of a mechanical rearrangement oi calendar
dates, Occasionally some good does result,
but simply changing times at beginnings and
endings is usually just a trade-off: one
problem solved, but another created. We
should decide first wllat we want an under—
graduate education to encompass in terms oi
times at concentration; oi workrstudy; 01
independent projects, here and away; otvacae
lion breaks and changes or pace; oi what are

‘life begin: at every age, not
just at 21, and today’: rele-
vance may well be tomor-
row’s antique ’

minimum totals ior completing the degree and
what are maximum Then, indeed almost
simultaneously, We should decide Whether we
have the iacnlty competence, range, and enei»
gv to still! this kinii 0i revised educational
program without dcs ving the college nude
get and asking the L tilly to do more than it
can No question exists iii my mind that over
the last ten veais we have undergone a genin
ine philosophical involution which will have
permanent cliects on higher education, hut
none at us ,, students, lacultv. or college
presidents ,, can say with certainty at ttiis
point which specitic elements are permanent
and which are passing iancies Much that we
and other colleges have done is in response
to pressures that, however well inlentloned
Dr motivated, had little educational value
beyond keeping the place quiet enough so that
most teachers could leach and most students
could study This kind ol response may be
sometimes necessary to ltchievea temporary
stability, httt in the long run it will tuiii us
into a mediocre institution.

One cannot spctiii very much tiine on the
word undergraduate Without getting to What
has always been regarded as a very closely
related term, liberal arts, Everybody knows
what it means in his own lnlnd; and What is
more pertinent to my theory ol diiieriiig
expectations, probably what it ought to mean
to everyoodv else Expectations about now
liberal arts education should be deﬁned,
however, vary tremendously: i'ronl those
who hold, not Without strong philosophical
support, that liberal arts is mathematics,
languages, literature, political economy, and
theoretical or pure science (whatever tilesc
adjectives may mean), through those who hold
that speClilc Subject matters are not so im»
portant as how they are taught. to those who
hold liberal arts is whatever provides a
student with a toeenold on this year‘s world
These are overstmpliticattons, none at the
individuals in the groups I have mentioned
are as pure as I’ve categorized them. But
generally speaking, individuals in the iirst
group believe that interest follows knowledge,
individuals in the second group that knowledge
lnllows interest; and individuals in the third
group that the hereeand-now clientele oi Stur
dents is the best judge oi what it needs to

know. To my mind, our present curriculum,
which is really a non-curriculum (andlam not
using the word pejoratively), is a mixture at
all three of these notions of liberal arts. We
have traditional courses, area courses, litters
disciplinary courses, independents oi all
shapes and sizes, and enough movement back
and torth and up and down to create a currie
cular oblong blur. II it were not [or the hard-
headed standards oi our faculty and the com-
petitive academic power or our students, my
personal instincts lor order and system might
he outraged. Even so, i am anxiety-ridden
about what all at these 1250 more Or less
separate curriculums add up to; and I would
like it hit of reassurance that all's right with
the curricular world at Grinncll

This statement may be nothing out a per
sonai, plaintive cry. What is oi real impor-
tance, however, is our system oi controlling
our educational movements, We must work
our way out oi present ad hoc, shorterange
method oi deciding what we are going to add
to our educational program and what we are
not. Though the Executive Council (it the
Faculty has made some serious attempts to
do so, with some success, We are all still
hamstrung by three things (1) our ignorance
oi “hut student ilow to some Cotiises really
means in the long rim, (Z)l)y our inability
to Control the [low 01 students in the none
requirement curriculum, and atiovc all, (a)
by our lack ol any long huge plan oiacae
demlc direction lluw t‘ ', for instance, do we
go in instituting (\I‘Earorrcultilral programs
of studies7 DO we decide on the liasis ot pre—
sent studeiit lﬂtUl'ESt or on the competence
and interest at our present tacnlty orwhut"
Though iaculty size ili (Wei >Ltll terms is
certainly a liudgetary concern, in individual
terms it is a question oi how luculty go to-
gether to make up a viable litiet-nl arts pro-
gram. it is the latter that makes a college
a college and not just a rambling, disyointed
university

The pertinent qucstions are on what pros
grams are alisolutcly necessary lor us, which
ones desirable, either now or later, and which
ones luxuries that Simply absoil) tulitls and
educational energy that ought to he going elsee
where But before We can try toanswerthese
questions, no have to consider not only pre-
sent enrollment trends in courses and whe-
ther individual laculty charisma and populai»
ity is really iaculty competence, but above
all, whether the subject matter and method—
ology oi the course ‘Mll prepare the student
tor tomorrow The latter consideration re—
quires, [or each at us, an act of nonesell-
serving imagination of almost Platonic di—
mensions Lite hegins at every age, not just
at 2i, and today‘s relevance may well he
tomorrow's antique. Or, on the other hand,
it may well be next year's space shot at Mars.
We can never he sure. We can only keep my
minding ourselves that an open-mlndedness
ahout what may be permanently valuable is a
useful virtue, in faculty as well as students
And further, that debates about the mattCi'
are best Conducted iii a modest manner, in
which objective evidence and a knowledge oi
history are better guides to l‘easonahlejittlge
mcnts than gut reactions and yeseor-no reterr
enduins

But all these questions I have raised in the
last iew minutes ought to he put aside temper
rarity until we lind some way ol speaking to
what I said ill the beginning was the issue that
conditions our responses to almost everything

that happens here: that is, our differing
expectations about what this college should
and can do, with its particular faculty and
student body, its traditions and style, and its
geographical and financial limitations. The
assumptions that lie behind expectations are
seldom expressed They need to be, openly
and seriously, so that we have a manageable
context tor discussion, I do not believe that
our dillerences are really the result ot a
perverse Wrongrheadedness, one person irom
another Our promotional literature may lne
deed raise expectations in students that makes
them undeistandaoly bitter when they run into
the reality of the place. Moreover, our style
of operation, which takes place inanenviron-
merit Where some 1500 articulate and sensi-
tive persons want their opinions to count,
raises and circulates and accumulates levels
01 expectations that when not realized, as they
seldom are, shatter hopes and deny what were
regarded as promises Maybe we needs signs
all over Campus saying “i never promised you
a rose garden: only a iew selected opportuni—
ties to read and study and learn.”

Certainly what we do need is a more vigorous
orientation program ior our new students and
u more fully slatted Career oillce to tell our
Students the real uses Ola Grinnell education.
it we had such things, plus an oil-going, soe
phlsticnted nihce of research tievoleti to stu~
dies of the results DI What \te are doing. or
where otlr students Come [rum and Wllcrethey
go, we might have some hard inioriiintioii t‘or
decisions about what to change, what tothrow

‘--—wlyal our admirer: thin/e

we are mztl wlmt we actually

are need to be pushed more

I

closely toga/091

out. and what to keep Then we could say wit
much more assurance than We can now that
Griiinell promotes "the general interests .
education and qualities people lor the dil
tel‘ent proiessions and lor the honorable dis
charge oi the various duties oi lite."
Problems, prolileins, prohlenis; all overth
place I probably have made them sound over
whelming. They aren’t,
campuses, as l oiten do, l am told, more oite
than not with admiration and envy, ot the
quality oi our iaculty, ol the academic power
oi our students, oi the charm oi our campus
and oi the achievements oi our graduates
Even the penchant ot the news media t
concentrate on us is ireouently iegal'dedasi
iorm or llattery, though almost everyone, es
pecially alumni, admit this is a twoeedgel
sword we could well do without. But whatoui
admirers think we are and what we actuall
are need to he pushed more closely togetliei
Look upon it not as a plethora olprohlems t
cry over but as a series ot challenges to u
met and overcome. To be met and overcom-
as Martin Luther King said here 4-1/2 year.
ago in a ditterent context, with hard war
and deep commitment.

 

