Page 4
Maroon and Gold
Thursday, April 30. 1970
Hardison Speaks Here
(Continued from page 1)
second Liberal Arts For
um Humanities Lectur
er, delivered an address
entitled ‘‘Summerhlll and
After”, in which he
stressed a pessimistic
view for the future of the
humanities and stated that
the only hope for a non
technical education lies
in the small liberal arts
college. His lecture,
stimulated by the actions
of President Nixon and the
District of Columbia
school system, stressed
the point that the pre
sent educational move
ment is that away from
the humanities.
In a March, 1970,
speech, Nixon stated that
forms of ‘‘post - se
condary education (other
than humanities) are far
better suited to the in
terests of many young
people,” and that he pro
poses “ to create a ca
reer education program
funded at $100 million in
fiscal 1972 to assist stat
es and institutions in
meeting the additional
costs of starting new pro
grams to teach critically
- needed skills in com
munity colleges and tech
nical institutes.”
On April 3, 1970, the
District of Columbia
school system signed a
contract with an educa
tional consulting firm to
provide “accountabili
ty,” operative words of
business. Hardison stated
that “it is clear enough
how the wind blows in
Washington. It blows
technical.”
He also said that there
are fifteen such consult
ing firms throughout the
country and that Washing
ton is not the only place
that has applied techni
cal aspects to the human
ities. “Twelve faculty
members at John Tyler
Community College in
Chester, Virginia, have
agreements’ that their
teaching will produce
specific, measurable re
sults in their students.
In essence each of the
teachers agreed that he
would be able to provide
evidence when his class
ended that his students
could master the object
ives of his course. The
twelve teachers are
members of the humani
ties department. Only
those faculty members
who participate in the
program will be eligible
for merit’ pay increases
next year.”
1
Hardison said that he
suspects that the last
shreds of humanity will
be crushed unless a
“Humanities renais
sance” occurs within the
small Uberal arts coll
eges, These “private
sectors” can resist the
technical trend and per
haps, “even in 1984 there
may be a few departments
of English and a lew
schools more Interested
in human beings than ma
chines.
“Since the push toward
accountability is govern
ment supported and has a
sure-fire appeal to the
layman - it is likely to
spread rapidly. As it
spreads, it will threaten
those few traces of aes-
those few traces of
aesthetic education that
can be found in public
schools. You cannot test
a class on happiness, on
creativity, on freedom;
you can most easily (per
haps only) test it on know
ledge.”
Hardison attacked that
technical education and
its advance into the hu
manities as being “nar
row, over - specialized,
and unsuited to the con
ditions of life outside the
classroom..It trains peo
ple to hold jobs. It has
no social commitment.,
it is neutral...it trains
servants of the system —
any system — not re
sponsible citizens. Hu
manistic education is so
cially oriented, while
technical education is in
formation and skill -
oriented. The goal of the
first is nobility, of the
second,jobs.”
Harper Attends
Conference
Dr. Charles Harper of
Elon College attended the
National Council for the
Social Studies Area Con
ference at the University
of Georgia, Athens. The
conference entitled, “So
cial Studies and the Edu
cational Disadvantag
ed,” was held on Febru
ary 22- 24, 1970.
The conference dealt
with instructional solu
tions for teachers of the
culturally deprived
youngster. During the
conference he chaired the
February 23 morning
^roup session entitled,
‘Solving Practical Prob
lems in Helping Teachers
Change.”
Don Kirwin, left, and Bob Lane were chairman and
co-ordinator of last week’s Liberal Arts Forum Svm-
posium week. . . ^
SAT Scores
Questioned
Brunwick, Me. - (I.P.)
Bowdoin College an
nounced recently that its
Faculty voted to elimi
nate all College Board
examination require
ments for admissions
candidates.
“Effective immediate
ly,” said Director of Ad
missions Richard W.
Moll said Bowdoin’s de
cision to make the Col
lege Boards optional
“represents, for one
thing, an attempt to em
phasize our interest in
the highly-motivated stu
dent, whatever the level
of test scores.
Mr. Moll said recent
studies conducted here
have prompted the liberal
arts college to question
frequent assumptions that
College Board scores
correlate well with per
formance patterns incol-
lege.
Analysis is difficult,
however, largely because
our own definition of ‘suc
cess at the College’ is
constantly broadening,”
he said, “and cannot be
stated simply in terms of
grades and rank. But even
if one concentrates on
numerical indications of
success or failure at
Bowdoin, results warn
against over-confidence
in the predictive value of
standardized test
scores.”
"The educational pro
cess is improved by per
sonalization — and ad
missions plays an im
portant role in the edu
cational process. As the
lecture gives way to
seminar and independent
study, and as highly
structured grading sys
tems give way to No
Rank and Pass- Fail, so
must the evaluation of a
college candidate be
come less encumbered
with scores and formulas,
and concentrate more on
the appraisal of those hu
man qualities which can
not be measured by stan
dardized tests, but which
nonetheless are predict
ors of success in a par
ticular institution of
learning and in a parti
cular area of contribu
tion thereafter.”
Many colleges, includ
ing Bowdoin, “have fail
ed in their attempts to
communicate to candi
dates, schools, and par
ents the relatively sub
ordinate role of College
Board results in the ad
missions process,” Mr.
Moll said.
“Although most col
leges emphasize that ac
tual school performance
and personal accomplish
ment are the key factors,
candidates too often esti
mate their chances for
admission to College X
by comparing their CEEB
scores with that col
lege’s SAT medians.
‘Also, the quality of
College X’s entering
class is often judged
purely in terms of these
medians, even though the
admissions committee
passed up many high -
scoring candidates for
others with lower test
scores but stronger ov
erall records.”
Outdoor Performance
International Club Formed
By Foreign Students
Remember the first day
you arrived at Elon Col
lege; the strangeness and
loneliness. How cold the
corridor of the dorms
felt, and how everyone
seemed wrapped up in
their little world. Unfor
tunately this feeling can
prevail throughout the en
tire college life of a for
eign student if no one
cares. Well finally some
one does care.
President of the new
ECIC (Elon College In
ternational Club) Laurent
Changuion explained the
purpose for the formation
of this new club. “Our
purpose is explained in
two parts of our consti
tution. A) To foster mu
tual understanding be
tween students, staff, and
personnel from all na
tions represented in the
Elon community. B) To
encourage an exchange of
ideas toward better in
ternational understand
ing.” In a less formal
way, Changuion explain
ed, “We don’t want to
be just a foreign Island
in America. We want to
get together just to get
to know each other bet
ter; if we have problems
we can talk about them.
We don’t want the pro
gram to become so for
mal that we can’t have
a good time.”
When asked about the
need for a club like this
on the Elon College cam
pus Changuion replied,
‘We have students from
places like: Canada, Ger
many, South Africa, Cen
tral America, Jordan,
Viet Nam, Thailand, Ni
geria, India, Cuba, and
Korea just to name some
of them; each of these
persons have different
customs and ideas. It is
very difficult for some
foreign students to get to
know anyone and this is
one reason for the need
of a foreign club.” Duke,
UNC-CH, and NC State
have similar clubs.
Although the club was
not formed until recent
ly, Changuion already
views its success as pro
mising. “We had about
20 persons at the last
meeting. 1 think that it is
a marvelous response.
We invite any students
to take part in our meet
ings.” He went on to say
it is beneficial for Amer
ican students and foreign
students alike to get to
gether and know more a-
bout each other.
The next meeting will
be held April 30, in the
Large Lounge on second
floor of the Student Un
ion. Changuion empha
sized that everyone is
invited.
DIRECTOR LECTURES
(Continued from page 1)
The inner world is
more important than the
other world. Today s
youth, Roose-Evans felt,
is becoming more aware
of this fact. This is why
they are unhappy with
their education -- be"
cause of the direction it
is taking.
“Experience must al
ways precede under
standing,” he pointed out.
We must, he felt, learn
to relate to one another,
but also develop r®"
flection, an understanding
of ourselves.
SUMMER STUDIES IN EUROPE
The “windows of the
world” will be flung o-
pen, come June, for some
lucky college students
with^a yen to learn “how
it is” in faraway places.
The Off - Campus
Studies Program of Guil
ford College In Greens
boro is sponsoring three
such studies again this
year In close coopera
tion with the University
of North Carolina at
Greensboro.
The Summer Study in
London provides one week
in Paris and five weeks
in London. Included wH
be visits to major points
of historical interest,
weekly tours outside Lon
don, and tickets to play®
and other relevant
formances In London,
Stratford and othe
cities. There will be dally
lectures.