March 5, 1971 ‘-

THE SCAR LET‘AND ”BL’A CK "

ledermon On RA Role

by Laura Shook

Jim and line 'l‘edcrmtin of
Younkcr Hall . not to mention
Cain . tire familiar names, if
not focus, to many Students.
Resident \dVlSOl‘s for two
years, they have had ample
opportunity to take part in
college life.

Inst your, Jim toughia semr
mar on Public Welfare. This
year he is probably better
known :is a key figure in the
organization of the Revolving
Door. He hopes the crisis
center will expand next year
(although as "mi-it Dean of
Students he won’t have time to
play a very large part in it)
and offer programs to the
campus .is a whole.

A politi ~ciencc major (it
Stanford o t‘i'sily, Jim did
graduate work at the Univcrr
sity of Nebraska. He was a
social worker in ii Jose for
a year, where, [2 lg a Plav
cement Office he aw a Grim
ncll bulletin displayed. The
rest is obvious.

It 1 common knowledge now
that Jim will replace Ric Mcr
Dowcll as Assisnint Deannext
yea r. lie sceshis coordinating
the R . and SA. systems as
the primary duty of that job
With only 7 I{.v\.’s, the job
won’t be easy. jini hopes to
have next ytti. s R.\.'s par
ticipate in m tious campus
wide (lL ussioii and sensk
tivity groups, making them
more visiblctoniore students.
“This ycat', R.\ are work?
ing entirely . » individuals,
which is fine. But as a team,
we might be able to accompr
lisli morc," _ ys Jim.
tin experienced R.\., jim
holds many opinions about his
job, which he prr nted in the
following statc'li‘icn
"l havc been tit Gi‘lnllell’avsa
Resident Advisor for two
years now. During tlits time I
have spent countless hours in
countless meetings trying to
define the role of the RA.
What I have begun to wonder
is why we feel this compelling
need to completely classify
him, It appears that when we
cannot totally define the role
of a person, we feel uncomr
fortable about him.

It is relatively easy todefine
certain rules The factilty,for
instance, are trained in and

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tcach a relativelylimited field
of knowledge. Theyarc expec-
ted to transmit ihatknowledgc
and to determine how well stuV
dents have learned it. They
work primarily with one as-
pect ofa person's intellectual
being with definable limits.
(This is not by any means an
attempt at defining the faculty
but is merely to point out that
some roles are definable).

The R./\.'s, however, do not
work with students along one
definable aspect of their being.

We work and play and live
with the whole human being.
We do not know students in
die limited setting of the
classroom, butintheirprivate
lives. We live with, we see,
and often work with students
over parental confliCts, rela-
tionships with their peers,
their response to academics,
the institution and really to
the whole world.

R.A.’s ideally relate tostud'
ents as whole human beings
tind nor out of a single role
such as parent, teacher, or
doctor. R.A.'s, again ideally,
treat students as people. This
means that when someone
walks in our door, we deal
with whatever human need he
may have at that moment. It
may be a parental conflict,
or the need for a frying pan,
or anything between the two.

What I am saying is that at-
tempting to define the role of
a R A. may be like trying to
define humanity ~ I am not
sure that it can be done or
that I want it done. The ‘non-
role' that Ihave just attempt-
ed to describe is much more
difficult and demanding to fill
than any delineated one. I
know that I, myself, often fail
to be this type of a person.

However, these are the qual-
ities that l feel we should try
to find in R.A.s. I thinkR.A.'s
fill a needed gap in the college
between the intellectual and
emotional lives of the stuck
ents. This does not mean the
program couldn't be improved
"it could and needs tobe- but
this would require a committ'
ment on the part ofthe college
that it presently feels unable
to make. I believe this is a
mistake.

For too long colleges have
emphasized the intellectual
growth of students at the ex-
pense of thcir emotional gr-
owth. Too many of us have
been guilty of concentrating
totally on the classroom and
forgetting that what goes on
outside of it, that what goes
on with the students and his
parents, that wliatgoes on with
his peers, has an intimate rer
lationship with how well he
performs in the classroom.
\ll humans need and demand

 

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EJ. Jensen, 0.13.
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Across from Post Office
Closed Thursday p.m.
and Sdl. pm.

 

 

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supplies

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OFFICESUPPLY

GRINNELL, IOWA
Across from the Post Offic?

 

 

 

emotional growthand develop—
ment with their intellectual
growth and development. The
rational man should not be
emphasized at the expense of
the emotional man (or vise
versa).

1 think that it is verypossible
that much of the demand on the
part of students for “reler
vance" in the classroom is
a desire for recognition of the
emotional and irrational side
of their beingdof “how do I
face the world7"onapersonal
and emotional level. I also
think that some of the demand
on the part of the students
and some of the response on
the part of the faculty to lack
of relevance may be mis~
placed. The students may
really be asking for experir
mental knowledge that cannot
by its nature he demanded
from the classroom. The fair
ulty are sometimes meeting
Lhis demand by creatinga few
new and fancily named cour-
ses or by re-doingtheirbook-
lists. I am n0t sure, in my
own mind, whether either the
faculty or students’ response
[0 the demand for relevance
is a correct one. (I am also
not denying thattherc isa need
for some new courses and re
vised readings). What I am
saying is that students' den
sires for relevance might be
better served in a non-aca-
demic experimental fashion
in dorm programs geared (0‘
wards emotionaldevelopmem.

Jim and June Tederman -Barry Zigas Photo

R.A.s and faculty could play
an important role in integrata
ing the intellectual with the
emotional growth of students,
but not if we operate as we
presently do - independent of
each other and lacking a con-
cern for the same goals. I
feel that many of the faculty
share my concern about the

Helen Barnes, Director of
the Office of Career Counsel»
ing and Placement, Univer-
sity of Iowa will be on campus
on Wednesday, March 10. She
will speak to students at 7:30
PM at Grinnell House.

Her discussion will covera
variety of topics including Ch»
anging Perspectives in Vocar
tional Counseling, Developing

"whole human being" but that
few of us have a realization of
what the other is doing. It is
time we did.

These ideas have been boun—
cing around in my headawhile.
They are not fully developed,
so I would like to hear other
people's thoughts on them.

Vocational goals and plans,
how to write resumesandpre-
pare for employment inter-
views. Miss Barnes will also
include the subject of voca-
tional opportunities for women
in her prgsentation.

In addition, the Placement
Committee will meet with
Miss Barnes to think about
plans for the Career Services
Ofﬁce at Grinnell.

Teuchers’ Aides Work In local Schools

(continued from page 5)

in the Grinnell publicschools.
According to Diana Pullin,who
oversees thisprogram, twenty
to twenty- five college students
provide extra help for teach-
ars. tutor children,especially
in language skills and mathe
matics, and let children know
that somebody cares about
them.

Many tutors are enrolled in
Associate Professor Donald
Liggett's Educational Psyr
chology course. According to
Liggett, tutoring and working
as teachers' aides gives SIU’
dents from his course contact
with children in school and
makes his course more real

to students.

Diana sends out noticesask-
ing for volunteers at the be
ginning of the semester and
then matches volunteers with
jobs. in the schools. Students
work in all five public ele»
mentary schools, the junior
high school, and the high
school.

She says that she has twenty
to twenty-five volunteers for
eleven openings. Volunteers
work two hours each week.

The program was started
four years ago by the Board
of Religion and shifted three
years ago to the education de-
partment to avoid any sugges-
tion of religious inﬂuence on
the public schools.

College left In Dark

Monday morning at 9:55 the
lamps went out all over Grinr
nell College. The power fail-
ure lasted until about 12:30
on North Campusand from one
to two hours longer in other
college buildings. It was ap-
parently causedbyamalfunct-
loning transformer at mm and
East Street that also left other
parts of town without electri»
city.

The stoppage was somewhat
inconvenient. A few windowV
less classrooms, offices, and
forum basement rooms were

ABORTION

lNFORI‘iATlDN
AND
ASSlSTANCE

CALL (215) 87575800

24 hours 7 days
FOR TOTALLY CONFI-
DENTIAL INFORMATION

w. momma mi..-

Oh. man “Musi- whom: deg.
l... dieting 1.,' .nd numb.
m... in...” which will be mt.
pl i, Mn... ti. i“. mm... ,m.
coma at .cuodilnd mount.

Loni Abortions Wiihoﬂt Dally
ARS INT.

useless. Water turned warm
in the coolers. Bookstore cl-
erks had to hand crank the
cash registers with each sale,
and Ernie‘s postage meter did
not work.

The dining halls had enough
natural light for lunch, though
Cowlcs was reduced to using
candles in the kitchen. SAGA
keeps a supply of paper dish-
ware and plastic utensils
which were used to prevent a
pilerup of unwashed crockery.

Since it came in the middle
of the day and was relatively
brief, the failure was not ser-
ious.

Want Ads &
Personals

DESPERATELY need two
rides toward Miami over
break. Share driving and
expenses. Please call Jeff.
Ext. 478

DESIRED . Dates for two
members of Grinnell swim
team (Larry the Magnifir
cent and Gabby) after con-
ference meet at victory (7)
celebration. Contact Hal at
6—4228

> Bluebirds.

Mrs. Margaret Apostle, wife
of Mathematics Professor
George Apostle uses one or
two college student volunteers

. to help her as den mother for » -

a no [5' of rhéhially retarded“
Bluebirds are a
division of the Campfire Girls
for young girls. Sophomore

Laurie Hultberg works with
Mrs. Apostle.

Mrs. Apostle Says that she
has tried to fit the Campfire
Girl program to the needs of
the girls. The program gives
college students a chance to
work with mentally retarded
children, teaches the child
responsibility, gives ’them
cultural enrichment and con-
tact in the community, and
gives the community more
contact with the mentally rec
tarded.

The troop which she started
three years ago, meets in
Mrs. Apestle's home. She says
that she would like one or two
more volunteers. Students can
volunteer though the Campfire
Girl‘s office in town or by
(rolling Mrs. Apostle at
6-5861.

Junior Paul Leitch and his
friends Greg Bombinski,
Brian Carroll, and Dave Rent
and work as den leaders for
a cub scout pack made up of
boys from Davis School spe-
cial education classes for the
mentally retarded.

- According to Paul, the troop

started out as a project for
a Developmental Psychology
course, and he decided to con*
tinue. “It just happened to fit
in with Educational Psycho-
logy," he said.

The boys come from broken
homes, Paul says. The pack
gives them time after school
with other people and offers
them recreation, practice us-
ing tools in arts and crafts
projects, and physical acti-
vity.

The pack meets once a week
after school in the special
education classroom. It is
sponsored by the local Kluanis
club.

 

