Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / Sept. 27, 1965, edition 1 / Page 2
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Page 2 The Ridgerunner Monday, September 27 The Ridgerunner Martha Dula Editor Ray Elingburg Business Manager Allan Pierce Photography Editor Stephen Swearingen News Editor Sandy Ledbetter Social and Features Editor Bob Jones Lay-out Editor Our Letter Policy Letters to the Editor and submissions for guest editorials should be left at the office of The Ridgerunner or put in the intracampus box in the Student Union Building. All submis sions must be signed. The Ridgerunner will withhold names upon request. We welcome both letters and longer more comprehensive articles of opinion from students, faculty, administration, and from any citizens of the community whose contribution is di rected toward the educational interests of the college. All submissions should be typed and doublespaced. In order to be published in the next issue, all submissions must be in the office by the Wednesday before our Monday deadline. Student Review Board Would Damage Last spring, a request was made to the newly elected SGA that a student review board be established as an organ of the student government. The primary function of such a board would be to review complaints of students who are not completely convinced that they have earned particular grades. Let us take a look at the validity of such a request. _ Ideally, the purpose of education is individual. But an achievement-conscious society such as ours forces its educa tional system to devise some method whereby academic pro gress can be measured. Since this measurement is to a great degree comparative, those who take the measurement have to be capable and experienced. Our profssors have earned the right to evaluate our acade mic progress. They have also earned the right to something called academic freedom. A small part of this academic free dom is feeling free to act on their opinion of our ability and motivation. The administraton of a college such as Ashevlle- Biltmore is striving to establish would, hopefully, not even consider allowing students to interfere with this right. Questoning a professor’s evaluation of us through a stu dent board would be doing ourselves an injustice and turning our educational experience into a farce. To earn recognition from experts is more rewarding than to receive consolation from our peers. Such consolation does not bring us self- satisfaction, but rather self-delusion. To accept and even encourage self-delusion indicates an adolescent attitude. Consider that professors are not infallible, but people. And most normal people have a sense of right and wrong with which they have to come to grips. That grade is what the professor feels we have earned. He does not make it or give it. He assigns it according to merit or lack of merit. There may be a better way to work this acpect of the educational system. But no convincing proof has been given yet of one’s existence. It is up to us to grow up and accept the responsibility for our achievement or lack of achievement. Our college is moving towards academic maturity. Students, let us try to catch its stride. M. D. VALUE OF HONORS PROGRAM ART REVIEW by Elsie Kronenfeld Calm repose, contrasting vivid motion, color, and whimsey, char acterize the first Facuity Art Ex hibition in the library at Ashe- ville-Biltmore College. Lutrelle Wishart’s precise, peaceful and pleasingly quiet work serves nicely to play up the tornado splash of color and rhythm of Gene Bunker’s work. Mr. Bunker almost overwhelms one with the aliveness of his can vas. The whimsey of Bob Gore’s wire sculptures brings one back to earth and laughter. Their simple, yet subtle, humor captures one’s mind and eye. The display leaves a lot to be desired. Though still light and background offer some compen sation, the hanging committee could have taken our eye to each individual piece of art by not hanging all the paintings at the same level. Less regularity would have been less lulling to the eye and would have served to better emphasize each work. But this is PERSPECTIVE by Dr. William Highsmith The ceremonies of September 27 serve two purposes. In the first place, they mark, in a formal way, the beginning of an acade mic year. In 1965 this is parti cularly significant because this is the first year in which we function as a senior college with a gradu ating class. Also, the ceremonies will mark the formal dedication of the D. Hiden Ramsey Library. This important event will bring to our campus many friends of the college and of Mr. Ramsey, one of the leading citizens of the area. The appearance of Gover nor Moore will be the first time that a Governor of North Caro lina has appeared at a formal meeting since the new campus was dedicated in October of 1961. This convocation and dedi cation of the library are import ant events in the history of Ashe- ville-Biltmore College. a small fault to find with a show beautiful to “feel,” and so alive to see. Last spring the General Fac ulty approved in principal the proposition that Asheville-Bilt- more should have an honors pro gram, Debate about the form and structure of such a program con tinues in the Curriculum Com mittee. The following statement on the significance of honors work is reprinted from May, 1958 issue of the Newsletter of the Inter- University Committee o nthe Su perior Student. THE CREST AND SPRAY “We must conceive of the gift ed,” wrote Dean K. Roald Ber- gethon of Brown University, “as the crest and spray of a pyramid al wave rather than as the apex of a cone built in layers. What is done for the gifted must also be done for a fairly large group be low and around them.” In American higher education, what has been done for the gifted has often been done, in a very real sense, for the whole univer sity community. Where honors programs have been soundly es tablished, their influence has been felt by students outside the pro gram, their stimulus has been evi dent in the morale of faculty members, their effect has been perceivable in the tone and stan dards of campus life. , Into his dormitory or fratern ity, the superior student brings a list of stimulating honors books, a set of provocative discussion is sues from his honors colloquium, and often an example of scholar ship and respect for the intellect that must influence his com panions. His knowledge and his values have an impact on campus organizations and caftipus activi ties. His questions and his argu ments brighten classroom discus sions, He sets a standard for others to follow. At universities where the honors program is confined to the College of Arts and Sciences, its standing on campus is evident in the number of students from other colleges who press to be in cluded in Arts and Science honors courses. An engineering student boasted not long ago that he roomed with an honors student and “I read all the books he reads.” At the University of Colo rado, one party in a recent elec tion for student government en dorsed the honors program in its platform and proposed that it be expanded. At the University of New Mexico, students voted to award activity points for honors work in choosing candidates for a sophomore honorary society. For faculty members, the op portunity to confront the best young minds in the give and take of small groups and in individual conferences is a stimulus and a challenge. The honors faculty member often feels the need for deeper scholarship and more thorough preparation, and this is reflected in his teaching outside the honors program. He often re turn to his regular classes with new enthusiasm and demands better performance from his stu dents. He tends to re-examine his customary teaching methods, to attempt innovations and to find that the techniques that work with honors students can be used to improve the teaching of others. A number of honors faculty members have reported that their honors experience led them to put greater emphasis on source material, to rely less on textbooks and to Introduce more variety into their reading assignments. They said they were revising their examinations and quizzes to reduce the number of questions that called for memorized an swers and to include more questions that required the stu dent to synthesize his knowledge and to think his way through problems. The influence of an honor pro gram on students and faculty can be reflected in the total character of a campus and in the values of student life. This is especially true when the size of the program reaches a certain critical mass and the program is clearly visible within the academic community. In this circumstance, an honors program can act as a counter balance to superficial student activities and the preoccupation with big-time athletics. It can serve as a symbol and a remind er of what an education means and what a university is for. The advantages of a more intellectual climate on campus are shared by all the students. Those who base their case for an honors program on the benefit it will bring to the superior stu dent alone will invariably meet resistance from budget-conscious university administrators. Many a dean will balk at the notion of using scarce funds for a program that is only expected to benefit three or four per cent of his stu dents. A broader approach, em phasizing the spillover effects of honors, is essential. An honors proposal must be presented, not as an investment in a few stu dents, but as an investment in the total quality of the university. In the world of higher education such investment adds have been returning rich dividends in many parts of the nation. Letters To The Editor This year I fear our progress ive seers Have gone the way of the world. For it’s know this book and don’t bother to pry. The banner of the “old-fashi oned” teacher’s unfurl’d. Individual study we had begun to think Alight be a good thing after all, With papers and papers and papers and papers and a little bit of “study hall.” But the roll came back with the beginning of the year To check on our whereabouts. We’re no longer allowed to sit on a cloud And ponder up there and not in a chair. It seems to me with such regula tion That little is learned but “the book.” Progressive or “new”—we liked it that way. A boost from the wise, we’d say. Who or what.^ I really don’t care. I feel like pulling my hair. Maybe it’s not “op” to blow my top. But I think I’ll “steam” my share. So take heed learned one with the coveted hoods. The braid, and all the robes. Our enthusiasm’s at stake—our curiosity, too. Give back our exciting educa tion, won’t you? (Ed. note; the editor acknow ledges the request for anonimity of those persons collaborating on this letter.) POEM c. c. cummings ardensteil - henarub - izabeth) this noN allgotupfittokill She with the & how p-e-r-f-e-c-t-l-y-d-e-a-d Unvoice which (frightenS a noisy most park’s least timorous pigeons (squ -I- nts (while showe ring cigaretteash O ver that sere Amingfeeblyoff s,p;r:i;n,g TT.g:^>
University of North Carolina at Asheville Student Newspaper
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Sept. 27, 1965, edition 1
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