Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 25, 1950)
Oj^Uand OfUesmattonA Something About a Ski Team and an Arabian Storyteller * Ly Rill fiaj.e'id There’s been trouble brewing up at the Pi Phi house since last fall, when the girls decided to go modern with polarized glass shower doors. The chief difficulty is that a careless or sloppy work man mounted the doors backward, making it pos sible to see into the showers but not out of them as was intended. As a result, there has been an epi demic of throwing cold water upon the poor un fortunates showering. The effect from the outside looking in (this observation is by hearsay only) is that of a goldfish in a bowl. Why is it that the members of the ski team are finding it necessary to advertise on the sports page of the Register-Guard for a sponsor? The following story is presented with apologies to the narrator for shortening it enough to make it fit an Emerald page : A trader who had cheated some Arabs with whom he was dealing was caught in the act. The Arabs punished him by 'destroying all his posses sions and torturing his family to death before his eyes. Then they drove a stake through his body and left him in the middle of the Sahara desert to die. OSC has a ski team. The trader was discovered by a passing camel driver who heard the whole story from the lips of the dying man. “How horrible,” said the camel driver, “Is there anything I can do?” “No, nothing,” was the reply, “I’ll soon die any way.” “That stake through your chest—do you want me to pull it out? It must hurt terribly.” “No—no, it isn’t bad, except when I laugh.” Vanport sponsors its ski team, and so does Port land University. It may sound trite to you, but you could catch polio. So the next time you see the blue can with the window in it, why not drop in a dime? It's only a cup of coffee, and it couldn’t be for a worthier cause. It seems strange that a school as ski-conscious as Oregon doesn’t have a ski team. What gem of learning will turn up in the class room next? At least one professor of economics acknowledges the beer “barter” system. Propon ents are the students who figure their finances in terms of the brew they can purchase. Of course there’s no revenue from skiing—the spectators get to watch for free. Problems up North Now that we have swallowed the fact that deferred living is here, campus groups are chewing the possibility of deferred rushing. Last term, the Inter-dormitory Council issued a statement favoring deferred rush; last week Panhellenic announced its disapproval of the plan. Will deferred rushing eliminate some of the problems which “living in” will instigate? Why not look to the northern branch at Corvallis, where deferred living for women has been functioning for some time? The problems facing OSC dormitories are numerous. For instance: 1. When are we going to have house meetings? Meetings are necessary to maintain hall organization, but on Monday nights, set aside for this purpose, many dorm students are at pledge and chapter meetings. Is there another relatively free night? Find one. 2. Are the pledges going to work on the dormitory or the sorority dance? Pledges ask themselves—“Whose dessert am I going to? Shall I play hockey for the house or the dormitory? How can I apportion my one activity night a week between the house and the dorm?” The result is usually participation in sorority activities. 3. How can we maintain close organization and a form of group living when many students are more interested in the group at their sororities? 4. When are pledges going to study when they must do door duty at the house, telephone duty at the dormitory, house du ties at the sorority, and committee work at the hall? The problem facing freshmen at OSC is an expensive first year, playing both house dues and dormitory fees, participat ing in hall and sorority activities, AND the task of making sorority grades for initiation. Many do it many don t. Oregon State’s adjustment to the problem is freshmen dor mitories, where girls live before going into theii houses or Sackett Hall. At Sackett, independent women are offered closely knit organization and "group” living. But many problems are left unsolved. Pledges still face the demand for dual loyalty, and all freshmen women live in a group of conflicting aims and loyalties. Sororities are constant ly faced with adjustments to make. Deferred rushing offers one answer to these problems, but at the same time instigates other problems. But these prob lems affect both dormitories and Greek living organizations. Therefore the problem should be solved by representatives from both groups, working for the best adjustment for the student body as a whole.”—Jackie Pritzen. (The writer of this editorial attended OSC last year and was president of Waldo Hall, freshman dormitory.—Editor) n Daily EMERALD The OREGON DAILY EMERALD, published daily during the college year except Saturdavs, Sundays, holidays and final examination periods bv the Associated students University of Oregon. Subscription rates: $->.00 a term, $4.00 for two terms and $5.00 a year. Entered as second class matter at the postoffice Eugene, Oregon. Oon A. Smith. Editor Joan Mimnaogh, Bujine« Manager Itakbaka 11kywood, Hkijin Shsrvan, Associate Editors. Glenn Gillespie, At an aging Editor Don Thompson, Advertising Manager Assistant Business Manager: Cork Mobley. Office Manager: Karla Van loan. National Advertising Manager: Bourne Birke nieir. Zone Managers: Sue Bachelder, Shirley liil Barbara Stevenson. Jeanne Hoffman, lard, Barbara Williams, Virginia Kellogg, ty/lta'A Ut Charge <JleSie? The Rat Race or Next Bus Home hy Rad Smith “The object of school is to learn something, not to get grades!” So stated one of my in structors. It’s too bad that students at Ore gon can’t follow this good advice. There is much more to be derived from college than prostration before the almighty GPA. In grade and high school we were all edu cated in fundamentals. We learned mechan ical thought processes so that when the tea cher asked a question we could give the cor rect answer. We were somewhat like ma chines ; the teacher put in the raw facts, the wheels went around, and out came things the teacher wanted us to know. In college this should change. Thinking should cease being mechanical and start being intellectual. In dependent rationalization of lecture informa tion should be employed, using the mechani cally gained knowledge of early education as a basis of thought. At Oregon the concept of college is differ ent. In exams the student does not put down what he believes to be the correct answer— what he got out of the course—but the an swer he thinks the instructor wants to hear. In other words, he^adapts his personal phi losophy and thoughts to those of the profes sor. Is this almost mandatory action logical or constructive? Is an instructor justified in giving higher grades to those students who express his views? Should a student be re quired to sacrifice his individual opinion in order to get a passing grade ? The power of grading which an instructor reserves, if he uses it in a biased manner, makes the knowledge and personal opinions he imparts to his students not voluntary but dogmatic, and necessary for survival in the great rat race for high GPA’s. If the student decides he won’t accept such a professor’s views, he might as well catch the next bus home. It is all very well for instructors to bewail the students’ “slavish dependence upon as signments” and their “seemingly complete willingness and desire to take orders” but ' professors should know why this attitude prevails. As long as GPA is king at Oregon, the average student will be found to have very little individuality. Wild Nolei Who Said Kenton? He's Hard at Work luf, tf-teA tyouncp Here we are back on the page blowing the usual sour ones and trying not to tread on anvone else’s premises. Who said Kenton? It’s a pretty common fact that lie's reformed his band and added strings and woodwinds. But. from there the word takes many courses so we'll see if we can't add up the known facts, and arrive someplace? Kenton rehearsals started early in January. About, today, Kenton is staging a dress re hearsal in Los Angeles with only a select few among the invited. Tunes liked will be em phasized in later concerts; tunes particularly disliked will be tossed out. Kenton's initial concert will be Seattle's good fortune, Feb ruary 9th. A few of the hipsters might wish it repeat ed whose doing afl this writing for the 40 (Plcase turn to page two)