PAGE FOUR

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1953

S S


TRIBUNE FORUM:
The Indictment Against
Modern 'Education

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Throughout last week's ses-
sions of the New York Herald Tribune Forum
seemed to run a consistent theme-dissatisfac-
tion with the American educational system. The
following commentaries are excerpts from two
Forum talks which best represented this sen-
timent.)
The Educated
Anti-Intellectuals . . .
T IS A CURIOUS FACT that the Ameri-
can people spent more per capita on the
schooling of their children than any other
people on this globe and yet they persist in
proclaiming their anti-intellectualism. Con-
sider the epithets of brain-trusters or egg-
heads. Look at the general disdain for the
very word "intellectual."
Candidates for public office usually
boast of how little formal education they
have had, not how well their education
has qualified them to govern. To admit
to a Ph.D. would be tantamount to the
kiss of death in a political campaign.
Most newspapers are written for the adult
of grammar school mind. Even a national
magazine apparently fears for its circula-
tion unless it amuses and debunks as it
reports. This is a perilous state of affairs
and can issue eventually only in national
ruin. Is it any wonder that leisure activi-
ties which might in some way involve ex-
ercising the mind are in disrepute?
It is my contention that we have corrupted
our opportunities to make the whole man
because our educational system has failed
us in this country over the past fifty years.
We cannot use our leisure creatively because
we do not know how. We cannot read good
books and carry on intelligent conversation
because we have never acquired the art. In
fact, our only escape from infinite boredom
is to keep busy, to move about incessantly,
and to seek entertainment which will not
ax' our underdeveloped minds.
Industrialization and the impact of
modern science are partly to blame, for
they have demanded the specialist and
the technical expert. Mistakenly the col-
leges and universities turned to the elec-
tive system to solve their dilemma. Cur-
ricular offerings were expanded to blanket
in whole areas of training which are more
properly the province of the trade school.
In the process education of the whole man.
practically disappeared.
In these institutions of higher learning
today there is too much specialization and
too little common tradition and knowledge;
too many departments and too little mutual
understanding; too much memory work and
too;little learning how to think; too many
lectures and too little discussion and con-
versation; too much condensation and dis-
tillation of facts and too little first-hand
acquaintance with original sources; too much
football and too little education; too much
preoccupation with preparing to make a liv-
ing and too little concern wih the more fun-
damental proposition of learning how to live.
-Richard D. Welgle, President,
St. John's College, Maryland

Self-Education . .-
DURING THE last two years, my asso-
ciates and I have attemped to explore
the intellectual life of America. We have
talked to men and women of high and low
estate, from Coast to Coast. We have tried
to record what they do from the time they
get up in the morning until they go to bed
at night.
In this study we have paid particular
attention to their attitude toward books,
as an imporant index of intellectual inter-
est. We have sought to discover why more
persons do not read more books of a ser-
ious nature. We have examined many
facets of this problem of intellectual in-
terest. We have tried to learn something
of each person's philosophy of life.
This study is now nearing completion,
and in a few months will appear in book
form. Meanwhile, I can report some of the
findings.
Fewer people buy and read books in the
United States than in any modern de-
mocracy. Yet we boast the highest level of
formal education in the world. The typical
Englishman' reads nearly three times as
many books as our typical citizen .. .
The problem of leisure, as I see it, is
the problem of restoring a proper balance
between entertainment and education.
To do this, I believe we must revise our
whole philosophy of education. We must
begin to recognize the importance of the
years after graduation from grade school,
high school, or college as the important
years in the educational process.
We must begin to realize that self-edu-
cation is all important, and that formal
schooling is good only to the extent to
which it aids and abets self-education.
Too many students cling hopefully to the
belief that when they are "through" school
that is to say, when they are graduated,
they "have had it." And too many of our
teachers, unfortunately, fail to challenge
this point of view ...
If an intellectual renaissance is to get
under way in this counry, the natural place
for it to be born is in our colleges and
universities. But that, I am afraid, will never
happen unless we take a more grown-up
point of vew toward college education, and
stop running our institutions of higher
learning as if they were glorified prep
schools.
As a one-time college professor, and
as an observer of universities both here
and abroad, I have come reluctantly but
inevitably to the conclusion that the
enem'r of learning at the university level
is the text book, the class room lecture,
and the course system.
In contrast to European universities, we
lean heavily on text books which consist for
the most part of pits and pieces of know-
ledge cannibalized from other text books.
Too often the professor, in his class room
lecture, merely repeats the material covered
by the text book. And the student, once he
has memorized and then regurgitated the
text book material in a true-false quiz, can
promptly forget the whole dull business.
American Institute of Public Opinion
-George H. Gallup, Director,

DREW PEARSON:
Washington
M errywGoRound:
WASHINGTON-It may seem like a long
way off to some people, but already
members of the Eisenhower cabinet are con-
sidering how to handle peacetime atomic
energy in relation to coal and oil. Will
atomic electricity put the coal mines of
Pennsylvania and West Virginia out of busi-
ness? Will they sut down the oil fields of
the Southwest? And how should industrial
atomic energy be controlled?
These are questions which key mem-
bers of the cabinet have been discussing
backstage in connection with a bill that
would regulate peacetime A-energy.
In this connection, Secretary of Commerce
Sinclair Weeks has written a secret and at
first surprising letter to Budget Director
Joe Dodge, recommending that' electricity
from atomic power be retained by the gov-
ernment as a monopoly.
Secretary Weeks is a Boston investment
banker and a director of the Pullman Co.,
Gillette Razor, First National of Boston,
Atlas Plywood, and various other cor-
porations which naturally incline his
thinking against government monopolies.
Despite this, he wrote Budget Director
Dodge and unpublished letter as follows:
"The United States should not divest it-
self of present ownership of fissionable ma-
terial, or of its exclusive ownership of major
production facilities, since these constitute
a 'national treasure' of untold value which
should be owned by all the citizens of the
United States and utilized in their direct
interest."
However, as you read Secretary Weeks'
letter further, he doesn't seem such a new
dealer after all.
"Respecting the relationship between gov-
ernment and private industry in connec-
tion with the use of atomic energy," Weeks
wrote, "it is fundamental that any legisla-
tion should clearly prohibit the United
States government from any . . . direct com-
petition with private industry"
"It is clear that the installation of low-
cost atomic power will tend to disrupt in-
dustry," Secretary Weeks also wrote, "un-
less adequately controlled (A) by elimi-
nating higher-cost power plants, particu-
larly in the public utility field; (B) injur-
ing producers of higher cost power-pro-
ducing units which could no longer com-
pete in certain areas of operation; and
(C) unbalancing competitive industries by
creating unequal benefits to and radically
changing competitive relationships be-
tween them . . . as for example in reduc-
ing aluminum production costs dispro-
portionately to steel."
(Copyright, 1953, by the Bell Syndicate)
CURRENT MOVIE
Architecture A udi toriu l
PYGMALION, with Wendy Hiller and Les-
lie Howard.
BERNARD SHAW has been fertile ground
for films ever since he gave Gabriel Pas-
cal permission to transfer one of his plays
to celluloid. "Pygmalion" was produced in
1937, and is as much a dead issue as any
of the Shaw movies have been. There are
the typically snide remarks about middle-
class morality and the customary attitude
toward the nobility, none of which seem very
radical any more.
Pygmalion, as the introduction to the
film conveniently points out, was a Greek
sculptor who created a statue of the ideal
woman. He was so taken with her beauty
he asked the gods to grant her life, and
they obliged him. In the play Shaw pro-
duces his own version of the story-mod-
ernized, Fabianized, but mostly Shavian-

ized. In it a professor of phonetics picks
up a flowver-seller in Covent Garden and
wagers he can pass her off as a duchess
within six months. His statue, as it were.
The story shows the professor moulding,
chiselling, and chipping away at poor
Eliza Doolittle until she actually does suc-
cessfully appear at a proper reception.
But alas, the professor has destroyed the
flower-seller's soul and has neglected to re-
place it with anything at all. The result is
a beautifully feminine facade held together
by extremely sensitive feelings. Eliza can-
not go back to Covent Garden, and the pro-
fessor won't have a guttersnipe around his
place; the Thames offers a wet solution, but
Shaw won't allow this. The sow's ear has to
become a real silk purse, which seems to
weaken all that widdle-class morality busi-
ness and leaves us not quite sure what Mr.
Shaw had in mind.
The picture is very well done, with a
fine group of actors carrying the phil-
osophy along as best they can. Leslie How-
ard is the Pygmalion-professor and Wendy
Hiller his Galatea. Howard is a very in-
teresting upper-class scientific man,
throws fits of rather vigorous shouting, and
is nicely indifferent to social custom. Miss
Hiller is a little more convincing when
she is just a girl of the gutters, but that
may just be because the type is more
exciting than the exactly proper lady she
becomes.
The opportunity for crisply witty dialogue
is naturally exploited to its fullest-movie
or no, this is still Shaw. The picture is fun-
ny, funnier perhaps than the current Or-
pheum showing, if only because the humor

* , -- - ~:'. C.4'X.:'4..
Xette,' TO THE EDITOR
The Daily welcomes communications from Its readers on matters of
general interest, and will publish all letters which are signed by the writer
and in good taste. Letters exceeding 300 words in length, defamatory or
libelous letters, and letters which for any reason are not in good taste will
be condensed, edited or withheld from publication at the discretion of the
editors.

C'


-Daily-Bill Hampton
"Would it be a security risk, or can I say goodbye to my sister?"
~THE WEEK ON CAMPUSI
THE VENERABLE PIONEERS-Engineering students took two
days off from classes this week. Defense Secretary Charles E. Wilson
took a few days off supervising "what's good for the country" and
joined with engineering alumni assembled on campus to sound well-
organized felicitations to the College of Engineering on a century "of
pioneering."
Balding alums, including one, vintage 1890, heard a round of
speeches, were followed from one meeting to the next by a giant-
sized plaster of Paris birthday cake and witnessed the dedication
of the Cooley Memorial Laboratory, first building completed in the
huge development program of the North Campus.
Electronic brains and assorted machinery were assiduously in-
spected and their complicated machinations explained by guides in a
language only faintly resembling English to the laymen.
Though the future was somewhat slighted in the rounds of remi-
niscing, the past received vigorous plaudits, including Charlie Wilson's
verbal toast to engineering as "a continuing frontier" and the hope of
mankind.
Unfortunately Engine Charlie managed to contradict himself
rather consistently on the case of individual freedom. His speech rais-
ed on high "individual rights that are above and beyond the rights
that may be conferred upon .. . any other group." In our political sys-
tem the state is the servant of the people, he said. Facing a group of
pressmen and sans benefit of script, he commented on the case of
Lt. Milo Radulovich by saying "we're going to be fair but we're going
to resolve cases in favor of the government." It seems to Mr. Wilson
that "we're giving the individual too much of a break," even in this
land of "individualrights above and beyond ...'
* * * *
THE AX-In the Dexter home of Milo Radulovich and family,
the stocky physics senior awaited the seemingly inevitable ax-formal
notice of his ouster from the Air Force Reserve as a "security risk." If
they let me get by, he told reporters, they'll have no stand for their
policy of "guilt by association."
Under Eisenhower's new security regulations, Radulovich is
undeniably guilty. It would seem that the regulations themselves
ought to be on trial rather than a man guilty of "maintaining a
close and continuing association with a sister who is only AC-
CUSED, not convicted or proved, to be guilty of participation in
Red inspired activities.
Word from Washington indicates the case is more severe against
the lieutenant than has been publicly revealed, and that Secretary of
the Air Force Talbot is convinced there is no choice but to rule against
him. Officials say full facts cannot be publicized. The Air Force press-
ed for final action, and called for announcement of the decision within
a few days.
* * * *
ALSO RAN-ACADEMIC FREEDOM-For five weeks SL hemmed
and hawed over their stand on "academic freedom," finally registered
approval 29-4 to a motion calling for mild censure of some methods of
investigating committees.
With only one dissenting vote, the legislature also passed a mo-
tion recommending the establishment of a University vice-president
for student affairs.
* * * *

The Experiment ... I
To the Editor:
FOLLOWING the rather uni-
luminating reports on one of,
the less dignified actions of the
University of Michigan student,
body, my curiosity was aroused at
your noncommittal use of the word
'clinical experiment.' An experi-
ment usually has an aim, and the
discrepancy between the probable
facts and your interpretation
struck me. I considered little likely
that these so-called experimenters
(your apt labeling, I understand)
should not have had a moral to
their story, since they would hard- '
ly have bothered informing you of
their activities otherwise.
As inadequate a 'clinical experi-
ment' as this process was, its moral
seems to coincide with your views
upon the matter too remarkably
well for your overlooking it to
have been purely accidental. To
avoid by subtle presentation your
failing to grasp my point, I clari-
fy: I do not think it is corrett for
a newspaperman to "alter" facts
by omission.
As chance willed it, I came to
know about the background of the
story quite intimately, and I can-
not but wonder at the inadequacy.
of your presentation. In effect,
this happening (which only with
difficulty may be called an experi-
ment, and by no stress of the
imagination a 'clinical experi-
ment') was nothing but a demon-
stration of a small part of the
workings of mass psychology.
To my present knowledge, these
people were attacking the same
problem of gross immaturity from
another vantage point than yours.
Could it be that you regard your-
self so much the vigilante of de-
cency that you resent intrusion of
your "rights" by outsiders con-
cerned with the same problems?
The panty-raider hides behind
the veil of confused thought and.
this makes his motives vulnerable
when revealed; thus, by the force
of the situation, he cannot but
admit that he is wrong. No one
is in a better position to do this
than the 'leader,' whom they be-
lieve embodies their ideas. When
he turns against them, revealing
their ineptness, they, by simple
logic, cannot help giving weight to
the leaders' words, even if those
words be adverse to their interests.
This is a more dramatic method
than that pursued by the student
groups who have broken up the
raid, but, essentially, it is the
same. Masses cannot be ruled but
by their own choice-by a char-
acteristic weakness such as their
own, and, in my opinion, there is
no more potent a weapon against
such a degrading attitude of hu-
man beings than the revelation
of it.
For every one of the would-be
aventurers I am sure would have
felt more than embarrassed at a
true evaluation of their part in
that demonstration: that is, being
a little cog in a clockwork not of
their own making. I can think
of no more embarrassing thought
for anyone than to have been a
subject of a mass psychology ex-
periment.
-Dona Sullivan
* * *

be iradicated as soon as its ugly
head rises upon the American
scene." why don't they propose that
all other political parties not fol-
lowing. the Republican and Demo-
cratic party lines be outlawed.
Next, that all periodicals and oth-
er means of communications sup-
porting these political parties be
banned. Then maybe one of the
two major political parties could
outlaw the other and we could
have a fine one-party system with
no subversive elements in it, just
like that of Russia today.
-Gilbert Friedman
* * *
NY Fraternities .. .
To the Editor:
IN VIEW of the news and discu-
sion of any action taken by
the State University of New York
looking toward the elimination of
minority discriminations by fra-
ternities, it might be of interest to
state the background of the ac-
tion.
The State University of New
York is the newest of the state
universities, although some of its
college units are over 100 years old.
It was organized inr1948 following
a thorough study of higher educa-
tion in New York State by a Legis-
lative Commission.
The public agitation for the uni-
versity arose during the immediate
post-war pressures for admission
to college. The provision of public
higher education was deemed to
be insufficient to meet the demand,
and many private colleges were
being charged with discriminations
in admissions, especially against
Jews, Italian Catholics and Ne-
groes. The resulting public ill will
became especially acute toward the
medical schools, all nine of which
up to that point had been private.
Within the legislature several bills
were proposed and hotly debated
calling for a state' university and
the outlawing of discriminatory
practices.
As a result, Legislative Com-
mission, composed of legislators,
prominent citizens, and represen-
tatives of the Governor, of the
colleges, and of minority groups
was created. The studies made by
this commission confirmed the
need of additional educational fa-
cilities and the presence of some
discriminations on grounds of race,
creed, color and national origin
(see Legislative documents Nos.
30 to 34, 1948). Recommendations
were made to the Governor and
Legislature to create a state uni-
versity, including two state medi-
cal schools, t provide for public
community colleges, and to pass a
fair education practices act. All
of these recommendations were
enacted into the law of the state.
Initially the colleges in the state
were very much on the defensive
about discriminatory practices.
They had become so because they
had not cleaned their own houses
until the public concern had grown
into a major legislative storm. To
their credit, they cooperated fully
in the investigations and voluntar-
ily took many constructive steps
such as improving their admissions
forms and procedures.
The several actions of the state
and of the colleges did not affect
the status of the college fraterni-
ties. However, the present action
of the State University in requir-
ing that the local chapters free
themselves of national control is'
obviously a direct result of the sit-
uation that led to the establish-
ment of the University and of the
failure of the fraternities to clean
their houses.
-Algo D. Henderson,
Professor of Higher Education

MAT'(ER-.OF FACT

By STEWART ALSOP
WASHINGTON - The authority which
President Eisenhower must have, if he
is to be the real leader of the Republican
party, .may be at stake in the forthcoming
elections in New Jersey and California. For
already Republicans in Congress are begin-
ning to tell each other sadly (or jubilantly,
in the case of the anti-Eisenhower Republi-
can underground) that "Ike's popularity is
a non-transferrable asset."
If this notion becomes fixed dogma, a
great deal of trouble is certainly in store
for the Republican administration from
the already restive Republican party in
Congress. If the Congressional Republi-
cans conclude that it does them no good
to be against Eisenhower. And as has
been clear even while Eisenhower's pres-
tige has been unchallengeable, being
against a President-any President-is a
deeply ingrained Republican habit.
The idea that Eisenhower's popularity is
"non-transferrable" was born, of course, in
Wisconsin, where the defeated Republican
candidate ran on a "support Eisenhower"
platform. With the Connecticut municipal
elections, the idea has taken somewhat
deeper root. The Republican slogan in Con-
necticut was "support Eisenhower and
Lodge"-and in many towns the Republi-
cans took a bad shellacking. West Haven,
for example, went Democratic for the first
time since 1933.'
A Democratic victory in New Jersey or
California or both, therefore, could send
the Republicans into a panicky tailspin, and
deeply undermine the President's authority.
There are, moreover, remarkable similarities
between the special election in Wisconsin
and the forthcoming New Jersey election to
fill'the vacated seat of Rep. Clifford Case.
Like the late Mervyn Hull in Wisconsin,
Case is an extremely popular Republican

Finally, as in Wisconsin, the Democrats
have a ready-made issue. In Wisconsin, this
is the unpopular farm policy of Secretary
of Agriculture Ezra Benson. In New Jersey,
it is the relationship between the Republi-
can gubernatorial nominee, Paul Troast,
and the convicted labor. racketeer, Joseph
Fay.
HERE, TO BE SURE, the similarity ends.
The Wisconsin district has a longPro-
gressive tradition, and has often gone Demo-
cratic in Presidential elections. The New
Jersey district has been solidly Republican,
with only one slip, since the memory of man.
In 1952 for example, the district went Re-
publican by a lopsided vote of almost two
to one.
Publicly, therefore, the Democrats are
heavily discounting their chances. They
are preparing to claim a psychological vic-
tory if the race is close. But privately,
they think Williams has an outside chance.
Apparently the Republicans think so too.
A Citizens for Eisenhower committee is
being revived locally to help Hetfield, and
a Republican National Committee trouble-
shooter, Bernard Lamb, has arrived on the
scene for the same purpose.
The Democrats are also moderately hope-
ful about the California election, where they
expect to profit by a split Republican vote.
All in all, indeed, the Democrats are in a
remarkably hopeful mood these days. The
Democratic Congressional Committee has
polled state leaders on the question: Do you
know of a district where Democratic strength
is below 1952? The committee claims that
all answers, without exception, have been
in the negative.
There is conversely, a noticeable at-
mosphere of suppressed gloom among the
Republicans. Both gloom and hopefulness
are certainly premature. But an upset in
New Jrseyor Clifonia. folwineo n

PANTY RAIDS--Weekly score stood at one attempt, one failure.
* * * j To Buchele & Wilson..

SCIENCE PROGRESSES, TOO-Physical proof of Einstein's uni-
fied field theory was claimed by a 1925 journalism school grad, Edgar
Flowers.
Flowers employed a television set and some magnets to demon-
strate his theory to the press, but his discovery was sanctimoniously
ignored by national publications. Flowers, who is employed as a bar-
ber in the Union, remained undaunted and warned any who might dare
to infringe that all patents are pending.
--Gayle Greene
IDAILY OFFICIAL BULLETINI

To the Editor:
THIS LETTER is a reply to Mor-
ton Cash and Eugene Gordon
along with anyone else who be-
lieves that such men as Luther B.
Buchele and Senators McCarthy
and Jenner "understand and ap-
preciate the meaning of true Amer-
icanism and patriotism."
To these misled souls, I offer
my deepest sympathies. For if any
men have followed the Communist
technique of investigation in
America today more closely than
Senators McCarthy and Jenner I
would like to hear about them.
Through such tactics as guilt by
association, quotes out of context,
superimposing photos, and using
the walls of Congress to shield

r'
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Sixty-Fourth Year
Edited and managed by students of
the University of Michigan under the
authority of the Board in Control of
Student Publications.

(Continued from Page 2)
Hillel2Foundation activities for Sun.,
Oct. 25-10:30 a.m.-Hiilel Student
Council meeting. 5:00 p.m.-Hillel Chor-
us meets. 6:00 p.m.-Supper Club. 8-
10:30-Married couples tea.
Gilbert and Sullivan society. Full
chorus and principle rehearsal at Lea-
gue at 7.
Graduate Outing Club meets at 2 p.m.
today at the rear of the Rackham Build-
ing. There will be a gross-country hike
followed by an indoor supper at Rack-
ham. Those who have cars are urged to
bring them to help out with transpor-
tation.
Coming Events
Economics Club. The first meeting of
the Economics Club for 1953-54 will be
held on Mon., Oct. 26. at 8 p.m. in the
Rackham Amphitheater. Professor Dan-
il B. Suits will speak on "Some As-
pects of Unincorporated Business Be-
havior" All staff members and stu-

The Russky Kruzhok will meet Mon-
day night at 8 in the International
Center. The program will feature a talk
by Mrs. Assya Humecky, Instructor of
Russian in the Department of Slavic
Languages and Literatures, on "The
Russian Folk Songs." Mrs. Gumecky
will, in addition to , supplying his-
torical commentary, illustrate examples
herself. The Malenkii Bolshio Teatr
(Imeni Dostoyoevskovo) will present a
dramatized adaptation of the Russian
folktale "Baba Yaga." Refreshments will
be served. All students interested in
Russian are warmly invited to attend.
Gilbert and Sullivan society. Principle
rehearsal at League at' 7 on Monday.
The Kaffee Stunde of the Deutscher
Verein will meet Mon., Oct. 26. at 3:15
in the taproom of the Union. Informal
'group conversation in German. All are
invited to attend these lively meetings.
Museum Movie. "Holiday in Mani-
toba" (Riding Mountain National Park
in color) and "Grouse of the Grass-

i

their slander they have helped ruin
the careers of such able public ser- editorial Staf
vants as Senators Tydings and Harry Lunn............Managing Editor
Eric Vetter ., . ...iyEio
Benton and Owen Lattimore. The Virginia Voss.........Editorial Director
Radulovich incident is a fine ex- Mike Wolff ........Associate City Editor
ample of how American hysteria Alice B. Silver..Assoc. Editorial Director
is running away with itself. The Helene Simon. ........... Associate Editor
loyalties of Mr. Radulovich have Ivan Kaye...............Sports Editor
never been questioned, only those Paul Greenberg....Assoc. Sports Editor
of his father and sister. Marilyn Campbell.......Women's Editor
Kathy Zeisier....Assoc. Women's Editor
It seems just Friday in Hill Aud- Don Campbell......Head Photographer
itorium, I heard Mr. Wilson, our
Secretary of Defense say some- Business Staf
thing about the fact that "the ThomasBTreeger......Business Manager
Constitution of our country was William Kaufman Advertising Manager
designed in part to protect the Harlean Hankin . . .Assoc. Business Mgr.
citizens against any attempt by WilliamSeden........rFinance Manager
even government itself, to invade James Sharp. Circulation Manager
these inalienable rights." Mr. Wil-
son concluded by saying, "In ourTleoe2-41