Minor Record Lables Set Folk Music Trends
By MFI, KIOHN
Fmcralil Columnist
The other clay a folk mimic fan
pointed out to me that the mi
nor record labels seem to be the
trend setters and the major la
bels the commercialize™ of a
trend that has become a fad.
This opinion is not without
some justification, since the Ira
ditional and topical folk artists
were recording on labels like
Folkways, Klektra, Vanguard,j
I)ecca, and Tradition long before
H< A. Columbia, and Capital dis-!
covered the gold in folk guitar!
strings.
It came as somewhat of a sur
prise, then, when Columbia start
ed the mass popularization of top
ical and protest songs by signing
Hoi) Dylan several years ago. Even
more surprising to folk purists
was the release a year before
of an album of story songs by
I’ete Soeger also on the Columbia
label.
This was the time when “Sloop
John B” and the Kingston Trio
were making big on Capital rec
ords and it scorned a gamble to J
many people that Columbia would
deviate from the popular taste to
record a virtually unknown per-,
former on one hand, and a high
ly controversial performer on the
other.
If it was a gamble on Colum-!
bia s part, then it certainly paid
off for both Seeger and Dylan
have each released their fourth
highly successful album on that,
label However, I am inclined
to think that it. was less of a gam
ble and more of a carefully cal
i-ulated risk.
Remember that the reaction to |
ABC-TV's Hootenany was unfa
vorable from the first in many1
circles and that the primary dis
satisfaction came from that pro-!
gram’s blacklist which excluded
Seeger from -ppearing on the
show (Nat Hen toff, of the vil
lage Voice, was one of the
leaders of the anti-ABC-TV Hoote
nany movement, if you can call it
Cheating, Part II
What Can Be Done
About College Cheating?
By MARK I.ON'O
( ullcgiate Press Service
What is to hi1 done about cheat
ing-'
Were it not for the nature of
the Air Force Academy scandal,
editorial writers would probably
preach the honor system As it
ts. they choose to question any
such system that encourages ' rat
ting' on one's fellows
The Columbia University study
on the prevalence of cheating
revealed that schools with honor
systems are less apt to have a j
high level of cheating than those
with other arrangements for con- i
trol Columbia, incidentally, is;
now considering an honor sys- i
tern
The issue is a major one at Co
lumbia and has caused some pro
fessors and students to attack any
plan which would imply that un
policed citizens behave better
than those who are supervised
Columbia professor Theodore dc
Bary has said that lie sees no
connection "between the absence
of proctors at an examination and l
the presence of honor ”
The National Observer, of j
course, sampled collegiate atti
tudes and summarized that, "Most
students more or less agree that
it's wrong to cheat, but it's also
wrong to tattle on the fellow who
does.”
School Has Doubts
The University of Carolina
boasts the Carolina Honor Sys
tern, hut the school has its doubts.
A professor there reports: "For
the first time in my three years
of teaching at USC 1 did not
have a cheating student' in any
of my classes I monitored all of
my quizzes. In the past the stu
Letters...
(Continued from punr 2)
children love not their parents?
If the least expected politeness
or respect to the parents is
strictly forbidden, how are we
going to believe that Confucian
ism still exist in its genuine
form?
On the other hand, we may
not be satisfied with the words
of an innocent child. A few ex
tracts about jen' from the Four
Books translated by Mr. James
Legge may serve as certain cri
teria for determining whether
Confucianism is being consul- j
ered partially if not all in Com
munist China.
"Filial piety and fraternal ;
submission are the roots of j
‘jen.’
"Their persons being cultur- j
cd, their families were regulat
ed. Their families being regu
I a ted; then their states were!
rightly governed.”
Their may be certain Confu
cian concepts that pertain to
communism, but Confucianism
is never part of communism,
whether or not it is in mainland
China If Confucius is ever con
sidered parallel to Mao Tse-tung,
he may be actually being used,
sadly enough, as a means only
to achieve political and propa
gandist ends.
Chi K. Wai,
Junior, Gen Scl.
*‘Jen’—Humanity. Main theme
of Confucianism.
dents were on their honor."
They are still "on their hon
or” at the University of Red
lands, but the UR Bulldog re
ported several violations during
the final exams, and declared that
today, “Nothing is certain in life
except death, taxes, and cheat
ing"
That was probably the writing
of a hardened senior. The starry
eyed freshman still has hope for
the system In a Wake Forest
College survey, a "large percen
tage" of freshmen endorsed the
honor idea, but only five per
cent of the seniors thought it
effective.
A junior there defined it this
way: "Teachers have the honor,
we have the system."
Teachers Honorable
Hut are teachers all that hon
orable'’ Are they blameless? One
is attempted to question the in
tellectual integrity of a course
which can lx- passed by the re
cording of insignificant details
on a shirt cuf!
If success in such a class is
measured only by the mastery of
bits of information that no one
would be expected to remem
ber a year later, is not a “cheat
sheet" in order? How current and
relevant is a history course that
relies on aging exams, yellowed
copies of which reside in frater
nity files?
Cannot university professors
conceive of evaluatory procedures
other than examinations?
Teachers are asking themselves
this question, and one at Saint
Bona venture University agreed
that mid term exams are a “gross
absurdity." A student there as
serted that, “If a teacher does not
know his students in a small
school like ours well enough to
judge them through class partici
pation, he is not worth his salt.”
Size Requires Tests
But the punch card shuffling
in a large university requires that
tests be administered to a thou
sand students at a time, and that
they be graded by—yes—a com
puter.
Mass education may be unfor
tunate, but it seems to be a neces
sity Where can the student find
the personal challenges that build
integrity when his grade might be
altered more by a faulty ma
chine than a sympathetic profes
sor?
Cheating usually is not a re
sult of the "extreme pressure”
college students supposedly suf
fer. (Students are free of "pres
sure” to the extent that most can
waste at least forty hours a
week.)
Though a University of Wiscon
sin study found cheaters to share
a background of maternal over
protection, it is most likely that
cheating is not the result of com
plex psychological difficulties
Though university education is
becoming a “system” that can
be "beaten" by cheating, this is
more a convenience than a cause.
Students cheat because they are
lazy.
The San Jose College Spartan ,
Daily interviewed the students
and was told by one that, “I cheat.
to please my parents." "Are your !
parents happy about your cheat
ing?” asked the Daily. “My par- j
ents are happy with A's and B’s," |
was the reply
American Way?
After all, pout college edito
I rials, isn’t cheating the American '
way of life? What about doctored
expense accounts, inaccurate tax
returns, and Senator Ted Ken
nedy’s ghost writer at Harvard? j
One of this country’s most im-1
portanl industrialists was thrown
out of college when he turned in
his senior paper and inadvertent-1
!y included with it the bill from
its real author.
College students do cheat, and
some claim to do so patriotically.
Consider this assertion of Wayne ;
State Daily Collegian writer Ron
Seigel:
“With more and better cheat- i
ing, students will have time to
join political groups, to study
conditions in the slums, and to j
investigate agencies like the De
partment of Public Lighting.”
The Department of Public
Lighting evidently needs investi
gating because someone there
| cheats There are two solutions
to that problem: The Department
of Public Water can "rat" on the
Department of Public Lighting. >
or the city manager can conduct
a survey in both departments.
And the local paper can write
i an editorial.
Drakes To Meet
The Drakes have scheduled a
meeting for 6:30 Wednesday in
the SU. They plan to discuss a
function for this term, including
a dance and free kegs. All mem
bers are urged to attend.
Annual Polar Flight
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$450°°
• Eugene to Eugene Transportation
• First Night Hotel Accommodations
• Also Available: Low Cost Tours, Group Fares to Japan
ONLY A FEW SEATS LEFT
344-3871 Evenings Only
that.)
Also remember that the wide
spread acceptance of folk mu
sic, although it was mostly non-1
topical and non-ethnic, indicated >
a significant change in record
buying tastes. To Columbia’s peo
ple, these indications become a
commercial directive and they
became the trend setters rather j
than the trend followers, a unique j
position for a major record com
pany in folk music.
RCA Cashes In
RCA Victor, notably short of j
good folk artists, has tried to
cash in on the "ethnic-kick” (not
my own phrase) by reissuing old
performances on their Vintage
series, starting with Woody Gu
thrie’s Dust Bowl Ballads, and
more recently with reissues of
Lead belly and John Jacob Niles.
The following recordings lead
me to believe that the major rec
ord companies have finally taken
some initiative in folk music and
have come of age:
Bob Dylan, Another Side, Co
lumbia CL 2193 (3 98); CS- 8993
(4.98); Times Are A-Changin’,
Columbia CL-2105 ( 3 98); CS
8905 (498)
Pete Seeger, I Can See a New
Day, Columbia CL 2257 (3.08),
CS-9057 (498); Wc Shall Over
come, Columbia CL-2101 (3.98),
CS-8901 (4 98)
Woody Guthrie, Dust Bowl Bal
lads, RCA Victor LPV-502 ( 4 98)
Leadbelly, Midnight Special,
RCA Victor LPV-505 ( 4 98)
John Jacob Nives; Folk Balla
deer, RCA Victor LPV-513 (4 98)
Leadbelly, Ledbetter’s Best,
Capitol, T-1821 (4.98)
Although this is not a com
prehensive listing of ethnic folk
music available on the three ma
jor labels, it does list the most sig
nificant of recent releases, all
within the last year.
The last four must be consid
ered collector’s items and their
appeal is certainly more limited
than the Seeger &. Dylan record
ings. Seeger’s best album, inci
dentally, is “I Can See a New
Day” and Dylan’s best is one
of his earlier ones, Freewheelin’,
Columbia CL-1986. CS-8786, Au
gust 1963.
As the better of the two Lead
belly reissues offered above, I
choose the Capitol recording
which contains some rare piano
pieces performed by this great
folk singer.
1. Now that graduation's getting
close, have you given any
thought to the kind of work
you'd like to do?
I want to work for
Tlie Good of Mankind.
2. I might have suspected.
I'll probably grow
a beard.
3. Is it required?
It helps. And I’ll certainly
need a pair of sandals.
4. What do you expect to earn?
All I ask is the satis
faction of knowing
I'm helping to Build
a Better World.
5. I’ll be doing much the same
thing. I’ve also lined up
a job that affects society in
a positive way. And if I do
good, I’ll move up, and my
decisions will be even more
important in the scheme of things.
But where’s your beard?
What about sandals?
6. You don’t need them in
Equitable’s development
program. All you need is
an appetite for challenge
and responsibility, and
the desire to do the best
possible job. The pay is
tops, too.
You know, I’m afraid a
beard would itch—could
you get me an interview
with Equitable?
Make an appointment through your Placement Office to see Equitable’s
employment representative on (Insert month, day) or write to Edwurd
D. McDougal, Manager, Manpower Development Division for further
information.
The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States
Home Office; 1265 Ave. of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10019 C Equitable 1965
Art Equal Opportunity Employer