This article was written from
material compiled by Scarlet
and Black staff writers Louise
Dix, Deborah Redman, and Br-
ent Schondelmeyer,

by Deborah Redman

As part of the conference the se-
cond panel was on “Directions: The
Year 2001, or, For What Kind of
Society Are We Educating Men and
Women?” held Friday morning. Me-
mbers of the panel included Car»
olyn Swartz Bucksbaum, ‘51, and
James H. Lowry, ‘61, Trustees of
the College; Ed Hirsch, ‘72; and
Clarence Pickard, retired farmer,
businessman, who recently particie
pated in the bicycletrlp across lowa.

In general, each panel member
delivered a short speech concerning
the possible shapes of the future,
and how a college education can 3;,
feet and is affected by suchafuture.

Bucksbaum could not help wonders
ing how the world can continue to
"sit on the powder keg oi overkill,
sit on national feelings, sit onthe gap
between those who have and those
who don't” if the world is to reach
the year 2001. She referred to the
present as the “age of flnitude,"
where the problem will be how to
sustain the
without depleting the nutrients upon
which it feeds.” She said this is the
problem of the liberally educated
person.

Ed Hirsch based the majority of
his talk on the vast differences in
values between a liberal arts coll-
ege_and the outside world. Lowry,
who also picked up on this theme,
said “I think you have to be prag-
matic.” He said he sees more ec-
onomic unions in the future, but
that these unions would be formed
because of the vested interests of
those in power, rather than ethical
reasons.

Pickard told some anecdotes of
the bicycle trip across lowa to ill-
ustrate therfriendliness and honesty
of the bikers. He said he was im-
pressed by the sight of both the

"American organism .

United States and United Nations
flags ﬂying side by side on the Grr
innell campus.

Perhaps the main theme of the
panel could be summed up in Low-
ry’s remark that ”what will happen
will depend...on the price you are
willing to pay,"

The final panel of the liberal arts
conference was “Are We What We
Think We Are?” followed by a dis»
cussion of “Can We Be What We
Want to E27”

Participants in the first discussion
were Peter Connelly, assistant prOr
fessor of English and Deborah Wrr
ight, a junior. There seemed to be
general agreement that Grinnell
could be what it wanted to be, though
there were limitatons imposed by
the School's location in a small
town, Grinnell should be Very con-
,scious of itself as an institution
and as a community oi persons if
the question was ever to be ans—
wered.

Dean Waldo Walker and Bob Ruhl,
a senior, undertook the second qur
estion.

Grinnell was capable or being what
it wanted to, Walker thought, but
that as a school we would have to
decide what that was. This would
include considerations ofalumniand
other groups Concerned with the
college. Walker emphasized a need
to develop better writing skills am-
ong students.

Ruhl wished to distinguish between
what he considered a correct educa-
tion and the traditional liberal arts
education. A correct education, Ruhl
felt, was ability in communicative
skills, thinking skills, as masteryof
self and some particular subject
matteri Cooperation was necessary
among elements of the school noting
that though disagreements do arise
all have the best interest ofthe sch-
ool in mind from their perspective.
Ruhl felt it was possible for Grin-
nell to be innovative Whilenotbeing
hurt.

Both felt that the college needed a
statement of purpose ofwhatthe col-
lege wanted to be to provide some
point irom which to measure pro-
gress toward any particular goal.

The topic at the third panel diSr
cussion Friday afternoon was “Lib—
erating the Mind: Is Relevancy Re-
levant?”

Justice Harvey Uhlenhopp, ‘36, a
member of the Iowa Supreme Court
posed the question of whether a
college really needs to be relevant,
He pointed out that what was reler
vant to the student today, in the
course of years could in itself be
come irrelevant. A mastery of how
to' approach a problem would allow
a person to deal with most situa-
tions he would confront.

Mary Gae Wyly, associate librarr
ian, spoke briefly on behalf of Err
ian Harris, assistant professor of
German, who was unable to attend.
The point he wished to make was
whether the college should be ev-
erything to everybody and ii itcoul—
dn‘t be then perhaps some students
shouldn’t be at this particular sch,
col.

Wyly, speaking for herself, ielt
that when she was a student at
Grinnell she never mastered a par-

' ticular subject, An emphasis atthat

time was for women to understand
a variety oi subjects, but command
over any single one wasn’t neces-
sary, It was essential for any stu-
dent, she felt, to understand a given
area to go on to other areas,

A parent, Mary Lago, felt that
the student needs a sense Of his
torical perspective -- that the eXr

istence of an individual was temv
porary when considered in the en,

tire spectrum of things. AS Such, an
understanding oi past and iuture to
any education is essential,

A senior, Tom Hobbs. felt that a
healthy pessimism was a good attv
itude for a student to strike. It
made the individual a questioning
critical analyzer of ideas, but not
to the point of frustration with self
and surroundings.

Botstein Proposes Unique Plan

by Elaine Carey

A liberal arts education’s creation
of a new kind of American was the
topic Friday for Leon Botstein,
president oi Franconio College, as
the keynote speaker of the weekend
liberal arts conference.

Botstein, who was made president
of the new Hampshire college at
the age of 23 used John Dean and
Jeb Stuart Magruder as examples
of the products of the liberal arts
college, posing the issue of the
moral fiber of the liberal arts var
lue. Questioning .the relevance of
liberal arts to society and the reler
vance oi society to liberal arts,
Botsteln asserted that liberal arts
mirrors society’s structure.

Magruder then, Botsteln argued,
is the highlight oi liberal arts,
because Magruder attendeda liberal
arts college and took a course on
ethics. Yet, he emerged without
understanding or facing the issues,
thus representing theproducts ofthe
liberal arts college, according to
Botstein,

Botstein continued by stating that
the outstanding part of liberal arts
is its pluralism or compromise
between general instruction and var
cational instruction, giving ita “cafe
eteria style" nature. General educar
tion in the older form, according
to Botstein, had the one important
structural item of requirements. No
requirements were termed by But—
stein as a superficial concession
because requirements, he noted,
were the best route to creating indie
viduals. The purposes behind re
quirements of the older form, which
people rejected, were necessary to
give a cultural tradition and to
set up qualities oi work and skill
necessary, inr the student to be
intellectually self reliant in any vos
cation. These purposes becamepart
of the total program of precareer,
Rntstein added.

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Botstein then continued by propos-
ing his scheme for liberal arts that
was what he referred to as not li-
beral arts, not pluralistic, and not
comprised of concessions from vo-
cational or general instruction. The
objectives were outlined by Bot-
stein as being encouragement of
social and political responsibility,
encouragement of adequate intelle-
and analytic ability, en~
couragement of philosophic and scir
entilic traditions, and encourage-

ment of concern for active aesth-

etic sensibilities.
Four parts 10 Botstem‘s program

were then explained The first part
would consist of the average course
seminar with readings and topics
developed by faculty in all areas
on a nonrdepartmental basis, This
course, Botstein stated, would pror
vide the only justifiable reason for
residential experience in college.
That reason is the intellectual and
social communication developed by
exposure to the same issues
presented in required courses such
as he proposed - .

The second aspect oi the progra

was an active laboratory science
ior everyone, run on the basis
that until every student learns it
with reasonable familiarity every
student does itr This basis replaces
grading systems. Community ser»

vice by faculty and students in
projects chosen by the community
was the third obligatory facet of
Botstein’s program.

The final area covered by the pros
gram was an active arts course
where each student would have to
sing, paint, draw, and learn to
play an instrument other than the
guitar, This college program not
stein suggested would be governed
on a parody basis oi faculty and
students instead of through depart-
ments. Students would participate
in hiring and firing on an equal
basi . The only nonnegotiable part
of the structure would be the re-

quired curriculum.

Scarlet and Black ono|o by Dianna ou

PRESIDENT LEON BOTSTEIN

 

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THE GRINNELL SCARLET AND BLACK OCTOBER TE, 1973 PAGE '1

liberal Arts Education Surveyed .

A panel takes a look at the future and discuss the topic “Directions:
The Year 2001, or, For What Kind oi Society Are We Educating Men
and women?” as part of the Conference of Liberal Arts.

Grinnell's Conference on the Lib-
eral Arts held this weekend fea-
tured panel discussions on every,
thing from what kind of education
the person living in the year 2001
will need, to discussion of the rel~
evancy of relevant,

The first panel, held Thursday
night was entitled “The Liberally
Educated Man and Woman.” Pres—
ident Glenn Leggett discussed his
definition of the ideal liberal arts
graduates. He described this per-
son as a “balanced” individual cons
sisting of opposites. This person
possesses abalancebetween ‘ ction
and thought" and “duties to his socr
iety and to himself,” for example,
Joseph F. Wall, Parker professor
of history, spoke of Grinnell’s his-
toric liberalism. “Fifteen minutes
of some 120 years of Grinnell’s
history," he explained, was like
describing the movie “King Kong"
as uthe story of a gorilla’s diffs
iculty in adjusting to urban living."

"The curriculum has not changed
greatly within the past decade," he
said, “There have only been minor
variations on an old theme.”

He admitted that Grinnell doesn’t
usually adopt innovative changes
unless they have been tested else
where. One of the first women to
apply was a black Woman in 1857,
he said. “The overwhelmingmajor-
ity of the Board of Trustees voted
to admit her," he said. “In fact,
only one trustee voted against it
saying ‘Let Oberlin do it?”

Wall said that the function of the
liberal arts college is to keep in,
quiry open and provide iniormation
for students upon which they can base
their decisions and take their own
Stands on moral issues, “Here Grin-
nell excells and deserves the title
of historic liberalism," he said
Grinnell has a long history of have
ing socially concerned students, War
11 explained.

Grinnell as it is today was the t0—
pic for junior Bill Yourd. He said

that he didn't think a specialist :

could be liberally educated unless

the person “specializes generally ‘

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upward and spreads out the base
too. It takes an exceptional per-
son.” ”I hope that’s the kind of
specialization that we'll be looking
for coming out of Grinnell," he
continued

”If you’re going to‘have academic
freedom, which is essential, you sit-
ould put.higher priority on the ad»
missions policy,” he commented.
”You should search out students
concerned with working on the pr-
oblems of the future and of now.”

Reacting to Yourd's statements on
the admissions policy, panel mem-
ber Philip Kintner, chairman of the
faculty, said that a selective admiSr
sions policy like Yourd suggested
would be “Like choosing good crs
oss country people who are already
trained. They can be just turned
loose and don’t really need the ed-
ucation.”,H.e Said that students need
an education that challenges them
and "pulls them out ofthemselves."
He also asked the question, “is the
liberally educated person an elite?”

According to SGA President Scott
Well, the criteria for a good lib-
eral arts education is the formation
of a student ”who can think creative—
ly and independently and who can
communicate ideas cohesively and
coherently," He reviewed politics
involved with a good liberal arts
education noting that is "a com-
munity whereby every constituency
of that community would govern it-
self collectively ”

He said that Grinnell has failed
here because what the students say
or do doesn't make a difference.
"The only way students are able
to be heard on grievances is when
they’re able to articulate them in
a iurcciul way.”

Leggett disagreed with Well. As
an example he said that there are

Continued on page S

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