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
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not pretend to represent a lie opinion ol
tin: ASUO or the University.
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HI EE HKYANT, Business Manager
PHIL HAUER, Managing Editor
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Managing Editor
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