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University Daily Kansan
Thursday, Dec. 6, 1962
Gripes About KU? Tell Freshman!
Is there anything you don't like about KU? Perhaps, the graduate student who teaches your English class or the barracks behind Strong Hall?
Have you ever had the urge to tell somebody about it, somebody big, the Chancellor, maybe or a member of the administration?
IF YOU HAVE, here's your chance to tell James K. Hitt, director of Admissions and registrar, what's wrong with KU without identifying yourself.
Just tell your complaint to any KU freshman on his way to the Kansas Union this afternoon to see his hometown high school principal and guidance counselor. And, they in turn, will tell Hitt. And your gripe will be registered with the registrar's office.
The all-day meetings of 200 Kansas high school officials represent the 14th annual Principal-Counselor-Freshman conference held here.
Hitt explained that the students were often quite candid when talking about KU with their former counselors and principals. Their criticisms, he said, served as a basis for improving KU.
"HERE AT KU," Hitt said, "things are not quite perfect. But, we (the administration) being so close to the situation cannot see clearly the imperfections. The students can, but often are hesitant to tell us."
Hitt explained that the annual principal's conference is also a step in improving high school-college relations. "I think there should be less of a gap in communications between the two levels of education."
THE PURPOSE for the conference is the mutual exchange of information. The principals can find out how their high school can be improved from former students. Also, they can return to their schools with first hand information helpful to prospective KU students.
Hitt said that the conference had brought about several major changes in KU curricula concerning the English, language and mathematics departments. He cited the course, English 1A as an example.
In an address to the high school officials this morning George R. Waggoner, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Science, explained the changes briefly.
In the future, students will receive five hours credit for English 1A, instead of three, so that the actual amount of work done by the student will be reflected in credit hours.
The course originally was English O with no course credit. "Because of the number of complaints of the 'no-credit system,' said Hitt, "we changed the course to English 1A with three hours of credit."
ANOTHER OUTGROWTH of the conference was the establishment of an English Teachers conference for high school and KU instructors. The latter annual conference was held here in October.
The school officials, representing 110 Kansas high schools, started arriving this morning at 8:30. After a general meeting in the Big Eight Room of the Union, the group dispersed into four smaller groups.
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H. S. Seniors Study Advanced Science
PITTSBURGH — (UPI) — Who says the Russians are ahead of us in school? Fifty top seniors from Pittsburgh's 12 high schools are studying such advanced scientific subjects as the circuitry and mathematics of computing and data analysis and the theory of industrial measurement and control, to prepare them for college engineering courses.
Other schools are adopting the course, which is now five years old. Ronald Confer, teacher of the course, at Allegheny High School here, spent several weeks last summer at Minneapolis-Honeywell's instrumentation school in Philadelphia to keep ahead of his class. Incidentally, there were over 400 applicants for the 50 student openings in his classes.
HAPPY TALK
As we all know, conversation is terribly important on a date. When lulls in the conversation run longer than an hour or two, one's partner is inclined to grow logy—even sullen. But occasionally one finds it difficult to keep the talk going, especially when one is having a first date with one. What then does one do?
If one is wise, one follows the brilliant example of Harlow Thurlow.
Harlow Thurlow prepares. That is his simple secret. When Harlow is going to take out a new girl, he makes sure in advance that the conversation will not languish. Before the date, he goes to the library and reads all 24 volumes of the encyclopedia and transcribes their contents on his cuffs. Thus he makes sure that no matter what his date's interests are, he will have ample material to keep the conversation alive.
Take, for example, Harlow's first date with Prisilla de Gasser, a fine, strapping, blue-eyed broth of a girl, lavishly constructed and rosy as the dawn.
Harlow was, as always, prepared when he called for Priscilla, and, as always, he did not start to converse immediately. First he took her to dinner because, as everyone knows, it is useless to try to make conversation with an unfed coer. Her attention span is negligible. Also, her stomach rumbles so loud it is difficult to make yourself heard.
So he took her to a fine steak house where he stoked her with gobbets of Black Angus and mounds of French fries and thickets of escarole and battalions of petit fours. Then, at last, dinner was over and the waiter brought two finger bowls.
"I hope you enjoyed your dinner, my dear," said Harlow, dipping into his finger bowl.
"Oh, it was grandy-dandy!" said Priscilla. "Now let's go someplace for ribs."
"Later, perhaps," said Harlow. "But right now, I thought we might have a conversation."
"Oh, goody, goody, two-shoes!" cried Priscilla. "I been looking everywhere for a boy who can carry on a intelligent conversation."
"Your search is ended, madam," said Harlow, and pulled back his sleeves and looked at his cuffs to pick a likely topic to start the conversation.
Oh, woe! Oh, lackaday! Those cuffs on which Harlow had painstakingly transcribed so many facts—those cuffs on which he had noted such diverse and fascinating information— those cuffs, I say, were nothing now but a big, blue blur! For Harlow —poor Harlow!— splashing around in the finger bowl, had gotten his cuffs wet and the ink had run and not one word was legible! And Harlow—poor Harlow!—looked upon his cuffs and broke out in a night sweat and fell dumb.
"I must say," said Priscilla after several silent hours, "that you are a very dull fellow. I'm leaving."
With that she flounced away and poor Harlow was too crushed to protest. Sadly he sat and sadly lit a cigarette.
All of a sudden Priscilla came rushing back. "Was that," she asked, "a Marlboro you just lit?"
"Yes," said Harlow.
"Then you are not a dull fellow," she cried, and sprang into his lap. "You are bright! Anybody is bright to smoke such a perfect joy of a cigarette as Marlboro which is just chock full of yummy flavor, which has a Selectrate filter which comes in a soft pack that is really soft, and a Flip-Top Box that really flips, and which can be bought wherever cigarettes are sold in all fifty states and Duluth . . . Harlow, tiger, wash your cuffs and be my love."
"Okav." said Harlow. and did. and was. © 1962 Max Shulman
The makers of Marlboro cigarettes, who print this column at hideous expense throughout the school year, are very happy for Harlow—and for all the rest of you who have discovered the pleasures of Marlboro.