Another warm, sunny day in Maine. _____
Letters cont.
I have felt in a sense apolo-'
getic for my doing reasonably
well in my courses and for my
demanding harder and more
valuable courses here, and I'm
tired of it.
In the Statement of Purpose
adopted by the Trustees of
Guilford College, the first sen
tence reads, "Guilford College
is an educational commu
nity. . . " and then goes on to
qualify that statement by pro
claiming adherence to several
traditions. I feel it is time for the
administration, the faculty, and
the students of Guilford to re
affirm the basic purpose of an
educational institution: provi
ding the best education possi
ble for each student. This
purpose does not offer support
to professors' whims, likes, and
prejudices; it does not pledge
itself to extracurricular activi
ties at the expense of academ
ics, and it does not allow
students to breeze through
courses that are simplistic to the
point of childishness.
Further in the Statement is
the statement: "Guilford Col
lege expects each student to
develop a broad understanding
and appreciation of the impor
tant elements of our intellectual
and social heritage and at the
same time to develop a special
competence in one chosen disci
pline. . . " Should this under
standing and competence be
limited by the laziness of stu
dents and teachers to the bare
minimum required or should it
be forced to be the utmost
maximum possible in each stu
dent? To recieve just value for
the tuition, time, and effort
surrendered by each student for
their classes, I feel that a
student should be offered, in
deed required, to work if not the
Adele Groulx Exhibit
Greensboro artist Adele
Groulx will open an exhibit,
"Recent Watercolors: Flow
ers," from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday,
Sept. 7, in the Founders Hall
Gallery at Guilford College.
The public is invited to the
opening, which will have live
music by Bobby Doolittle, newly
appointed Guilford College phy
sician. The exhibit will continue
through September.
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utmost load then a load heavy
enough to convince the student
college is not a party. If one
does not wish to work at what
the job of student entails, then,
as in any other profession, he
should not be a student.
What I have said may, and
probably will to some, seem to
be exclusive in that a student
must be all work and no play. I
do not feel this is so; the reason
for this is that I have constantly
made my requirements relevant
to the individual. Also I wish to
say that I do not want a student
to work even 40 hours a week at
school; indeed, I only argue
with only a small percentage of
the courses and with the dearth
of upper level courses in certain
areas. I enjoy having fun,
partying, and being lazy. I do
not enjoy, however, taking cour
ses which are easy to the level
of boredom. If a course is to be
required either by all or for a
major, all I ask is that the level
of work be required to be
worthy of necessity.
Sincerely,
John Steely
Ms. Groulx, head of the art
department at Guilford College,
has studied with Magda Mader
in Greensboro and at Vassar
College, the Art Students'
League in New York City, the
Corcoran School of Art in Wash
ington and the Tyler School of
Art in Rome.
She earned her M.F.A. in
painting at UNC-Greensboro.
Busby tailed in Penobscot
by J.T. Shields
I went to Hurricane Island
unprepared. I suppose that was
partly accidental and partly
unavoidable. The accidental
part consisted of all of those
days of training when I really
should have run or swam far
ther or faster. Of greater sig
nificance, however, were the
challenges which defied pre
paration. How, when one
boards a plane one morning in
85° heat can one be prepared to
sleep in temperatures below 40°
that night? How, after facing
the trials and tribulations of
Boston's Logan Airport can one
dehustle and debustle one's self
to adjust to the pace of a Maine
lobster town? How, after a
semester of sitting, studying,
and sleeping until 11:00 can one
adjust to rising at 5:00 for a long
day of running and other ex
haustion provoking activities?
Adapting is, of course, one of
the primary objectives of the
Outward Bound experience.
The brochure is probably pur
posefully sketchy on the details.
The Music Ensemble
announces:
the first annual
NORTH CAROLINA
HERITAGE ARTS FESTIVAL
In order to organize this
festival in time for this fall, we
need as many people as we can
get to help out. We are planning
to have a festival with lots of
good ol' timey music, a few
good concerts, and a great
square dance to end it all! if you
have any ideas and/or if you'd
like to help us organize this
festival, please contact Susan
Ide, P.O Box 17287 or Debbie
Deich, P.O. Box 17121.
THANKS!
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GUILFORDIAN, September 3, 1980,
All the information I had about
Hurricane Island when I went
was that there was a lot of time
on a 30-foot open pulling boat,
some rock climbing, a ropes
course to be navigated, and a
very vigorous time of experi
mentation.
There is much discovery right
from the beginning. Of course
we all wondered about where
we'd sleep and change our
clothes and how we'd go to the
bathroom. Who could have
guessed it all would be so
unavoidably obvious?
The obvious was, I suppose,
an issue of some significance on
the trip. One of our instructors,
for instance, was called "John"
and "Spence," but I was never
sure until the end of the trip
that his name was "John Spen
cer." Then of course it seemed
that the answer was obvious.
But simple things look compli
cated when you are off balance.
We did learn to pay attention
despite ourselves. As our class
of eleven sailed out of Rockland
the first day in T-shirts and
cutoffs, we watched another
HIOBS boat sail in. All the crew
aboard the other boat were in
wool pants and heavy sweaters.
Forty-five minutes after we
looked at each other and shrug
ged, we were digging in our
bags for long johns and watch
caps. (By the end of the trip, I
had a greater empathy with
sheep and other wool bearing
beasts than I had ever imagined
possible.)
There is little effort made in
Outward Bound courses to buf
fet the participants from a direct
encounter with their environ
ment, be it the sea or the
mountains. There are real risks.
One works on being prepared,
but confrontation with circum
stances beyond one's control is
a regular occurrence.
All the Outward Bound pro
grams place some emphasis on
personal development. The
PAGE THREE
unique aspect of the program
that stresses the individual is
"solo." For solo at the sea
school, each student was placed
on their own island. It is not so
much a survival test but more a
chance to sell how well you can
live with yourself (no distrac
tions allowed) for three days. I
wondered "What would I do?
What would I think about?
What would I eat?"
By the end of the time alone
on my own island, I would have
made Maslow proud. My imag
ination had such vivid images of
every good meal I had ever had.
I was stuck on food, which was
pretty amazing when one con
siders how slimy the stuff
available was. When left to our
own devices on the island, our
diets consisted of variations of
heavily salted, slightly gritty
muck-mussels, clams, sea ur
chins, snails, etc.
During that time, I became
convinced that the one thing
less edifying than an immature
woman was an immature straw
berry. (Does that sound sexist?
We're all friends and if it
sounds dirty, it's in your mind).
When not left to our own
devices, we fared much better.
The food philosophy of those
who cooked and packed our food
tended to be macrobiotic (which
I was surprised to find out, did
not mean "big living things").
It was great, except that the
sudden change in diet fre
quently left many of us with our
butts over the bow, taking
excessive boat speed checks
The life at sea was great. But
just as we were getting our sea
legs, we were dropped off at
Hurricane Island, nicknamed
the Granite Hilton, featuring
latrines and mattresses. The
island itself used to be a quarry.
We were not on earth long
however, before we were led to
unnatural heights. Rock climb
ing and a ropes course were
survived without nosebleeds,
though my ribs did suffer from
perpetual belay.
The weather was unbeatable
- cool crisp days and arctic
nights. The water temperature
was equally as cordial, soaring
to 45° by the time we left. The
morning run and dip always left
everyone bright eyed and bushy
tailed, even though eyes had
been blood shot and tails down
right droopy when we got out of
our bags an hour before.
There are many "accep
table" benefits of the Outward
Bound experience. For in
stance, learning the value of the
"high energy investment/high
return" lifesytle. But, deep
down, maybe the most import
ant thing was just running away
to the sea. Part of me was born
in the wrong period of history.
I'm sure it was just an accident,
but there has always been a
yearning to have been of the
period of sailing ships. Hurr
icane Island is a perverse
luxury, but such perversion has
its proper place.
Jim Shields was allowed to
attend the Hurricane Island
Outward Bound School through
the courtesy of the Center for
Creative Leadership, Smith
Richardson Foundation, Green
sboro.