In Search Of An Issue

by Carolyn Ashbangh

Each student must define his own
goals, must be conscious oi his own
reasons ior beings student, Students
should not rely on such crutches as
grades, credits, and degrees to des
fitie tiieir reasons for studying, The
uncritical attitude prevalent at Grins
hell with regard to education re—
nects an unwillingness to grapple
with miin’s response to his changing
world, Students must maintain a
clear perspective on themselveson
their education, and must be able to
critically evaluate their motivesand
their accmplishments.
Withdrawal to Books

students may avoid these issues by
withdrawinginto a private world oi
books, engaging in meaningless and
superiicliii activities, or attempting
to attack an “issue” which they can
define, Retreat to books may ultis
mately be productive; but whendoes
absorption end and synthesis begin?
After despair at the dorm “live
ing” situation last year, people
moved for a dorm situation in which
residents "interact." However, in-
teraction has Come to mean mass
consumption of beer on Saturday
night and discussion oi the “amuSs
ing" consequences the next day,

What is an Issue?

The third alternative po s a more
difficult question of defin on. What
is an issue? and what is not an issue?
What cdnbe made an issue? The third
question is crucial, The “power
structure" at Cirinnell may be made
an issue. “Concrete" results may

come from attacking aspecific,t:in»
gihle problem. And, in a certain
sense. the decision making process
at Grinnell is considerably more
tangible than is the question oi stu—
dent consciousness. Thus peopleare
more likely to make the powerissue
Viable, while they may hesitate to
touch the ”consciousness” or
“spirit" isue

Contaminated and Co-upted

The power structure yields when

pressured. The lack oi structure or
rigidity becomes evident to one deals
ing with it, or to one tracing the
recent history ofdecisionsmaking at
orinnell, The decision making
bodies tend to absorb student op-
position; students cannot cope with
the committee structure because it
contaminates and cosopts them,The
“real” issues remain unexamined;
means become confused with ends,
Thus the ilexibility of the admini—
strative process renders it virtually
immune to a concerted attack. The
shadowy illusion simply shiits, and
the power structure is scarcely
more tangible than is “awarenessof
situation it

Fanon

The history oirevolutionary strug—
gle teaches us that a people must
struggle in order to be tree. They
must develbpanawareness of“why"
they are lighting. it the opposition
continues to yield withouta struggle,
the people never become aware of
their situlion. When rrantz Fanon
says that the native must shed the

The Doppelt Effect

TheSiar Spangled

Grinnell has been mulling over the
dilemma of how to mate a half-
masted American flag with newly—
arrived United Nations flag. This has
resulted in the worst predicament
concerning the American ilag since
Betsy Ross insisted that a six-
pointed star would be easier to sew.
(Actually she felt that way because
it would have given her parents,
Abraham and Sarah Ross 8 lot more
nachas).

Solutions, Solutions

Some sincere "salulions" have
been proposed, But let us not dwell
on those. TheI absurd ones outnumber
them and seem to be the ones most
highly regarded anyway.

1) The most obvious solution isthat
Grinnell procure a dag staff less
than half as big as the one we now
use, Then the United Nations flag
will be lower than the mourning
American ilag,

2) But then there’s the complaint
that the war doesn’t only affect the
United States, but the whole world.
(A melodramatic observation by a
ioreign aiiairs expert). The cans
clusion: Both should be flown at
halfrmast.

3) Some misguided freshmen who
shamelessly ask why it‘s at hall‘-
mast in the tirst place, suggest that
it be returned to the top of the pole
so Santa can see it better. They! i
that anything done halfsmast is
worth doing at all

strange Bedienows

They should be forgiven for they
aren't aware of the origin of this
bold iconoclastic gesture. To clari-
fy this, just browse through the last
three S ill BS which Will tell you that
the maneuver can be definitely at-
tributed to Governor Ray, President
Leggett, Ted Glick, or a campus-
wide referendum. Remember that
sentence. Those names may never
share any common ideal again

a) We can simply get a standard

sized staff for the United Nations
ilag and hammer it into the soil
until it inches below the United
States ilag.

5) Flag regulations state that when
ilags are ilown irom adjacent staiis,
the US. ilag be on the observer":
left if not at the highest point. So,
all we would have to do is station

a person below the ﬂag and move
it to opposite sides whenever peo-
ple approach trom diiierent direc-
tions,

These are just a few pragmatic
suggestions. However, {orthe sake
of not being outdone, I propose this.
According to the nag regulations,
“since the Flag symbolizes the
Nation, it should be halfsmasted
or dressed with crepe only in cases
where it is appropriate to indicate
that the Nation mourns." It also
states, “the Flag should not be both
half-masted and dressed with
crepe," These two restrictions fit
our dilemma periectly. We can raise
the flag to its normal height and
drape it with black crepe to indicate
mourning.

W

[ETTERS from page ZS

value in postponing this realization
until sophomore year?

The Luers-Taylor proposal states
that a student needn’t look at his
grades ii he doesn’t want to.
Shouldn’t he want to?

And the rumblings about competis
tion - will someone please make a
case that competition is badandthat
cooperation and competition areex-
clusive of one another, Ibelievethat
neither is true. Competition, in fact,

means seeking with - and should be
construed, in myopinion,as striving
for excellence with others doing the
same. Rivalry is what is being de»
claimed. Is this iostered by grades,
or more by a personal maladjust»
ment to grades?

The sentiment is expressed that
there are no standards ior judging
work. Each individual is unique and
so are his perceptions. Therefore,
he can not be criticized. If this is
so , why do students attend college?
One reason for pursuing education
within an institution is thefact that it
has iaculty members who are know—
ledgeable and have a conception of
legitimacy within their fields.

There are those who maintain that
evaluation is still desirable in the
form of a written or oral statement,
rather than a grade. lithe professors
agree to this, they just create more
paper work ior themselves. lithe
students demand it, theyonly robthe
professor of time valuable tohimas
a good teacher, I believe that most
students only cursorily read the
written comments on areturned test

exploiter's blood before he can he
come a man, beiore he can be free,
he means that the native must recog
nize his predicament and strike out
against it. He can accept no compros
mlse

Needs oi the Masses

A few people cannot make the
changes in attitudes which I see as
desirable; manypeoplemustinvolve
themselves withlhe issue. Chairman
Mao expresses the situation well
when he says,

“All work done forthe masses must
start irom their needs, and not [mm
the desire of any individual, hOWv
ever well-intentioned It often naps
pens that objectively the masses
need a certain change, but subjecv
tively they are not yet conscious oi
the need, not yet willing or deter»
mined to make the change. In such
cases, we should wait patiently. We
should not make the change until,
through our work, most oi the
masses have become conscious of
the need and are willing anddeter-
mined to carry it but otherwise
we shall isolate ourselves from the
masses.”

Mon] Sensibility

The essence of the issue atGrinnell
is: will the people mobilize? Andto
what end? Who can work to change
attitudes? Can we define our goals
and can we act upon them? Can we
even talk to each other about some
thing beside the upcoming kegger?
Grinnell seems to have lostits moral
sensibility, or consciousness of
value.

Dilemma

I’d like to recommend my source

of information. It‘is a pamphlet
called “The flagcfthe UnitedStates,
how to display it—-how to respect
it.” You can find it in our library
under the call number, 929 9 M85f.
It is worth looking over,

It includes such unforgettable lines
as “a mighty nation on whose flag
the sun never sets,”(my vote for
plagiarism of the century.) It ori»
ginaiiy described the Spanish Em-
pire, “the world’s most romantic
story of national expansion,” and ”if
driving in an automobile, ifthe music
is near (The Star Spangled Banner),
the car should be stopped, all con-
versation cease, and the men (re
maining seated) uncover,"

or paper. Under thepresent system,
the student has the option, and is even
encouraged, to question or discuss
the grade with a professor, Written
evaluation would eventually convert
to some type of grade forthe sakeof
efficiency.

Even these Statements and ques
tions are too restrained to express
the intensity of mybelietthatgrades
should be retained and that Grinnell
is once again making a grave and
self-destructive error. Several of
my iriends express the same opin-
ions, albeit more tactfully, no less
adamantly. We are individuals who
at one time considered these same
changes, but by virtue of two or
three years here have realized that
grades are valuable andthat our for-
mer opposition was due mostly to
fear of personal failure. We arebes
wildered, and resentful, that What
seems so selfsevident to us-sthe
importance of grades as a means of
evaluation and incentive-45 not so
to professors.

it must be remembered that agrade
does not evaluate the individual - but
his periormance. iithere is a corre-
latibn, the student must assess this
for himself. It may be that toomuch
emphasis is placed on grades, Be-
coming accustomedto evaluationand
keeping the import oi that judgment
in perspective are parts at maturity,

Ultimately I think student opposi-
tion to grading is tantamount to a
refusal to accept responsibility I
ask, then, that grades be retained;
if not, I demand a cogent andofficial
rationale justifying such change

Janet Smith

Are Students Overworked?

by Greg Vranicar

“I've got so much work to do that if i stayed up all night every night :rom
now til the end oi the semester, imight getdone.”

“People here are so much into academics that you can’t get them riled up
about anything. Hell, the only way you could get anybody to respond is if you
went out on central campus with a .22 and started shooting squirrels.”

“A friend told me the other day that she asked a junior what he thought
about the ‘Amchitcka Test' and he responded that he had heard it’s only given
to seniors." (I asked it the registration deadline ior the December admini-
stration is already past.)

"You know we really don’t even have time to talk about it, but Dr. -

oi the mental health clinic asked me the other day what we did this year to
make our students even more tense than they were last year. I said, ‘I don’t
think anything:' He responded that we must have done something, because
last year's bad situation is even worse now."

Yes, in the last forty~eight hours, i heard each oi these iour variations on
the theme that the campus is really “uptight." If they had been expressed
with a little less of an alarmist attitude and overa little longer period oi
time, they would not have phased me, i would have concluded that we are
experiencing the normal “beiore the final push" panic. But hearing them all
at once, and, after talking with more people, realizing that many individuals
are quite concerned, i too am somewhat troubled.
new to Cope?

I think we can assume that just about everybody is under a considerable
amount or academic pressure and that most people have misgivings about
their ability to handle that pressure. Why? What can we do about it? it

lwe can’t do anything specifically, how might we better cope with the prob
em?

it seems to me thatthereareseveral reasons tor the present tension, some
probably more important than others, butall evidehtand all working together
to produce the current state Dfmind, Accordingto almost everyone, students
and professors are taking their work more seriously than they have in past
years. students are demanding more oi themselves and oi the proiessors;
they are expecting that everyone should complete all reading and problems
assignments and that protessors should promptly evaluate student perior-
mances, These attitudes are more generally encouraged this year than in

those immediately previous, as I think they should be. ”Rigor," that great
academic virtue, should not be disregarded.

However, it may be time ior both students and professors to take stock at
the kind of frenzy they are driving themselves into and to reassess their
expectations both ior the amount oimateriai they will cover and the mar»
oughness oi the coverage. ~ '

The reasons for the increased sludentseriousnessareseveral. One impor-
tant cause is economic. Somebody is paying almost $4,000 to send us here.
That amount oi money is harder to come by this year than in immediately
previous years. We want our money’s worth and are demanding it oiour-
selves and others. A second iactor is simply that there is an overriding
non-academic activity that attracts Grinnell students this year. We just
are not currently moved toget involved ihpolttical, cultural, or social activi-
ties as much as Grinnell students have in the past three years.

Chronic Complainers
And then there is the cry that is in almost everyone's throat: proiessor.
are assigning more work than in the past. My iirst reaction to this assertion
was negative. It doesn't seem to me that l have longer assignments thani
have had in the past; I'm just doing them more thoroughly, other students
insist (and some even quote professors) that the workload in a signiiicant
number oi courses has been substantially increased. it seems to me that
trying to decide who is right on this question makes little sense, We have
the work to get done, and iiwe take too much time complaining and counting
we’ll assure our inability to iiiiish. »

Is there something in the new student’s makesupthat makes him more con-
cerned about academics or, ontheotherhand, that makes him complain more
about the difficulty and amount of work? I just cannot think that 1971’s stu-
dents' “heads” are so muchdifferent from those of the past three years. And,
as for the propensity to complain, it seemslo me that Grinnell students have
been and probably will always be chronic complainers, We've complained
every year since I’ve been here, if not about too much work, then about too
little student power or too much war. The brunt of our complaints has simply
changed.

The big question is: What canwedo'.’ First, let's quit saying that ”we don’t
even have enough time to talk about it.” Let’s get it out in the open and talk
it over.

Secondly, I think it’s time to reevaluate, as 1 suggested above, our expec-
tations for the work we can really do. We must be somewhat hard~headed
and realize that we will have other semesters in which to learn. We do not
have to do everything now.

Education: Social Activity

Thirdly, and in a more negative sense, we should not, as students or pro—
fessors, work ourselves so completely into exhaustion that we break down
or overextend ourselves. There are other things in the world besides books
and libraries. Although it sounds somewhat ironical, by taking more time to
get into other things, we probably will appreciate our academic activities
more and even learn more in the process. And by allowing ourselves a little
sleep, our waking hours will in the long run he more productive,

Finally, it's time to rededicate ourselves to each other and to the process
of making the college a community. Teaching andlearning are in many ways
necessarily individualistic processes. To do them takes individual effort
and perserverance But education is also a very social activity, and in the
classroom and out. we should be oiiering more oi ourselves and receiving
more or others in an educational process that can build a community.

The same person who is quoted above as saying that shooting squirrels is
the only way to rile people also gave a word tor the wise. Decrying what
he senses is a trend toward social atomism, he said it would he horrible “if
everybody walked around with that blank, big»city stare on his lace all the
time." I could not agree with him more. I hope that, even though we are all
under a lot of pressure, we will realize that everybody else is busy too and
that we would treat others as we would like to be treated, with a sense of
respect and iriendship characteristic of a true community.

November 12, 1971 as

The Scarlet and Black

 

