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University Daily Kansan Tuesday, May 8.1956.
Other Newspapers Comment On-
More Teachers
By ASSOCIATED COLLEGIATE PRESS
John Fischer, the editor of Harper's, has advocated that young women be drafted to teach in the public schools to solve the teacher shortage. The editors of the Auburn Plainsman printed this guest editorial from the Florida Flambeau in reply to Mr. Fischer's proposal:
In the current issue of Harper's, editor John Fischer advocates the drafting of young women to teach in the public schools.
There is a precedent in Selective Service, by which young men are drafted to answer the military emergency. Mr. Fischer writes. As to education. "The emergency is plain enough and nobody else has yet come up with a feasible idea for meeting it," he argues.
"It should not be impossible to work out a practical scheme for drafting women college graduates for a six-month course in basic training for teaching, plus eighteen months' service in the schools. Such a system would not, of course, produce first-rate teachers—but second-rate teachers are better than none at all. And, like the Army, the Teaching Draft Boards presumably would select the best fitted girls and take only enough to fill a given quota."
Is some education indeed better than none? We wonder. What could be the effects upon young people exposed to unwilling, hostile, resentful, and frustrated draftees? There'd be no control unless the system were made as rigid and arbitrary as the military.
But we submit that the answer to the drastic shortage of teachers lies not in force of persuasion, but in the elevation of the teacher to the dignity he should possess.
Teachers' salaries may have risen, but not in comparison with those paid in other walks of life. The teachers, according to recent and exhaustive reports, occupies a less favorable economic position than he did some years ago. Not only in wealth does he or she suffer. We treat our teachers like glorified baby-sitters. And this type of treatment.
this negligence in matters of salary, is hardly calculated to draw into the profession those whom it needs.
To quote one of our professors, "A teacher must want to teach."
-And Better Ones
By ASSOCIATED COLLEGIATE PRESS
The Miami Hurricane has decided to look for the ideal professor, a search that should prove valuable for both the student body and the faculty. Other colleges might do well to follow suit. Here's how the Hurricane describes its search.
Long after students have finished a course, they remember certain outstanding qualities about the instructor. There was something about the class, and the way the instructor conducted it that made it seem like more than just something that was required.
Just what do some professors have that makes a students remember them, while other professors are forgotten as soon as the final exam is over?
The Hurricane is now undertaking a search for such a professor. We are trying to find the man, or woman, who is more than just a figure in front of the room passing on facts from a text book. We seek that dedicated spirit in an underpaid profession who helps the student to learn.
Of all the facets of campus life, from extra-curricular activities to class work, little recognition is given to the most important job on a campus—teaching. The instructor comes to class, helps the student to learn, then goes home to grade papers. And yet the job he has done during class will carry far more significance when the student graduates than all the football letters, beauty queen titles and honorary shingles.
The survey now being undertaken is not a popularity contest, nor do we seek an essay on "My favorite teacher is . . ."
We seek only to determine who, in the students' estimation, is considered the ideal instructor. We are interested in those qualities which impress,the student and remain with him when the course has been completed.
News In Review
Barkley Dies; Cease-Fire In Israel
Topping the list of last week's news stories was a story of sadness. Sen. Alben W. Barkley (D-Ky.), former vice president of the U.S., died suddenly while delivering a speech at the Washington and Lee mock political convention in Lexington, Va. The 79-year-old senator was speaking before 1,700 when he collapsed. He was pronounced dead 10 minutes later of a heart attack.
A Marine Corps court of inquiry found Sgt. Matthew C. McKeon to be "under the influence of vodka" when he ordered his platoon at Parris Island, S.C., on a forced night march that resulted in six drownings. Sgt. McKeon is to be tried by a general court martial May 14 on charges of manslaughter, cruelty to recruits, disobeying orders and bringing discredit to the armed forces.
Four Arab nations signed cease-fires with Israel, Dag Hammarskjold, UN secretary general, reported. The nations, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt, said they were aiming at reinforcing the armistice agreements that ended the Palestine War of 1948. Under them, each nation continues to reserve the right of self defense.
The House passed and sent to the Senate a new farm bill giving President Eisenhower his $1.2 billion soil bank—but without the payment-in-advance authority he requested.
President Eisenhower defended the administration's air program by asserting that the U.S. can maintain adequate air strength even if it does not outstrip Russia in the production of long-range atomic bombers. He said the criticism of the lagging B-52 program has been given undue stress.
The United States ordered Poland to stop forcing its nationals to return home. The State Department claimed that Polish embassy officials have sought out nationals in this country and are attempting to force them to return to Poland. The move followed disclosure that three Polish seamen in the U.S. last fall returned behind the Iron Curtain after being interviewed by Polish officials.
The five-nation UN disarmament committee, made up of the United States, Russia, Britain, France and Canada, failed in its latest disarmament
All hope for Victor Riesel, the labor columnist who was assaulted with sulphuric acid a month ago, to regain his eyesight was declared absolutely lost. The acid, hurled by an unidentified attacker, has cost Mr. Riesel the sight of both eyes, a medical report said.
negotiations, but the four Western powers said they still believed that an agreement with the Soviets is possible.
In the two big sports stories of the week, one came as expected, the other completely unexpected. Favored Needles won the 82nd running of the Kentucky Derby the hard way, coming from next to last to first, to edge second-place Fabius by three-fourths of a length.
John Gilbert Graham, 24, who was convicted of murder on a charge of killing his mother and 43 others by planting a bomb aboard an airliner which blew up last November, was given a death sentence.
John Landy, world mile record holder, ran his first race in the United States under four minutes, but still finished second to surprising Jim Bailey, a fellow countryman attending the University of Oregon. Bailey's winning time was 3:58.6, the second fastest mile of all time. Landy's time was 3:58.7. It was the first time that the four-minute barrier has been cracked in the U.S.
A one-year probation was placed upon the University for violation of recruiting and aid rules. It was charged that Kent Bryan, 6-foot 9-inch Kansas City Southeast High School basketball player, was provided with transportation to the University when his car broke down, and that a friend of Kansas offered him aid. The probation serves as a warning and will not keep the University from participating in NCAA competition.
—Kent Thomas
In campus news, it was announced that Miss Emily Taylor, associate dean of women at Miami University, would replace Miss Martha Peterson as dean of women at the University, effective July 1. Miss Peterson previously had accepted a similar position at the University of Wisconsin.
Book Review
The Problem Of Loyalty- Several Angles To Consider
The United States today maintains a constant search for any individual who might be disloyal to the country. This search is particularly common in the fields of education, science, and government.
In "The Loyalty of Free Men," Alan Barth discusses the problems which face the United States in its unceasing effort to maintain the high degree of loyalty which it feels is necessary for national security.
The major difficulty in the question of loyalty seems to be in determining what degree of disloyalty should be punished, or tolerated.
Should a man who 20 years earlier belonged to a group which is now on the list of Communist-front organizations he excluded from holding jobs which involve security risks? Should a man who is suspected of harboring Communist tendencies be dismissed from his job, even though he has committed no act which would uphold these suspicions?
These are two of the questions with which Mr. Barth deals in his effort to arrive at a definition of loyalty which can be applied to the United States today.
For the United States as we know it has become vastly concerned with loyalty—perhaps more so than at any time in its history. In the face of this universal concern over loyalty, the idea of individual freedom has been subordinated.
Individual freedom has been used at times to describe a tolerance of ideas which might be mistaken, disloyal or even dangerous. It is not difficult to tolerate opinions which could not possibly lead to any danger, in spite of their inaccuracy.
The Real Test
The real test of individual freedom in a society is that society's tolerance of something which is disliked intensely by the powerful members of the society.
However, to tolerate an organization such as the Communist party, which operates outside the democratic process and which would destroy the process if it had the chance, is a foolhardy form of toleration. It is akin to flirting with suicide.
As long as men live, there will be differences of opinion. As long as men are permitted to express these opinions, they will do so. When men agree on an opinion, a faction will be formed. When factions are permitted to join together in associations to work together for their mutual beliefs, the pressure on society will increase. This pressure is the basis of a democratic society.
But paradoxically, the loyalty of a free society depends upon the toleration of disloyalty. The foundation on which a free society depends is that the loyalty of free men must be given by those men of their own accord.
To forbid disloyalty is, in effect, granting it victory. In this respect, the United States and the Communist countries are strikingly similar—both believe in the suppression and punishment of dissent. The fact that they would punish entirely different types of opinion is overshadowed by the fact that each basically is the same—each would punish.
Conflict Of Laws
The laws prohibiting rebellion and the laws guaranteeing freedom of expression must both be enforced. Admittedly, tolerance of diverse opinions involves a risk to the unity of the nation, but intolerance of diverse beliefs makes it much more certain that loyalty will be destroyed.
The person who desires to express opinions may be silenced by authority, and the resulting silence may be assumed by the authority to indicate assent. However, no authority, no matter how powerful, can control thought. Thought that is silenced quite often grows rebellions, knowing it can win acceptance only if it can make itself heard. Also, majorities are often wrong
Also, majorities are often wrong, which makes the silencing of minorities doubly dangerous. This right of minority freedom of expression is one of the balances upon which democracy rests.
People in the United States make numerous claims about tolerance of other ideas. However, the facts offer a contradiction to these assurances.
For in the United States today there are several organizations and committees whose sole business is to investigate the loyalty of persons who have different beliefs. These groups serve the function of maintaining national security.
The House Committee
On of the most, characteristic agencies has been the House Subcommittee on un-American activities. Members of this committee have identified—as a rule—loyalty as agreement with straight orthodox beliefs.
This committee has usurped power from a great many other agencies, and has established itself as an arbiter of political acceptability. Through the years, this committee has compiled a file of more than one million names, plus reams of files and dossiers—all pertaining to subversion.
This file, is used as a blacklist by government officials. Furthermore, it is used similarly by many private employers. It doesn't take much to get your name in the file—a favorable line in the Daily Worker or public criticism of the committee are sufficient.
The committee has a dual power of punishment—punishment by official act and punishment by publicity. There can be no question as to the Constitutionality of the actions of the committee, for that is an immaterial question.
If a person is investigated by the committee, even if he be adjudged completely loyal, he will for the remainder of his life carry the label of "security risk."
For the United States is becoming gripped with the fear of destruction from within, as faith in its own institutions decreases. To see disloyalty everywhere is to look at a blank wall. Communist propaganda is aimed at the United States, and at the subversion of American values. Repression of this propaganda is not the answer—the solution is free and unlimited discussion.
Tolerance of diversities is particularly important in the United States because without individuality, progress would be greatly restricted. Freedom is a means toward the end of national survival. However, freedom is also an end—the end which the government was formulated to secure. This is the most important aspect of loyalty—faith in freedom.
A person on trial for a crime, if acquitted, can resume his place in society. But a person upon whom there is the faintest suspicion of disloyalty is marked for life, even if those suspicions are wrong.
No Acquittal
Dailu Hansan UNIVERSITY
University of Kansas student newspaper
Founded 1889, became biweekly 1904
triweekly 1908, daily Jan. 16, 1912.
Telephone Vlkong 3-2700
Extension 251, news room
Extension 376, business office
Member Inland Daily Press Association,
Associated Collegiate Press. Represented by
National Advertising Service, New York,
news service: United Press. Mail subscription
rates: $3 a semester or $4.50 a year. Published in
Lawrence, Kan.; every afterword in
Saturdays and Sundays; University holidays,
and examination periods. Entered as second-class matter Sept. 17, 1910, at
Lawrence, Kan., post office under act of
NEWS DEPARTMENT
John McMillion ... Managing Editor
Barbara Bell, Bob Lyle, Kent Thomas,
David Webb, Assistant Managing Editors;
Jane Pecinovsky, City Editor;
Margaret Munroe, Dawson
Assistant City Editor; Gordon Riley,
Telegraph Editor; Robert Riley,
Larry Stroup, Assistant Telegraph Editors;
Felecta Fenberg, Society Editor;
Betty Jean Stanford, Assistant Society
Editor;
Daryl Hall, Louis Stroup, Assistant
Sports Editors; Larry Heil, Picture Editor.