page (FTha Gl'innell Scarlet and Black. Friday. Nov. 1, 1974

Students strapped to system

by Toni Simpson

Pavlov’s dogs Submitted to being
strapped into that complicated
apparatus with the thought that it
was a small price to pay tor getting
ted, However, the apparatus 90
tually had a greater impact on the
dog than the food, which was
merely a natural incentive suh~
terted to the demands or the ex
periment, The important result at
the experiment was not the
nourishment of the animal as much
as the subconscious conditioning of
its brain. As students in a system ot
education, our position is
analogous to that of Pavlov’s dogs,
We believe we’re here [or the
education, but we’re being trained
unconsciously more deeply and
lastingly than we are consciously
learning.

There are several aspects oi the
learning process at Grinnell that
we may not normally recognize,
but which are important to a full

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understanding oi the eiiect of a
college education. We are not
simply taking courses, but we are
participating in a system of
education. And by the nature of
systems which require complete
involvement, what we actually
learn irom this system is not what
is presented overtly, meaning the
content ot our classes, but what is
implicit; those attitudes and
modes of behavior ‘that are
necessitated by the structure or the
system, There is a whole in
tegrated code oi preconceptions
and demands which form the real
matter of our education. This
education affects our intellects, but
on a deeper level shapes the way
we lead our lives,

what are we learning implicitly?
What modes oi behavior does this
particular system ot education
train us to? Some conditioning is
obvious, and is perhaps best
represented by two symbols; the
clock and the telephone,

The clock

At Grinnell We are tied to a
number of usually conilicting
schedules which are not our own.
We budget our time not in answer
to our own desire, but in consent to
the demands of others. We are
always hurrying, rushing our-
selves, checking our watches,
denying our real desires in sub-
mission to expectations imposed
from the outside. This submission
is Article One oi the contract we
sign in becoming students.

It is necessary in this system

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that we constantly have something
pulling us out or our present
context and driving us toward
another. But of course, that other
context will he no more satis-
tving, because there will onlv be
more demands, We are being
trained to be able to hop irom one
context to the next, rather than
being educated Within each con
text.
Charlie Chaplin

Direct evidence oI this idea is the
tact that the most common subject
of conversation between students
at this school is not the content of
our classes but the amount of
schoolwork to be done. The reason
we constantly discuss this tiresome
topic, oiten in rather competitive
manner, is becaue it is what we all
share; an artificially imposed
schedule of deadlines is the
essential oi our system or
education. This forms the matrix
of our lives at Grinnell. The scene
in Modern Times in which Chaplin
feverishly tries to keep pace with
an assembly line moving un-
comiortably last well represents
the dilemma of a student at
Grinnell. Signilicantly, the titles
and credits of the movie were
superimposed on a picture oi a big
Clock with a swiftly moving second
hand We are learning above all
else, above quality, dedication, or
craitsmanship, to keep up. Also
significantly, aiter Chaplin was
tired irom his job, his arms con
tinued to jerk reflexively in the
motion demanded by the assembly
line. The training we are receiving
will last us beyond college,

The telephone
The symbol of the telephone is

more or less the spatial equivalent
oi what the clock represents tor
time. The telephone relentlessly
demands, pulling us out oi our
desired context, representing the
necessity oi the system to enter
every moment ot our lives,
demanding our loyalty with an
irritating constant ring. Readmg
books like lﬂdd, we are terrified by
the prospect of a telescreen en-
tering our hves and permeating
our every thought with its over
bearing presence, but a
telephones ability to interrupt our
most private mnmcnts is essen-
tially the same prospect And the
demands imposed by our system of
education gain control oi a part at
our brain like a little telephone that
{allows us constantly around, in
sisting oi us, and we can't shut it
off. We tell ourselves that as soon
as we complete this paper, or that
test, we'll be in the clear, but it's
obvious that we will always have
something in tront of us, deman-
ding oi us, because that is the
nature of the system. We have been
trained to plague ourselves with
other people’s expectations. When
we decide to do some activity
which does not include academics,
we tend to insulate our wrongdoing
from our conscience by saying,
“Well, ishould be studying, but "

Similarly, we end off our con-
versations with a statement that
has no real meaning, “Well, I have
to be getting back to work."

within this system, with its
network of implicit demands, the
function of grades is overtly to
measure some sort OI amount of
learning done in class. But you as a
student are totally involved, not in

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a single class but in an entire
system with a complex ol demands
which pull in opposing directions.
Because you must make a balance
between what you can and cannot
complete, your excellence is
iinaily judged not according to
what you learn as much as on your
ability to adapt to the system.
Academic success is primarily a
measure of conformity and your
ability to ‘beat the system.‘
Student liimbo

The ilaw oi a system like this is
that each student is almost
necessarily stuck in a situtatlon oi
continual selfrdissatisi'actinn.
which is as awkward a reeling as
the word used to describe it, We
are always being impressed with
the incompleteness of our
awareness, and we always have
too much to do to compensate for
it. We are suspended in a limbo oi
frustrated striving that is being
inculcated more deeply than any
historical iacts or sociological
concepts that are impressed upon
our intellects. As we conform to the
system, we learn to see ourselves
through its eyes, and we regard
ourselves as better or worse people
according to our ability to live up to
its demands.

Grinnell’s selling point, typihed
by the college's promotional
pamphlet entitled, “Do It," a title
unashamedly plagiarized irom
Jerry Rubin’s revolutionary
handbook, is a pretense at en-
couraging seli~determination and
oiiering ireedoin It is really just a
matter of style, an image with
which we enjoy deceiving our
selves. There is no more con
llection between Grinnell and salts
determination than between Pepsir
Cola and ‘thinking young'

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