OSTRICHES AND ANN ARBOR HOUSING See Editorial Page :Y Seventy-Four Years of Editorial Freedom ~E~adr CLOUDY High-'70 Low-45 Partly cloudy and a. little colder VOL. LXXV, No. 51 ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1964 SEVEN CENTS SIX PAGES Sweet Alters Latin Teaching By SUSAN COLLINS Educators all over the world have been paying close attention in the past ten years to the Uni- versity's classics department. During this time the teaching of Latin in the United States has undergone a period of extensive innovation and change. Almost single handedly respon- sible for the booming interest in Latin, and for the sharply increas- ing numbers of students who are enthusiastic about the language, are the revolutionary methods for its teaching developed at the Uni- versity.' ReThe originator and developer of these new Latin teaching methods is Prof. Waldo E. Sweet, who joined the staff of the classics de- partment in 1953. On the Way Out Before Sweet began experiment- ing in new methods, many ob- servers thought that teaching of Latin was on the way out in the U.S. There were several reasons for this : In the first place, Latin is a complicated language. For exam- ple, any noun may have up to ten different forms, each consisting of a basic stem plus various suffixes, In addition, each : verb goes through a much more complicated set of forms, depending on tense, person, and numbers of persons. A single verb may take up to 300 forms, since the verb endings are put on stems that also vary. Combined with all the word forms and complicated rules there are hundreds of exceptions and technical names for everything. Two Years Unlike French or Spanish or other modern languages, it took one to two' years under ordinary methods to learn all the grammar before students could even begin to read literature. When reading finally began, it went slowly. A student beginning his third year of Latin under the old teach- ing methods could hope to read 60-80 fairly long lines of poetry per hour. Since Latin was considered a "dead" language, all classroom activity and recitation was car- ried on in English, except for occasional oral pronunciation of" the text. Beginning Latin courses often consisted of solid memorization and drill work. Changes in teaching methods were desperately needed. Twelve years ago the nearest thing on the market to a progressive textbook was a coy volume that told about a "pickusnickus" on which the p a r t i c i p an t s drank "cokam- colam." Prior to 1957, Sweet experi- mented with teaching methods that would improve upon the old approach to Latin. In 1957, he published the textbook, "Latin: A Structural Approach," that set in er had to spend a year and a half motion the teaching revolution. Method In his book, Sweet described a method in which students no long- (or, for college students, a semes- ter and a half) learning words, rules, categories and technicalities. Instead, the student would start by learning to read whole sen- tences at a time in Latin. Using this method, the beginning student learns to read texts in Latin that he could not previously tackle un- til his second year (or semester) of Latin. Universities and high schools all over the nation were quick to pick up the new teaching method. It stimulated heated discussions in classics departments of univer- sities all over the world. The next step in the revolution in Latin teaching methods came in October of 1958, when B. F. Skinner published his article in Science Magazine entitled "Teach- ing Machines," which laid the foundations for p r o g r a m m e d learning. Members of the University classics department saw immed- iately how easily the structural approach to Latin could fit into programmed learning. In an article on teaching ma- chines published about two years ago, Sweet illustrated the principle underlying programmed learning: "It is a paradox that the more the master teaches the less the student learns. In the final analysis, if learning takes place at all, the student must do it by himself. Obscured "Traditional classroom proced- ures have often obscured this fact. The student, in effect, defies us to teach him. Programmed learning, on the other hand, makes it crystal clear to the student that he and he alone must do the task.-.-. Programmed learning reduces the teaching and increases the learn- ing." All programmed learning has at least two specific features. The first feature is that the material to be learned is reduced to many small steps. Each step leads log- ically to the next, and each is small, in order to minimize the chance of error. The student does not often repeat errors, for he has correct responses reinforced con- stantly. The second feature of program- med learning is that the student finds out at once whether he is right or wrong. He does this by pulling a lever on a machine or by sliding a mask in a book. If the program is good, 90 per cent of the time the student's answer will be correct. This im- mediate reinforcement of the stu- dent's response increases t h e chances that he will get the answer right the next time, even if the question is phrased a little differently so that it leads into another important point in the material. Equipment used for program- med learning i n Latin at the University includes a booklet, a mask for the booklet, tape re- corder (optional) and earphones (also optional). Program Failed In his article on programmed learning, Sweet says that "if the student gives a wrong answer, the program has failed to teach this particular point. It has been said, only in jest, that there are no wrong answers, only wrong ques- tions. It is the function of the programmer to reduce the number of errors as far as seems prac- tical." Sweet adds that "while the writer of a textbook has no real way of knowing where his book is weak, the programmer's own be- havior in composing the program is constantly modified in a way that a textbook can never be." Sweet maintains that program- med learning in Latin offers sev- eral distinct advantages over text- book learning. In an ordinary classroom, a student may make See SWEET, Page 2 Britain Threatens Southern Rhodesia LONDON ()-Britain told Rhodesia yesterday it will be guilty of treason and banished from the Commonwealth if it declares itself independent. The white rulers of the East African territory reacted angrily. Prime Minister Ian Smith of Southern Rhodesia accused the new British Labor government of breaking an understanding worked out with the Conservative government. STEPHEN F. IDEMA IFC7 Group Sets, Fines The Executive Committee of Interfraternity Council disciplined Sigma Phi and Evans Scholars last night for co-sponsoring a party at which alcoholic bever- ages were consumed. Sigma Phi received a $350 fine with $150 suspended until the end of the fall semester in 1965, and Evans Scholars was fined $150 with $75 suspended for the same period. "The size of the fines depended in part' on the size of the two chapters' membership," IFC Ex- ecutive Vice-President Stephen F. Idema, '65, explained. "Evans Scholars is a considerably smaller house than Sigma Phi." The party in question was held at the Sigma Phi house on Oct. 2. A University investigating offi- cer stopped to check the house and, upon entering, noticed a trail of beer on the floor leading to a closet door. Sigma Phi mem- bers admitted that beer was present, but said that no one in the house at the time had a key to the closet. The officer considered the liquid on the floor to be sufficient evidence and reported the incident to the Office of Student Affairs. The two fraternities assumed equal responsibility for the party. PRIME MINISTER SMITH Suggest Add To Language' Requirement By SHIRLEY ROSICK Students on the literary college steering committee recently dis- cussed adding an extra year to the language requirement for those students who place out of all four semesters of language now re- quired. Some of the committee mem- bers suggested the extra year for the purpose of exposing all stu- dents to college-level language courses. The steering committee has been discussing the foreign lan- guage distribution requirements for some time. Chairman Edward Mehler, '65, said that the steering committee will probably submit a report to the faculty curriculum committee within a few weeks. Mehler said the committee members were generally dissatis- fied with the fourth-semester language classes and recommend- ed that the literature and culture of a language be emphasized more tan grammar. One committee member said that although pres- ent fourth-semester courses do expose students to literature, it is generally literature of a fifth- grade level. The steering committee has al- so discussed establishing two new types of advanced language courses. One would be aimed at improving conversational ability. The other would offer students a chance to use foreign language in their specific fields of study. The conversational course would be a one-credit seminar, possibly taughi by graduate students from the language department and would meet two hours a week. A few books might be assigned. This course would be aimed specifically at those students who do not have time for the work required in the three-credit literature courses now available. The course would be conducted on a "pass or fail" basis; that is, credit Auid be given, but a grade from the course would not be used in computing scholastic averages. Cognate courses, the second new type suggested by the committee, would be independent of the lan- guage department. He told the Rhodesian Parliament the British want tosee, African nationalists lead Southern Rho- desia. Southern Rhodesia's ambassa- dor in London said Britain and his country are "rapidly getting to the point of no return." Commis- sioner Evan Campbell told report- ers: "Frankly, at the moment I cannot see a way out." Last Remnant{ Southern Rhodesia is the last remnant of the now dissolved Central African Federation. It is an East African territory of 3.6 million Africans and 221,500 whites under white rule. The British government, Con- servative as well as Laborite, has demanded that the entire popula- tion of .voting age be allowed to select a government, as was done in the case of the two other mem- bers of the old federation that achieved independence, Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, and Nyas- alandfi now Malawi. Prime Minister Harold Wilson's government was reported to be seeking u n i t e d Commonwealth backing for its grave warning that a declaration of independence by the Salisbury government was treason and rebellion. Flies Home Commonwealth Secretary Arthur Bottomley flew home from Lusaka, Zambia's capital, to report to the cabinet on his talks about the serious Rhodesian situation with the leaders of Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and other Commonwealth countries. Bottomley told reporters the government still hoped to find a solution to the crisis through ne- gotiation. He said the Rhodesian government already had shown defiance by rejecting Wilson's re- quest, made Sunday night, for assurance that a unilateral dec- laration of independence would not be made. Smith's reply that he could not give this assurance was received in London late Monday night, in formants said, and this decided Wilson to issue his warning that: ' 'Open Act' "A declaration of independence would be an open act of rebellion and it would be treasonable to take steps to give effect to it. "An illegal declaration of inde- pendence in Southern Rhodesia would bring to an end relation- ships between her and Britain, would cut her off from the rest of the Commonwealth, from most foreign governments and from in- ternational or'ganizations, would inflict disastrous economic dam- age upon her and would leave her isolated and virtually friendless in a largely hostile continent." j School Fails To Reinstate Protestors By BRUCE WASSERSTEIN E. W. Strong, Chancellor of the University of California at Berke- ley, has refused to temporarily reinstate the eight students who were suspended for violating a ban on political activity Susan Johnson, editor of the Daily Cali- fornian, told the Daily last night. This decision was made despite the recommendation last Saturday of the ad hoc committee of the; Academic (faculty) Senate, which is charged with reviewing the stu- dents' suspensions, that the stu- dents be reinstated till the com- mittee is able to complete its study. Srong's stand has touched off) considerable reaction. Ernest Be-c sig, executive director of the, Northern California Branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, who, as counsel for the suspended students, originally brought up the issue of temporarily reinstating the students, said that if necessary he will "bring the case to court."' Dissatisfied Meanwhile, leaders of the Free' Speech Movement, which sponsor- ed the original political demon- strations, are now dissatisfied again with the "faith" of the ad-' ministration in carrying out its promises "in action and not just on paper," the program which University of California President Clark Kerr announced at the uni- versity's regents meeting recently.' Kerr's major points were: -The addition of two more members of the administration, two more members of the faculty who will be appointed by the Academic (faculty) Senate, and two more students to the Faculty Study Committee which is charged with reviewing the broad question of political activity at Bergeley. -An ad hoc committee of the Academic Senate will be establish- ed to review the cases of eight students who were suspended from Berkeley for violating the ban on political activity. F.S.M. leaders allege that Kerr is now trying to lobby a bill in the California legislature which would make the ban against direct political action on the Berkeley campus into a state law. Peter Franck, one of the F.S.M.'s lawyers claims that the adminis- tration is determined to "put teeth into the anti-political ban." Resort To Action The F.S.M. now threatens to resort to action if the administra- tion continues to act in "bad faith" and refuses to grant the following four freedoms: -Freedom to advocate off cam- pus political action on the Berkeley campus; -Freedom to recruit on campus for off campus political organiza- tions; -Freedom to solicit funds on campus for all campus political or- ganizations and -Freedom from harassment. Board Approves New Publication 'Offset' Gets Permission To Print One Issue; To Observe Operations By IRA SHOR The Board in Control of Student Publications last night granted Offset, a planned campus literary magazine, permission to publish one issue. Further publication will depend on the success of the maga- zine's operations. "We are concerned with the financial soundness of the venture and with its impact on the other recognized publications of the Board. "We want to see how it will work out," Prof. Luke K. Cooperrider of the Law School, chairman of the board, said. George White, '65, editor of Generation, opposed the new maga- zine. "I foresee many conflicts and the eventual dissolution of what I have been trying to build with literary magazine of which this campus, its writers and the Uni- versity can be proud," he said. Difficulties "My successor will be saddled with difficulties he should not face - a rival publication that would divide, rather than unite, creative effort," White added. Michael Handelman, '66, editor of Offset, feels that the scope of Generation is no longer wide enough to cover the expanded Uni- versity. While the campus has doubled, Generation has remained approximately the same size, he said. While Generation concen- trates on artistic writings, Offset will be composed almost entirely of essays on political, social and economical topics. Contrary to Handelman, White does not believe that Generation is an inadequate outlet for the creativity on, campus. 'Fills No Gap' "I see no gap that Offset fills, unless it sticks to publishing ex- actly what it first proposed - honors essays. Generation has looked for such materials, but never found them forthcoming;' White said. Prof. Marvin Felheim of the English department and faculty sponsor of Offset, is a proponent of the new magazine. Offset, which was first organ- ized last May, has applied to the board for permission to publish but not for financial aid. The staff of the new magazine is raising funds through the sale of pens and through a Cinema Guild sponsorship. Law Club Poll Elects Johnson A mock election conducted by the Lawyers Club yesterday for students and faculty members of the Law School resulted in a vic- tory for President Lyndon B. Johnson. A total of 552 students voted for Johnson, 228 for Barry Goldwater and 13 for neither candidate. Twenty - eight faculty members voted for Johnson, one for Gold-' water and one for neither. Generation - that is, a quality League Council1 Discusses SGC Ticket Plans By CAROL HASKILL . League Council last night dis- cussed several proposals from Stu- dent Government Council to al- leviate the "unfair and confused" situation which resulted from the sale of block tickets for the Home- coming performance of The Mitchell Trio. Criticism centered on the prob- lem .of long lines. Many students waited days for tickets, but were { Residence College Faculty Committee. Discusses Alternatives for Curriculum PROF. COOPERRIDER Sees Qualit In Current, Freshmen By RICHARD WOLFE This year's 6300-student fresh- man class is the most intelligent, best prepared and largest group ever to enter the Universtty, ac- cording to Bryon L. Groesbeck, as- sociate director of admissin& His judgment is based on ob- jective criteria comparing last year's freshman class with the '68 group. The criteria include high school class rank, aptitude and achievement tests, and advanced placement credit. Groesbeck observed that the applications surge combined with better admissions techniqsues have contributed to bringing a much more selective class to Ann Arbor. "All of the colleges on campus are becoming selective," Groesbeck pointed out. In past years only the literary college has had to re- ject students in extensive num- bers. But starting last' spring, qualified out-of-state students were rejected from most of the schools and colleges here, he said. Groesbeck attributed the tough- ening of admission policies to the increasing ratio of applicants to acceptances. In 1963, 9000 students applied, and 5500 gained admission. In 1964, 11,000 students applied, an increase of 22 per cent over last year. But only 6300 were accepted, an increase of 15 per cent. Another growing trend in new freshman classes lies in the in- creased participation of students in the College Board Advanced Placement Program. Some 629 members of the current freshman class have taken advanced place- ment courses in high school, as opposed to last year's figure of 407, and 333 the year before. For the first time nearly 60 per cent of all freshmen gradu- ated in the upper 10 per cent of their high school classes, and over 90 per cent came from the tpp quarter of their classes, Groes- beck said. SGC To, Hear Diag Motions Student Government C oun c il tonight will consider motions by Barry Bluestone, '66, concernfig the use of the Diag for rallies and the distribution of literature. Council will also consider a sub- stitute for Bluestone's motion, pro- posed by Sherry Miller, '65. Her motion recommends that SGC ex- ercize authority in the name of Vice-President Wilbur K. Pierpont to anrove the use of the Diag for Group Seeks Improvement In Study of Social Sciences By ADALINE ADAMS By JEFFREY GOODMAN Discussion on how to teach various courses in the residential college led its faculty planning committee into a preliminary in- vestigation last night of what should be taught in the first place. Continuing their consideration of curriculum for the small liberal arts college, where living and learning will be closely integrated, the committee heard a report from Prof. Henry Ogden of the English department on the great books course. This course had been rec- disappointed when the first few people in line quickly bought them all. Many tickets were subsequent- ly resold at large markups. SGC proposals included the following: -Establishment -of a longer selling period - possibly three weeks-during which each living unit could buy a maximum of two tickets per member. -A proposal that general ad- mittance tickets only be sold for a three week period preceding the Homecoming performance. Sales will be limted to six tickets per person. Several Council members had the following suggestions: --A proposal that two extra box offices be used in cases of last minute rushes in ticket sales. One member suggested that location of the extra box offices be kept secret until 24 hours before they; open. -During the discussion, dis- agreement arose over the defini- tion of "block." League Council President indicated that she will discuss such a definition with SGC members in the coming week. A new survey of women's regu- As a member of the Social Scien Midwestern Universities, the University a major cooperative effort, to improve A developmental grant of $115,697 recently by the United States Office of will be used for publication and rese through Purdue University. They- consortium was formed in 1963 atl a meeting sponsored by the Com- mittee on Institutional Coopera- tion-a group of university of- ficials which fosters inter-univer- sity activities and coordination- and now operates independently. It includes members from all Big Ten schools, the University of Chicago, the North Central As- sociation of Colleges and Secon- dary Schools and several smaller schools. Prof. Ronald Lippit, project di- rector of the Institutes for Social Science Research, is chairman of h the group. Prof. Robert S. Fox, of the education school also rep- resents the University on the con- sortium. The group is currently attacking ce Education Consortium of is currently participating in social science education. was made to the consortium Education. The grant, which arch, is to be administered )NTEMPORARY RELIGION: ommended as required study by the faculty group which wrote the original drafts for the college last year and the year before. Ogden told the planning com- mittee that it has constantly been difficult to find competent teach- ers for the great books course, since the course covers such a broad range of material. Recommends Structure He recommended structuring the course the way it is presently taught to honors students--a few large lectures, with sections taught by pre-doctoral instructors-in- stead of the way it is taught to nonhonors students-only sections, and these taught by relatively high level faculty. He said the former method would require fewer teachers; thus the competition for staff, which the residential college will most likely generate, could be reduced. While no decision was reached on how to organize the course, some members of the planning committee objected to the large lecture method, saying they favor- ed the small-group approach. Part of the committee wonder- ed, however, if the course should be required at all. Ogden noted that students wihh a highly tech- nical high school background often derive less from great books and are less interested in it than those who have had greater ex- posure to the humanities. Valuable these procedural questions, the committee eventually decided to retreat a step and consider just what ought to be included in the curriculum. In order not to repeat many of the discussions by the committee which originally out- lined the residential college, the planners decided to probe these reports from last year to see how final curriculum recommendations were derived. It will then con- tinue its discussions at its next meeting. ,R General Points Those recommendations, ac- cording to a report dated April, 1963, include the following general points: -Existing literary college dis- tribution and concentration re- quirements would be essentially re- tained. -The total number of courses offered in each department would generally be smaller than in the literary college; thus a greater emphasis than in the literary col- lege would be placed on directed reading courses.' Built from Scratch -Since much of the curriculum might be built from scratch, some of the "uneconomical and educa- tionally dubious repetition of ma- terial which has grown up" in present courses might be avoided. This might be done by greater "cooperation and communication" between staff members and by establishing various interdisciplin- Van Buren Cites Man's Role By MERLE JACOB "Man has difficulty in talking about the things that matter most to him. The more he tries to explain such things-as what makes a good party or what is love-the further he gets from what he means,". Prof. Paul Van Buren of Temple University said last night. The lecture was part of the Office of Religious Affairs series on "Challenges to Religious Faith in a Century of Revolution." Prof. Van Buren's was the first in a series of three talks on "The Challenge of Contemporary to Traditional Theology." He explained that men talk about their commitments, such as the battle of the free world, the idea of freedom for all, without being able to define in precise terms what they mean. Not being able to talk about, or define, the components of what really "matters to man