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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 6, 1965)
Registration Daze System Not Perfect, But Better Another registration day passed Monday with only minor disappointments and no reported injuries. Though the University's present system of arranging 10,000 students into course schedules of their owrn choosing is not ideal, things used to be worse. Students still moan about closed sections in general psychology discussion or princi ples of economics. But the seniors can re member the days when there was no sign ing up by alphabetical section. Instead, everyone registered at the same time for each school and department. Massive herds lined the sidewalk to McArthur Court, ea gerly awaiting the signal to storm the en trances in search of an English class. Stu dents in the front of the line suffered cuts as their arms were jammed through win dows by the swaying, surging throngs stretching three abreast for two or three blocks. Inside the gym floor resembled a politi cal convention scene complete with a sepa rate table for conflicts and/or complaints, staffed by patient and haggard teaching as sistants. The rule of first come first served pre vailed then even more than now. Most popu lar classes are crow’ded and must be limited in size; the current methods of registering by letter groups eliminates the need for camping out at dawn to wait for a favorite course. Of course some persons still feel they are cheated. But the freshman must realize that he is going to have a fight to get the composition class he wants while the senior will breeze through his registra tion for quantum mechanics. Persons often point to the procedures employed by other institutions, such as pre-regisration methods used at California or Washington. But in fact, classes close even in pre-registration systems. The stu dent is simply offered another alternative if one exists. And all University depart ments do not adhere strictly to the alphabet plan. It would be a bit silly for the religion department to turn students away from classes not full simply because they have not been punctual in their priority times. At the same time, this method is needed to keep order in such mobs as those found in the physical education building. The system is not perfect. But somehow everyone manages to complete a schedule and buy his books and go to class and no one is heard complaining much by the end of the week. Pigger’s Guide The great wheels of the University ma chinery apparently bogged down, sputtered, coughed and finally ground out a Pigger’s Guide for us at the closing hours of last term. The annually-published directory of students and faculty formerly operated un der the pretense that it was to be published sometime in October, according to the di rectory given incoming freshmen. This usu ally meant that it would come forth in mid November, still in time for a month or so of use before the term closed. The reasons for the delay do not seem entirely excusable. Typing problems, press delays or whatever the reasons, a publica tion w hich is allotted a specific budget each year and which operates under a virtually unchanging format should have no trouble meeting obligations to its readers or users. And given all the vast data-gathering re sources employed by the University at the beginning of each term, we find it difficult to imagine major setbacks in organization or composition. Most publications, be they annual or daily, cannot operate on a “will be pub lished sometime” basis. Instead they must be responsible for meeting stringent dead lines. We suspect that a sizeable sales mar ket was lost the guide when it came too late for students who have now left the Univer sity. To be sure it is a unique and valuable directory. But when it is distributed after more than one-third of the academic year has passed by. some of its usefulness is cer tainly lost. The Last Word “We must recognize that the young in many areas of the world today are in the midst of a revolution against the status quo. Their anger is turned on systems which have allowed poverty, illiteracy and oppression to flourish for centuries. “We must realize one central fact. They will prevail. They will achieve their idealis tic goals one way or another. If they have to pull governments down over their heads, they will do it. But they are going to win a share of a better, cleaner world.” —Rob ert F. Kennedy, April 14, 1964. Down With Activists; Up With Indifference By EI> SCHWARTZ Collegiate Press Service Nothing is more disgusting than student activism. On cam puses across the country there exist small groups of individuals whose sole function seems to be to embroil their colleges in some sort of gigantic cause. They form political organiza tions, write for their school newspapers, and occasionally run for their student govern ments. During the last decade, they have tried to make apathy seem undesirable to the world in the most intolerant and mal icious manner. It's about time that someone put these people in their places, before they de stroy our educational system and the student's way of life. The function of a college is not to educate, but to train The former concept is too broad. It involves more than the memori zation of factual data. It de mands that fact be synthesized in the form of opinions. It sug gfiests thoroughly erroneous proposition that classroom learning can be applied to the "real” world. In short, the term "education" means thinking, and thinking, as we all know, is a useless, taxing, and even dan gerous occupation Contrast this gibberish with the precision of the word, "training.” To be trained, tin student can assume that he is unqualified to think, as any col lege administrator knows. All he must do is to attend classes five or six days a week, copy verbatim the pearls of wisdom emanating from the sage at the front of the room, and repro duce them on the exam. He needn’t try to relate the data of one class with that of an other. He needn't discuss any of it with his friends. He can ren der it as irrelevant to his life as it really is. The trained mind is the happy mind. It has learned to accept authority, to adjust to its en vironment. and to filter all un pleasant sights or sounds from its receptive organs. It knows that no problem is serious enough to demand solution, par ticularly problems miles away from the student's dormitory room. It recognizes that original ity is merely an excuse for ego tistical arrogance. It is com pletely attuned to the demands of a bureaucratized society and will be rewarded upon graduat ion with a good job, fast pro motions, and piles of money. Under the circumstances, why should anyone listen to an activist? His position is anti thetical to the demands of uni versity life. In choosing to act, he must decide. Decisions in volve thinking, which by its very nature impedes the pro cess of memorization essential to learning. This means that the activist is fundamentally an anti-intellectual, although he often couches his arguments in the most scholastic terms. It is little womler that so many activ ists Hunk courses or leave school, completely unable to adapt to the healthy environ ment of the campus. There are two kinds of activ ists: internal and external. The former protests c u r r icular structure, social rules, dormi tory facilities, and other so called “atrocities" of our edu rational system The latter reg isters voters, pickets for civil rights, and demonstrates against the House Un-American Activi ties Committee. Some engage in both varieties. Neither brand should be con doned, by the student or by a college administration. Inter nal activism violates the sacred maxim that only a Hoard of Trustees knows what’s neces sary for a successful college or university and that the student who disagrees should leave if he cannot recognize the wisdom of their decisions. External activism creates bad relations with the community, blocks necessary alumni con tributions, and gives the impres sion that all students are imma ture cry-babies But the main sin of both groups lies in the assumption that there are prob lems to hr- solved an assump tion deliberately calculated to encourage unhappiness. Activisim is the blight of our educational system. It demands thought at a time when think ing is dangerous. It requires choice at a time when neutral ity is necessary for success. It makes noise at a time when si lence is golden Let us cleanse ourselves of this social rot, wherever and whenever we find it. OREGON DAILY EMERALD The Oregon I J uly Emciald i* pub liOint five limn in Nrptetnlxrr at.-I five day* a *ftk during the academic year, ft* crj»? during r garni nation period*. by the Student Publication* Hoard ot the t'niver* *ity oi Oregon Kmrred a* *cc*»nd cla** matter .\i the j> .it E*igrn«». Ot*-g n. Sub«cr iptiutt rate* $ > per year, pet term Opil !*m* ent ree P-! an the rdi* r;*l page ate tho*e of ftp EnteftW and do t. t represent the opmv.n* o» the ASl’O or the I'nivmitjr. Cathy Neville, Editor J. Cr.i g Mathir -eu. Hustite** Manager ( hut k Retgi, Managing Editor Kenneth K. Kappel, Adverti*ing Manager Stephen (irrrn. 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