THE UNC NEWS WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 1959 PACE 2
Chaosi Rules Attendance Policy
J EDITOR'S SANCTWV ,r
- rl he class attendance. rules at this Uni
versity are beyond the point of under
standing. Instead of following the feasible
tint of black and white, our system takes
on the shade of grey confusing not only
the student but the instructor as well.
How many students have walked into a
class meeting on the first day and heard
the instructor say, "I'm not too sure what
t cjv -ihrmf rl attpndanfP. AcCOldinCT tO
W JH J ..-- ci
the powers to be, I'm deemed the respons
ibility of deciding how many cuts you
mav have."
Then the professor usually dictates to
his class his views on attendance and
formulates pdlicy hi it rigid or lax.
(nmu Tipn't vn cm-A wliit attpnrlanrp
, J. I 1 1 V 1 1 i V 1 1 I HVll ' ' ' . ...... ........
rules should be, while others fall, back, on
the one mandate which reads. "No student
may cut over 23 per cent of the class meet
ings.'' Who should decide on attendance poli
cy, anyway the administration, the depart
ment or tlie instructor? There is sound ar
gument available for all three sides. How
ever, under the present system, there is no
uniformity. Some instructors allow no un-
limit. How can the student assume the
proper values from this esoteric attendance
policy?
It is doubtful that the student, particu
larly the visiting Carolina student during
summer sessions, finds any sense of logic
in our present policy and, according to per
sonal experiences, the instructors have been
in a chaotic state of indecision over it
since it was first introduced here in the
Spring of . 1958.
Why not let the individual student de
termine the attendance regulations? After.
all, it is the student who is paying for the
education. If a person buys a ticket to at
tend a movie or a play, no one forces that
person to sit through it or even show up.
After he has paid for his seat it is his pre
rogative to do wuh the ticket as he pleases.
Accordingly, it the individual pays his
. bills .and finds, he can accomplish just as
much (academically) at Carolina, attend
ing the lectures he chooses, without suffer
ing "scholastically, why should anyone ad
vise him to the contrary?.
. Because it's policy plain and simple
and that's all the student need know. You
can't fight citv.hall. not even with a type
writer. But until the elastic, attendance
rule is changed, the felow who made an A
in a course, but was dropped with an F
for excessive class cuts must still go around
campus, muttering to himself, "I wonder
what I've missed."
t fk:Y
campus pulse and temperature:
JLETTYURS
WAYNE THOMPSON
Off The Cuff
Carolina . . . more aptly its
reknown gentlemen . . . re
ceived the attention of Readers
Digest in a recent issue.
Under tihe title, "Laughter,
The Best Medicine" came this
amusing anecdote, penned by
Barnaby C. Keeney and quoted
from the Brown Alumni Month
ly: "After a dance at the Uni
versity of North Carolina, one
member came back to his fra
ternity house with tie askew,
hair disheveled, shirt torn and
- face scratched. Asked what had
happened, tihe chap drew him
self up and said, "Sir, I have
... Vwpn fiahtinu nver thp honor of
a lady."
"Which side were you on?"
. -And the chap's answer to that
one could have been. "I wasn't
on either side. She was sitting
in my lap."
Yours truly learned a lesson
- in devotion the other day or you
could better define it as, "If
j . ... 1 . .... -I
oogs aren 1 a mans uesi uinu,
then they're inferior to a sand
. flea in intelligence."
On with, the story:
.. Bill Wardlaw, a junior from
Atlanta, has a couple of pet
dogs or campus strays if you
will, which he keeps at the Chi
Phi House.
- One cf the dogs, a hound pup
who Bill calls, "Euripides" and
the other, a little terrier of
- sorts named, "Spot", wanted to
accompany Bill to town the oth
er day. Bill was definite with
his answer, which was "no".
Anyway, to make a short
story long, Bill took off in his
convertable and the dogs fol
lowed . . . the chase was on!
Wardlaw's trip to town was a
diverted path up McC3uley
Street, a right turn to Pittsboro
St., another sharp right to
Cameron Ave. . . . and still the
dogs followed. Down Cameron
through campus to Raleigh St.
A sharp left on Raleigh to
Franklin. Another left to town
and, for diversionary purposes,
a left to the parking lot by the
Port Hole.
Spot, the smaller dog, gave
out during the long stretch on
Cameron, but no sooner had
Bill turned off the ignition when
up popped an exhausted, slob
bering Euripides, tail-wagging,
tongue hanging and a glitter of
success in his eyes.
Incdentally his reward for the
near two-mile journey was a
free trip back . . . and, yes, I
believe in the tender "Lassie
Come Heme" Story . . . How
could I dcubt it?
.
Speaking of shaggy dog tales,
a coed brought her canine pet
to philosophy class the other day
and, quite ironically, the dog's
presence received no particular
comment from the instructor or
the other students.
The dcg. a huge, well-disci-
UNC NEWS
Editor:
Business Manager:
Special Features Editor:
Publications Board:
H. Wayne Thompson, Jr.
: Craig Gibbon
. Stan Fisher
Sam Magill, Mrs. Martha DeBerry,
Prof. Ken Byerly and Pete Ivey
General Manager:
Sam Magill
Director of Summer Session:
Offices
Dr. A. K. King
Telephone
Graham Memorial
93361 or 93371
plined animal, listened to the
lecture for an . hour and five
minutes and then yawned aloud.
Which all goes to show that
even a dcg becomes time con-
scious during an 80-minutes
class period.
And Thereby Hangs A Tale!
SUNBURN
By STAN FISHER
Carolina gentleman, waiting in
dormitory parlor for date to
ccme down, felt a hand on his
arm. Looking around, he saw a
rather elderly woman. She lean
: ed, pointed to cute coed stand
ing near, and whispered:
"Would you please keep an
eye on her? She's waiting for
some friends and that gentle
man over there looks like he's
, been drinking."
And who could be sarcastic
about a thought such as this?
College students take up the
damndest fads! As if it wasn't
enough to begin hunting with
bows and arrows again, some
. wise guy has started squirrel
hunting with darts. The first evi
dence of his attempts show he's
taking on to the game fast!
Nothin's sacred anymore when
' Carolina squirrels have to start
fearing for their lives.
. , A philosophy instructor, so the
j scuttlebutt has it, recently
; proved his.non-existance.
There are . some instructors v
around that .could take this for
a lasting habits .
Another instructor. French this
time, showing up for his first,
class with bandaged neck, as
, sured .class "his head wouldn't
fall off." -
Oh. well, everybody expects
bad news on the first day of
class.
Summer school attendee for
two sessions got a new room
mate in the second session shuf
fle, which is net too bad except
that be gets up at five thirty
EDITOR:
With reference to Mr. Merrell's
letter in your issue of July 1, I
feel he is representing the "typi
cal" attitude toward contempor
ary art , which prevails on this
campus. Unfortunately, this atti
tude concerns not only art icon
temporary or otherwise) but also
the other disciplines which are
considered to be "cultural.", This
was vividly pointed cut to me in
a study I did last fall on cam
pus. A "prestige" rating was ob
tained for each of 40 major fields
frcm a statistical cross-section of
the undergraduate student body.
These 40 fields were then rank
ordered with the highest rated
field as 1, second highest as 2,
and so on down to 40. The rank
ings of the "cultural" fields were
as follows: Comparative Litera
ture - 32; Comparative Linguis
tics, 34; Art, 38; Classics, 37;
music, 38; Dramatic Art, 40.
Rankings .below 30 also included:
Romance Languages, 31; Sociol
ogy, 33; Anthropology, 35; and
RTVMP, 39.
What were the reasons used for
rating Art low? The trend seemed
to be such comments as "unim
portant," "unnecessary," "for the
elite, . . . rich, ... the cultured
person of leisure," "it stinks," or
"for odd-balls" and so on. I think
ail this points out the real prob
lem involved - most people do not
understand art and do not care
enough about broadening them
selves intellectually to even WANT
to learn anything "cultured."
They have not developed or
learned aesthetic values, and as
a consequence become defensive
about their intellectual lack in the
area by denouncing its value.
This is not intended to just be
a rebuttal to Mr. Merrell (who is
a personal friend) but an attempt
to point out a great lack which
exists on this, and I'm sure, on
other campuses.
And by the way, psychologists
have been using art' for many
years in a variety of ways.
Not feeling qualified to comment
on the subject of art itself, I
asked a friend to do so. That re
ply is the "Retaliation" below. In
addition, in a letter to me, she
stated, "He is . . . not speaking
cf modern art but of modern
visual art. ... I feel he is only
parroting previously heard re
marks. He is right, many of the
"artists of today" do delude the
public, consciously, and they taint
the field of art for th true artist.
ajn.
"I don't even believe in God
at that hour of the morning,"
muttered the disgruntled roomie.
Somewhere on this huge cam
pus there's a Carolina coed who
doesn't have a date and is very
embittered about the whtle busi
ness. How else can you explain
someone upstairs throwing wa
ter at the couples entering Mc
Iver dorm?
Said girl or girls, may obtain
But the criticism should be placed
on the viewer who doesn't care
enough about art to distinguish
one from the other and therefore
lumps them all together. This par
ticular, critic (and there are more
critics than artists) impresses me
with his lack of understanding
and his need to express this lack.
I frankly can't see wihere he's
said anything really vital."
Miss Tarbox has attended Wom
an's College '(where she majored
in art) and UNC. In September
she will enter U. of Conn, where
she will take a degree in English.
Being something cf an artist (and
a poetess) I think she has spoken
well; she is well qualified, which
is more than can be said for many
writers whose letters appear on
these pages.
JIMMY SCOTT
EDITOR:
Modern Art is a Hoax" quote
King Louis XV. How tiresome to
say the same thing, pity poor
Louis that he isn't here to see the
disgraceful slop we are subjected
to these days. -But Louis was a
King and Kings have a right to
go around with their heads in the
mud.
Art is a reflection of the world,
the artist is the mirror. Much
which is art is not art. Art is
truth - a philosophic truth which
puts before you a quality hitherto
unnoticed. It brings into focus con
cepts enabling the non-artist to
realize their existance. Art is un
disciplined, free to deviate within
itself, underlying the struggle for
life, action, and vitality. The art
ist is limited by his raw material,
his perception or lack of it, and
by society. Society is wrong in
judging the artist of his work with
the same standards used for the
druggist and his pharmacy.
Why should I plead the cause
of art? Who are you to question
the reasons of the artist? It is
for you he paints.
But I too condemn the deceiver,
the "pseudo." Much that is frau
dulent occurs in art, however you
must realise that this is nothing
new two hundred years ago a
copy of a famous painting was
presented at the Vatican where it
hung until last week. "Alas, the
truth will out." Is there a Shakes
peare, Patrick Dennis?
May I suggest a quick course in
the fundamentals of Art, then par
rot Maurois if you wish. He, too,
may be pulling your leg.
RUTH TARBOX
NORWICH. CONN.
date or dates by 'calling Moose
Butler fright tackle on the foot-,
ball squad at 89183. -
OVERHEARD: - Advisor "tell
ing advisee: "The only thing
that kept you in this school was
the Grace of God, me, .and a
fast outfield."
SOCIOLOGIST: a psychology
major who couldn't make the
grade. (Borrowed from an in
structor who must remain nameless.)