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THE DECREE
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11. 1966
Wesleyan Graveyard
Wesleyan, as it exists now, is destined to become a
graveyard. The tombstones shall bear the names of men
who endeavored to make a “college” of Wesleyan as well
as those names of the phonies who only make it a place
with a false facade. The surroundings of the cemetery
shall be green and beautiful with flowers and trees and
towering memorials. The birds will chant their melancholy
tune as Wesleyan today, turns to dust.
The phonies who at present have the power of formu-
laticri are painting a pretty picture, but a picture which
lacks depth. A picture is painted on the outside while no
attempts are made to right the wrongs that exist on the
inside.
So many wrongs exist that must be corrected before
this college can ever expect to grow—can ever expect to
be anything. Surely, it is a small school with much expand
ing to do—but how can expansion be expected when the
foundations are crumbling. Yet still, our ‘leaders” continue
with their painting with material colors of construction
and p-omise, cclors that will surely only disappear with
age.
Yet, there are those men here who see a potential in
Wesleyan—but they can only fight so long without be
coming overcome with the fumes of failure and hopeless
ness. They cannot be expected tc remain at Wesleyan—
for there are better opportunities waiting as these few men
who are among the honored of the graveyard are those
who give the most to this college and when they leave—
will take the most away and leave only the dead to pre
side.
And the dead ask that we paint a pretty picture with
them and guide the brushes across a canvas of air. But,
we cannot. Wesleyan is destined to become a graveyard
because of the dead artists. It will be beautiful but crumb
ling with decay of injustice and malpractice and the birds
will sirg their mournful song. “This is the way the world
ends. . . .”
The "G” Professor
At one time the “Gentlemen’s
“C” was considered the desired
mark for the college student.
However, with the Increased
competition in college and with
future employers asking for stu
dents with good averages, the stu
dent must now aim for A’s and
B’s,
Unfortunately, there still exist
on the campus faculty meml)ers
who dish out “Gentlemen’sC’s”
to everyone. C students make C’s,
B students make C’s, A students
make B’s, D students make C’s,
and F students makeD’s. Every
thing Is curved toward a C. These
men can seemingly find no student
who does either outstandingly
good or outstandingly poor work.
In their opinion, “Everybody’s
average.”
One may spot the “C” profs by
several traits. First, the student
never gets a numerical grade on a
quiz or papser. The rating is
always a letter grade. Second,
usually the quizzes are multiple
choicT, true-false, or listing.
This type of testing quite ef
fectively eliminates any chance
for individual initiative and
forces the student often to guess
at.“trick” questions. Finally,
these teachers’ lectures are
characterized by vague state
ments and personal monologues.
The student is forced to weed out
the teacher’s own experiences
Letters To The Editor
LETTER
Dear Editor;
Yesterday I chanced to over
hear a local citizen say that he
had gone to the college (NCWC)
to hear a guest lecturer (proba
bly a Danforth Lecturer) and that
after the little “chapelpresenta
tion”, he was invited to join Pres
ident Collins and the guest speak
er in the faculty lounge for coffee,
talk, etc. He declined, saying that
he thought the lecturer’s faculty
time shouldn’t be interrupted by
an outsider.
Now here is the alarming truth.
A lecturer’stimeusually is “fac
ulty time”. The studentsliear the
lecturer (1) at chapel (one hour),
(2) at night (one and a half to two
hours) and (3) in rare and isolated
class appearances. The rest of
the time he or she is wined, dined,
and entertained by the faculty
and/or administration. The stu
dents (through their tuition) indi
rectly pay for this outside expert
who is supposed to supplement
and enrich their education and
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS PotpolirH
BrTimiTT-a r
/ / ^
r
Si
“1 5AY HE WA5 A VMG POOK. ENGU5H INStmiCTOK-
0^\/\0\yb HE WA5NT Wc NUTHIN'."
Now some students may rejoice
at this type of prof. After all, It is
pretty nice to know you are going
to pass the course with a bare
minimum of work. The tragedy
occurs when the student, after
drifting through courses, gradu
ates. By doing little work and by
getting little Information from the
teachers, the Individual finds
himself completely unprepared to
make a living for himself.
from the course content. Not un
til quiz time does the person dis
cover what he should have known.
Moreover, this trend in teaching
provides the student with little
motivation in the classroom, A
grade should serve as an accurate
judgment of the work a student has
done. Admittedly, in any course,
it is impossible to always give the
student the correct grade. Yet,
every effort should be made to
have as accurate a gauge as pos
sible. The “C” prof refuses to
make any effort at all. Conse
quently, the student makes no ef
fort to do good work. “Why
bother”, he asks, “You’re going
to get the same grade any
way.” And this is a question that
everyone must indeed ask about
such poor quality instruction.
Until all professors can de
termine grades by a realistic cri
terion rather than by always
curving toward a “C” one must
ask, “Why bother?”.
process of creative thinking. But
it appears that the true beneficia
ries are the faculty and adminis
tration rather than those for
whom these lecturers are sup
posedly intended. Not only does
this deprive the students of pri
vate, informal group sessions
with the lecturer, it also deprives
them of the faculty members and
others who spend long periods en
tertaining these people at the
“Heritage”, their homes, the
club, etc., etc.
Perhaps this is the national pol
icy for guest lecturers on college
campuses. If this is so, then; (1)
Wesleyan doesn’t necessarily
have to follow along and (2) the
policy stinks! Can’t our college
afford to be a little different in
order to provide its students with
a quality education? If it can’t,
then I predict that such a policy,
extended to all areas of academ
ic and social life at Wesleyan will
one day result in a chapel pro
gram entitled not “God is Dead”
but “Wesleyan is Dead”!
The college has such great po
tential if students, faculty and ad-
ministration would quit contem
plating their own navels and
would, Instead, reach out and
strive for something a little dif
ferent; a little stimulating; a little
c reatlve. Thank God for the Ralph
James’ of this world ... .without
them we would still be wearing
loincloths and clubbing tigers.
Edward B. Lewis,’65
Wesleyan College
Response
known problem of campus apathy
applies. If there is more to it than
this, let’s hear it in your reply.
If the staff is unbalanced and con
sequently Inefficient, this is a
problem to be corrected by the
staff through a more organized
and cooperative staff structure. If
there isn’t enough “student inter
est” and “student action” -
Here’s mine!!
Sincerely,
Bryan Stearns
REPLY TO LETTER TO EDITOR
The article under discussion
was not a threat, it was and is
fact. And certainly the two rea
sons stated should be sufficient.
Don’t you think this is enough
to cause the fold of the Decree?
Further, the staff is not inef
ficient for our number. Could
you call a group of three or
four who turn out a newspaper
inefficient? I doubt it!
On behalf of the staff, I would
like to thank you for your in
dividual interest. Also, I am
happy to say that the editorial
under discussion did receive re
sponse from the student body and
it is greatly appreciated and
more greatly needed.
Sincerely,
Duffie Monroe
Co-Editor
By Doug Groseclose
It seems to be a good time
to write about the situation in
Viet Nam again because of many
recent developments in that area.
When my last article on Viet
Nam appeared in the September
30 issue it was misconstrued
by many people who read only
the first two paragraphs. I will
try to alleviate this problem at
this time.
It is now apparent that the
united States is completely com
mitted in Viet Nam. Viet Nam
is tenable, and for that reason,
we must defend it completely.
The president is, as of this writ
ing, on his way to Honolulu to
confer with various leaders of
the United States and Viet Nam
on this problem. We cannot, we
must not, we will not pull out
of Viet Nam - this is my pre
diction, Whether the present con
flict will eventually or immed
iately escalate into a larger and
possibly nuclear war will pro
bably be determined in the next
few weeks.
It has been said that the United
States Is “losing face” in the
eyes of the world by staying in
Viet Nam. To the people who say
this I ask the question, how will
the United States appear to the
rest of the world if it pulls out
of Viet Nam now, after committ
ing millions of dollars and thous
ands of men to its defense? I
believe this would be a greater
defeat for the United States than
any loss of American lives could
be.
Regardless of what many people
may think Viet Nam is not an
insignificant stretch of swamp
land in the middle of a communist
sea. 1 also would like to pre
dict that within the next year
Britain will pull out of Singa-
port and this will leave only Hong
Kong and South Viet Nam in the
Far East, these two will be the
only areas under Western influ
ence. With the collapse of Brit
ish control in Singapore the
Straits of Malacca will no long
er be watched over a Western
power and thus would trade might
be greatly impaired. For these
and many other reasons it is
imperative that the United States
stay in Viet Nam and .endure
any consequences this might
bring. “Operation Masher” is
the first big step in an Ameri
can offensive which, 1 predict,
will continue to increase until an
almost full-scale war is being
fought (if it is possible to fight
an “almost full-scale war).
LETTERS TO EDITOR
Dear Editor;
I think that the threat, inthejast
issue of The Decree to dis
continue publication Is a sad and
serious thing, i think many stu
dents realize this and those who
don’t, would soon miss The
Decree if it is discontinue3:
However, I think your reasons
for stopping publication are con
fusing and should be pointed out
more specifically to your read
ers. As I interpret your article,
there seems to be two major rea
sons for the supposed failure
of The Decree; First, that The.
Decree staff is only composed of
three or four active members who
actually organize and produce the
paper. Second, that “student act
ion” and “student interest” is
lacking and evidently the well -
THE DECREE
Official Student Newspaper of
North Carolina Wesleyan College
W B M • c n
Printed bi-weekly in
Business Address;
Tarboro, N. C.
Box 3146
N. C. Wesleyan College
CirtulatMd: l.OM
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