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 ... ; ,, _ , AY ,. ' jjjj n[[ k J j 5 C J I 1. tR;-t. "w.tdc 'Fw-firk..s i'Zv .. 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. AR00 CH A Cf Cilf UK Li O('~~O AVtes 30FARt1S ROAr' CHA~ CA/' ? Cfffl ci.' -C\ r 70"c i? 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