Sevnty-?'bid Year
EDrED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHAN
UNDER AUTHORMUY OF BOARD I CONTROL OF STUDENT PUSLCATINS
Jre Opinions Are re STUDENT PUUCATIONS LDG., ANN AA.Bo, MICH., PHONE NO 2-3241
Truth Will Prevail"
orials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
+1 .
CONCERT SERIES OPERA:
Uninspired 'Rigoletto'
13latantly ,yinadequate
THINK more and more that Verdi's popular operas, as repeated
ad nauseam by inferior companies, suffer more from the attentions
they receive than ever they could from neglect. For example we need
look no further than the New York City Opera Company's offering
of "Rigoletto" Sunday afternoon at Hill Auditorium. To be uninspired,
or routine, or even mediocre, is one thing; to be bad is another, and
they were terrible.
Certainly a "Rigoletto" whose conductor, orchestra, and principals
are all blatantly inadequate is too much to expect any audience to
bear. Except, it seems, in Ann Arbor, where such performances, as the
years go by, seem to be less the exception and more and more the
rule.
BEING A GROUP EFFORT, it is hard to place the burden of
guilt. The orchestra, loosely conducted by Julius Rudel, would un-
Y, NOVEMBER 20, 1962
NIGHT EDITOR: DAVID MARCUS
Graduate Reeord Exams:
Insult to Intelligence
LAST SATURDAY, students across the na-
tion took the Graduate Record Examina-
ion, the college boards of graduate school.
'he all multiple choice GRE had two parts,
Lmorning aptitude test and a three hour after-
ioon achievement test in major fields.
The morning test was an insult to the in-
elligence of any university senior. The most
ffensive part was the comprehension read-
ngs. No student at this University could ever
et away with as poor English as those
aragraphs contained. The paragraphs were
oo verbose, had too many esoteric adjectives,
,nd had extremely long sentences with ob-
iously contrived and inane subordinate clauses.
admittedly some topics need long complex
entences, but this was carried to an ab-
urdity.
The subject matter of several readings was
,lso questionable. One dealt with the problem
f values in the physical sciences and how the
umanities must make the ethical choices for
he philistine scientists. The author of this
aragraph did not understand the methods
r goals of either science or humanities, made
nany unsubstantiated generalizations and did
ot present a clear, logical or precise essay.
' is difficult to believe that college edu-
ated men made up these test questions.,
rHE APTITUDE TEST also contained several
statements with adjectives left out. The
tudent was instructed to choose the most
gical words to complete the meaning of the
entence. One concerned a weak government
uring a time of peasant discontent which was
pparently brought on by a crop failure and
herefore indicated what the state of the
conomy was. The student was to choose words
o describe the weak government and the state
f the economy. But no matter what set of
'ords were chosen, the statement as it stands
s illogical, insipid, and incorrect.
What constitutes a weak government? What
s the relationship of the government to the
conomy? Does a.-lack in the economy neces-
arily indicate a weak government? Were the
peasants really disturbed about something else
,nd the crop failure was just a spark? And
nally can the government or the economy
ontrol the weather?'
These unexplained inner contradictions pre-
lude any logical meaning for the statement
s it stands; yet aspiring graduate students are
xpected to make sense out of inanity.
rHE AFTERNOON achievement tests were
also poorly constructed. The government
political science) examination could be passed
y anyone who has taken a year of constitu-
tional law and one course in local administra-
tion. It was ethnically centered on America
and any internationally oriented questions all
related to American foreign policy. Africa, the
Near East and Asia were particularly ignored,
as were the political philosophies of Marx and
Lenin.
It is very nice for political science majors
to know which of three supreme court justices
said one of five sentences. It is also nice, as the
test requires, to know the difference between
the Third and Fourth Republics in France, ex-
cept that any political science department
worth its salt compares the Fourth and the
Fifth Republics while skimming over the Third.
The Literature test asked several inane ques-
tions. For example participants were given
five poems and asked to find the one word
in the one poem which would appear anti-
quated' to modern readers. Students were also
asked to choose which poem was best. Several
excerpts from poems appeared and the direc-
tions explained that the answers to questions
should be based only on the excerpts and stu-
dents were not expected to be familiar with
the poems. The questions then demanded a
thorough knowledge of the whole poem.
THE MATH test consisted of 75 problems to
be solved in three hours. A normal three
hour University final consists of a dozen prob-
lems which seek the student's development of
logical thought in reaching the solution, not
just pure answers.
One question asked for the standard formula
of a true ellipse, memorized by all freshmen
but soon forgotten by seniors. A half hour's
worth of work by a math major would produce
the formula and permit the student to choose
the correct answer from the eight suggested.
But the test permitted just two to three
minutes per problem, and had a restrictive
amount of space for scratch work.
The low level of the tests, both morning
and afternoon is not worthy of six hours of
a university senior's time, money or energy.
To be judged for mental ability and know-
ledge on the basis of testmakers' incompetency
to construct a challenging and meaningful test
is a farce. Students cannot demonstrate their
ability to write good English, display logical
developmental prowess or present inquisitive
insights into a problem by having the answers
there for them to choose and by filling in
squares like trained monkeys.
And the GRE even required students to
bring their own pencils.
-HARRY PERLSTADT
Co-Magazine Editor
.s Vital Service
Office of Student Affairs, it is preparing a
counseling booklet which will be ready for
incoming freshmen as of next semester. It is
also working with an independent group of
students to prepare a comprehensive course
evaluation booklet by next fall.
Peacock has unlimited ideas on the scope
of the committee. He is working on a plan, for
instance, to subsidize Young Democrats and
Young Republicans in their efforts to attract
speakers. In his view, the Union has the
money to support innumerable programs of
interest to campus, and there is no reason
why it should not do so.
THE WORK of Special Projects is invaluable
to the University. The speaker programs in
particular will fill a great void in our .educa-
tion. Controversial figures such as King or
Goldwater always serve to stimulate thought.
Perhaps they can even excite a rather apathe-
tic campus.
At 'a time when extracurricular activities
have a dubious future, here is direct evidence
of their value in broadening the academic
and curricular experience.
The Union is providing an important service.
The Special Projects Committee is doing a
tremendous job. Finke and Peacock are to be
congratulated for their efforts.
-H. NEIL BERKSON
...
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doubtedly come in for a lion's
share. In their hands the score
was reduced to a series of fits and
starts entirely lacking in musical
line. Unmusical at best, it was
often almost physically painful,
as with the strings in general,
and one cello in particular. In any
case, volume would appear to have
been their object, and the bouch&-
fermde of the last act was made
into a kind of general effect as
time and again the entire com-
pany disappeared behind a wall of
noise.
As for the singers, the Rigoletto
of Igor Gorin was so hopelessly
inadequate as hardly to warrant
attention. Dramatically, his, acting
was so thin as to lose any sense
of domination, and now and again
to remind one of Rookery Nooks.
His singing would better be called
chatting, and when he did essay
to sing, he was inaudible-that
orchestra-for the bulk of his
big scene in the third act.
His scene with Gilda in act
two was equally unfortunate. As
Verdi once said that he conceived
"Rigoletto" without arias, just as
a long series of duets, it seems
rather unfortunate that the prin-
cipals never managed to decide
on a uniform method of approach.'
NADJA WITKOWSKA was an,
aggressive Gilda who substituted
a fatuous glissando in lieu of a'
more complicated vocal technique,,
and acted with such a lack of
insight as to make one question
her understanding. The Mantua of
Frank Parretta was equally vapid
and even more vocally unpleasant
that the rest.
The direction, if the production'
was. ever subjecte'd to so formal
a process, abounded in the kind
of vaudville hilarities that opera-
haters finc so co.nic about opera.
And the sets and costumes, the
former lumpy Eugene Bermene-
esque cribs, and the latter cover-
ing a period of ioughly three-
hundred years, were of a quality
seldom encountered since the
palmier days of Raymond Novello.
--Michael Wentworth
NEW GAME:
Who's In
The UN?
TOU CAN IMAGINE my shock
when, in the midst of playing
Flags of the United INations, a
new game, I was dealt a card
with a picture of a flag of the
People's Republic of China.
In the first place the People's
Republic of China is not in the
United Nations. And in the second
place, America doesn't even rec-
ognize the existence of the People's
Republic of China. I was sure it
was all a lithographical error. But
as my eye roved the board, I de-
tected the flag of-you guessed
it-East Germany!
, , ,
I THOUGHT of going directly
to the House Un-American Activi-
ties Committee (without passing
pGo and without collecting my $200
Consultant's fee); but then I
thought again and decided to read
the game's instructions before
proceeding further. This is what
they say:
-"With four exceptions all of the
countries appearing on the board
were members or prospective
members of the UN as of (date
of game). The four exceptions are
the two German Republics, Swit-
zerland, and the People's Republic
of China. These important land
areas are essential to the play of
this game."
* * *
I PLAYED the game to the end,
and fortunately, these areas were
as essential to the play of Flags as
Broadwalk and Park Place are
to the play of Monopoly. The game
company, I was on the brink of
concluding, is innocent, when my
eye fell on yet another statement.
This game, it said, is designed
"for all ages."'
-Victory S. Navasky
The Saturday Review
"TAE MU ICES IPI\T WER' ' R4EBAI(t AL Gtr l.'°
LONG-RANGE GOALS:
Economy,Heeds, New Look"'
Union Provide
WH ENBOB FINKE assumed the presidency
of the Michigan Union last semester, one
of his aims was to give that organization more
of an academic orientation. He set up a new
committee toward that end, hand-picked its
chairman and from there the facts speak
for themselves.
The Special Projects Committee has run the
most active speaker program on campus. It's
chairman, Douglas' Peacock, is as busy as
any student leader-busier, in fact, than most.
Last spring, when the committee had been
just barely established, it sponsored a debate
on the House Un-American Activities Commit-
tee. At the same time, it became a co-sponsor
of Challenge inorder to insure that organiza-
tion operating funds for the future.
This year Special Projects has already
brought Norman Thomas and Martin Luther
King to campus, sponsored a debate on the
National Student Association and a program
on voter registration in the South.
THE COMMITTEE is planning a major pro-
gram on national issues for the spring which
will bring six leading American political figures
to campus. Some of the possibilities include
Barry Goldwater, Arthur Schlesinger, Orville
Freeman, Wilbur Mills, and Stuart Symington.
But Special Projects doesn't stop with its
speaker programs. In conjunction with the
By GLORIA BOWLES
FROM THE OFFICE of the Sec--
retary of the Treasury ast
Thursday came an important an-
nouncement: Douglas Dillon, te
President's. Republican appoint-
ment to the Cabinet, says Ameri-
cans can expect "significant" re-
ductions in taxes in 1963.
The Dillon announcement was
no surprise, but was in line with
a Presidential declaration on Aug-
ust '13 of, this year when Ken-
nedy said he did not see the neces-
sity for tax reductions in the fall
quarter of 1962. Rather, he wo' -1
propose an across-the-board, top
to bottom cut in both corporate
an personal income taxes in Jan-
uary of 1963.
There is little disagreement that
the tax reduction, which will put
me re money into the hands of
the consunier and the business, is
just what an ailing economy
needs! Former President Eisen-
hower, presenting one view in a
speech before the Economic Club
of New York this week said the
present income tax structure "stif-
les incentives, impedes investments
and has weakened us economically
when we should be gaining
strength."
* * *
IN A REPORT before the con-
ference on Economic Development
held in Ann Arbor this week,
Locke Anderson, assistant profes-
sor of economics and acting di-
rector of the University' Research.
Seminar in Quantative Economics
said in the absence of a significant
cut in the federal personal in-
come tax in 1963 the United States
economy could expect another year
of disappointingly slow growth.
However, Anderson said, a 15
per cent reduction in the federal
personal income tax could produce
a rate of growth in which private
demand would more than double.
Prof. George Katona, of the
Survey Research Center, also
speaking at the Ann Arbor eco-
nomic conference, confirmed this
public approval of tax cuts. An
August-September survey on con-
sumer attitudes showed two thirds
of those surveyed favored the
President's August proposal. High-
er income groups, generally fear-
ing deficits, showed more opposi-
tion to the proposed tax reduction.
Interestingly enough, less than
half of the Americans surveyed
do not understand economic)
theory and saw, no relation be-
tween the proposal to reduce in-
come taxes and general economic'
developments, specifically an in-
crease in purchasing power.
Americans want more money to
spend or simply think taxes are
too high or, in many cases, can-
not explain agreement with, or
opposition to a given ficsal mea-
sure..
CONCERN OVER a large gov-
ernment deficit-which will only
be increased by a reduction in
taxes-is, however, widespread.
The Budget Bureau announced
this week that the Federal budget
would show a deficit of $7.8 billion
this year instead of a surplus of
$5 million as estimated by Presi-
dent Kennedy last January. The
1962 deficit will be the second
largest in peacetime, exceeded only
by 1959 figures.
However, the Bureau said, "cur-
rent conditions of an economic
recovery are significantly slower
than assumed in January, the
present 1963 budget estimates re-
flect generally accepted fiscal re-
quirements." The Bureau, usually
on the defensive where deficits are
concerned, changed its tone in
this most recent report, deciding
that a' deficit stimulates economic
activity by putting more money in-
to the spending stream than taxes
take out of it.
THE NATION seems to be in
agreement on the advisability of
a tax reduction and it looks as
though Americans will get ,that
tax cut come next January. How-
ever, to say there is general agree-
ment on economic goals would be
far from the truth.
Eisenhower, on the one hand,
deplores a political philosophy
which he says "proposes constant-
ly increasing Federal expenditures
and Federal intrusion into the
economy as an inescapable reality
of life."
Alvin H. Hansen, one of the
nation's Lest known economists,
a retired Harvard professor, would
disagree: at a lecture before a
University group several weeks
ago, Hansen noted that Europeans,
unlike Americans, "sin w less'!e-
sistance to ;overnmert programs
where the needs are urgent . .
growing requires a much larger.
participation by government with,
at the same tite, a recognition of
the prospe':ity and eapabilities of
private enteipxise in the produc-
tion of consumer goods."
** *
IHE AMERICAN fear of gov-
ernment spending in such vital
areas as education, medical care
and transportatirn--a fear popu-
larly labeled "creeping socialism"
-is an uafortunate attitude which
provides a threat to U.S. economic
prosperity.
The United States economy, in
terms of employment levels, of
the community it serves, is lag-
ting behind Western European
nations like France and Germany.
United States unemployment, four
per cent of its working force, far
exceeds European rates.
It is evidert that Europe has
bcE r more successful than the
United States in maintaining the
economy clos- to the level of full
use of resources. Succcrslis due, in
large part, to economic planning
and policy initiatives taken by the
central government. Americans,
too, must recognize the long-
range needs of an economy and
a world in expansion by combining
grnernment planning in some
areas with pr' .ate cnm*rprise. Pru-
cent government stimuli, as Euro-
peans have discovered, is neces-
sary in vital areas like education.
Alvin Hansen said in Ann Ar-
bor that the American economy
will show itself really effective
when "educ i~on Leeomes its larg-
est industry." America night well
begin her abandonment of such
fu&v ish notions as the inadvisabil-
ity and even inherent immorality
of governm3int spending and gov-
ernment economic participation,
with concerted effoits in this vital
field of education.
To the Editors:
IN RESPONSE to Martha Mac-
Neal's article on Human dignity
and Ideology in the editorial col-
umn of Nov. 10:
I welcome the appearance of
articles as such, of serious intent
which 'transcend, the admittedly
important-but too predominant
-"localized" editorials served the
reader. Yet, the careless develop-
ment of Miss MacNeal's article'
substracts from the thought-pro-
voking attributes of such writing.
"Men are not always rational,"
she says. Prosaically true enough.
If she can't be rational though,
at least logical consistency is pos-
sible. You can have one without
the other.
"Contrary to human nature"
phrase appears here and there in
the adticle; her remark about psy-
chology initiating "the intellectual
revolution" and the revelations
this science has afforded, should
have revealed to her the specious
and dubious genre of "human na-
ture."
* * *
SAYETH Miss MacNeal, ".
In a meaningless universe, the
highest act of courage, and an
irrational act, at that, is for man
to proclaim meaning." If a "mean-'
ingless universe" is one, without
a priori design or end, the mean-
ing of existence may be void, but
a man-made design of his (Man's)
desired ultimate ends may provide
meaning which is not categorically
irrational.
One more point ... she inextic-
ably equates human dignity with
life itself. Is the debased state of
life in much of the world ac-
ceptable? Where is a respect for
human dignity evident in Com-
munist China? Doesn't Miss Mac-
Neal's fear of nuclear devastation
--because of a "lust for life" at
all costs-overshadow this article?
* * *
INFRINGEMENT of human dig-
nity is' a creeping thing (all evil
"creeps" these days, we, are told);
nuclear weapons per se are not
infringements. It is the action not
the thing, we must concentrate
our resistance upon, such as the
persecution and/or imprisonment
of the staff of "Der Spiegel," the
increasing closemouthedness of the
Kennedy administration, the fab-
rication of "Berlin Walls" .. . Miss
MacNeal can consolidate her am-
bivalence and take a more un-
equivocal stand by rereading Bert-
rand Russell.
-Will Tomory, '64
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
'Lust for Life'
FEIFFER
Stumping in the Quads
THE TRULY EXEMPLARY role played by
the Inter-Quadrangle Council conservative
hierarchy in the recent Student Government
Council Mudbowl Contest suggests that, rather
than disowning the United States National
Student Association, the University should'
disown the IQC conservatives.
Denying the existence of a national student
community with uniform political persuasions,
IQC abhorred USNSA's political involvement.
Then why its pwn political involvement? Surely
Robert Geary and company do not imagine
that a quadrangle community with uniform
political persuasions exists. The quad vote
indicates otherwise: assuming the strong
Greek "No" vote was counterbalanced by a
affect the quads, whereas it should poll its
electorate and, on the basis of quad support
for or opposed to resident colleges, either
encourage or discourage their development.
THE CONSERVATIVE dynasty argued that
USNSA is controlled by a non-representa-
tive elite. Geary's stand before the board of
governors in favor of telephones being put in
West Quad rooms, when West Quad violently
opposed the move, demonstrated just such a
Machiavellian system.
On these bases, IQC found USNSA too ex-
pensive. Yet the IQC conservatives have yet
to show that they are worth the $1155 they
get.
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