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University Daily Kansan Tuesday, October 10, 1961
Politics and NSA
The underlying reason in the National Student Association's fight for survival is not the $500 cost to the ASC, the failure to inform the student of NSA activities or the nonrepresentation of majority views on the KU campus.
Thirteen students on NSA, each set in his own political dogma and unwilling to compromise because a compromise might mean accepting a political deal, cannot meet in center ground to establish a path for the committee to follow.
Last year, a stormy one for NSA, ended in an atmosphere of sweetness and light. Attitudes of let's do better next year, we won't hate each other during the meetings, and we'll put away political prejudices and personal dislikes for one hour and get some good work done were expressed.
PERSONAL AND POLITICAL DIFFERENCES make it impossible for this group to function smoothly with its present membership.
Several of the "liberal camp" members attended the national convention and returned to KU fanning the flame for NSA. This is fine and their spirit is to be admired, but they forgot one thing.
But that was last year.
These students forgot last year's promises to be good workers, to inform the students, and to quibbling and internal fighting.
But perhaps in NSA are the real campus politicians—no other members of any other organization have so effectively forgotten previously made "campaign promises."
MEMBERS FALL INTO PLACE AND BACK
Backers of Charles Menghini, a so-called liberal, follow his line, applaud his lengthy harangues on such topics as migrant farm workers and their importance to the KU student, second his motions, and, of course, vote with Mr. Menghini.
views of two diametrically opposed, but equally vocal, fellow members.
On the right, Charles McIlwaine, a junior edition of a crusading savior for conservatism, gathers his group, calls moves and pulls strings.
Except for political theory and one other item, the two groups could be identical — but Mr. Menghini never dissents. His followers are loyal and go with him to the final vote.
Mr. Mellwaine has been known to be a loner, the only dissenting voice on the committee, the man, for a moment, without a follower.
Why can't NSA work here,work now,work like Carol McMillen proclaims loud and long in her many letters to the editor?
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS by Dick Bibler
The answer is simple.
NSA IS PRESENTLY COMPOSED OF STUDENTS too proud to admit they may be wrong, then try to do something about it, too stubborn to try to see the other side of the story and too ingrained and inflamed with their own particular brand of philosophy and patriotism.
It is a bit amazing that these students managed to get "Operation Abolition" here at all and that they also planned a relatively successful convention last spring.
But even more amazing is the NSA meeting itself.
For a real three-ring circus, attend one or two.
—Carrie Merryfield
—Carrie Merryfield
One Man Censorship
Kansas recently made its first test of an antipornography law passed by the 1961 session of the State Legislature. Several books—"Love Addict," "Born for Sin," "The Wife Swappers," etc.—were seized in a raid engineered by the Attorney General's office.
During the hearing, three witnesses for the bookstore testified that the books seized were not as "sexy" as 29 volumes that had been brought from the shelves of the Junction City library to the courtroom.
Despite this testimony, the Kansas District Court upheld the seizure of the books.
"The test . . . shall not be whether sexual desires or sexually improper thoughts would be aroused in those comprising a particular segment of the community, the young, the immature or the highly prudish, or would leave another segment, the scientific, or highly educated or the so-called worldly wise and sophisticated indifferent and unmoved. But such test shall be the effect of the book, picture, or other subject . . . upon all those whom it is likely to reach, that is its impact on the average person in the community. The book . . . must be judged as a whole in its entire context, and by the standards of common conscience of the community of the contemporary period of the violation charged."
THE TEST TO BE APPLIED TO OBSCENE literature cases under the new Kansas statute is:
THE THEORY OF JUDGING THE "OBscenity" of literature on the contemporary
standards of the community is generally accepted by courts. The ability of a court to judge what the contemporary standards are has been questioned, however.
"I think it important to emphasize that decision of this case calls, not for the individual judge's personal opinion, but, for a gauging of the present community sentiment. It seems obvious to me that a court should rarely attempt that task as a matter of law."
Frederick M. Vinson, former Chief Justice of the United States, said in a dissenting vote in a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals case in 1940:
The Kansas statute in effect gives a judge, one individual, the power to rule on "obscene" literature by what he, one individual, judges to be the present community standard.
THE JUNCTION CITY NEWSSTAND missed the point by it's "me-tooism"—if the library does it, so can we. The point is, should anyone be given the power to determine the obscenity of literature on the shaky basis of what he believes the community standard is, or what effect the literature will have on the average person of the community?
Sure, a lot of "obscenity" might slip into Kansas if it weren't for the law, but a lot comes in anyway. Wouldn't it be better to take a chance that the "average person" is able to decide for himself what's good for him, and keep such arbitrary power out of the hands of a man trained in law, not the judging of community standards?
-Karl Koch
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Tom Turner ... Managing Editor
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NSA Supported
Editor:
NSA is the only national organization of students and the prospects that the University of Kansas, in case of withdrawal, will lose its representation, do not seem to be promising.
For my fellow students at this campus, who might not have heard much about the utility of such an organization, may I suggest that this organization is doing a very useful job in foreign countries with regard to the promotion of democratic ideas.
NSA may not be doing any sensational or well-publicized things, and keeping in view the long range purposes we should try to strengthen it from within and should not try to wreck the only organization which expresses the voice of the student community.
In many Asian countries there are two rival student organizations; one dominated by the Communists and the other is National Student Association which is serving the cause of democracy.
Sincerely,
Sincerely,
Raja Mohammed Naib
Pakistan graduate student*
"WORTHAL'S PARTICULAR—HE WON'T BE SEEN WITH JUST ANYTHING."
College Preparation in Small Schools Called Inadequate
By Karen Marie Jennison
(Editor's note: This is one of the English proficiency examinations from the summer session test that was rated excellent by the English Proficiency Committee. This fall's examination will be given this Thursday.)
I attended a high school with twenty-five students, which is probably one of the smallest in the state of Kansas. In this high school, the training was not aimed at preparation for college, so naturally it fell far short of the preparation for college given in many high schools. If one did not study on his own, without help or encouragement from the teachers, he would indeed be poorly prepared to enter a state university. The reasons for this poor college preparation that I received are many, and they are almost all inherent in the operation of such a small high school.
OF COURSE, NO SCHOOL can attain excellence without the help of interested and properly qualified teachers. A small high school in a relatively isolated area, near no large cities, has a great deal of trouble attracting good teachers. Most teachers prefer to teach where they can obtain a reasonably large salary, and where they can find some place to spend it. Then too, people who have been reared in a city find it very hard to adjust to small town life, where every move they make is noticed (especially if they are teachers). So, to the relatively few teachers competing for many positions, cities or larger towns look more attractive from the viewpoint of living conditions as well as money. The teachers my high school did manage to attract are probably similar to those most small high schools get. The reasons they came were many and varied, but rarely was their primary reason an interest in good teaching. For instance, one woman came there to teach because she had been disagreeing with her husband and was trying out a temporary separation. She had not taught for twenty years, so it took her almost all year to get back into the "swing of things," and when the year was up, she left. Another teacher was coerced to leave his carpentry job and teach on the day before school was to start. He could not have had much interest in teaching if he had to be begged to leave his job just before school started. He did continue teaching there for three years, but his interest didn't seem to rise as the years passed. You can see that when school is to open the next day, the situation is desperate and anyone willing to take the job will be hired.
MOST OF THESE UNINTERESTED teachers are rather lazy and do not want to grade homework; consequently, no homework is assigned. It is not at all unusual to graduate from this high school having written one or two themes and having read "Buck Jones" and the "Space Rangers" for book reports. In a small school, one is supposed to have the advantage of individual attention from the teachers. However, when the teachers are so uninterested in teaching, you receive neither individual attention nor the better teaching supplied in larger schools. I can honestly say that I have received more useful individual attention from teachers at Kansas University than I ever did in my high school of twenty-five. This then, is the teaching situation in my high school, and as can be seen, it is not at all conducive to good college preparation.
ANOTHER LESS IMPORTANT reason why my high school does not provide adequate college preparation is a lack of equipment. For example, the science laboratory equipment was purchased during the 1930s and occupies a small cupboard in the corner of the science room. Much of the equipment is outdated and rusty from disuse. After the teachers are paid, there doesn't seem to be enough money left for laboratory equipment. Consequently, although a laboratory science is a state requirement for graduation, for all practical purposes no laboratory science is offered. Physics and biology are taught, but without laboratory participation by the students. The situation is much the same in the home economics department. While there is a fully equipped kitchen, the year I took home economics there was no money to buy food to use in the kitchen. It is obvious that teachers, poor as they may be, cannot teach to the students' best advantage when necessary equipment and supplies are lacking.
A THIRD REASON the high school provides inadequate academic training is the undue emphasis on sports, partly due to community pressure. Not only is great emphasis placed on excellence in sports, especially basketball, but academic excellence is considered unnecessary and sometimes even undesirable. Since the high school contains only twenty-five students, everyone must participate if the school is to excel in sports. Girls as well as boys com-
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