Edward M Kennedy. It is very hard
to believe that a man who has such
difficulty in making.coliel'ent com»
ments in conversation would ever be
considered tor the presidency, Yet
such a man is leading in all the nae
tional public opinion polls

why Kennedy leads the opinion polls
is no secret. His name explains his ape
peal. It conjures up images oi the
glory days oi “Camelot" when, so the
myth has it, John F Kennedy mohilin
ed the nation to light social and
economic injustice through the sheer
force of his personality Some liberals
think that electing another Kennedy
will restore a sense oi purpose to the
nation Nothing else, except ambition,
explains the treachery‘oi‘ Dick Clark.

Yet, one would be hard-pressed to
find any positive reasons for Suppol‘~
ting Kennedy, other than this misguid-
ed nostalgia He is neither a paragon
oi Virtue nor a highly competent
leader Nor can it be said that Ken-
nedy's politics make him an especially
attractive candidate, He supported the
Carter Administration in 84% of the

Asian studies no

At a small liberal arts college in the
United States, progress and diversity
are two ideas basic to the Iabric of its
academic structure In the past, Grin
nell College has been a harbinger oi
scholastic innovation among its
midwesterli peers With the addition of
Paul Watt, an instructor in Religious
Studies, Grinnell now offers an
academic concentration in East Asian
Studies; this is a laudable contribution
to the variety oi subjects already ole
iered. Until recently, there was a
wholesale neglect at East Asian
Studies; the program is still in arears,

The next step is the addition of an
Oriental languages position to the col-
lege curriculum. There is good reason
to believe that both a demand for a
language instructor in this field plus
the present state of world aiiairs in
relation to China Warrant the addition
of an Oriental languages instructor Of
the 34 undergraduate students from
America currently enrolled in the Ilia
ternational Asian Studies Program,
lour are irom that small college in the
corn fields land two more are schedule
ed to come next Semesterl. Grinnell
students constitute over 10% oi the
undergraduate body, twice as many as
any other participating school. Since
the creation of LA S. P., at least one
student has represented Grinnell each
year.

Dr Charles W Hayford (Associate
Director oi the YaleChlna AssoCia-
tion, which sponsors the program
seems to believe Grinnell’s interest
will persist, since he approached me
in regard to sending a Hong Kong stu-
dent to Grinnell. He cites Grinliell's

December 7, W79

major Scnatc votes, in tact, Teddy's
given stronger support to Carter than
he gave to his own brother's presiden-
cy, Furthermore, since announcing his
candidacy, Kennedy has been unable
to diiierentiate himseli lrom President
Carter on substantive grounds

Not long ago many Democrats and
liberal eannig individuals argued that
Carter unpopularity stemmed from
his pui uit oi the tough issue, No
president who tackles the issues oi
energy, inilation, and the Middle East
can hope to be extremely popular
That no; how the argument went until
Teddy dropped some hints that he
might like to be president, All of a
sudden, many of those who were call-
ing on Americans to support this
courageous president began to jump
ship. Why? Because they see the Ken-
ncdy candidacy as that last great
liberal cause.

But in the quest to rediscover
“Camelot," these naive political ac-
tiVislS may iind themselves in
Cleveland. A Kennedy candidacy or a
Kennedy presidency may bring

longeri neglected

consistent and overwhelming involve
ment in the program as a principle
reason ioi- choosing Griiineli as a pro-
spect. Students that have, are, and
will be on this program (and there are
members 0t all three’ 0! these
categories currently enrolled in Grin-
ncll College) have no way oi furtherr
ing their language endeavor once back
at Grinnell. This is to say nothing oi
those students «as in all language
departmentsi who would very much
like to study the language but may
never go on a iorclgn studies pro»
gram

Willi the normalization of Sifter
American diplomatic relations, the at
titude is ripe among students to pui»
Sue East Asian Studies. This attitude
is no fastidious appetite for the in
telleclually exotic with the recogni-
tioli 01' one hiilion people as the true
China, the people of America must
realize how much a part (it the world'
this actually is Interest burgeons in
East Asian Sliidies among the
students of history, political science,
and economics land Just about all
other iieldst, The importance of
language to the study at history, ior
example. the Grilinell College Catalog
\vords better than I could ever do
justice to: “The prospective mziJOr
may tend to think of the materials of
history and oi history itsell as being
written in the English language; to
overcome the parochialism inherent in
this point oi view, the history maJor
should be able to read at least one
classical or modern language. other
than English . "

Studying the language is a key to
communication with and understan»

disastrous r ults

For one thing, a Kennedy candidacy
would hinder debate on the crucial .
issues lacing the nation Instead oi»
iocusing attention oi the serious
issues, the public will want to know
why Teddy cheated at Harvard: why,
when caught speeding. he hid under
the seat oi his car; why he delayed; .,
reporting the accident at Chappac‘iuidr
dick; and whether his wile will live
With him in the white House. , .

High hopes ior a Kennedy presiden:
cy cannot be substantiated. A lot or ._ '
people also dislike Kennedy with an .
intensity unknown since the days of .
Richard Nixon, Teddy's questionable,
sense of morality arouses deep hostile
ty among many iiidividuais. As a j
result, lie may prove as incapable oi» .
uniting the nation as Tricky Dick.

Kennedy's candidacy may make
Emily Siilnnaii swoon With ecstasy
and till Dick Clark's head with vision
ol being secretary or state, But neither
Kennedy’s candidacy noi- presidenc
will do the rest oi the country any.
good,

chris luplre

ding ot' a culture as diiicreiit as .
Chinese All departments stress the ‘_
necessity of mastering the language of
the geographical area a given stude
concentrates in. A languages close
relationship to systems ol cognition
values, philosophy, religion, and g
literature is more than good reason
in studying the language, For in '
stance. in philosophy one oneii hears
how a particular word (such as ‘the
German diiseiii or the Spanish ,
(lllclidot is uiitranslatable. But there is
no possible way ior the student oi _
philosophy to adequately scrutinize .
the works 0! Chinese philosophy, ex
cept from the original text. Among _
other things, predicatioii in Chinese ‘
renders it entirely impossiiile to luliy_
understand Clniiesc philosophy -
without a reading comprehension oi
the language. The language is Cone
structed altogether differently l‘rom',
lndoEuropean languages. In order to
transcend the Communication barrier,
one must parse the language,

or course. one may say that the ad
dition oi an Oriental language to the
college curriculum is argument
enough to add other languages, viz.,
Italian, Marathi, Hebrew, Urdu.
Serbo-Croatiaii, and Swahili (or, . i,
another Bantu language), But the .
hypothetical argument that we should
oiier any of these other languages is
no argument against the pressing need
[or an Oriental languages instructor.
And the iact remains one billion peo-
ple speak Chinese. or all the
languages in the school, none is the ._
one which approxtliiately oiie-lourth ol
the world population speaks That is,‘

(continued on the liexl page~)

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