Newspapers / The campus echo. / May 18, 1966, edition 1 / Page 10
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Page Four THE CAMPUS ECHO Wednesday, May 18, 1966 Organized Learning Experiences Consitute Makeup Of College College Defined By Utilizing Negative Reasoning By Helen Edmonds Editor’s Note— Dr. Helen Edmonds, currently Dean of the Graduate School, has been on the faculty since 1941. Dr. Ed monds! is the author of “The Negfroes and Fusion Politics in North Carolina” and Uie co-edi tor of “Appropriate Directions for the Modem Colleges.” A college is a set of organized learning experiences. It is a gateway through which one passes to enter the more whole some and the more abundant life. The organized learning ex periences are designed to make the student better prepared for living successfully once he passes through that gateway. * These organized learning ex periences are categorized under many names. Some of the names are freshman class, sophomore class, junior class, senior class, dormitory living, religious life, extra-curricular activities, social life, etc. Every whole some experience engaged in by a student whether it be a form al experience in the classroom or an informal experience in the cafeteria is a learning ex perience. It is in this sense that a college becomes more than buildings, walkways and trees. The plant of a college is import ant but only to the extent that physical facilities provide the best atmosphere for the most up-to-date learsing experiences. By Robert W. John Editor’s Note—Dr. Robert W, John is head of the N. C. C.’S Music Department and has been on the N. C. C. faculty since 1951. Dr. John received his B.S. from Wisiconsin State College, M.Mus. from the University of Michigan, and Ed.D. from In diana University. It’s not a campus — although green grass and shade trees add to its physical beauty. It’s not a complex of build ings—although there is probably a positive relationship between facilities and quantity of learn ing. It is not people or persons— although presidents, deans, busi ness managers, chairmen, and other officers can contribute to the on-going of it. It is not even students or professors, although you can’t have a college without them. Other things which a college is not include; a business; an institution; a collection of peo ple, books and equipment; a: school which starts at the 13th grade, although it sometimes might erroneously be called by any of these restrictive terms. In fact, a college is nothing tangible—it can neither be seen nor measured. One cannot “look” at a college and decide! its worth, yet even the most naive freshman can tell very quickly if he is involved in a bad one. To attempt to judge a college using tangible evidence, is like making a judgment on the capacity or love based on physical beauty. Some great colleges are poor and physically quite ugly in ap pearance: Some equally great schools are wealthy and beauti ful. Exactly the same could be said for mediocre or down-right bad colleges. What then is a college, and why are some great and others less great? Far and away, the most important thing a college is, is a collective mental atti tude or state of mind. I wonder if it is really overstating the case to say, for example, that Har vard University is great because every Harvard man says it’s great. Again, citing an anti- “Two Types- (Continued from Page 2) college is certain to become a last damning symbol of a by gone era of Jim Crowism. It will lose the little vitality that it now possesses as white students shun it and a top Negro stu dents avoid it Our “colleges” must become colleges in fact rather than continue cling ing to an era of pseudo-black “bourgeoisism” that I pray will be swept into oblivion as our so ciety more closely approaches the ideals that it professes—a society where each man irres pective of his color dares to stand and be measured on his merits, without excxise. Training is everything. The peace was once a bitter almond; cauli flower is nothing hut cabbage with a college education, —^Mark Twain thesis, surely any college which considers itself second-rate can hardly be more than that. Greatness in a college, as in men, is not accidental. It must be sought after and worked for. Blood, sweat, and tears must flow freely to reach and main tain greatness. A college is a way of life which must have an established ethos, doctrine, morality, and sets of values which differ in kind and degree from the “outside world.” A college man must conduct him self differently and think and act differently than a non-col- lege man. If he does not, then this college is ineffective and sterile. The activities on a cam pus must differ from similar non-college activities. A college must be rvui or ad ministered in a spirit far dif ferent from a business. One cannot minimize efficiency punctuality or responsibility; but a college is not a collection of desks or chairs or mops or microscopes, but rather it is groups of ideas and events. The makers and doers of ideas and events must be championed, and all else and others serve sup porting roles. To reverse this is to have a dull (even though fin ancially solvent) business—not a college. A college, to be great, thinks of people and programs and ideas first and solvency second. A business cannot afford to do this, but this is one major dif ference between a college and a business. As long as there are eager, active inquisitive students and professors, a college can not afford to discard or dismiss cultivating ideas or concepts re gardless of how much they cost. Great colleges sponsor ideas and then find the means of support ing them. Less-than-great col leges restrict their programs by counting costs first. It is not irresponsible idealism to point out the large number of “well- heeled” but academically sterile colleges. The woods are full o£ them. College students and civic leaders work together in the interest of the community. College enables an individual to acquire new and technical skills. Charm consultant prepares coed for the “manhunt.” College provides the foundation for a successful prosperous life. Many hours are spent in laboratories and research cubicles. y College students are often in the forefront of American thought.
May 18, 1966, edition 1
10
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