March 6,1969
THE T:W:IiG
Page Three
Letters to the Editor
CHAPEL CONTROVERSY
need for maturity
THE STUDENT AS SLAVE
ncsu student's reaction
Dear Editor:
As members of the Freshman
Class, we would like to reply to
Brooks McGirt’s letter in the Feb. 6
issue of the Twig, which blamed
the majority of chapel misconduct
on the Freshman Class. We feel that
this accusation is a gross generaliza
tion which, upon inspection, proves
no more true of the freshmen class
than any other class here at Mere
dith. True, there may be freshmen
who cause a disturbance in chapei,
but we have found that there are
also upperclassmen who have not
yet learned to sit quietly and listen
to a speaker, a guest performer, or
a choir.
This letter would be meaning
less if our purpose were merely a
defense of the freshman class or an
attack on Brooks’ observation. It
seems, though, that this literary dis
pute is a direct outgrowth of a fail
ure to behave properly — and this
failure is the responsibility of the
entire student body — not one
class, not one row of girls, not one
individual.
There is one point in which we
agree with Brooks — there is a need
for greater maturity and respect in
chapel — a need which only the
whole student body can fulfill. And
the entire student body is made up
of freshmen, sophomores, juniors,
and seniors.
Thank you.
Penny Gallins
Gail Knieriem
student responsibility
Dear Editors:
Bud Walker’s comments in chapel
on Friday of REW prompted much
student response and concern. Too
often, we students grumble and criti
cize and then — do nothing. During
REW, for the first time this year, I
felt a part of a vital, thinking stu
dent community, but we must be
careful not to let our soul-searching
end here. Many provocative criti
cisms have been roused; they will
not be easily dismissed with mere
thought or discussion. They demand
serious consideration, decision, and
action.
One particular subject I heard
discussed frequently during REW
was chapei. Freshmen were furious
at receiving credit for most of the
misconduct which has been so
prevalent in chapel this year. No
doubt, the freshmen deserve some
of the blame, but so do the upper
classmen they imitate. One fresh
man observed, “We’re too scared to
try anything until we see that every
body else gets away with it.”
Throughout the first semester, the
auditorium sound system was atro
cious—speakers could scarcely be
heard above the static. One instruc
tor complained about the annoying
page rattling which eminates from
chapel checkers.
Chapel is, or should be, intended
to stimulate student thought, wor
ship, and community spirit — only
during REW has it approximated
this aim. Why? Many students re
sent the stigma of required chapel
attendance; others feel that an hour
exceeds their voluntary attention
span, or that 3 cuts are insufficient
for required attendance 3 hours
weekly. Chapel, merely for the sake
of principle, is ridiculous — it must
mean something to the student body,
earn their enthusiasm and support
or continue a source of unrest.
Charles Parker must not be asked
to shoulder this problem alone. I
am sure he would welcome all ideas
or suggestions students and faculty
have to offer. Chapel is for the stu
dents; they should be mature
enough to assume its responsibility,
not merely gripe or docily conform.
Is there not some official chan
nel through which student concern
over this vital issue can be voiced
and heard? Current chapel policy,
which concerns the entire student
body, demands and expects atten
tion. Everyone seems to have pretty
definite opinions about chapel, but
is opinion all we have to offer a
problem which threatens the entire
Meredith community?
Sincerely,
Nancy Frost Rouse
chapel a crock?
Dear Editor:
This letter is in reply to a letter
about chapel which was in the Feb.
20 Twig.
A crock by any other name. . . ?
Required chapel may be a crock.
. I would be hard put to argue with
you even if I were so inclined, for
I am not sure of your exact defini
tion. Let me play dumb (no effort
required) and pretend that 1 really
think I am going to find the answer
, by looking in Webster’s New World.
All the freshmen can follow along
and thereby receive one free word
study. “Crock” is from the Middle
English “crokke” which is in turn
from the Anglo Saxon “crocc”; con
sidered a kin to the German “King.”
The first definition is “an earthen
ware pot or jar.”
Well, now we know what we are
working with. I don’t think the use
of the term by the writers of one
letter in the last Twig was a bit
inaccurate. What is a crock for? A
crock is a place to put things that
you consider valuable or worth
having. If you have nothing valu
able to preserve, then an empty
crock sitting around does seem
pretty useless. However, are you
sure that you don’t have something
valuable to preserve?
The spirit of a college or univer
sity is not something that automati
cally goes with an assembled group
of buildings, students, administra
tors and instructors. Some schools
build the spirit (alternate words for
To the Editor;
When I first heard that you had
reprinted Jerry Farber’s article,
“The Student as Nigger,” and had
even dared to editorialize about it,
I was overcome with a feeling of
exaltation. “If the chained and fet
tered ‘angels’ of Meredith have
dared to stand up and ‘tell it like
it is,’ perhaps there is still hope for
this heart of southern conserva
tism!” I said to myself.
However, upon reading both your
editorial and your brutal abridgment
of Farber’s article, I became more
despondent than ever. Not only
have you left out those things you
found personally abusive, but you
have completely destroyed the
continuity, atmosphere, and the
strength of the article.
Your crass deletions, aside from
removing a few “profane” words
(which can be heard flung about
any Meredith dorm), have removed
the sense of fire and urgency the ar
ticle inspires, turning it into a piece
of academic contemplation.
But even disregarding the liter
ary piracy, the fact that you were
afraid to run the entire article is
equivalent to saying, “Yes Sir, I is a
nigger, but I know my place, Sir,
and I ain’t about to step out of it.
no Sir. Don’t Worry, Sir, I don’t
mean no harm!”
For a moment a breath of free
dom was felt but was stifled like
every other non-victorian idea that
may have passed by. It is time to
stand up, not with bowed head and
an apology for getting in the way,
but with chin out and a demand to
be a twentieth century woman, not a
nineteenth century “lady.”
You have taken one step and be
neath the surface can be felt a de
sire to run. Don’t sit down now!
Print the entire article for all to
read. Stop talking about such trivial
ities as only three class and chapel
cuts. Strike at the heart of the mat
ter! No required class attendance—
no chapel—no curfew.
Perhaps a “physical riot or re
bellion” is not in order. But some
thing more than a “re-evaluation of
aims and purposes” is needed. Get
stirred up! Together you can do a
great deal more than anyone ever
dreamed. After all, if a few lunatics
hadn’t gotten stirred up about “nig
gardly” conditions in 1776, where
would we be today? Try it! Stand
up! You are only a nigger because
you let yourself be treated like one.
Mike Jacob
Physics, NCSU
meredith professor's reaction
people who like “in” things are
“community” or possibly “image”)
of the college around a football or
basketball team, a fraternity/soror
ity system, or in rarer cases on ex
cellence in a specific academic or
technical area. But there must be
something which holds and molds
the beautifully different and highly
individualistic people working and
studying on a campus into a living
college. This something needs an at
mosphere where people come to
gether for a common purpose so that
they may have a chance to know
each other and try to understand
the goals and motivations of others.
Right now chapel seems to be the
only thing that gets a majority of
the campus together at one time. If
faculty and administrative person
nel don’t come, I think this is their
own tough luck.
As long as you have your sub
stance (spirit) in sonic kind of a
container (cluipci). you can stir,
add to, subtract uniil you have the
contents as you want it. If you break
the jar or throw it away you may
find yourselves standing, holding the
precious contents in your hand, feel
ing slightly foolish as it dribbles
through your fingers. Before you
destroy one container you usually
find a replacement.
In truth, 1 did not start this letter
with the intent of defending chapel.
I just want to know, “Do you have
a better pot?”
Sincerely of course,
Mrs. Ruth Ann Phillips
Dear Editors:
I would like to vociferously ap
plaud the fervor and eloquence of
your recent editorial titled “The Stu
dent As Slave.” Lack of dissent is
an index of apathy, lack of involve
ment is the mark of mental poverty.
The old, traditional myths in educa
tion are still operating at Meredith.
The philosophy of medieval scho
lasticism is predominant here, as is
the concept that educational proce
dures should be based on the thor
oughly discredited principles of
faculty psychology. The faculty re
cently approved, with four dissent
ing votes, the following statement of
long-range philosophy and objec
tives for the institution; “There is a
distinction between education which
is primarily preparation for a career
and Christian liberal arts education.
Professional and technical educa
tion, on the one hand, is an effort
to develop the human being into a
better doctor, lawyer, teacher, busi
ness man, etc. That is, the end of
the development of certain skills and
competencies. Christian liberal arts
education, on the other hand, is an
effort to develop in the student his
own realization of the significance
of his humanness.” This is the
quintessence of nonsense. It implies
that humanness can only be taught
in the traditional liberal arts cur
riculum and that the practice of hu
manness does not depend on skills
and competencies.
At the present time a student
is not permitted to major in educa
tion; the education department was
demoted six years ago to a back
door department whose only func
tion is to provide courses so that
students can get a teacher’s certifi
cate. This implies that what we
teach lacks integrity and respect
ability, that the subjects we teach are
not really subjects. (In long-range
planning it is stated that education
courses are not considered to be
subjects.) We, in the Education de
partment, have intense pride of pro
fession. We feel that it is as impor
tant to educate a student in how to
educate a child as it is to teach him
how to diagram a sentence.
I know, as you state, that the
voices of progress, of unfairness and
injustice, arc small. But it is these
voices that will someday enable us
to reach the New Jerusalem.
Sincerely yours,
Harry K. Dorsett
SABER-TOOTHED CURRICULUM
long-range planning
Dear Editor;
In view of complaints heard re
cently around campus (with which
we comply) to the effect that cer
tain courses included in the Mere
dith curriculum are completely out
dated and in view of some faring
omissions in the course material of
fered, we offer the following ex
cerpt from Dr. Harold Benjamin’s
address before a group of Colorado
teachers, which is paralleled in his
book, The Saber-toothed Curricu
lum, fort he amusement of those
who knew what he was talking
about and for the revelation of those
who honor tradition to the sad ne
glect of much-needed progress:
Three fundamentals marked the
first educational curriculum;
1. Catching fish with the bare
hands.
2. Clubbing tiny horses to death.
3. Frightening saber-toothed ti
gers with torches.
By studying these three subjects
they aroused a storm and were
called radicals.
The old subjects must be retained
for their .“cultural value,” the school
people contended. The proposed
new subjects had no place in the
curriculum.
The conservatives said: “Train
ing to catch non-existent fish with
bare hands is the best way to
achieve muscular coordination and
agility; training in clubbing horses
that do not exist is an education in
stealth and ingenuity; practicing to
frighten tigers that do not exist de
velops courage. Some things are
fundamental and sacred in educa
tion and must not be changed.”
This excerpt may be found in the
second edition of American Secon
dary Education, written by William
Marshall French, published by the
Odyssey Press, New York, on pages
138-139.
The parallel intended should be
obvious. Recalling that Mr. Charles
Clifford Cameron, Chairman of the
Board of Trustees, referred to the
mythical “flexible curriculum” at
Meredith College before assembled
board members, honoraries, staff,
and students, we think it would be a
shame to make of him a liar. We
serve notice now that we, with the
support of most students, expect
great things in this area from the
Long Range Planning Committee.
We further request that the work of
this committee be made public; stu
dents should be aware of the
changes being planned for Meredith
in the next decade.
Thank you,
Nance Rumley, Betty Bryant
CAFETERIA
troy situation
Dear Editor;
Why do some students at Mere
dith College find it beyond their hu
man means to carry a simple tray
back to the kitchen after they’ve
eaten lunch?
The cafeteria is understaffed,
therefore, we are asked to carry our
trays back. Every Meredith student
has this simple responsibility, but
many students have been disregard
ing it as of late. If students can wait
fifteen to twenty minutes in the
lunch line, they could spend jus:
thirty seconds to remove their imys
from the tables. Just look around
the cafeteria. Is this too much to
ask???
Sincerely,
Beatrice Rivers
in their “schools” the stone-age peo
ple got along fairiy well until there
came a changed condition caused
by the movement of Ice from the
north, the forerunner of the ice age.
The stream became muddied and
fish could not be seen to catch with
the bare hands, so someone in
vented the net, made of vines. The
tiny horses fled and the antelopes
replaced them. The stone-agers in
vented aiitolope snares. The saber-
toothed tigers died of pneumonia,
but the big ice bear replaced them,
and the stone-age men dug pits to
trap them. So net-making, twisting
antelope snares and digging bear
pits became the three essentials of
life.
But the schools continued to teach
fish-catching with the hands, horse-
clubbing, and tiger-scaring because
they had taught them for years.
Some “liberal” wanted to teach net-
making, snare-making, and pit-dig-
ging but he was met with opposi
tion. Some even wanted to do away
entirely with the old subjects, but
A COMMUNITY
For a deep sense of security
A look that shall be
Where one finds quiet
A neat orderly place
Friendly air, beyond compare
To keep the pace, a smiling face
As a lively tune brings a recurring
thought of pleasant memory,
That is brought and lingers still into
the night;
Assures everyone that all is bright.
Where Lux is there
Frees one from care.
And to quote a phrase.
As fruit cake—
It grows more mellow with age.
Guard
Letters, fcniurcs, sugRcslions and
oilier coiilribiitions for (he February 20
issue of tlic newspaper should be in (o
tiic TWIG room on (irsl Brewer or
lo 305 Poteat by February IS.
The TWIG stalT aiiprcciatcs (lie
many leltcrs in (his issue and hopes
its editorial page will condiiue to be
a sounding board for student, faculty
and adniinistradon opinion.