. : _ __ _ _ ; VOL. IX, NO. 5 kAAA(YA 7 FEBRUARY 17, ,11 THE COMMUNITY OF SCHOLARS, by Paul Goodman, Randam House, $3.95 IN A WORLD where more and more1 people are acquiring the ability of dressing up bad ideas in pretty language, it is somewhat of a rarity when we come across someone who does just the op- posite: take a good idea and make it sound bad. Such a person is Paul Good- man in his most recent social critique, "The Community of Scholars." Perceptive and thought - provoking,, though not completely original, Good- man's argument blames the administra- tive complex for increasing the difficulty of obtaining a good education in today's, colleges. The universities are run not; by students or professors but by a vast number of college administrators; there are more of them, for example, in New York State alone than in all Western Europe. Highly responsive to outside pressures, these administrators turn the university into a producer of marketable skills, an organ of national goals, an unthinking instrument of the social order. Instead of being an independent critic of society and government, the college has become a working partner with them. Instead of being a flexible organization of students who want to learn and pro- fessors who want to teach, the college has become a rigid structure, offering more credit hours and grades than knowledge. And instead of being genu- inely interested, students have the feeling that their education is "not for keeps"- that there is something very unreal and even unimportant about being in college. In becoming facsimiles of today's busi- ness and government, the colleges are not fulfilling one of their most import- ant roles: to insist upon a sane society and to develop a fresh and critical out- look in its younger members. For the best expression of these ideas, one should read the cover flaps, for here is a clear and concise statement of what Goodman is trying to get at. The confu- sion begins, however, when one starts to read the book itself which is a gold mine of choppy and unscholarly writing. Goodman constantly quotes without giving his references and what footnotes he has seem to exist only because he did not consider his remarks important *cnough to appear in larger type. In short, his theory is not carefully ex- pounded. It almost seems as if his book is an essay of impressions and readings rather than a well defined and docu- mented social criticism. The result is that much of The Com- munity of Scholars" seems like personal bias. For example, Goodman does not hide his prejudice against James B. Con- ant and the Carnegie Corporation and in one place, even grossly distorts Conant's ideas. Conant believes that colleges should cooperate with national goals. Instead of pointing out weaknesses in his opponent's arguments, which are abundant, Good- man delivers a spirited polemic: "He (Conant) is in fact seeking to mold edu- cation merely to bail out an overmature overcentralized, venal and conformist status quo in the final epoch of the na- tional states: hurriedly to train 'scien- tists' to wage the Cold War, to dampen the 'social dynamite,' as he calls it, of unemployment and slums. These national goals he never questions, but he often , expresses his impatience with philos- ophers of education."~ This last statement is such a distortion that it comes close to a lie. In his most recent book, Slums and Suburbs, Conant does in fact express impatience with those who are continually concerned with the talented rich, but not at all with the destitute, most of whom do not get past the eighth grade, regardless of their abilities.. Conant's complaint is that we pay too much attention to the brighter side of American education. Goodman's com- plaint is that the brighter side is not nearly bright enough. Both are correct on this point, but Goodman is too in- terested in attacking Conant to realize it. Furthermore, there is much that is vague and sometimes inconsistent in Goodman's book. Why is so much impor- tance laid upon the existence of a com- munity of scholars-a walled off city of students and teachers? We never really find out. Why is there so much insistence that the teachers be what is vaguely called veterans-former members of the nonacademic community? Good- man preaches that teachers should be "professionals and writers who return to teach," yet he never really explains why. Moreover, Goodman is dealing only with the visible part of the iceberg. Col- leges do not exist in a vacuum and a philosophy of education cannot always be applied to any given social structure. For example, it is probably true that the present system of education is a result of the American's traditional belief in prag- matism, with all its emphasis on tangible results and final goals. In a sense, there- fore, Goodman is complaining about tra- ditional American values. But since he never explicitly brings this out in his book, the reader never knows what pro- positions Goodman's theory really rests on.--Richard Kraut SEVEN DAYS IN MAY, by Fletcher Kne- bel and Charles W. Bailey II Harper and Row, 342 pages, $4.95. THE COUNTRY is in a sullen mood, ap- prehensive over the nuclear disarma- ment treaty President Jordan Lyman has just engineered with the Soviets- Unemployment, inflation and a pro- longed missile strike contribute to the dis- content of the nation-- President Lyman's popularity is at the lowest of any President since Gallup be- gan asking Americans if they think the President is doing his job satisfactorily- The popularity of James Scott, chair- man of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Ly- man's probable opponent in the next elec- tion, is at a high and surges whenever he voices opposition to the disarmament treaty- Scott is in close contact with the heads of the Army, Air Force and Marines, with the chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee and with a demogogic right- wing television commentator whose au-- dience of millions is increasing-- -And the setting is ripe for a Latin- American type military coup d'etat of. the United States. The plot unfolds in Seven Days in May, a book that Ameri- cans who are concerned or would like to learn about the dangers of the military- industrial complex should read. The first major warning about the complex came from former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, quoted at the be- ginning of the novel. Eisenhower, in a Farewell Address reminiscent of President George Washington, noted that the Unit- ed States has created a permanent arma- ments industry of vast proportions in con- junction with an immense military estab- lishment, "The total influence - economic, political, even spiritual - is felt in- every city, every state house, every office of the Federal Government..... In the councils of Government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, w h e t h e r sought or unsought, by the military- industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist." This potential is the theme of the grim- portrayal by Knebel and Bailey, co-au- thors of -No High Ground (1960) about the Hiroshima bomb, and members of the Washington bureau of Cowles Publica- tions. At issue is continued civilian control over the military. As Senator J. W. Ful- bright (D-Ark) has pointed out in his memorandum to Defense Secretary Rob- ert McNamara, military officers are not elected by the people and they have no responsibility for the formulation of poli- cies other than military policies. At stake, Fred J. Cook of The Nation has noted, is a fundamental principle of American de- mocracy-the control of a people over their own destiny. At issue also is the vastness of the arm- aments industry. Why cannot the mili- tary part of the budget be cut, the Chris- tian Science Monitor has asked. "Is sur- vival actually concerned and is security even well served by some of the arma- ment outlays commonly regarded as sac- rosanct or defended by powerful lobbies?" When you consider the battles between states and between universities for defense contracts, when you consider that we an- nually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations, and that the Air Force alone is four times the size of General Motors, when you consider the worry about the economic consequences of disarmament and the historical orientation of our country toward military solutions to prob- lems and the militant anti-enemy mood of the nation today and the vested inter- est of Big Business in the arms race- -Then you -realize that Seven Days in May could be a prophesy as well as a novel and a valid warning as well as a gripping tale. -Robert selwa with such agility that the listener is not even aware of their difficulty. Klemperer lends a complement of dig- nity, power, massiveness, and strength. His tempi are never hurried. The fact that he does not burlesque the full emotional possibilities of this piece makes his read- ing all the more exciting. On the whole the recorded sound is marvelously rich and full. Unfortunately, however, there are a few spots where the reproduction seems cramped. This defi- ciency is by no means sufficient grounds for disregarding this disc. Nowadays it might be considered a bonus to find a record jacket containing program notes which are not an insult to the intelligence of the public. On this album, instead of sensationalism, there are excellent comments concerning both the background of this work and the analysis of the three movements. This album, both inside and out, will be a valuable addition to anyone's record collection. -Jeffrey K. Chase JOHANN STRA'JSS, arr. Dorati. "Graduation Ball," complete ballet/ WEBER: Invitation to the Dance, orch. Berlioz. The Vienna Philha:monic Orchestra under Willi Boskovsky-London CS 6199. Among the many historic contributions of Serge Diaghilev was that of encourage- ing prominent composers or conductors of the present day to arrange the the- matic material of earlier composers. This trend, in the balletic world, has not yet run its course, and many fine arrange- ments have been made, notably the Offen- bach-Rosenthal and Stravinsky-Chopin collaborations. In fact, it has rather become a game to see how often we can choose new men to rework the basic Chopin pieces of "Les Sylphides," the list now including a raft of English arrangers. who have perpe- trated horrendous mish-mashes of the original lily-white piano works. It is, therefore, always a pleasure to welcome as exciting and tasteful an arrangement of music as Antal Dorati gives to Johann Strauss in "Graduation Ball." In a setting of a Viennese girl's school of the 1840's, the ballet groups together combinations of the best (though not necessarily best known) waltzes, polkas, marches, adagios and mazurkas to tell the simple story. On stage the ballet is a brilliant display for everyone concerned, and on the phonograph the equal brilli- ance of the orchestral score is revealed. This latest version of the complete ballet (not to be confused with several cut ver- sions, including the one by Dorati himself on Mercury) is cerainly a very attractive one, coupling the very best London's or- chestral recording in Vienna with a per- formance of lilting grace and real Wie- nerrubati in the conducting. Coupled with this is the music for the ballet "Le Spectre de la Rose" a 1911 gymnastid exercise devised by. Fokine for Nijinsky. The music is Carl Maria von Weber's "Invitation to the Dance," a piano piece from 1819, orchestrated for the Paris Opera by Berlioz in 1841. Even though this orchestration is the accepted one, I believe that the Ballet Russe also used a very different and very exciting arrangement by Felix Weingartner. The Berlioz treatment is very lush, re- plete with the opening and closing 'cello solo which hits high marks of 19th Cen- tury schmerz. Boskovsky plays it with the stops all open, sighing strings, brilliant brass work fluttering woodwinds and, thank God, a really first rate 'cellist, un- identified but possibly Otto Uhl, the first 'cellist of the orchestra. For balletomanes, or Straussomanes or just those in search of a pure delight, this record is highly recommended. -Barton Wimble ly11II J L Michigan's Democratic Party The New South BRAHMS VIOLIN COQ;CERTO IN D MAJOR, OP. 77; V clinist David.- Oistrakh, conductor, Otto Klemperer with the French National Radio Orch- estra: Angl, Monaural 35836, $4.95 (Stero, S 35836, $5.95). WHAT A fortunate marriage it was when the two sensitive artists, David Oistrakh, violinist, and Otto Klemperer, conductor, combined their creative talents to realize the score of the Brahms Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77. From the opening bars of- the orchestral exposition to the concluding chords of the rondo the listener is enveloped in a solid, authoritative performance of one of the great "war horses" of concerto literature. Both the conductor and violinist dis- play an excellent feeling for this work. The phrasing is meticulous, the tempi and dynamics are effective, the blend and con- trast of solo violin and orchestra are well balanced, and the orchestral sonority is' rich and full. After hearing this performance there is no doubt of Oistrakh's fine technique. His tone is clear and strong and the -quality of his intonation fulfills his high standard. Although this work does not sound like a virtuoso piece, it includes many difficult passages c o n t a i n i n g double-stops and wide skips which, when performed by a lesser violinist, would pose grave problems. Oistrakh executes them AAU Versus NCAA