Page 8-CR0SSR0ADS>February, 1974
NEWS....Miscellaneous
Pictured with Abbot Edmund on his recent visit to Rome is Rt.
Rev. Martino Matronola, O.S.B., (left) and Most Rev. Rembert
Weakland, O.S.B. (middle).
SATSCORES CONTINUE TEN-
YEAR DECLINE
Average scores on the
Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)
in"^ 1972-73 continued a ten-year
decline, the College Entrance
Examination Board reported. T.
Anne Cleary, chief of the
Program Services Division of
the College Board, said that,
over the past decade, verbal
scores dropped 35 points and
math scores, 21 points.
She discounted speculation
that the decline is due to a drop
in the quality of the American
education system. She said it is
evident “that many factors,
including family and home life,
exposure to the mass media and
other cultural and en
vironmental factors are
associated with students’ per
formance.”
Latest scores are reported in
National Composite College
Board ATP Summary Report
which has been widely
distributed to colleges, high
schools and scholarship spon
sors.
Credit: (Education and National
Affairs V. XXIII, No. 1, P. 3
January 4, 1974)
Richmond
Chapter President
Maurice P. (Rick) Fortune, a
1970 graduate of Belmont Abbey
College, has been elected
president of the Richmond
Abbey Alumni Chapter.
Fortune said the Richmond
Chapter exceeded this year’s
goal of ten students from the
Richmond^ Metropolitan Area.
Fifteen Richmond area students
went to the Abbey this fall. The
chapter’s goal for the 1974-75
year is 25 new students from the
Richmond area.
Other executive officers
elected from the Richmond area
are: Dave O’Neil, vice
president; Jay Ryan, secretary;
and Pete McNally, treasurer.
WABY R eceives
Equipment Gift
Mr. Tommy Stutts, Chief
Engineer, WBT-Radio, recently
donated to WABY, the Belmont
Abbey radio station, eight pieces
of technical eqquipment: one
audimax, two amplifiers, three
playback cartridges, one tape re
order cabinet, and one cartridge
recorder-
The Reverend John P.
Bradley, president of Belmont
Abbey College, said in response
to this gift, “...our students, who
are very dedicated in their work
for Belmont Abbey Radio,
are most grateful for the
equipment Mr. Stutts donated.
Indeed, all of us here at the
Abbey are appreciative since
Belmont Abbey Radio performs
an important service on cam
pus.”
The Identity Of A Catholic College
Editor’s Note: This article in
an excerpt from remarks by Fr.
Kucera, President of liiinois
Benedictine, at the annuai
Trustee’s Dinner. The substance
of Fr. Kucera’s address con
cerns stating the identity of a
Catholic coliege.
It has been pointed out that
colleges that have boldly stated
their purpose and stick to it are
prospering, while many who
attempt to be all things to all
men end up being rejected. This
accusation was recently leveled
at Catholic colleges by Earl J.
McGrath, a one-time United
States Commissioner of
Education.
A basic mistake is being made
in higher education that is
destroying a valuable variety of
differences so necessary for a
healthy system. Change is
inevitable and necessary as
history and society move on, but
where should change occur?
There is ample evidence that
it has occurred in the vital area
of educational values, rather
than where it is most needed--in
the area of teaching methods.
The nonsense of a neutral ap
proach to the problems of life,
letting the young make up their
own minds by presenting endless
alternatives, has produced a
chaotic condition and may well
account for the malaise among
current students and the
disenchantment of high school
seniors who do not want “to
waste their time in college.” Is
this not an indictment of the
aimlessness of American
education?
At the same time, where
change should take place, in
teaching techniques suited to the
modern technical age, much too
little has been accomplished.
Instead of standing firm in the
area of principles, too many
college teachers erect their
fortifications to protect their
cherished methods of teaching-
which are too often simply
variations of the worn-out lec
ture method, as if printing had
never been invented.
Surely there is no great merit
in a system of higher education
composed of comparable but
nondescript colleges and
universities, purveying the ever
increasing body of knowledge
with little or no attempt at
projecting the value system that
is the sum and substance of
man’s security here and
hereafter.
I am very proud of our goals
statement, which takes a firm
stand. It says: “At a time when
private colleges are ex
periencing unprecedented
financial and social pressures to
model themselves bn each other
and on the public colleges and
universities, it behooves Illinois
Benedictine to ask whether it
now has, can strengthen, or can
discover a distinct identity that
will help give the college an
internal coherence and ex
cellence, and a positive external
appeal.” In the area of values,
we answer this question in two
parts: “The first argues that
theology and the theolgical spirit
are central to the college’s
understanding of itself and
essential to the goal of liberal
learning. We do not say that
theology should formally be a
part of every course and
program, but, rather, that
theology, instead of being
quarantined in core type cour
ses, should join with the other
disciplines wherever faculty and
students are exploring questions
with transcendental im
plications. The second part
argues that meaningful and not
simply nominal Catholic
Christian identity requires that
the Catholic members of the
College community actively live
their faith, as appropriate to the
setting, in terms of justice,
charity and service. Con
sciously, and with mutual
patience, the College needs to
bring its various selves into tht
wholeness which makes a
community united at the deepest
levels of human aspiration and
feelings.”
You will hear a great deal in
the days ahead about the study
currently going on on our
campus, about possible
curricular restructuring and so
forth. I want to assure you to
however, that such changes are
changes of technique and
organization, and not of content
or value. A watering down of
values will never happen at
Illinois, Benedictine.
To permit this would be to lose
our sense of purpose, to make
our rudder inoperative and thus
expose the ship to the buffeting
of every wind that blows. Our
success, so amply demonstrated
these days, has been achieved by
holding a firm hand on that
rudder and we intend to continue
to do this. This is our trust which
we accept as our Christian
responsibility to our students,
their parents and our friend-
s. The Roman philosopher,
Seneca, once said that no city
becomes great by chance. No
college becomes great by
chance either. Illinois
Benedictine’s greatness will be
its fidelity to its values and its
ability to provide innovative
educational techniques to make
its efforts effective.