Tuesday, December 5, 1961 University Daily Kansan
Page 3
Encouraging Excellence
(This is the third in a series of articles taken from the article "En-
troduction to the Academic Performance on the Adm-
missions Process" which appeared in the Fall, 1961, issue of Daedulus, the
Athenaic Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Let me give three brief illustrations of what I have in mind. For over a dozen years now, I have been concerned as a professional psychologist with understanding the nature of a particular human motive called the "need for Achievement," the desire to do a good job of work. In a crude sort of way, we can measure it, and by now we have developed a pretty fair understanding of what people are like in whom such a need is very strong. To oversimplify a little, they seem characterized by "the entrepreneurial spirit," by a desire and a capacity to do well in situations which challenge their ingenuity and resourcefulness in business, rather than the professions, and wherever a large number of them collect in a particular country at a particular time, the country has tended to show rapid economic development. In short, these men represent a valuable national resource, a type of excellence that should be encouraged. In a very real sense, it is on them that the future economic well-being of everyone in the country rests. Yet their need for Achievement does not lead them to do particularly well in school. Perhaps the reason lies partly in the fact that they like to solve problems set by themselves, rather than those set for them by others; but the fact remains that whatever the reason, they are not likely to be viewed with particular approval by their teachers or selected for help by present tests of academic excellence. Where do they fit in the current system for encouraging excellence?
OR CONSIDER another example — curiosity. My colleague Richard Alpert and his students want to measure this important human characteristic and to discover how it can be encouraged by the educational process. But note how it requires a type of behavior in a sense directly opposed to the academic excellence so feverishly promoted by our testing and grading systems. That is, curiosity may be defined as a desire to know, or as the knowledge of, things one is not supposed to know; whereas academic excellence is defined as knowing what one is supposed to know or has been taught. To test for curiosity, one might have to inquire into matters that the student had not been taught to know or that he could not be expected to know because of insufficient background in his previous training or in the test item itself. Such procedures might be unfair to the good and conscientious student, but they tap a type of excellence not currently identifiable or assisted in any way. Let me say again: I do not want to discourage academic excellence or unduly praise curiosity. For the moment I want merely to argue that curiosity is an important type of excellence
that we should be concerned with developing.
Finally, let us consider briefly the problem of excellence in the other half of the human race. women. Ours is a male-oriented society. It is so male-oriented that the women, particularly the better educated ones, have tended to accept male definitions of excellence and have felt unhappy about not being able to achieve great success in terms of such standards. A recent nation-wide survey has clearly shown that women are unhappier and worry more than men. They ought to. They are caught up in a system which does not encourage or recognize the types of excellence at which they are best. They enter the competition in academic skill just as the boys do. They receive National Merit Scholarships. They go to the best colleges; but there the system is apt to break down. Their superior academic performance suits them much less for their future role in life than it does the boys. They do not become President of the United States or of General Dynamics, or even very often Nobel-prize-winning scientists. It is small wonder that many of them feel frustrated and unhappy over lost opportunities. They have been gulled. They have swallowed the male definition of excellence, in terms of full-time work, visible achievements, measurable results (e.g., money earned), the manipulation of nature, etc. There are other types of human excellence without which life would hardly be worth living, and I do not mean sewing or the art of polite conversation. I do mean such characteristics as sensitivity to other human beings, compassion, richness and variety of imaginative life, or a lifelong concern for a particular scientific problem, whether one is paid to work on it or not. These are less visible and less measurable types of human excellence, but nonetheless important for all that.
HERE WE encounter a problem that will shock some and amuse others. Should these qualities be measured? Should we psychologists try to find ways of discovering who are the young people with the highest need for Achievement, the greatest curiosity, the most social sensitivity, or the greatest imaginativeness? The romantic answer is "no." Must we, after all, bring even these human qualities into the same "rating and ranking" competition that currently marks the field of academic competence? The practical answer, I am afraid, is "yes," for two reasons. On the one hand, no one can stop the psychologists; they are already developing crude measures of many such qualities outside the strictly academic sphere and are likely to be increasingly successful at in the years to come. On the other hand, a very good case can be made for the use of such other measures in defense against the exclusive use of academic criteria in deciding what kind of excellence to encourage.
Official Bulletin
Catholic Daily Mass; 6:30 a.m., St. John's Church, 13th & Kentucky.
Tickets are available this week at Wesley Foundation at $1.00 per person for the Christmas Dinner to be held at 6 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 10 at Wesley Foundation.
TODAY
KU Dames—no bridge meeting Dec. 6.
Mathematics Colloquium: 4:15 p.m. 10.
Mathematics of Polynomial Estimators by the Jack-
knife Method" Dr. Donald S. Burdick,
Coffee. 3:50 p.m., 119
Strong, Hall.
Nurse's Club Meeting: 7 p.m., Room 211. Fraser, Psychiatric Nursing.
KU Klub Club: 7:30 p.m., Big 8 Room.
Karaso Union
Angel Flight Meeting: 7 p.m., Military Science Building
El Atenco tendra su reunión el micróles en la la casa once de Fraser Hall a las cuatro. El programa sera un discuro por el Dr. Menton sobre Brasil. Su discurso por una película sobre Brasília y por transparencias. Refrescos. Todos aptitudes.
Kansas Union:
TOMORROW
Celtic Cross: 12 noon, Westminster Cen-
cery 204 Oread, Luncheon and worship ship
La rê de Noël du cercle francais aura lieu mercredi le 6 décembre à sept heures demie dans la saille Kansas de l'union. Tous ceux qui s'intérèssent au francais
Ham Club Meeting: 7:30 p.m. 2011 EE Dr. Brilliant Speaking on "Oscillations"
Congregational Meeting: 8 p.m., West-
minister Center, 1204 Oread. Constitutional amendment.
Varied reaction to the announcement that a third campus political party is being formed was expressed today by the leaders of the two existing campus parties.
Westminster Center Choir: 5:45 p.m.
1204 Oread.
Episcopal Holy Communion: 9:30 p.m.
Danforth Chapel.
TEACHER INTERVIEWS
Dec. 6 Kansas - Elem.
Kansas City, Mo - Elem. & Secondary
Dec. 8 North Kansas City, Mo—Elem
& Secondary.
In telephone interviews with the party leaders it was learned that they feel there is not yet enough information to make a definite conclusion about the third party.
3rd Political Party Plans Reviewed
Max Eberhart, Great Bend senior and student body president said:
Dec. 15 Valley Vista School, District,
Oyerland Park, Kansas—Elem.
Dec. 11 Topeka, Kansas—Elem
"IF THEY ARE truly interested in good student government perhaps they do have a voice to represent."
"Every year it seems that there are rumors about a third party in the air. Whether or not they'll get off the ground this time is something I can't say right now.
Speaking for Vox Populi, Ted Childers, Wamego senior and president of the party said:
"Whether it will be good or bad have a third party is hard to say. I assume they plan to operate as a third party and I am able to see a three way split in the ASC.
Leonard's Standard Service 9th and Indiana
James L. Anderson, Lawrence senior and Greek co-chairman for the University Party said:
"The way it looks to me is that they say they want student government to have a meaningful voice. With two parties already existing it seems they should try to work through one of them first.
"As for their stands, they are still too nebulous for me to give an opinion."
"A third party will cut everything up and won't be able to accomplish much. It has taken us about two years to get a two-party system. Perhaps some issues have been ducked, but now the two parties should have a better base and can elect better candidates. In the end it is the candidate or rather ASC members who are the student government.
Complete Brake Service Minor Tune-ups
Pharmacist to Speak
Open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Mars Wertzberger of Abbott Laboratories, Kansas City, will speak on "Careers in Pharmacy" at the American Pharmaceutical Association meeting at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow in 324 Malott. Refreshments will be served after the meeting.
Thomas Hardy, Hoisington junior and the independent co-chairman of UP said:
"I CAN'T REALLY see what they're driving at." he concluded.
"I don't really know much about the new party, but they apparently have serious organizational problems.
"They're saying that both parties
are opposed to NSA. Our party was split 50-50 on this issue. It's easy to get a party to this stage, but until they can offer something concrete I don't think they'll have much success."
When told of the comments by the other party leaders, Bruce Bee, Mission senior and one of the organizers of the new party, said that he has no further comment on the party until after the next organizational meeting this weekend.
Crisis Day Group Works on and on
Bv Art Miller
A brightly colored poster in black, red and white is propped against the wall. Three words on the poster proclaim, "World Crisis Day."
Several students shuffle into the small Oread room in the Kansas Union. They have done the same many times before, but this time a feeling of ease seems to radiate from their faces.
The expression is obviously one of satisfaction for this group of 21 students and faculty members have crossed a major barrier in their work for a World Crisis Day at KU. Prominent speakers have finally accepted their invitation to come here.
ALEXANDER FOMIN. counselor to the Soviet Ambassador and Arthur Schlesinger Jr., special assistant to President Kennedy will speak at the opening convocation for the Crisis day at 9:30 a.m. Dec. 14.
Plans for the day's activities have been made for more than a week. Several sub-committees have been appointed to handle arrangements for the day. There is a convocation committee, a discussion seminar committee, and a committee for the evening summation of the World Crisis Day.
But with all of this work nearly completed, the committee members
continue to present new ideas and new problems which need consideration.
Brian O'Heron, Lawrence senior and co-chairman of the steering committee explains that the University car will be available to pick up the speakers at the airport.
A QUESTION concerning housing for the guests if they spend the whole day here brings the reply that Mr. Schlesinger will probably stay in the University's guest house and Mr. Fomin at the Eldridge Hotel.
Someone asks what will happen if one of the speakers cancels. "A substitute speaker is being contacted." O'Heron replies.
A proposal to hold some of the discussion seminars in organized houses meets with mixed emotions. Some committee members argue that if students will not come to the seminars, then take the seminars to them.
Others argue that if the faculty members who will lead the discussion groups have to go from one house to another the program would become too complicated.
It is decided to wait until the next meeting to settle this question.
the meeting adjourns and the 21 leave the small Oread room to meet again Thursday at 4 p.m.
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Tuesday - December 5
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