Page Two

Sticks
and
Stones

nyrsnlmss

      
   

By now, I trust, the prepping the primary one being to require a greater degree

program has been dealt with:
the coﬁee has been downed, and
the faculty has handily demol»
ished the arguments in favor of
it. Besides this, there appeared
in these pages last week a brace
of scathing letlers which came
perilously close to making the
coffee hour unnecessary.

Thus, if you're fed to the
tooth with kcistcr-hoating,
read no further; I am about
to wax redundant 1 can‘t re-
sist setting down what I hope
will he the last Wurl'l . . .

I confess that i was disturbed
by the faculty vote on the mat.
ter earlier this week; I felt that
not all of them were well-
enough informed or sufficiently
close to prepping to cast that
negative vote, and that prepping
falls more logically under the
administrations jurisdiction. Tra-
dition—bound, 1 was moved to
defend it, it was at least, weeks
1y catharsis for the upperclass-
man, and the sound of shatter.
ing pine has never grated on
my cars.

But I have talked with a
number of students since then.
and I’ve been swayed. The
nays have it. rrepping is,
quite .simply, indefensible.

Its defenders are legion, of
course, and extremely vocal:
prepping contributes to the uni-
ﬁcation of the freshman class;
prepping, properly administered,
is a healthy discipline; prepping,
at its very best, can make or
break our hallowed hall system.
It sounds good, i think, or at
least sounds plausible, and it
took three years, two letters to
the editor, and the intelligence
of a handful of freshmen to
wake me up.

But when you equate “uniﬁ-
cation, with blind, animal
huddling-together; when you
laugh “properly administered"
out of existence; and when
you take a very close look at
the contribution made by
prepping to the hall system,
you can only react with shame
and indignation . . . as the
faculty properly rcactcd.

For uniﬁcation during prep»
pingiif it does, indeed, accur—
does in no sense assure lasting
uniﬁcation, and it has lbeen am-
ply demonstrated this year that
student officers, the C of HP in
particular, are entirely incapable
of adhering to a written, fairly
moderate prepping code.

What remains is the hall
system, and a single question
sunioos to give the argument
the lie: does any freshman un- ,
fettercd by group morca (“uni-
ﬁcation,” you know) really on-
joy physical anguish, or hon-
estly lee! a rush of friendship
for the senior whose bed he
is making?

As I say, it took me three

years to see daylight. I hope,
though, that it is not too late
to make amends, and that this
year has seen the last of what
is at best a pretty silly thing.

 

Qualify
Photography
_._
HAN‘SS’EN .
STUDIO .

BE 6-3741

 

 

SCARLET AND BLACK

Haner Paper Evalua’res 4-3;
Repor’rs Program Has Meri’r

by Linda rinwn

An evaluation of the 4-3

ly been submitted to the Fund for the Advancement of Ed» tion”

course experiment has recent—

ichober ID, W5

By derivation, prepping . . .

. means preparing. Preparing for what? Active an
worthwhile participation in the college community, we ho
Hazing, on the other hand, refers to the ”playful degrad
now under fire on North Campus. In our eyes, th

ucation by Charles F. Haner (psychology), co-ordinator of point system, or its equivalentsatisfies the freshman no
the Grinnell FAE DYOKTMYL The proleCtilwhiCh begin! in for preparation. In this area, in fact, North Campus
1956-1957, was designed with several objectives in mind, teach South Campus a lesson. The women’s insipid an

of in»

dependence from the students in their academic work.

(A 44 course is one in which
a student spends three hours per
week in class, and the extra
course hour working independ~
ently on a project or other as»
signed outside study)

During the four semesters
that the program has been in
effect, .the number of such
courses offered has almost
doubled The English, economics,
and philosophy departments have
made all of their c and D level
courses this type, although the
foreign languages and sciences
have none.

Evaluation

The evaluation of the effects
of the 4.3 program was based
on semi—controlled experimental
classes, standardized interviews
with 12% of the class of 1958 and
faculty members who had taught
4—3 classes, and a questionnaire
sent to the remaining 88% of
the class of 1958.

The results seem to indi-
cate that: (1) students tend to
learn more about the process
of independent studying; (2)
there is an increase in interest
in the subject, but no better
inter-relationship of subjects is
established; (3) more time is
spent and more knowledge is

gained in 4-3 courses than in .

corresponding c o n v e n t i onal
courses.

However. it is felt that more
is learned about the subject
matter as a whole when the
fourth hour project is ”integrat-
ed" into the course than when
the project is separate from the
actual class material.

Although the study was‘IBt
an attempt to ascertain whether
there was an actual qualitative
improvement in teaching, “there
appears to be a potential for bet-
ter utilization of faculty re-
sources in the 4—3 program.“

in regard to the reactions of
the faculty and students involVr
ed, "it is the belief of the eval—
uator . . . that the basic View is
that independent work on the
part of the student is highly de»
sirable, that the 4-3 program is
potentially a pretty good way to

stimulate such work, but that
the program needs l0 be altered
in certain Ways,"

There ls little doubt that
this program will become a.
permanent part of the academ-
ic program on the Grinnell
campus.

Thus, it seems that the next
logical steps are to develop more
independent work for freshmen
and sophomores in preparation
for their 4-3 courses as upper-
classmen, to continue to develop
other forms of independent study
in general, and to modify the
present program in sevoral ways.

Changes Suggested

Some of the suggested modifi»
cations are to make the ”pro-
ject" type fourth hour more
related to the course, to replace
one long project with three or
four shorter projects, to develop
more "feed—back” to the class,
to make “project” fourth hours
optional, and wherever possible,
to make the “integrated” pro.
jents optional.

It was also suggested that the
faculty should discuss and try to
agree on the aims of this pro—
gram and how best they might
achieve these ends.

Haner summarizes his re-
port by saying, “It is seeming-
ly the View of many students
and of the Evaluator that the
4-3 program has merit, that it
can' result in better under-
standing and greater knowl-
edge on the part of the student
that the conventional course,
that it can make academic
material more interesting and
‘alive’ to the student, that it
can result in greater initiative
and independence. and that it
can result in significant sav-
ings in faculty time. In opera- .
tion, however, it is not living
III) to its potential”

“This is, perhaps; to be ex~
pcctcd in any relatively new
program, but it is felt that at
this time the Operation of the
4-3 program should be seriously
considered and modifications
made in the way it is 'being ap-
plied in light of its operational
shortcomings."

 

 

Tulorlng and
Lessons in German

‘Mrs. 1R. B.

Phone BE 6-3758

 

 

Dine and Dance
nighlly excepl Tuesday
SAYLOR
SUPPER ‘CLUB
Upstairs ‘Across from
Art Lowe—Ford dealer

, Newton, In.

For reservations call 2431

on Highway 6

Convelrsul'ion

'McCIenon

 

relatively useless (except for leaming a, few, soon-to-b
forgotten, AWS rules and songs) program ignores th
initiating and orienting possibilities offered by the men’
system.

But in the discussions flying around the campus thi
week, North Campus too can learn a lesson from South, thi
being taught by "bad example". Women‘s hazing is the us
less thing it is because it has sought to retain part of
old, once powerful institution, and, in the modified reten
tion, has blemished any past, present, or future dignit
of that institution.

Let it be hoped that, whatever the men decide to d
about hazing—keep it, or throw it out—they will have th
courage to do either completely. If hazing must be kille
it should be buried and allowed to rest in peace, amen. I
it is worthwhile, it deserves to be kept in all its colo
rather than modified in a feeble attempt to cling to the 135
dying tradition Nolih Campus cannot seek a compromis
that violates the philosophies of both alternatives and hem
means nothing.

* * *

Although the private dining room has seen many im
pl‘ovemen’ts already this year, we are informed (reliably
that the administration is seriously considering further i
provements of this room to allow use as a restaurant and/o
supper club. Thought is also being given to converting th
thtle Theater into a party room to supplement Main loung

. We feel that these measures are sorely needed an
lf accomplished, will be most beneficial to the campus. W
are also certain that the administration will be most i
terested in student reactions or suggestions to aid in it.
considerations. ‘

 

GRWNELL COLLEGE
Grim-ell, Iowa

_A wukly ncwapcpsr pupil-had zlch Friday of us. aollcgc yur n to.
Grinnell Committee on Student publications. r. Andrew Brown. chuilzmnn.
Manner o1 Mandarin-gist. rm. Bopr—cntcd for national advertising
by National hump-in. Scrvloe. lnc.. Colleg- ruollrhom hcpruaptntivc,
420 Madison _Ava., Now York. N. y. Finland 11 second clue mutter at
the Post cities at church. ion. upon the not at March a. mo. sub
scrilltlon rnm of $8.6u per school ycan

u a??? urges: and noun-l. a? (1:21? nxml Godly rarlcct the opinion.

liar o r nmpnrsr or o ans ll nli - ri

ream too eplnlom of th- armor. m 11 Km “he“ a”

I
Edltor
‘ Business Manager

  

 

 

"Mu” .. r “on". mom... «nu-m e ,... m racism mom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not a ”rah rah" left in him! He’s just
discovered there’s no more Coke. And
a cheer leader Without Coke is as sad
as a soap opera. To put the sparkle
back in his eye—somebody!—

bring him a sparkling cold Coca-Cola!

 

SIGN OF GOOD TASTE

Bottled under uulhorify at The Coco.<:olo Company by

MARSHALLTOWN COCA-COLA BOTTLING CO.
Marshalltown, Iowa.

