Page 2—Smoke Signals, Wednesday, January 31, 1973
The ValuG of Colleae Education Hot wax i
■ ■ ■ ^ 9 ^ enjoying
By DR. EARLH. PARKER
When I returned from my
doctoral studies at the University
of Edinburgh, Scotland, a friend
extended his congratulations and
declared: “What you have is
worth more than a million
dollars.” My friend was a
millionaire. He added; “A man
may lose his wealth on the stock
market or at gun point. But no
man can take away your
knowledge and wisdom.”
This appraisal raises a most
vital question: what is the value
of a college education? This is a
live question. It is vitally
relevant for everyone in the
Chowan Community: for
students who invest money and
time and energy in pursuit of a
college education; for patrons
who invest monies in the
educational enterprise at
Chowan; for faculty and ad
ministration who invest their life
in the education of youth at
Chowan. The question may not
seem as lively as it was a few
years ago. At that time the sales
pitch for for college education
was both hard and reckless. It
was assumed that everyone
should have a college education.
It was said that a college
education assured financial
returns (an additional $180,000.00
during one’s career, as I recall).
These assumptions were ex
tremely faulty. Some hard
realities have become abun
dantly clear. (1) Some persons
are not college material. Though
they have intelligence,they do not
possess the aptitude and interest
requisite for successful college
work. (2) A college education
does not guarantee a job, mucn
less a position with a lofty in
come. There are a considerable
number of Ph. D.’s who are
unemployed and who in the
present job market are unem
ployable as Ph.D.’s. (3) The
over-sale of college education
helped to create an extremely
short supply of vocational
technicians (plumbers, elec
tricians, and the like). A trained
technician has no problem at the
present in finding a job and
commanding a high salary. (4)
As a result, the strongest sales
pitch today is for vocational
training and technical training
and technical institutes. Colleges
and college education appear to
be somewhat depreciated by the
general public; dwindling college
enrolments and closed colleges
attest a lowered evaluation of
college education.
What is the value of a college
education? Although a college
education is neither possible nor
desirable for everyone and
although a college education does
not assure one tht he will have
fixed financial returns, a college
education has unquestionable
and considerable worth. This has
always beeen the case. It will
always be true. The value of a
college education cannot be
cancelled out; it can only be
obscured and beclouded.
The value of a college
education needs to be clearly
seen and clearly understood. All
of us at Chowan need to be clear
eyed and clear-minded about the
worth of a college education. We
owe it to ourselves and to each
other as administrators, faculty,
and students. We have too much
invested in the educational
venture to ignore or overlook the
abiding values of college
education.
What then is the value of a
college education? The compass
of this paper is necessarily too
brief to attempt more than a
pointing toward some abiding
values of a college education. I
call your attention to three
lasting values in college
education.
1. There is a real financial
value in a college education. As
previously noted, it is a fact that
a college education does not
guarantee one a job, much less a
stated income. But it is also a
fact that a college education is a
requisite for all the professions
and for some other jobs as well.
Moreover, some high echelon
positions in the business world
are closed to those who do not
have a college education. A
college educatim opens doors
that may lead to financial
security.
2. A college education has
immeasurable social value. A
college is an unique institution
and a very singular community.
It is comprised of people (faculty,
students, and administration)
from different sections of the
nation and from other nations.
from different cultures and
traditions. At college one en
counters those who are different
and learns not only to accept but
also to appreciate others. College
brings a widening social
dimension to life. It also brings
deep and lasting friendships. A
man meets his wife-to-be, a
woman her husband-to-be,
another man his future business
or professional partner. And
every one finds that he has an
added new status. He is a
coUege-man. He has standing.
He belongs to a distinctive “club”
- his college.
3. Then there is knowledge and
wisdom which I believe to be the
deepest value of a college
education. In college one is in
troduced to the wisdom of the
ages, to the lissons of history, to
the great ideas of great thinkers,
to the great works of the great
artists. In college one has the
opportunity to acquire a sen
sitive, informed, and trained
mind. This brings us to what I
think is the very nature of
education. Dr. C. B Earp earned
his Ph. D. at Columbia. He
taught classical Greek and Latin
at Wake Forest University. He
once remarked to a class that
“if” the dirt farmer who has
never even seen the proverbial
one-room schoolhouse can cope
with the problems of life better
than I, then he is a better
educated man than I am. At its
deepest level life confronts us
with problems and decisions; the
choice of a mate, the choice of a
vocation, relating to other people,
adjusting to illness, accepting
impending death, and the like.
College offers the opportunity
to gain wisdom and knowledge
for making the choices essential
to successful living. The ultimate
value of college education
depends then upon what we put
into the venture and what we
make of it.
The World of Julius Smith
English teachers are members
of a privileged group. Some
people may be surprised at that
statement; many will disagree.
However, there is at least one
English teacher on the Chowan
campus who considers herself
quite privileged when she has the
opportunity to read the literary
Alone
at Last
By SHELBY TODD
One hot, sultry summer day
Spunky White decided to visit his
grandfather, who lived alone a
half iiiile from Spunky, since he
didn’t have anything else to do.
Spunky was quite an individual in
every way, except that he had a
morbid fear of death. He couldn’t
stand to go to funerals, or even
see a dead person or animal. One
thing that Spunky really enjoyed
was visiting his grandfather.
His grandfather sat on the front
porch of his home, when weather
permitted, rocking in his rocking
diair practically all day long.
This was the main enjoyment
that he got out of life—sitting,
rocking, and watching the
happenings occurring on the road
in front of his house.
Spunky was (S'oceeding along
the path that led to his grand
father’s house, enjoying the
beauty of this summer day. In
fact, he said to himself, “Boy,
this is ^ great day to be alive. I
hope noting happens to spoil this
day.”
By now Spunky had arrived at
the short lane that led to his
grandfather’s house. As he
looked down the lane, which was
some one hundred feet long, he
noticed his grandfather sitting in
his rocking chair. As he got
closer, he became aware of the
fact that the chair was not
moving. Arriving on the porch, he
noticed the serenity of his
grandfather. He then realized
that he was, at last, alone—with
Death.
Official Visit
BUCHAREST (AP) — French
Foreign Minister Maurice Schu
mann will pay an official visit
to Romania Jan. 29-30 at the in
vitation of his Romanian count
erpart, George Macovescu, the
Romanian news agency
Agerpres reported today.
attempts of her students. They
can be quite revealing at times.
For example, most people think
of Julius Smith as an outstanding
athlete. That he is, we all agree,
but Mrs. Batchelor discovered
that there is another side to
Julius—the poetic side. To
illustrate this versatility of our
favorite halfback we print the
following selections; they speak
for tiiemselves as “the other side
of Julius Smith.”
MINE
One day.
There will be a child bom,
A child full of love, happiness,
and sorrow;
A child with skin of gold
And a smile with something more
than the happiness
Of a smile, but one that will make
me feel
I am a creator.
My work will grow;
My work will prosper;
I am a helper of God!
My child! My child!
Mne!
PLEASE
My mind is going through sveral
changes,
Due to the unstable day to day
dianges I go through.
If and when I ever become
completely well again,
It will be necessary to keep a tab
on myself
So that in the future things may
be a little simpler.
Please pray that I may one day
be able to put it all together
Sothat I can help the world while
helping myself!
Please!
While the English 101 class was
studying irony in short stories,
back during the summer of 1972,
Mrs. Batchelor found another
student who has expressed an
interest in creative writing.
Shelby Todd, a part-time student
from Ahoskie, wrote the
following short, short story to
illustrate his understanding of
the ironic.
Most people are now enjoying
watching an occasional weekends
the ABC network concerts on
television. Just recently Freddie
King had the opportunity to be
seen on TV along with Grand
Funk Railroad. Freddie King
sings and plays modern blues
guitar with the best of them. His
voice is raspy and ingratiating,
his guitar sound with am
plification is very distinctive. His
album “Texas Cannonball” is
probably his finest blues album.
It was produced by Leon Russell
and Denny Cordell. King plays a
variety number of blues on the
album, the high points being the
jam choruses of “Me and My
Guitar,” King was escorted by
Don Preston and Leon Russell on
“You was Wrong.” Issac Hayes
also accompanied King on the
tune, “Can’t Trust Your Neigh
bor. King is definitely playing
with fine talent on “Texas
Cannonball” who however, is not
related to B.B.
Many of us know Ry Cooder,
who is noted for his bottleneck
guitar playing and country blues
style. His latest album is
“Boomers Story,” which is
characterized with his typical
traditional country blues. Cooder
was a studio musician from the
ages 18-23. He now is 25 and has
made three albums of his own on
Reprise records, “Ry Cooder,”
“In the Purple Valley,” and
“Boomer’s Story.” His latest LP
has a couple of folk songs which is
typical of his country style. On
the album there are also several
war songs such as “Rally ’Round
the Flag” from the Civil War and
“Comin in on a Wing and a
Prayer,” from War World II.
These songs are not militant
songs but more on the patriotic
positive side of a modest war
song.
Remember about five years
ago Cooder jammed with the
Rolling Stones and Nicky
Hopkins. The album came out
called “Jamming with Edward”
much to their discredit, and
Cooder also played with the
Stones on “Let it Bleed.” So with
his germinating talent Cooder is
becoming more respected in the
music world
—Harvey R. Wadman
—David L. Brooks
f
pwni!
BUSINESS IS SLOW—Faculty members of Chowan’s Religion Department
wait for the rush at registration for Spring Semester, held January 16th. Left
to right are. Dr. Earl Parker, Mrs. Daisy Lou Mixon, Mrs. Esther Whitaker
and Mr. Rowland Pruette.