neighborhood basis); their function would
be best to emphasize the tangible and physical
observations of the world. High school stu-
dents are at the age when the capacity for
memory is at its peak, and ability of thought
is low. This would be the time for foreign
languages, economics, writing style, sciences
and mathematics to be taught. Thus when
the student arrives at a university, he would
not face new concepts within a vacuum.
BUT there is no point in gilding the lily,
as Prof. Charles Frankel would say. There
is a smattering of high school students who
have doubts about patriotism and capitalism
and God and themselves. It is only through
these few students that the plight of the high
schools can be alleviated. A good high school
course in Communism or philosophy or "social
studies" could provide a means by which the
doubting student could learn that other men
have asked these questions, too.
Such a course could provide the channel
to develop the inspiring, idealistic young stu-
dent leaders, who are the only means by which
the disgustingly well-adjusted student body
can be aroused from lethargy. Hopefully, it
would be these lonely crusaders who would
fill the student council posts, in replacement
of the perpetually grinning nice guys, and
the editorships of the high school newspapers,
in place of the imperceptive, obsequious jour-
nalism students. A course in Communism might
be the impetus for all these desperately-needed
reforms.
YET IT IS OBVIOUS that such a curriculum
would have to be restricted to very intel-
ligent and conscientious students, so that the
concepts of Communism would be applied to
real issues and problems and not remain
suspended in ignorance. It is also obvious
that the course should not be taught American
Legion-Daughters of the American Revolution
style, but rather with the tolerant knowledge
that Communism is an alternative social
system, and not a mythical inanity. Neither
chauvinism nor blindness has any place in
such a study. 1
It is under these conditions, and only these
conditions, that Communism is feasible as a
high school course.
-GERALD STORCH
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Clock-Punchers Unite!
To the Editor:
HEARTILY CONCUR with
Gerald Storch's editorial last
Thursday questioning the exist-
ence and use of the time clock in
the Language Laboratory.
But let us not stop with ques-
tioning its existence, let us ac-
tively resist it and all that it
stands for. Certainly, the zeal of
those who placed it there is com-
mendable. But, while this institu-
tion is often referred to as an edu-
cational factory, the use of a time
clock, the very symbol of regula-
tory, coercive, and paternalistic
attitudes, goes too far. In the con-
text of education freedom and the
development of self responsibility,
it is to be viewed with alarm.
* * *
I, THEREFORE, call for a
STUDENT BOYCOTT of the
'TIME CLOCK; I call on you to
tear your time cards in half, hand
half of it to your language in-
structor with a note saying "I
protest," and send the other half
to me at 803 E. Kingsley.
Hopefully in future annals of
this institution, fall semester 1961
will be recalled as the semester
in which (surprisingly enough) the
students rose up in sweeping pro-
test against the time clock and in
so doing, struck a blow against
academic regimentation.
--Rob K. Harding, '62
Indecent ..
To the Editor:
THE VERBAL RECEPTION with
.which The Daily Senior Editors
greeted Dean Deborah Bacon's
resignation left much to be desired
in the way of common decency.
Despite the fact that many of
Dean Bacon's policies have been
contrary to those expected from
such a person, there was no need
for the conquering heroes to shriek
so raucously.
"We feel strongly that her res-
ignation . . . is in the best in-
terests of the University." "Miss
Bacon represented policies . .
which are no longer acceptable.
... the stifling of individual ex-
pression . . ." The first statement
is unnecessary and is a childish
way of accepting what must have
cost her a great deal to give; the
second may be true, but sounds
terribly unfair - I am sure that
the stifling of "individual ex-
pression" was the last of Dean
Bacon's intentions, despite what
we might view as the outcome of
her policies.
If the students on this campus
expect to be given positions of
responsibility on various commit-
tees to help revamp University
policy, to be treated (to put it
crudely) as "adults," then we are
going to have to be able to accept
the fruits of our labor with equa-
nimity and perhaps even sym-
pathy, not the loud huzzahs and
foot stamping of 7th graders.
-Judith Stock,'63
Commends Lewis ...
To the Editor:
ON SEPT. 30 Malinda Berry
criticized Vice-President James
Lewis for being overly abrupt
when speaking to sorority presi-
dents concerning the submission
to SGC of portions of their con-
stitutions.
It is not at all clear from the
portions of" the meeting reported
that Mr. Lewis really was overly
abrupt. However, if he was blunt
and forceful, he is to be com-
mended. It is about time that
University officials began to force-
fully implement Regents' Bylaw
2:14.
-Bart Burkhalter, Grad.
--Brian Glick, '62
Pen Pals, . .
To the Editor:
REGRETFULLY the year 1963,
and the month of June ac-
cording to my calculations, will be
a time of disastor for the Michi-
gan Daily.
In the short time that I have
been on campus, I have become
fully aware of your utter depend-
ence on two people to pull you out'
of the hole.
FIRST we have that fearless,
courageous, outspoken, rambunc-
tious, controversial, and occasion-
ally uninformed, and nonetheless
undaunted, member of your own
staff, Michael Harrah, who will-
ingly speaks his mind regardless
of his authority. He's a crusader
of the first water, a conservative
of by-gone times, a Horatio Alger-
type if I have even encountered
one. His writing, though ill-
advised in these times of com-
promise and appeasement, are
logical in their antiquity. He is a
bastion of strength in your little'
sea of confusion. I like him even
better than the comics which you
do not run.
Then we have that indefatigue-
able, bold, effusive, scatter-
brained, adelpated, and usually
naive but nonetheless conversant,
obviously paid member of your.
cabal, Steven Hendel, who, as your
pen-pal, writes to you once a week,
with much verbosity and little in-
formation, to attack anyone at
random. His letters, in keeping
with the general thought of the
Michigan Daily, though not with
the general thought of the cam-
pus, are classics of innocence.
He's a strong voice in your little
circle of dissent. I like him even
better than Michael Harrah, whom
you run even more often.
* * *
BUT I WAS saddened to learn
that you will lose these two knights
of honor, both at the same time
(mentioned above); And I cannot
conceive of any more unique
characters to replace them, so I
implore you to do something. Fu-
ture readers of the Michigan
Daily should not be deprived of
Harrah's presumptuousness or
Hendel's innocence. They're both
too funny to describe.
So I have but one request, and
in it I give you a choice: Subdue
Harrah now before he garners a
following, for he is truly the Pied
Piper returned, OR suppress Hen-
del now before he breaks us all
up, for he is truly the last of the
"well" comedians.
-Homer L. Harrison, '64
(Letters to the Editor should be
limited to 300 words, typewritten
and double spaced. The Daily re-
serves the right to edit or withhold
any letter. Only signed letters will
be printed.)
By RONALD WILTON
Daily Staff Writer
THE SYRIAN REVOLT appears
to represent a step backwards
for the Middle East in its search
for stability, peace, and develop-
ment.
The revolt grew out of the dif-
ficulties encountered by Egyptian
and Syrian leaders in their at-
tempt to form a state which they
hoped would be the foundation of
a future Arab nation stretching
from North Africa to the Persian
Gulf.
The basic difficulty was the
question of whether the Syrian
sector of the United Arab Repub-
lic should be merely. a province
ruled from Cairo or a largely au-
tonomous region.
Under laws agreed to by both
parties prior to the merger the
problem was taken care of in two
ways: by making the President of
the Republic an Egyptian and the
Vice-President a Syrian and by
setting up a regional cabinet for
each of the two sectors.
* * * .
BUT as time .wment on power
shifted to Cairo, an' occurrence
in keeping with the fact that
Egypt has a population of 23 mil-
lion as opposed to Syria's 5 mil-
lion, and because of the power and
prestige of Gamal Abdul Nasser,
the Egyptian president of the
UAR. This shift of power was re-
sented in Syria on the political
right by landowners fearing land
reform and businessmen afraid of
strict governmental controls over
commerce. The left was alienated
by the outlawing of the Syrian
Communist Party . and the down-
grading of the Arab Socialist Ren-
aissance party.
In the spring of 1961 Nasser
made up his mind to integrate
Syria into the Egyptian economic
and social system. The Syrian
economy, which had kept most
of .its traditional habits of free
spending and uncontrolled trad-
ing, was denounced as "anarchy."
Nasser promised "a comprehensive
social change." Decrees were is-
sued imposing income taxes and
nationalizing banks, insurance
companies and other commercial
institutions. Increased steps to-
wards land-reform were also tak-
en .Syrian officials of the UAR,
were forced to fly.to Cairo for all
important decision.
LAST THURSDAY morning ar-.
my units led by two brigadier gen-
erals seized control of the Da-
mascus radio station and other
important installations in the Syr-
ian capital. The revolt soon spread
to the Northern Syrian commer-
cial center of Aleppo.
The next day the military lead-
ers of the revolt appointed as
Premier, Mahmour al-Kuzbar, a
conservative law professor who
has participated in several pre-
vious governments. He was au-
thorized to select a cabinet and
issue legislative decrees during a
transition period. The new regime
announced that it would rule only
until it could hold free elections
for a new legislative authority.
Thus it appears that this was
basically a civilian revolt by right
wing landowners and businessmen
who went against the basic tenet
of "Arab unity" by being Syrians
New Era
N THE post-industrial phase of
man's history, the citizen may
be called for but a season to man
the machines . . . We have seen
enough in our time .. to be able
to imagine what the results might
at their worst be if the iron hold
of the job were suddenly released
..The problem will be to take
this new existence and without
the prop and support of work as
we now know it, to create some-
thing which makes one want to
go on living .. . to take the free
time which is now at our disposal,
and to begin converting it into a
true leisure.
--August Heckscher
first and Arabs second. These
characteristics could lead to ex-
tremely disturbing consequences.
* * *
PERHAPS the most important
and most dangerous would be an
attempt by the new conservative
regime to curtail the socialization
and land reforms established by
Nasser. These reforms have given
the peasants, who make up the
majority of the Syrian population,
their own land for the first time
in their lives.
They have given the worker
some form of job security and have
appealed to students and young
administrators who desire "social
justice." Curtailing these reforms
could lead to a protest situation
which all too easily could be ex-
ploited by the strong underground
Communist party.
Another source of potential
friction lies in the relationships,
between the various Arab states.
As a result of the revolt, Nasser
and the cause of "Arab National-
ism and Unity" which he leads,
have suffered a serious loss of
prestige. Immediate evidence of
this has been the quick recogni-
tion of the new Syrian regime by
the government of Jordan which,
until last February had been en-
gaged in a radio war with Nasser.
Since a February truce their re-
lations have improved.
But Jordan's quick recognition
of the new regime and King Hus-
sein's invitation to the Syrians to
use'Jordanian radio facilities were
a direct affront to the Egyptian
president.
.rNasser has been accused by most
Arab states of meddling in their
affairs and in light of these oc-
currences it is almost impossible
to expect him not to react to this
challenge. This reaction, in what-
ever form it might take, will serve
to make an unstable region still
more unstable.
DAILY OFFICIAL
BULLETIN
The Daily Official Bulletin is an
official publication of The Univer-
sity of Michigan for which The
Michigan.Daily assumes no editorial
responsibility. Notices should be
sent in TYPEWRITTEN form to
Room 3519 Administration Building
before 2 p.m., two days preceding
publication.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3
General Notices
Members of the Science Research Club
will hold their first meeting at 7:30
p.m. in the Rackham Amphitheater on
Tuesday, October 3rd.
Edward S. Epstein of the Department
of Engineering Mechanics will speak
on the "Utilization of Tiros Photo-
graphs." Following intermission Ste-
phen H. Spurr from the Department
of Forestry will speak on the "Biology
of New Zealand." Dues will be accept-
ed after 7:10 p.m.
Mathematically resourceful and orig-
inal undergraduates are wanted,Pto
form the University of Michigan Put-
nam Prize competition team. AU in-
terested students are invited to at-
tend the first meeting, 7:30 p.m. Wed-
nesday, October 4, 1961, Room 309 An-
gel Hall, tohear details and begin
training.
University Players Playbill 1961/62
season subscriptions now available by
mail order.
Season tickets $7.00 or 5.00, plus 25c
for each Fri. or Sat. performance ticket
for each play except "aces of Malte."
Address mail orders to University
Players, Lydia mendelssohn Theatre.
Checks payable to University Players.
Enclose self-addressed, stamped envel-
ope.
Tickets for individual productions
also available, but season orders filled
first. "Faces of Malte" any perform-
ance, $1.00. Opera, Thurs. or Mon.,
$1.75 or 1.25, Fri. r Sat, $2.00 or 1.50.
All others, $1.50 or 1.00 for week-night
performances, $1.75 or 1.25 for Fri. or
Sat. performances.
' For assistance in sending mail or-
ders, call 663-31511, ext. 3383. Box of-
fice re-opens Oct. 23 at Lydia Mendels-
sohn Theatre.
Agenda Student Government Council
Oct. 4, 1961, 7:30 p.m., Council Room
Constituents' Time 9:00
Minutes of' previous meeting.
Officer reports: President, Letters, 14th
National Student Congress Delegation
Report; Exec. Vice-President, Commit-
tee on Membership in Student Orga-
nizations, Standing Rule (Motion), Ad-
mi. Vice-President; Treasurer, Finan-
cial Report 1960-1961.
(Continued on Page 5)
Dollars and Sense
THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE has
dealt the growth of United States prestige
a heavy blow - it has chained the American
image to the dollar sign.
Last Thursday the neutralist African coun-
try, of Somalia opened the sixth Somali In-
ternational Trade Fair in its capital city of
Mogadiscio. Represented at the fair are the
Soviet Union, Bulgaria, the United Arab Re-
public, India, West Germany, Italy, Britain,
Tunisia, Aden, Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika
and Zanzibar. The Soviet pavillion dominates
the fairgrounds.
The United States was invited to participate
but declined. The official reason was lack. of
funds. Behind this explanation lies the fact
that the United States Embassy in Somalia
tried in vain to convince the Department of
Commerce in Washington of the value of im-
pressive United States participation in the
fair, even, and this is the most important point
of all - if it were relatively unprofitable
from a trade standpoint.
IMPLICIT in the last statement is the belief
held by the Commerce Department that
trade fairs are only what their title implies,
namely a device to promote trade between
the participating and the host countries. How-
ever, the Cold War has given these events
a new purpose;.they are now a means by which
the narticinating countries try to sell their
Department has written Somalia off to the
Communists (a fact which would be received
with great interest in the State Department),
or that -they have decided that America has
enough allies and therefore it does not matter
if we insult a non-aligned country. It def-
initely is an insult to a country when the
United States informs it that we cannot
participate in its International Trade Fair
because we lack the funds. It tells them that
they have no importance at all in our wolrd
and we do not care what happens to them.
The incident is also an insult to the United
States because in effect we are telling the
people of Somalia that we are poorer than
Aden and Zanzibar, let alone the Soviet Union.
AFTER THE SOMALIAN PRESIDENT cut
the ribbon opening the fair, the Minister
of Industry and Commerce thanked the for-
eign participants and voiced regret at the
absence of the United States. The attending
Somalian citizens must have wondered how
the U. S. had gotten so poor so fast in view
of the fact that we were represented at the
previous fair two years previous when Somalia
was an Italian Trust Territory.
Financial backing for American participation
in International trade fairs comes from the
Department of Commerce through its Inter-
national Trade Fair Section. This financial
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