PAGE TWO UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS MONDAY, APRIL 16, 1951 Marvin Arth the editorial page - * * Generation of Jellyfish— We recently read an editorial by the editor of a campus publication at the University of Wisconsin. It is too long for us to reprint here, but we would like to pass on a few of its highpoints. by Bibler The writer begins by describing a commencement ceremony: "Two thousand black-robed students filed into the field house, looking like so many ink spots as they perch on the benches. Then droning speeches. The diplomas are awarded. The new graduates troop out again, facing a world eaten with acid doubts, fragmented with suspicion and verging on suicide. "And now consider the future leaders. For the most part, They are a sterile assemblage of prisoners of orthodoxy. A group with little curiosity, content to munch chocolates and watch television while the rest of the world staggers blindly to destruction. This is the end result of four years of education, a student as stuffy and lifeless as a commencement ceremony. To this, we can only reluctantly agree. The past week was one of much action. We moved from coffee table to coffee table, asking students their opinions on the draft aptitude tests, McArthur and the school election. Men students had absolutely nothing to say about the draft controversy—ALTHOUGH IT MIGHT COST THEM MANY YEARS OF THEIR LIVES... OR EVEN THEIR LIVES. "We students are a funny lot. We will become aroused at the most trivial things—excessive fouling in a basketball game, the changing of an exam date, the election of a dance king—and yet the most serious events leave us unmoved." On these matters of stirring importance-effecting vitally the life of every student, his family, the nation and the world—the students were unconcerned. Most were concerned about the campus election. We probably should be grateful that they were, but we were disappointed because after all, how important is campus politics? It certainly isn't vital, yet things that are somehow get ignored. On MacArthur, a few had opinions, one way or the other, but none were very considered opinions. They thought this way or that because of their national party affiliations, or because they served under MacArthur in World War II. The Wisconsin student goes on to say: "When important speakers on world issues barnstorm through the campus, we stay away in droves." We need only to try to find a booth at the Union or a nearby restaurant during a convocation to see that this same situation exists at K.U. On women the writer said: "It our co-eds were investment brokers, they would assuredly invest in good, safe government bonds. We dont resent the University's serving as a lonely hearts club, but we do deplore the female criteria for choosing husbands. Like a good investment, he must be safe, stuffy and conventional as possible. And then this: "Have students lost the desire to make life an adventure? Is stuffy conformity the only goal we seek?" In the end, will our lives prove to be as barren and banal as our ambitions? "We have lost faith in ourselves. Once we believed an individual could do anything; now the belief is that an individual can do nothing. The world cannot be changed, because we are powerless, therefore let us accept it and worm our way into the safest possible shelter. We just don't care." "This generation welcomed the shackles of orthodoxy—all those eager faces looking up at the platform, waiting to be told what to believe. There was a delight in dogma; know the authorities, accept the classics, and wash your problems away." And we agree. Our generation just doesn't care. In fact we doubt it if half the students at K.U. will read this editorial. Half of the half that do, won't finish it, and half of that half will forget it before the sun rises again. And the few who remember? They were already aware of the situation. Francis Kelley galley-west - * * The News was talking about war hysteria, which it claimed was more noticeable in the faculty than in the students. The News continued: "We saw it coming," said the Pitt News, University of Pittsburgh, 'but we expected it to come from the students." "... The deans, the trustees, the registrar, the treasurer and even the chancellor have given way to hysteria, pure and simple." Here is the line of reasoning which the News accused the administration of taking; "Enrollment and tuition will hit rock bottom . . . and isn't it awful. Cancel the building program, lay off the fired help, get ready to fire a few hundred instructors, hold down aculty salaries. . . . rerench, economize, cut, and for God's sake on't do anything constructive, because we're in for a blow boys, ere it comes. "Hysteria, pure and simple." $$ * * * $$ A common fallacy is that women don't have the courage and damas for many jobs. There's really no comparison between men and women on that point. Men have never had babies. Letters— (Because of space limitations, the editor reserves the right to condense letters of more than 100 words. Anonymous letters will not be published, but names should be withheld on request. Letters should be addressed to the editor of the Kansan.) Appreciation To the Editor: You should be complimented highly for publishing in your Thursday paper the editorial page article entitled, "Thirty for Prof. Ewert," and written by Bob Sanford. It was written to encourage courage and fortitude a hero who bore tribulation and adversity without blaming others. I consider Bob Sanford's article to be an excellent example of effective, restrained writing under pressure. It is surely one of the best "human interest" pieces published in this area for a long, long time. Elmer F. Beth Professor of Journalism Echoes Of The Past Yesteryears (From the U.D.K., Sept. 20, 1920) from the U.S.D.K. Sept. 20, 1920 Paris, Sept. 17—The Echo de Paris today said that the French government had instructed its representatives to the League of Nations that France will withdraw from the League if Germany is admitted to the conference at Geneva. Little Man On Campus "Say, Kelly. how's about a straw for Carolyn's root beer, huh?" Naval Students Have Sextant Troubles By JACK ZIMMERMAN (Daily Kansan Associate Editor) If you happen to be near the Military Science building some evening, and you see some men peering through a strange looking instrument, don't get excited. They're not spies. They are navigation students of the N.R.O.T.C. unit out "shooting the stars." The instrument they use is a sextant. The gadget the midshipmen will be using is called the "bubble octant" type sextant. It is the latest type used by the air force and navy, and it helps solve a big problem navigation students have faced before. They haven't had a horizon, which is the key to a lot of navigational problems. To the layman it appears to be a combination microscope, telescope, movie camera, and secret weapon of some kind. To the navigator it is almost priceless. It is a formidable looking affair, although navigators will tell you it is comparatively easy to use. In all directions from a ship there University Daily Kansan News Room Adv. Room K.U. 251 K.U.376 Student Newspaper of the UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Member of the Kansas Press Assn, Press Assn., and the Associated Collegiate Press. Represented by the National Ad- ministration Service, 420 Madison Ave, New City, NY. Editor-in-chief Marvin Arth Managing Editor Business Manager Harold A. Benjamin James W. Murray Asst. Managing Editors: Janet Ogan. Mona Millikan, Richard Tatum, John Chief Editorial Writer: Francis J. Kelley Assoc. editorial writer: Jack Zimmerman City Editor Lee Sheppeard Feature Editor Richard Marshall Feature Editor Richard Marshall Society Editor Nancy Anderson Telegraph editor Robert Sanford Telegraph Editors Sports Editor Aasst. Sports Editors: Bob Nelson, Forrest Wilkinson, Marion Kliewer Advertising Mgr. James Lowther National Adv. Mgr. Dorothy Kolb George Caldwell Classified Ad. Mgr. Virginia Johnston Promotion Mgr. Robert Sydney University Daily Kansan Mall subscription: $3 a semester. $4.50 a postage). Published in Lawrence, Kansas every afternoon during the University weekend. Subscription includes university holidays and examination periods. Entered as second class matter Sept. 17. Subscribed to Kansai University. Kans., under act of March 3, 1879. is a water horizon, which is the only true horizontal. This makes things easy. To figure his position at sea a sailor will normally use a standard sextant. With it he can find the distance from a star to the horizon, the angle between his ship and the star. Once he does this he can figure his position mathematically. Consider then, the plight of the student navigator at the University. There isn't a body of water near here that is large enough to enable a man to get out of sight of land. Since they couldn't get out of sight of land the navigators were unable to get a true horizon on which to base their computations. Lt. Grant Gordon, assistant professor of naval science, realizing what his students were up against, managed to borrow two bubble type double octant sextants—one from the air force and one from the navy. With this type instrument the midshipmen will be able to practice some navigational problems right here on the hill. The secret of the bubble type sextant is that it provides the true horizontal necessary. All this is by way of explaining what will be occupying three evenings of each midshipman navigated week for the next three weeks. LK. Gordon believes the experience K.U. midshipmen will get using sextants will put them far ahead of other units in the country by cruise time this summer. The K.U. middies have added incentive to do a good job - they have a reputation to uphold. Last year the University N.R.O.T.C. unit placed first in a federal examination given to S2 units in the nation. When subjected to dilute sulphuric acid, pure nickel withstands the attack seventeen times better than plain steel. "Looks Like His Haskell Trip Was A Little Rough."