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UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
SEPTEMBER 27,1946
University DAILY KANSAN
Student Newspaper of the UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Student Newspaper of the UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Member of the Kansas Press Association, National Journal
Association, and the Associated Collegiate Press. Represented
the National Advertising Service. 420 Madison Ave., New York City.
Mail subscription: $3 a semester, $4.50 a year, plus 2% tax (in Lawrence Kann) or $1 a semester postage). Published in Lawrence Kann every afternoon during the school year except Saturdays and Sundays, University holidays, and examination periods. Entered as second class matter Sept. 17, 1910, at the Post Office at Lawrence, Kan., under act of March 3, 1879.
Wanted: Education
A recent innovation in a great many colleges and universities has been a new set of courses in general education, courses that the University of Kansas seems to have too few of according to enrollment complaints.
Harvard, for instance, has instituted some new general education courses in natural science which put a minimum emphasis on factual knowledge and a maximum on scientific method and historical approach.
One recent enrollee remarked: "I would like to take a course which would give me a theoretical, background knowledge of economics, but I don't want to take any of the courses offered for fear they will concentrate too much on technical details."
The situation is only too similar to that encountered by the little girl who read a book on penguins. "This book," she said in her report, "tells me more about penguins than I am interested in knowing."
In the last few years steps have been taken by the University which seem to recognize the need for more general education courses. Notable among new courses are Western Civilization, General Biology, and the freshman composition and literature course.
A definite need is felt, however, among seniors and graduate students, especially those whose education has been interrupted for three or more years, for courses of general information to fill intentional or unintentional gaps left in their earlier college education—gaps which make difficult their comprehension of the intricate forces at play in our modern world. It is these forces that are shaping the world's destiny toward peace or atomic destruction. And it is these students who must learn to control these forces.
Perhaps the most complete answer to this problem would be found in a colloquium or lecture series course, combining features of economics, sociology, political science, psychology, and any applicable natural sciences in an effort to give the student an integrated, background knowledge of the world he lives in and an analysis of current problems as they occur.
The guest lecturer system would probably be the one best suited to such a course. Outside reading should be suggested but not demanded. Technical detail should be subordinated to theory, although this does not mean that practical application of this theory should not be stressed.
Such a course would take careful and detailed planning. It would necessitate a great deal of cooperation and coordination between faculty members of the various schools and departments of the University. But the course could be set up, and it could be made one of the strongest courses in the curriculum.
Little academic credit would be necessary to make the course popular. Serious students realize only too well the weaknesses of their education. Universities are turning out specialists, but these specialists need a more solid foundation upon which to base their specialized knowledge. Such a course as we have described here would provide that foundation,
and the University would graduate students better equipped to face and understand the turbulent, chaotic world of today.
You've Got Problems?
We've got answers. Send your problems to the Answer Man, cfo of the Daily Kansan.
Q: Is it true that one rotten apple spoils a barrel.
And if so, why?
A: No, it is not true. If the barrel is scrubbed and sterilized there is no reason it should not be used again—and again, if necessary.
***
Q: My husband never speaks to me. The only thing he ever says is "it's nine o'clock," and then he goes to bed.
A: Are you sure you have not married a clock. My grandmother thought for many years that the grandfather clock was Grandfather. Grandfather finally got mad and let the clock run down.
- * *
Q: I have trouble with my teacher. When I get up to recite she sits up at the front of the room and makes nasty remarks all the time I am speaking.
A: Try soft soap. If this does not work, try Life Buoy.
Q: I have mice. This would not worry me, but none of the other girls have mice.
- * *
A: Do not try to be like everybody else. You should be proud of the little distinctions that set you off from the mass of humanity.
***
Q: Is it all right for boys to make love to girls on their first date?
A: Some boys are left handed.
Q: I have been going with one girl for five years. I have showered her with flowers and boxes of candy. Still I get nowhere.
A: The great Irish philosopher, O'Nash, once said:
"Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker."
International Radio Network Endorsed By UN Sub-Group
Washington. (UP)—Establishment of a United Nations radio network was endorsed by a sub-group of the government's commission on international, scientific and cultural cooperation.
The commission's sub-committee on mass communications approved the radio network suggestion after endorsement by Assistant Secretary of State William Benton and David Sarnoff, president of the Radio Corporation of America.
Mr. Benton had disagreed with one recommendation of the committee of five special state department consultants, who had urged caution and further study of the network proposal.
Mr. Sarnoff told the sub-committee that radio is "as great a potential force in world peace as atomic energy is a potential force in world war."
Except for the radio dispute, the subcommittee endorsed the consultants' report which Mr. Benton made public yesterday. The five-man group was headed by Edward Barrett, editorial director of Newsweek magazine, who also is a member of the commission.
He said private enterprise could not handle the broadcasting needs of the United Nations but must cooperate with an agency which could.
Chicago's Dr. Hutchins Sees Atomic War Peril To World
Chicago. (UP)—The world may not last long enough for young school children to play much part in saving it, Chancellor Robert M. Hutchins of the University of Chicago said today.
Dr. Hutchins, who has asked the university for a nine-months' leave of absence to promote adult education, told a press conference that "for an educator to devote his time to educating children from 6 to 21 years old in the hope that the world may thereby be saved is, I believe, highly unrealistic.
Dr. Hutchins said this feeling was based on "the present world situation" with the potential danger of atomic warfare and the tense atmosphere among the big powers.
"The world," he said, "may not last long enough even for those students who are in the graduate schools of our universities to be able to help."
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