SheAt-richian Datly Seventy-Fifth year EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS I STUDENT GUARDIANS .. . The Basic Dilemma of Education '.MR Where Opinions Are Free- 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN AFBOR, MicH. Truth WMf Preval NEWS PHoNE: 764-0552 Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. TUESDAY, 19 JANUARY 1965 NIGHT EDITOR: JOHN KENNY The Momentous Decision That Really Isn't One THE RADIO COMMERCIAL somberly announced, "You, the men of Michi- gan, will be faced with a momentous de- cision in the next few days, one that will effect you for the rest of your life." The decision: to rush fraternities or not to rush. And in such a blazoning of trumpets, a cry of exultation and an outcry of dis- dain begins the semi-annual tradition that takes its place along side such legen- dary events as football Saturdays, TG's, and Astro 112. THE CLEAN, good and noble people who want to see fraternities destroyed us- ually: miss the whole point. There are some very basic problems in the system, but the diehards get all wrapped up in the idea that if fraternities live, the cradle of liberty will stop rocking. They are just as wrong as the presidential candidate who insisted that if frats die, Communism will flourish. Frat men cannot be typed as a bunch of guys who sit around watching "The Fugi- tive" and hating Negroes, nor can they be pictured as young adults being trained for future leadership and undergoing a unique educational experience. There is no one single fraternity type, but not because the frat system appeals to all students across the board as some Greeks would have you believe. The rea- son is that fraternities are practical for many students' they simply don't want to live in the quads or have their time burdened by serving as chef and house- maid in addition to their academic re- sponsibilities. TIE EASY SOLUTION is to join a fra- ternity. The person makes the mo- mentous decision not because he wants a chance to issue oaths of fidelity or is in need of the bonds of friendship and brotherhood. All he wants is a place to live where the food isn't bad and where he can take his date. It's even possible he already has his own way of life apart from the ideal sys- tem the fraternities speak of. When the Greeks talk about finding the right fra- ternity and the fraternity type they are operating on a self-deception and the cri- tics believe it more than anyone else. The best example is the athlete. There is a direct relation between the number of football players a house has and its rating among the fraternities. For this reason the houses court and cater to the athletes. In fact the frats make as great an effort to lure them to their house as the coaching staff did to get the players to Michigan in the first place. BUT EVEN WHILE the gridders are sort- ing out the best offers, many of them are not enthusiastic about joining the system. Their scholarship, however, strictly forbids them from living in off- campus housing, and the football players must either join a frat or live in the quad for four very long years. Even the gridiron behemoths lack the intestinal fortitude to put up with dorm cooking for that length of time. The way to a man's heart is through his stomach, and the route is frequently followed in bringing an athlete into the fraternity fold. This is unfortunate because while the fraternities are wooing the athletes, an- other group, one really interested in the Greek system, is being denied entrance. WHEN THOSE TIMID freshman-looking freshmen come through rush, the houses quickly show them the lavatory, the boiler room, and the back door, some- how neglecting to invite them back. The more polite houses courteously call the rushee and explains that "due to the na- ture of rush, it would be best for you to concentrate your efforts at other houses." This means you're not cool enough for our house so go somewhere else. The trouble is that nearly all the houses think they are cool and many students who actually would like to be in a frater- nity never win their Greek letters. Frater- nities don't want the. person who never dated in high school, was never on an athletic team and is too shy to join any activities. They aren't interested in doing something for their members; the houses are only concerned about what the mem- bers can do for them. AND AS LONG as fraternities refuse tos admit those who could really benefit from fraternity life, the momentous de- cision to rush remains a question of whether the more debonair students pre- fer apartments or dining and social clubs. The momentous decision isn't worth more than a moment deciding. --CHARLES VETZNER By KENNETH E. BOULDING VERY organism'no matter how shrined in its apparatus, usually in its nervous system, which can be called knowledge, that is, an inter- nal structure which is some sort of mapping of the total environment. Some knowledge is built up by the operation of the genes or gene- tic organizers, much in the way that a builder with a blueprint builds a thermostat into a house. This is instinct. Other knowledge is acquired from the information input of the whole organism over the course of its life. This is learned. In the case of the human being, learned knowledge vastly predominates over the instinctual, and it is presumably the object of education to increase this learned knowledge in ways that are as val- uable, and as cheap per unit of value, as possible. The real product of education is knowledge embodied in the ner- vous systems of people. The knowledge which is embodied in books, libraries, tapes, and other records to a certain degree may be regarded as an extension of these nervous systems, but is not really available until either it is embod- ied in a person or represents know- ledge which is available to a per- son through a recognized process of search. THE TEACHER is part of the environment of the learner, de- signed presumably to facilitate the learning process. Teaching is a mysterious process, still very im- perfectly understood, in which the pupil or student comes to know more, and the teacher also usual- ly knows more after a class than he did before. It is this remark- able absence of conservation in the teaching-learning p r o c e s s which makes development and in- deed all evolution possible. Here, however, we run into a pe- culiar dilemma of formal educa- tion. The formal educational in- stitution, whether this is a school or university, is designed primar- ily for teaching rather than for learning. The faculty is paid to teach; the students are not paid to learn. One might argue that the existence of scholarships and fel- lowships are an exception to this rule, but even here one could ar- gue that the student is being paid to be taught, not paid to learn, in the sense that the financial re- wards are only very loosely related to the amount the student has learned, beyond a certain mini- mum of good performance which is necessary to stay in school at all. One must confess also that the use of economic incentives for teaching is not well developed, ex- cept at the level of the extension service. Teachers are seldom paid per class and very rarely are they paid per student, except in the case of private tutors, music teachers and the like. The ex- pression "teaching load" contains a volume of implicit information. The average college or university teacher tends to regard his teach- ing as a kind of fixed charge on his time and energy which he has to carry before he can get down to the real business of life. Measures of quality in teaching are rarely used, and, if they are used, are universally unpopular with the teachers. Colleges and universities always have bad con- sciences about rewarding research and publication rather than teach- ing, but they seldom do anything very effective about it. Between the tangible evidence of a publi- cation and the intangible evidence of a satisfied student who by the time he is in a position to evaluate his teacher is probably an alumnus and far away from the campus, the issue is all too clear. All too often, indeed, the man who gets promoted for "good teaching" is the man whom everybody likes ind wants to promote but who doesn't publish enough to juistify the promotion. IF REWARDS are but loosely connected with good teaching, the attachment of rewards to learn- ing is even looser. The problem here-is that the ultimate rewards to learning are very long-run, so that even though learning is usually quite well rewarded, this is by no means always apparent at the time the learning is being done. Learn- ing is an investment. All the costs are at the beginning of the pro- cess, most of the rewards are at the end, and many years may in- tervene before the costs are re- warded. Under this circumstance, the problem is how to keep people at it, how to set up a system of short-term rewards which will keep people at the learning process. Otherwise they may give up be- cause the ultimate rewards seem too distant and too uncertain. The short-term reward system here, of course, is the grade, sup- plemented by degrees and honors of various kinds. In order to per- aminations or even to please an instructor, though it is related to the amount of learning done, is by no means a perfect measure. * . * THERE ARE unquestionably times, therefore, when the ab- sorption in the apparatus of teaching leads to a loss of interest in the learning operation and ac- tually diminishes the ability to learn. The most depressing expe- rience of my whole academic ca- reer was when I was standing in the faculty procession of the grad- uation ceremony at the liberal arts college where I was teaching and ... OF LEARNING PROCESS KENNETH E. BOULDING, professor of economics and research director of the Center for Research on Conflict Resolution, received degrees from New College, Ox- ford, England and the University of Chi- cago. He came to the University in 1949. He is the author of many books including the standard text "Economic Analysis." He was a founder and the first president of the Society for General Systems Research. its problems. The only reason why it works at all is that man has an unquenchable desire to learn, in spite of the obstacles which formal education places in his way, and that there are teach- ers who themselves love to learn and are able to inspire their stu- dents with a similar love. Another thing that saves for- mal education is that students learn from each other.. Sometimes there is a certain amount of nega- tive learning - learning things that aren't so - but then we all do a certain amount of this. I have been struck in recent years by a certain tendency among stu- dents to go out and organize their own learning, even paying for some of this out of their own pockets. This is to be much com- mended. It is, I am sure, Utopian to pic- ture an institution in which the students would pay for what they had learned and the faculty were paid not for how much they had taught but for how much the stu- dent had learned. But the more both students and faculty keep their eyes upon learning as the large process of which teaching is only a contributory part, the better off we will be. * * * STUDENTS can play a very im- portant role in improving the quality of the learning process which goes on around a university. They can do so in part by organiz- ing their own learning. They can do so also by making a fuss about poor teaching, about bad text- books, about obsolete curricula, and about stupid regulations. If students do not make a fuss about these things, nobody else will. In the real sense the students are the guardians of the learning process, and unless they guard it well it can easily suffer that slow decay to which all unguarded pro- cesses are subject. NEXT WEEK: John R. G. Gosling t 4 suade the student to run this long race, we tell him all he has to do is to run the next mile well and he will get a nice juicy carrot in the shape of an "A." The system is by no means unworkable, but it has real disadvantages. It leads to too great a stress on the mile- stones and not enough on the race, or rather on the journey. It par- ticularly discourages the following of byways without clearly recog- nized milestones, and hence it fre- quently discourages creativity and search. Oxford and Cambridge try to solve this problem by putting a single enormous carrot, in the shape of a grand final compre- hensive examination, on a huge three-year milestone, which is fine for the student who happens to be in his top form that week but can easily work grave injustices. Fur- thermore, the ability to pass ex- overheard one of the graduating seniors, resplendent in cap and gown, say to his neighbor, "Well, that's the last time I'm ever go- ing to have to crack a book!" I was strongly tempted to rush from the scene, tearing my hair and shouting, "What have we done?" in a voice of doom. The real tests of formal educa- tion, and the tests of teaching, are not what the student has learned under the particular guid- ance of the teacher, but whether the teacher has been able to gen- erate in the student a process which will continue with undimin- ished strength once teaching has stopped and formal education is over. THE MORE I have thought about the mechanics of formal ed- ucation, the more I become con- vinced that there is no answer to LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Exploding the Myths of the Congo Situation To the Editor: ONCE AGAIN myths about the recent Congo have been re- vived;this time by Phyllis Koch. She also exposed her ignorance, or maybe hypocrisy. Many Ameri- cans, though not through faults of their own, know virtually noth- ing about the Congo situation. Few know that Lumumba's in- dependent Congo has been turned into a U.S.-Belgian Vietcongo. The problem in the Congo is largely that there are too many governments. The Montroe Doctrine has been expanded to include Africa. The U.S. is in the Congo for self- interest. Past record and current policy indicate clearly that the presence of foreign powers in the Congo is not intended to assure "self determination." Chaos in the Congo is rooted in cold war. The wheeling - and - dealing w h i c h handed premiership to Tshombe has not been explained and is not likely to be exposed to those of us who are so far away from top- secret files. ONCE STANLEYVILLE author- ities had set up their own govern- ment, anyone who aided their enemy, Tshombe, automatically became an enemy. Thus, when the U.S. gave helicopters, transporters, T-28 and B-26 bombers to Tshom- be, trained and sent Cuban refu- gees to fly troops in these plapes, killed the Africans opposed to Tshombe, and gave him military advisers, the Congo was formally transformed into Africa's Viet Nam. At the same time the U.S. declared war against Stanleyville authorities de facto. G. Mennen Williams has found it to be true (New York Times, Jan. 18, 1965) that since the U.S.- Belgian venture last November, the U.S. is in "a momentary eclipse of popularity" in Africa. And then you ask how did Ameri- cans and Belgians in Stanleyville area become prisoners of war? Even without going into the de- tails of how much spying those foreign persons conducted, the an- swer is clear. This is why Africans will ask everyone to watch care- fully to see whose hands are really blood-stained. Some claim that the prisoners were innocent and the African asks: According to whose law were they were found innocent? Some say that the treatment which the prisoners experienced was a direct violation of international law. We ask, whose international law? The few international laws on naper are used for political expediency by any major power. * * * THE PRESS has published much about the so-called "massacre" a few months ago. We note, how- ever, that the U.S.-Belgian inva- sion of Stanleyville which pro- voked the killings is left out as if it had nothing to do with it. Gbenye fighters did what they had always warned they would do if they were invaded. The mass killing started when the invading troops landed. U.S. and Belgium chose to use their might rasher than negotiate for a peaceful settlement. President Johnson must have known very well that by authorizing the invasion he Mackinac Bridge Toll "THE TOLLS on the Mackinac Bridge are too high!" is a common cry among those who find it necessary to make the trip between the upper and lower penin- sulas of the state. The auto toll of $3.75 has been in effect since the bridge opened in 1957 and many think that the toll has held down traffic on the span. Gov. George Romney was roundly ap- plauded when he echoed the perennial complaint about the tolls in his state of the state message and asked that the levy be reduced. He suggested refinancing of the bridge bonds as a possible method of implementing his suggestion. This move would be entirely realistic, say four senators who recently introduced a bill to refinance the bridge and turn its operation over to the State Highway De- partment. THE BILL would permit the state to is- sue about $100 million in new bonds in order to buy up the revenue bonds issued in 1953 to build the bridge. According to the bill's sponsors, the state's "full faith and credit" would stand behind the pro- posed bonds, which- could not yield inter- est exceeding five per cent per year. The bonds could be issued for up to 35 years and would be administered by the State Administrative Board. H. NEIL BERKSON, Editor KENNETH WINTER EDWARD HERSTEIN Managing Editor Editorial Director ANN GWIRTZMAN .............. Personnel Director BILL BULLARD ....................,. Sports Editor MICHAEL SATTINGER .... Associate Managing Editor JOHN KENNY ........ Assistant Managing Editor DEBORAH BEATTIE .. Associate Editorial Director LOUIS LIND .........Assistant Editorial Director in Charge of the Magazine TOM ROWLAND ...........Associate Sports Editor The Mackinac Bridge Authority, which holds the current bonds, would be dis- solved upon the issuing of the new bonds, and bridge operations, including mainten- ance, services and the all-important pow- er to fix tolls would be turned over to the State Highway Department. The reduction in interest costs of the new bonds should certainly be enough to allow a toll decrease, while the tolls and fees would be sufficient to pay the prin- cipal and interest on all the refunding bonds. NOW THAT THE STATE has paid its bills and is in the black, it has "faith and credit" to put behind a new bond is- sue, and there is no reason why this shouldn't be done both for the good of the state as a whole and for the individ- uals who have to shell out $3.75 every time they want to cross the bridge. This plan should pass with little ado, and it is up to the Legislature to see that it does--the sooner the better. -THOMAS R. COPI Collapse AN ODDLY HUMOROUS headline cur- rently making the rounds at the Stu- dent Publications Bldg. reads "EXPOSED, THERE IS NO WINDOW 'A.' HATCHER, HEYNS FIRED IN SCANDAL." Indeed, what would happen if the little woman who so patiently runs "Window A" were to give up her post for some rea- son? Who would direct students through the bureaucratic tangles? Who would hand out add and drop cards, ID cards, rnnrn i narrAt. rn .Ernfinn r ,4n1 anlnnn A(if t; J. , V y. rt -L A ;, ' t was expending Dr. Carlson and thousands of other people. * * * THE SAME authorization led to the killing of civilians and Gben- ye's fighters in the area of in- vasion. We find this intervention mocked the Organization of Af- rican States' commission which was proceeding with peaceful ne- gotiations in Nairobi over the war in the Congo. Tshombe and the U.S. ignored what they had recognized not too long before. They knew that the troops were going to invade any- way but they had to "soothe the public." One has to be blind not to see that this is a war against African nationalism and a war to control Africans and their con- tinent. Apparently in Nairobi, the U.S. representative is reported to have found the Stanleyville delegate too hard in bargaining. And we are supposed to believe that this is why he quit. But, did it ever occur to the readers that the gentleman from Stanleyville could have ac- cused the gentleman from the U.S. of wanting to have his cake and eat it too? No, some may say, not to proceed with the invasion would have been inhuman. This is why history will record it as the most peculiar humanitarian invasion which knowingly provoked bloody confrontation. It will not seem so peculiar if you see the attack on Stanley- ville as an effort to fight China and Communism by eliminating African nationalism. What Presi- dent Kennedy said-that those people who live in grass huts in Africa should be aided, not be- cause something can be got from them, or so that Communism can be defeated-has been forgotten fast. Some say that the anti- Tshombe forces killed women and children. We have not heard morals demanded in battlefields before. We ask, who put women and children in shelters during the historic bombing of Hiro- shima? It could be argued, of course, that like the humanitarian invasion, the bombing too was humanitarian. Well! * * * READING the papers here one is led to believe that Gbenye's forces are not human beings. Ac- cordingly the whole public is en- gaged in a war and its enemies are always supposed to be devils. Thus what we have heard is about missionaries being killed and eat- en, presumably because only they are human beirngs. Supposedly, those who have died at the hands of government forces, of mercen- aries and of U.S.-Cuban refugees is not our business-"we" are hlsn-nan . has been going on ever since, on both sides, and there is no reason to believe that it will stop until the policies of the mightier powers are revised. * * * THE United States public is to be pitied more than anyone else. What President Johnson has late- ly stated is very pertinent here. We should "ask not how much, but how good." In spite of the highest rate of literacy and the highly advanced means of com- munication, the ordinary citizen is very poorly informed on U.S. involvements in international af- fairs. The "free press" makes him be- lieve that all is going well until one day the truth contradicts past newspaper, radio and TV renort- age. Then he is startled to learn of the "U-2" incident; he is sur- prised to learn the truth about the "Bay of Pigs Invasion"; he fights with his conscience when he hearshthat bombers have been caught in North Viet Nam. Although irregularities are not uncommon in America, he is sur- prised anyway. The same person almost has fits when he learns that actually Communist China has just tested a powerful weapon. Previously he may well have ac- cepted that this China does not exist. Maybe the mass media" need to be educated. * * * MISS KOCH gives credit to the African "statesman" from the western part of Africa for siding with the U.S. and Belgium on the invasion of Stanleyville and for going against all his African brothers. Let Miss Koch note, however, that all divisive foreign and domestic forces in Africa are not furthering the efforts intended to free our territories still under colonial subjugation. Nor are these forces helping to free Africa as a whole from foreign domination. The interests of these intruders and invaders are not identical to those of the African people. It is indeed hard to believe that the "statesman" really represents the thinking of the Nigerian people. While the "statesman" poses Tshombe as the St. Paul of Congo, someone else may also be offered "thirty pieces of silver" and read- ily turn into the Judas of Africa. Let Miss Koch note the fact that such a Judas would have to come from Africa, of course-and he need not be Tshombe either. In a w o r I d of rapid technological change and complicated inter- national activities, there are an infinite number of ways of offer- ing and receiving thirty pieces of silver. * M* K MIm RSKO:IR COLU.MM N ib- _.!' 3f..11 CgR"3 _...a:ai !'. l :. V "3 . xT.Z'Y ..