SCARLET AND BLACK

 

The Scarlet {it Black

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LAi’OLil Loimk
sr‘ﬂkls EDITOR
KLI‘ORTLRS

iiiirry Fulton, Lloyd Gerson

.iohn Brody

Steve Grow

are: Butcher

John pepper

Tom orrcnnnm. om: Butcher.

Mark SAchman, Mitre Sit-gel, Phﬂ Monies.
i c. Lnnunliz. Kalhryn iicinzu. Par [Asian
Jon Sitin, Nada Marlglnk-Hi. Phil Snslch

Requirements

Fast on the heels of the so-called “Betts proposal"
comes the proposal to abolish individual course require-
ments. The question is currently at the divisional level,
and, no doubt, will be presented to the faculty before
long. It seems almost inevitable that the most universal
requirement, the Humanities course, will be widely
debated. We presume that the arguments for or against
requirements in principle may be justly argued in the
specific case of the Humanities course. Let us then,
set forth some of the arguments against a required

Humanities course. .
The Humanities course requires a large faculty, some

of whom resent teaching a course in which they are
not primarily interested. For this reason some faculty
teach the course half-heartedly, thus poorly. Students
who are required to take a course which does not in-
terest them waste time which might be more profitably
spent. On the other hand, if anyone were interested
in Humanities he would not need to be required to take
the course. He would do so voluntarily. The combination
of a disinterested teacher and a number of disinterested
students makes for a very poor course.

Further, the administration does not know the needs
and interests of each student and so is not a proper
judge of what courses any student might need to pursue
his educational goal. Hence, a required Humanities
course is indiscriminately unjust. A good counselling
system would direct students to courses which fit their
needs. Thus, a Humanities course may be recom-
mended or it may not depending on the individual.

These arguments, we think, must be honestly met
by anyone defending the Humanities course require-
ment. They may be answered as follows:

It is true that some faculty would prefer not to teach
a Humanities course. It is also true that some faculty
would prefer not to teach introductory courses, other
lower level courses, and courses in which they are
not currently interested. They may still teach these
courses well. In short, a faculty members personal
preferences are important, but not essential to his doing

a good job. Good teachers will teach the Humanities
course well, bad teachers will teach it poorly.

it is also true that a number of students are not inter-
ested in Humanities when they enter the course and
are not interested in Humanities when they leave the
course. We have, however, on too many occasions
taken courses where almost everyone in the course
was there voluntarily. And in these courses we have
seen interest that was something less than overwhelm-
ing. We admit that there are a certain few students,
the very great ones and the very poor oneTt'or whom
requirements are useless, They do not need them. For
the most part. however, this College deals with students
who are neither very great nor very poor, And it is
precisely these people who can learn most from good
teachers and benefit most from required courses.

The administration certainly does not claim to know
each student’s personal needs. They are, though, justis
fied in assuming some similarity in the students. After
all, the liberal arts college presumes to offer a fairly
specific kind of education, different from, say, a
technical school. Anyone who has had any contact with
a technical school knows the large number of required
courses these institutions demand of their students.
It is true that a technical school is more “fact oriented”
than a liberal arts college, but if a liberal arts education

is a goal which means anything at all, then it would »

seem to be the case that there are certain definable
means to thatgoal.
A good counselling system, is. of course, highly desire

Friday. May i. i970

 

able. And as one well respected faculty member says,
“if you can get a good student and a good teacher to-
gether, you don’t need requirements." Now, no one
seems to know how to develop a good counselling system
among the faculty nor exactly how to bring the good
student and the good teacher together. By excluding
the Humanities requirement we reduce the number
of students taking Humanities, and so limit the contact
which the greatest number of students will have with
the greatest diversity of courses. Thus, we lessen the
possibilities for contrast between good students and
good teachers.

It is not enough simply to refute the arguments
against the Humanities requirement. One must, it
seems, have positive reasons for keeping what we
already have. There is a very old argument, but still
a very good one, tor this,

The liberal arts college is primarily concerned with
teaching students a method or a number of methods
for learning. The most important thing the college can
do is to give the student the best tools for learning,
such as the techniques of analysis, synthesis, etc. How-
ever, the method must have matter on which to work,
or else it will be like a wheel turning nothing. Now
presumably the matter on which we work is contained
largely in the texts taught in the courses. We think
it fairly obvious that it is wise, both pedagogically
and philosophically, to use the best matter available.
One of the purposes of the Humanities course is to
teach the method by means of the literature which
has been recognized as best by a large number of men
over a long period of time. If we require that the best
methods be taught, it seems that we should require
the best material be taught, specifically in the case
of Humanities.

If the proposal to eliminate requirements is adopted,
we do not anticipate the demise of excellent education
at Grinnell College. We expect only its diminution.
It seems to us, though, that we ought to try to make
the College better rather than create the conditions
in which it will become worse, For these reasons, we
believe that the required Humanities course, and by
extension, requirements in general, ought to be re-
tained.

Adelberg Ties For Second Place
In Iowa State Chess Tournament

Professor Adelberg,
mathematics, finished in a tie for
second place in the Iowa State
Chess Championship held this
past weekend at the Memorial
Union in Iowa City There were
lhll‘tyrulne elitl‘anls, including
Grinnell students Bill Sparks and

Jay Southard.

Professor Adelberg, who was
leading the tournament going
lull) lhe filth and last round, lost
his game to Dan Harger, a
student at Cornell College, who
thereby retained his Iowa
championship,

Travel Grants
Given to Seniors

Three Grinnell College seniors
have been awarded 197D~71
Travel-Service_ Scholarships to
teach in India and Thailand.

The three, all of whom will
leave for a year in Asia shortly
after graduation are: Lynn
Adams, an English major; Mary
Graf, an American studies
major; and Janet Williams, an
American studies major.

Miss Adams will teach at Ahr
mednagar College, Ahmcdnagar,
India; Miss Graf at Si Thams
marat Syksa School in Nakhon Si
Tliannarat, Thailand; and Miss
Williams at Dara Academy,
Chiengmai, Thailand.

In addition to their teaching
duties, the Grinnellians are
encouraged to become involved
in curricular activities. In past
years, TravelSerVice Scholars
have served as tutors, head
residents at dormitories, ads
visers of clubs, directors of
musical groups, and coaches of
athletic teams.

Established in 1959, the
program has sent more than do
Grinnell graduates to ion coun
tries — Brazil, Ceylon, Chile,
Colombia, Greece, India, Li,
bcrin, Nyasaland, Tanzania,
Thailand, and Turkey.

Three members of Gi‘inncll's
1969 graduating class are cur
i-ently teaching abroad under the
program. Kaye Handiord, an
American studies major is at A11-
mednagar College; Susan Hunt. a
French major. is at American
College for Girls, Istanbul,
Turkey, and Jane Parish, an
American Studies major, is at
Lingnam College, Hong Kong.

—

Choosing a room? A 2eredit
course on learning and education
will probably be offered to the
women of Main Hall next
Semester. If interested, Contact
Ida Gudema (X450) or Esther
Mosak (X255).

 

