Newspapers / North Carolina Central University … / Jan. 1, 1960, edition 1 / Page 2
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Page Two THE GOLDEN ECHO January, 1960 The New Dimension To Our Student Aid Program BY ALFONSO ELDER Students at the North Caro lina College, since the beginning of the institution, have been en couraged to feel that the college would help them when they needed financial assistance. Stu dents applying for admission to the College as well as those en rolled do not hesitate to ask for help when they need it and the College always tries as best it can to come to their assistance. This attitude of helpfulness is not especially unique to North Carolina College for it is pre valent among colleges through out the country. Traditionally, the American people have re sponded admirably to the appeal to help the poor boy or girl get the same chance as the rich. This is part of our American dream of equality and it appeals to our sense for what is right. The situation at North Caro lina College, however, is dif ferent in some respects from the situation at many other colleges. In the first place, the College is young and it does not have graduates who have amassed wealth enough to enable them to undergird a scholarship program by large donations. In the second place, the students who attended North Carolina Col lege and those who wish to at tend are for the most part chil dren of extremely poor parents. This fact became glowingly ap parent recently when we dis covered that the average annual income of the parents of stu dents in a freshman class was less than $3,000.00. How can a family with an annual income of only $3,000,000 or less send two or three children to college? The answer is obvious. They cannot without considerable fi nancial assistance. There are situations that we know about where parents are making sac rifices to the extent that they are endangering their health in order to give their children the advantages of an education; yet, with all their noble efforts they cannot accomplish their goal. The combination of limited contributions to the scholarship fund and the limited financial resources of parents of students means that help must be denied many persons who deserve to be encouraged. One of the most de pressing experiences which we have is that of reading letters after letters from parents and students appealing for help when all funds for that year have been exhausted. It is diffi cult to know what to say to those who deserve a chance when the chance must be de nied because of lack of funds. The young people of' whom we have spoken are those who have asked for help. Tradition ally, they have been the objects of our greatest concern. As Americans, we have felt it our duty to help an ambitious and worthy individual realize his educational goal. We still be lieve this and rightly so. Throughout the country, schools and colleges are supported on the basis of the theory that any one who desires to develop him self intellectually should have the opportunity to do so. Up to recent times, the opera tion of this principle of indivi dualism, that of helping those who ask for help, has been suffi cient to supply the quantity and quality of trained intelligence needed for carrying on the af fairs of life. Within the last de cade, however, the situation has rapidly changed. We are now threatened with a shortage of trained intelligence necessary for the proper conduct of busi ness, industry, and government in the modern world. This short age of intellectual power is ac centuated by our competition with Russia. Probably the most outstand ing demand made upon colleges by powerful forces in life is the demand that colleges provide for industry, business, and go vernment more individuals than formerly who have the intelli gence and training necessary for a high level of performance. To meet this demand, every youth who has the capacity for achiev ing a high level in college must be urged to do so. The freedom on the part of highly intelligent young people to attend college or not to attend according to their desires and resources is no longer a privilege which they should enjoy without serious damage to our national progress and safety. We must seek out students with ability wherever they are. We must see to it that the education of these young people beyond the high school is not left to chance. This is the new dimension to our student aid program. This means that we must find the funds necessary for doing a second job when our resources; for doing the first one are inade quate. We must aid, as we have done, those who are worthy and ask for help. Also, we must dis cover those who have intellec tual abilities above the average and who because of circumstan ces do not plan to go to college and urge them through financial aid to develop their talents and abilities to the optimum level. We cannot wait until the first job is done before undertaking the second. We are obligated as a public institution to serve the best interests of the people and by so doing we feel confident that the people will encourage and support us in our efforts. Our goal for this Anniversary Scholarship Fund Drive is $50,000.00—a small sum when compared with the amount which is needed. We are calling upon our friends, our graduates and former students, our faculty and staff, and our students to contribute to this effort. What a wonderful birthday present $50,000.00 will be; but more than this, how wonderful it is to reflect upon the immeasurable benefits of this fund to young people in need and through them to our Nation. mm§m The Anniversary Theme By HELEN G. EDMONDS Dr. James E. Shepard “From the date of the founding of this college in 1910 up to the day of his death . . . this native born North Carolinian labored early and late, in season and out, not only in the immediate interest of this particular college, but with wisdom and foresight for the lasting betterment of his race and his State, not through agitation or ill-conceived demands but rather through the advocacy of a practical, well considered and consistant program of racial progress . . Thus did the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina (February 17, 1948) pay tribute to Dr. James E. Shepard, founder and first president of North Carolina College, shortly after his death, which occurred in October of 1947. Among the many legislators delivering encomiums to the memory of Dr. Shepard was Robert M. Gantt, Representative from Durham, who described the late educator as “greater (Continued on page 4) !! Edmonds The Board of Trustees, Honorary Chairman and Executive Committee of the Fiftieth An niversary examined for a prolonged period some of the needs in higher education against the background of North Carolina College’s Hberal arts program and its long range needs. In many smaller committee meetings on suit able themes, views were exchanged, revised, and re-drafted. Always in the background was the accumulated knowledge that the war had changed the whole world, the colleges as any other institution. There was the consciousness of being in the nuclear science age, and realizing that it meant new patterns of life and thought, not just in the realm of the physical sciences but in production, consumption, hu man relations, education — every phase of existence. From this kind of thinking emerged a challenging question. Against the backdrop of the new age, which directions shall the lib eral arts program take? The Executive Committee’s examination of higher education was in conformity with the nation’s examination of the same. The Rockefeller Report to the President of the United States, Education Beyond the High School, re-enforced certain basic assumptions; “The Nation has been p^'opelled into a chal lenging new educational era since World War II by the convergence of powerful forces — an explosion of knowledge and population, a burst of technological and economic ad vances, the outburst of ideological conflict and the uprooting of old political and cultural patterns on a world-wide scale, and the un paralleled demand by Americans for more and better education.” From this kind of committee thinking on the national and local problems in education came forth a series of challenging areas: A critical appraisal of the aims and pro grams of the liberal arts college in the new conditions. The need for increased excellence in educa tion provided by the liberal arts col lege. The kind and quality of excellence. The danger that liberal arts colleges may be turned into automation factories; and thereby minimizing the importance of men and women as human beings. The role of the humanities and the social sciences as the liberal arts program comes face to face with the space age. The dangers of capsule information render ed by mass media of communication usurping the real function of sys tematic education. The College and the high school think to gether on the problem of excellence. The College and the high school face the challenge of our time for increasing the quality and quantity of learning. Gaps to be closed in the education of the Negro in North Carolina in order to meet the intellectual challenges of our day. Education, our investment in improving human understanding. Each area was further examined in the light of the role of North Carolina College. From this abundant harvest of challeng ing areas emerged a theme adequate to cover all the facets, timely enough to stimulate a most earnest search, practical enough to in form the specialist and the layman, and func tional enough to have lasting value: APPROPRIATE DIRECTIONS FOR THE LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE IN THE CHALLENGING NEW EDUCATION AL ERA. The ever recurring sub-theme: The Respon sibility of North Carolina College. The Anniversary Celebration shall serve as a period of examining the liberal arts pro gram against the backdrop of the demands made upon colleges by forces in life. This approach is undergirded with the educational premise that increased intellectual com petence involves a demand rather than a pre ference. Individual and group survival now demands that the ability of every person be developed and utilized to the fullest degree. There is the added realization that the group is obligated to see that ability is discovered, and used. Higher education involves and concerns itself with a number of factors among which are administrators, faculty, students and the community in its broadest sense. These human personalities will en gage in a “thinking through process” of the liberal arts program seeking to find appro priate directions for the future.
North Carolina Central University Student Newspaper
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Jan. 1, 1960, edition 1
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