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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 1959)
TktOrtj—Mty EMERALD A Good Idea The basic theme of this year's high school senior visitation program is a good one. The accent on showing the prospective student the academic side of the University is a wel come change from the now defunct “Duck Preview,” and the haphazard visitation weekends of the last year. Last year, it is recalled, it seemed that nearly every weekend was a "poor man’s Duck Preview.” Living organizations were forced to entertain visitors much too often. This year, high school seniors will he the guest of private campus living organizations on one of the weekends. Tan. 23-25 or April 23-25. They will be provided with an oppor tunity to personally talk with faculty mem bers of the departments in which they are interested. They will be housed in fratern ities, sororities, and student co-operatives. Throughout the weekend Greater Oregon committee members will be responsible for campus and department tours. Greater Ore gon has also scheduled a dance for the Sat urday night of each weekend. Dates will be arranged between high school seniors. Here we have a balance between the academic and social, you might say. It is plain to see that the visitation pro gram is better organized than in recent years. This is a step in the right direction bv itself. The role of the living organization should be that of a counselor. It should see that the high school senior attends the talks and tours. Here lies the success of the program. The high school senior is a guest of the University to acquaint himself with the Uni versity—not the fraternity, sorority, or co-op. Two Ideas From the Eugene Register-Guard: Two new ideas in higher education will be of interest to persons who are concerned over the cost, the efficiency and the subject matter of the college experience. Wavne University of Detroit plans to estblish a col lege for its experiment. The other experi ment is “New College,” an institution that exists only in the minds of professors from Amherst, Mount Holyoke, Smith and the University of Massachusetts. Both share one feature—additional responsibility for the individual student. The college at Wayne will be a general education college, bent on producing well rounded, but unspecialized, - graduates. Rather than studying certain "subjects,” the students will look into broader areas, attempting to relate one field of learning to the next. And much of the work, even for freshmen, will be done without direct assign ment from the faculty. Faculty direction, like the Marxian state, will wither away, or almost away, until by the time a student is a senior he will be working half on his own ond half under tutelage. New College also calls for more indepen dent student work. The college, if it is ever built, will be built around the library. It will be characterized by an “intellectual single-mindedness” which will leave no room for inter-collegiate sports or social fraternities. And like Wayne, more atten tion will be paid to broad areas than to nar row "subjects.” In one important respect, New College could reverse the established pattern. In the traditional college, freshmen study broad courses, usually called survey courses. Such courses give the freshman a general knowledge about a wide field, but little in the way of specialized knowledge. As he moves toward graduation, his fields of study become more specialized until he becomes an expert at something, good enough to get a degree. (And an expert, says a waggish definition, is a person who learns more and more about less and less until he knows everything there is to know about nothing at all. A man of general education, on the other hand, learns less and less about more and more until he knows nothing about everything.) At Xew College, the student would start by concentrating in a fairly restricted field— say New Deal economics or Shakespeare or the geology of the Middle East. He would study intently in this narrow field. Their, as he mastered that, he’d be encouraged to broaden himself by applying that to related fields. Over his college experience, he'd be gin to understand the relationships of one branch of study to another. By the time he was ready for graduation, he’d be reading widely indeed, in the pattern of the survey courses students at other institutions pur sue as freshmen. New College is only an idea, or a series of ideas. Wayne’s experiment is only an experiment. But both should lend flexibility to the unnaturally rigid pattern of college education. And both, in the long run, should contribute to a continued process of rethink ing. This will help to ascertain if established patterns in education can provide for chang ing needs. Writer Expects Busy, Interesting Congress By James Marlow WASHINGTON OB—This will be a busy, interesting and prob ably productive Congress. It is unlikely to seem spectacular if only because very little ever does in the grinding legislative mill. It will be a self-conscious, per haps just a little less conserva tive than the previous Congress and, despite plenty of conflict, its personal relations with Presi dent Eisenhower may not curdle very much. Democrats and Republicans in this Congress can not help being self-conscious: Its two year term will be drawing to a close at the time of the 1960 elections when voters choose a new Congress and a new president. Both groups know their per formance these next two years will be a major factor in the election outcome — for them selves and their party — and that the next president may be chosen from this Congress. It hardly seems in the cards for this heavily Democratic Con gress to get into feuding, name calling and bitterness with Eis enhower in his last two White House years. During his first six years his relations with Congress mem bers have been unusually polite and restrained, except in politi cal campaigns. There does not seem much reason to change. For this reason: Without re sorting to slam-bang, the Demo crats were still able to win con trol of Congress in three suc cessive elections while Eisen hower himself remained highly popular. Nevertheless, there will be broad conflicts between Eisen hower and the Democrats in Congress on the programs he wants and the kind they want. Some people thought, after last November’s elections, that this would be a much more lib eral Congress than last year. But in the first showdowns on strength this year consei-vatives showed they are still in charge. In the Senate, a coalition of liberals from both parties lost heavily in their first test of strength in a fight over the rules. Liberal Republicans on open ing day tried to name one of their own number their Senate leader, but they were defeated by a majority of conservative Republicans who picked Sen. Everett Dirksen of Illinois. House Republicans are stih under conservative leadership. They were simply replacing an older man with a younger one when they substituted Rep. Charles Halleck of Indiana for their old time leader, Rep. Joseph Martin of Massachusetts. The two Texans who lead the Democrats in Congress—Speak er Sam Rayburn and Sen. Lyn don Johnson, are both conserva tive. So are a majority of the Democrats who are committee chairmen in both houses. Still, the voters sent a lot of new men to Congress this year, some of whom are expected to take the liberal side. So, while liberals are not in the majority, their ranks have been strength ened. They should be able to exert some pressure. Particularly Sen. Johnson is not likely to ignore them. Even though he outma (Continued on page 3) Male Decline (cont.) r AM GLAD I FOUND OUT A0OUT H£R/ I CAN'T A GtKL THAT't? GTEONOgR THAN / AM.' Greatest Town Contest Due; How About Your Town? A few months ago we were invited to sit in on an organiza tional meeting of a committee. The committee's purpose was to select "The Greatest Little Old Town in the U.S A.” The panel, so formed, has since got its plans underway. The selection w'ill be run on a contest basis, with the panel members acting as judges. We heartily agree with the move. Being an associate mem ber of the committee, we helped formulate a set of standards for picking a national top ten of the nation's more permanent camp sites. • All cities large or small, in corporated or not. are eligible. The town should have a mini mum of 31 residents (homo sapiens), an American Legion post, an active Ku Klux Klan movement, and at least three school, home, and/or church bombings within the past calen dar year. On the city government siile of the ledger the requirements in the consensus of the commit tee members are rather lax. Here the panel is looking for incapable, conservative people, young and old who know noth ing of the ways of progressive government. The city council, or whatever governing body the town has, should be against any thing that might do the town any sort of good. Vetoes in such case should be made on grounds of "good politics.” The criteria for population make-up Is also lax as a result of a last minute split of panel members. In this category the population should act as a unit. It should suppress and/or ostra cize anyone for individual or in spired thought. Race supremacy and lowbrowism should lie typical of the mass. Two-thirds of the population shouldn’t have the vaguest idea about U.S. for eign policy or federal-state re lations. All the townspeople should be pro-labor and vote a straight party ticket automatically and without question. And, only a quarter of the eligible voters may vote in any one election. Any effort towards personal cleanliness and wholesome ap pearance should be generally avoided. Any sincere efforts to wards broadening one’s self in tellcctuully. or keeping pace with current events and their meaning would also hurt the town’s chances for a win. These rules also apply to the younger set. The rules also hold for any of the townsfolk’s chil dren who might go to college. Physically, the town should have a healthy ratio of slums, and ample signs of mismanage ment. So far the committee has been swamped with entries. All sections of our country are healthily represented. It was feared that the south would turn the contest Into a rout, but surprisingly enough It has re mained even all around. The committee was In an end less state of argument until an honorable mention category was set up to handle the overflow of deserving entries. It's not too late to enter. So send In those entries. Remem ber, you must document your case with photographs, plus signed statements from promi nent members of your town. There is still a good chance your town can win. In fact the com mittee is toying with the idea of expanding the top ten win ner's category to a top one hun dred. OREGON DAILY EMERALD The Oregon Daily Emerald is published (our times in September ami live da> s a wrk during the school year, esrept du ing examination and vacation period*, bv the Student Publication?) Hoard oi the Univer sity of Oregon. Entered a* *econd clasa matter at the post oifice, Eugene, Ore gon. Subscription rate*: $5 per year, |2 per trrm. Opinion* expressed on the editorial page are those oi The Emerald and do not pretend to represent a lie opinion ol tin: ASUO or the University. JERKY RAMSEY, Editor HI EE HKYANT, Business Manager PHIL HAUER, Managing Editor CHARLIE SWIFT, Advertising Mgr, MIKE FORRESTER, News Editor BILL HE BOUT, BEN TROW BRIDGE. JOHN LENOEI.. MIKE HOLLISTER. DAVE LOKTIE, Associate Editors hick McKinney, larky kurtz, Sports Editors. MARY TO STEWART, Feature Editor PEPPER AI.I.KN, Women's Editor TOM CHAPMAN, FACETS Managing Editor DON JEPSEN, Entertainment Editor LOUIS PARKER, Photo Editor Editorial Hoard: Jcriy Ramsey, Phil Hager, Mike Forrester, Pepper Allen, Mary Jo Stewart, Karen Mauney, I ten Jensen, Hen Trowbridge, Dave I a I r tie, John Lengel, Hill Bebout, Mike Holii Assistant News Editors: Kanny Green, Karen Mauney, Nat'l Adv, Man.: Cheryl Swan Office Manager: Marlene Stark Accounting Gladys At land Circulation Man.: Jim Wciitsutn
