Viewpoint
Slouch
By Jim Earle
“I thought that we might ought to take a different approach with a
church school. ”
Education needs new
humanities em
\ph
asis
By PATRICIA McCORMACK
United Press International
Heavy thinkers on the education scene
claim: There’s a good chance the United States
of America will go down the tube as a civilized
nation unless there is “a dramatic improve
ment in the quality of elementary and second
ary education” — and an infusion of the
humanities.
It’s no longer, they say, just a matter of why
Johnny can’t read, Janie can’t add and Georgie
can’t write. Rather, it’s a matter of why they
can’t ponder the question: what does it mean
to be human?
(Philosophers and poets spend a lifetime on
that question’s answer and even then some
don’t make it. On her deathbed, the poet
Gertrude Stein was asked, “What is the an
swer?”
She replied, “What is the question?”
The reason kids have a hard time just think-
lot of new curriculum specialists feeding educa
tion to the nation’s kids.
And another major reason, they say, is that
some teachers need to shape up.
These thoughts on American education come
from the 32-member Rockefeller Foundation
Commission on the Humanities. About
teachers, the commission, in a report on the
humanities made these points:
— Greater selectivity is needed in the certifi
cation of teachers. State departments of educa
tion tend to base requirements for certification
on narrow competency tests and large numbers
of education courses.
— Certification should be based primarily on
a solid liberal (in the educational sense of the
word) education.
William O. Baker, a member of the commis
sion and board chairman of Bell Laboratories,
said about 10 years remain to save the country
by injecting more of the humanities into educa
tion.
He said humanities have a lot to do wdth
values and morality.
“It will take about five years to get the schools
in shape,” he said, “and about five more years
to restore the humanities.”
Just exactly what is meant by “the humani
ties?”
“The essence of the humanities is a spirit or
an attitude toward humanity,” the report said.
“They show how the individual is autonomous
and at the same time, bound, in the ligatures of
language and history, to humankind across
time.
“The humanities mirror our own image and
our image of the world. Through the humani-
Warped
Joiners’ amputation puzzling
By DICK WEST
United Press Internationa]
WASHINGTON — The union’s full name is
the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and
Joiners of America. But in its television spots, it
usually refers to itself simply as the United
Brotherhood of Carpenters, or by the initials
UBC.
I, for one, hardly know what to make of this
amputation.
The most obvious conclusion to jump to is
what the union is striving to create a new public
image as a carpenter-oriented labor organiza
tion that is ridding itself of joiners.
But when you examine that assumption
closely, it doesn’t seem quite rational.
If joining were on the decline in America,
such a public relations policy might make
If joining were on the verge of dying out, a
union that has represented joiners over the
years might very well be feeling a trifle anachro
nistic.
In those circumstances, the union could
hardly be blamed for playing down the joiner
connection — sweeping the joiners under the
rug, as it were — in the interest of moderniza
tion.
But the facts read otherwise.
Joining is not dying out in America. To the
contrary, there probably is more joining taking
place these days than at any other time in the
history of the republic.
Membership in just about any organization
you might name is increasing and new organiza
tions are springing up right and left, day in, day
out.
As things now stand, people will join just
about anything. Impulsive joining has been re
placed by compulsive joining. For millions of
Americans, signing membership cards has be
come a way of life.
With joining at an all-time high, any union
that deliberately gave joiners short shrift would
be foolish indeed. I am, therefore, entirely
mystified by the union’s commercials and can
not even guess what might be behind them.
This much I will say, however. Ifthei
viating continues, I think the joiners of,ii
would be justified in severing their histui
liation with the carpenters and formic
own union.
When you come right down to it, joi«
carpentry don’t have much in comm
more anyhow.
In the old days. I’m told, carpenter 1
extremely gregarious. So when the time
for them to form a labor organization.:
only natural they would associate thecn
with joiners.
So]
gui
But carpenters have changed a gro
over the years. The carpenters one meet;
are apt to be a bit standoffish, if notb|
Which is why I suggest that joiners mi^ilf
more congenial to have a union to them?
<
In any event, if you are a joiner yoi|
hardly be blamed for protesting the;
commercials. Just because carpenters be
come self-assertive is no reason joinen^
be treated like second class citizens, f
t
ties we reflect on the fundamental question:
what does it mean to be human?
“The humanities offer clues but never a com
plete answer. They reveal how people have
tried to make moral, spiritual and intellectual
sense of a world in which irrationality, despair,
loneliness, and death are as conspicuous as
birth, friendship, hope and reason.
“We learn how individuals or societies define
the moral life and try to attain it, attempt to
reconcile freedom and the responsibilities of
citizenship and express themselves artistic
ally. ”
The report said, “The humanities must be
established as a priority in school curricula, for
through the study of literature, language and
history one acquires not only literacy, but cri
tical and aesthetic capacities as basic as literacy
itself. ”
Restoring the humanities, as the commission
sees it, requires that:
— Children have the direct experience of
literature and the arts in primary grades.
— The link between writing and critical
thinking be emphasized in the secondary school
curriculum.
— Higher education must formulate anew
the ideals of a liberal education. The commis
sion recognizes the problems of the liberal arts
graduate in the job market but said it considers
vocationalism — preparing for a specific job or
trade — a dangerous trend.
The commission, chaired by Dr. Richard Ly
man, until recently president of Stanford Uni
versity and now president of the Rockefeller
Foundation, called for more public and private
support humanities research.
There are many signs of the public’s growing
interest in the humanities, the report said, cit
ing “phenomenal growth of public interest in
the arts over the past 15 years.”
“Each year, in fact, more Americans attend
exhibitions of the visual arts and presentations
of the performing arts than attend spectator
sports,” it said.
Gaines Post, University of Texas at Austin, is
executive director of the commission; Jole Col
ton, foundation director for the humanities,
liaison between the comission and the founda
tion.
Other commission members include Henry
Rosovsky, dean of the faculty of art and scien
ces, Harvard University; Lewis Thomas, presi
dent, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer
Center; Darwin T. Turner, department of En
glish, University of Iowa; Richard D. Lamm,
governor of Colorado; Hanna H. Gray, presi
dent, University of Chicago.
It’s your turn
Source on canned cans ‘narrow-minded O
Editor:
This letter is a reaction to an article in the
Batt concerning a “ban on can collecting” by
A&M custodial employees.
We can see Mr. Haugens’ viewpoint — it
must surely be irritating to see employees dig
ging through garbage collecting cans to sell. It
creates a bad impression — almost appears to
be a desperate tactic to increase their income
enough to support a family; and that reflects
poorly on the University System.
What amazes us is Haugens’ narrow
mindedness. It appears he is not even open to
alternative solutions.
One employee reportedly had some ecolo
gically minded individuals voluntarily separat
ing and storing aluminum cans. Haugen claims
this is unfeasible because lack of sufficient space
in storage closets.
But what if we brought this problem “out of
the closet"? What if students voluntarily dis
posed of their drink cans in extra receptacles
designated “for aluminum cans only”? These
could then be collected by the custodians at the
end of their shift. The state would no longer be
“losing employee hours.”
If this was done on a University-wide scale
quite a bit of money wuold be generated. With
17 to 18 cans weighing a pound, and aluminum
bringing 25 cents per pound, money would add
up very fast.
Perhaps A&M should consider starting a re
cycling center as other universities and colleges
have. We feel the student body would approve
and support such a project, especially if the
profits were ear-marked for scholarship prog
rams or charitable organizations.
Remember, it is A&M’s research for alterna
tives that has made it great, not its refusal to
look at them.
Ed Tokarek
Lisa Hartmann
Agi
Houst
Cans typify bureaucracy
Editor:
I would like to comment upon the Oct. 10
story about the administrator who has prohi
bited the collection of aluminum cans.
First, his decision will almost certainly get
less from his employees than more. The custo
dial staff do a difficult job quite well for low
wages and he has insulted all of them. His
directive suggests that they will simply stand
around if not ordered to work. That attitude will
create hard feelings from his staff and tlif j 0r a
nover rate will probably go up. organi
Second, this decision makes it seemtlii o r
University is against recycling and energ) 1 direct
servation. Even if the employees were'stf' ty Lib
time” from the school — which most art: simplt
most cans can be collected easily and rout: design
as people work—should not the university* s l J" er
energy and not waste it? | rary C
Third, I am sure some employees art p osec j
fringing upon the time they owe the Uni'* i es j
ty — why not tell those transgressors toil* tions,
up? You are punishing all for the sins of 21
The whole situation is simply typical off
ern bureaucracy. Rather than take the rei|<
bility to sort out good and bad individual 1
havior, a rule is passed that makes the "l 1
situation worse. The intention of the nil*
unimpeachable but the effect of the ruleii®
So it goes.
Richard Saunderii;
By Scott McCullar
HEY KNOTMEAD, GET
T Door wiu_yA ?
: : rVr. y-'i
SEEM TO
HAVE
yooR manners.
The Battalion
I
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