Page 2 Summer Session Kansan Tuesday, July 28, 1959 For Realism About Schools Despite ominous warnings, earnest pleadings, and cold facts, the people of Kansas continue to sit in complacency while petty politics make hash out of our educational system and jeopardize the future of our youth. The Board of Regents recently announced a proposed budget for the next fiscal year. Instead of a budget that meets the requirements for next year—one that should be an incentive towards ambitious educational projects—we find a cautions, "minimal" budget that clips the wings of thinking educators. No doubt, by the time the proposed budget runs the gamut of election-conscious politicians we will find it far from adequate for the next fiscal year. And the ironical part of the situation is that "trimming" happy politicians will cut it in the name of the "poor taxpayer." We are taxed, taxed again, and then taxed some more for good measure. The more we are taxed, the more the expenditures seem to mount. Expenditures must be cut, expenditures must be held down. With this we all agree. But why must schools suffer? Why do we have a Board of Regents that obviously is not acting in the best interests of the state educational system—that won't fight for a good budget? Education costs a great deal these days. Industry, in order to meet rising costs, can apply modern methods of mass production to market a product more cheaply, can raise the price of its products, or as a last resort, can curtail production. Can we mass-produce educated people? Can we raise the price tag on an educated person? Can we curtail the "production" of our educational system? A common sense answer will supply us with a big "no," although it seems that some of the above methods are being tried. What remains to be done is to meet the rising costs of education with a realistic outlook. It takes a certain amount of time, teachers, and facilities to educate a person. These all take a certain amount of money. If we attempt to cut down on any one of these factors we will wind up with a second-rate school system and a second-rate class of citizens. By all means let's have a minimal budget. Then the politicians can really have a poor taxpayer to cry about. —Ray Miller Orientation Center Is Honor KU can add another feather to its cap. It has the decided distinction of being one of the six centers in the U.S. selected by the State Department for foreign student orientation. Our Midwestern university evidently suits the qualifications of the Department or at least has the ability to fulfill the objectives such as providing an opportunity for students to become adjusted to the social environment of the U.S. The University has a "suburban" location in the sense that it is close enough to rural areas to acquaint students with that part of America, while being close to a city which can afford the student a glimpse into metropolitan life. These two elements plus the atmosphere of a small town give the foreign students a three-sided picture of American society and culture. The University's academic standings in various fields will attest to the fact that KU is well qualified to prepare the foreign students for academic and administrative procedures in institutions of higher learning, which is one of the objectives of the program. Daily orientation lectures on topics concerning American education, politics, political rights, and community life, will give the students the theory of the "American way of life." Daily Crossword Puzzle —Janet Juneau ACROSS 1 Duties. 6 Punctuation marks. 11 Small pilchard. 13 Schoolroom equipment. 16 Make large profits; Slang; 2 words. 17 Theatrical performance. 18 Inlet. 19 Floors of London buildings. 21 Cockney's wish. 22 Aborigine of Peru. 24 Parts of the face. 25 Football kick. 26 Allen and others. 27 Posed. 28 Tenant's document. 29 Choose. 29 Failed to bid again. 34 Eager. 36 Revive (with "up"). 37 Not genuine. 37 Scrollings. 45 Substance or an atoll. 46 The Anguilla 48 Accurate. 49 Greek letters. 50 Lifeless. 52 Spanish artist. 53 Girl's nickname. 54 Speak ill of. 57 Italian pronoun. 58 Phrase of denial. 60 Papers. 62 Pluck. 63 Name. 64 Broods. 65 Town official, in Canada. DOWN 1 A viscid syrup. 2 Oklahoma city. 3 Sloth and envy. 4 Famous Coach Rockne. 5 Rebels of 1857-58. 6 Half a college year. 7 Salver. 8 Food. 9 Just before omega. 10 Ladies of Spain. 11 Be frugal. 12 Straightener. 14 Rest. 15 Trickled slowly. 15 Bring up. 16 To the degree that: 3 words. 17 Goes AWOL. 18 "Mighty — Rose." 19 Corrupt. 21 __ de la Plata. 23 Exclamation of disbelief. 25 Notations on bank calendars: 2 words. 27 Type of railway. 28 Spud. 29 Element. 30 What children should be. 32 Architet. 32 Girl's name. 34 Bristly. 37 Hook's com- panion. 39 Diplomat of Ben Franklin's time. 44 Liveliness. 45 Part of a theatre. 46 Formal observance. 47 Sign on the Rialto. 48 Fifty-four: Rom. Fleet Heads To Far North WASHINGTON—A vast supply fleet is steaming north this summer with thousands of tons of stores for lonely outposts in the Canadian Arctic, a huge land of growing possibilities. This year the Canadian Ministry of Transport is moving a record 80,000 tons of supplies along with missionaries, traders, Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers, and health and welfare representatives. Inhabitants of the scattered settlements along the desolate, treeless coastlines regard the arrival of a supply ship as the high point of the year, the National Geographic Society says. For some Arctic dwellers, a supply vessel means the essentials of life—and perhaps a few luxuries—for the whole year. For the waiting sick, it means medical care. For accused criminals, it means a legal trial. For far-flung posts of the Canadian police and isolated radio and weather stations, it means the annual inspection. rew settlements have any docking or cargo- handling facilities. So more than 1,000 men will go north by sea and air to help get the shiploads of supplies ashore by tender. The task is not easy. Many unloading points are beset by drifting ice even in August. The vessels will operate from Quebec to Hudson Strait and Baffin Island. Some will travel still farther north up Foxe Basin to Cornwallis and Ellesmere Islands where there are Canadian-United States weather stations. We have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it.—G.B. Shaw Dailu Hansan (Published Tuesdays and Fridays) NEWS DEPARTMENT News Room Phone 711 Editor Janet Jument Release Editor Millie BUSINESS DEPARTMENT BUSINESS DEPARTMENT Business Manager Phone 376 Business Manager Bill Kane By Calder M. Pickett Associate Professor of Journalism WE COME FROM THE SEA, by Hans Hass. Doubleday, $6.50. "...the evidence of many branches of natural science makes it certain that all the phenomena of life on this globe of ours—a world that was once fiery and fluid—yes, all the phenomena of life, ourselves included, are but the products of an astounding evolutionary process which first became manifest—possibly about one and a half thousand million years ago—in the seas which were then beginning to cool. Still, when we come to think of it, is such a method of creation really less flattering to our self-esteem, less wonderful, less divine?" Hence the title of Han Hass's beautiful book, "We Come from the Sea." Hass is a Darwinian through and through, and in this book he, like Darwin, studies organic creations of the Galapagos, those islands off South America which pointed Darwin toward "The Origin of Species." He studies life in many other places, for Hans Hass is one of the greatest skin-divers, working at this fabulous new pursuit since long before World War II. American filmgoers may recall "Under the Red Sea," Hass's skin-diving film of 1952. Diving under the Red Sea has been just one of the underwater efforts of Hass. In this wonderfully illustrated book he takes the reader from the waters of the Middle East to the Caribbean to the Great Reef of Australia to the Galapagos and back. It is exciting adventure throughout. As he tells of shark and barracuda he carries photographs of these monsters of the deep, some of these photographs in beautiful color. He illustrates his adventures off the Great Reef with lovely photographs of sea life and coral. Silverfish, sea perches, the turtles of Galapagos, the peacock fish of the Red Sea, anchovy as thick as swarms of locusts, sea lions, a giant clam that holds captive a plaster leg, an angel fish, a unicorn fish—all are the subjects of Hass's adventures and all are shown in photographs. For Hass does not skin-dive for sport, or to kill, but to educate. He tells of the giant octopus, and soffos at the Hollywood movies that show Kirk Douglas or John Wayne fighting this monster for their lives. He chases the great sperm whale, much as Ahab in "Moby Dick," but there is no fear or hate in Hans Hass. He thinks all living creatures beautiful, especially as they show those particular features that set them apart from other creatures, and he admits to being laughed at when he describes the beauty of the shark. His Darwinism is a thread throughout. As we came from the sea, says Hass, so we are returning to it. "Maybe our new sport has another aspect in addition to those we have talked about up to now," he writes, "for it takes us, naked as nature made us, back into the domain of nature and among living animals, it puts us into a solitude from which a lot of things in the world above look somewhat different. "What we are suffering from today is our ever-increasing divorce from nature. When we are surrounded by the fish and the waving tendrils of seaplants we may regain a little of our lost humility." "The Feather Merchants" was vastly amusing in 1944—it's hard to believe it, but that was 15 years ago. Shulman, as numerous advisers of college humor magazines know, is THE model for many young writers. Shulman's technique of exaggeration, his rambling incidents that depart from the plot, his borderline use of sex as a theme, are beloved by many youths of 20 or thereabouts. Books about soldiers who practically revolutionize military discipline before they get through are a staple in our literature, "No Time for Sergeants" being one of the most famous. Here are two that have at least one thing in common: both authors put in time at the University of Minnesota. THE FEATHER MERCHANTS, by Max Shulman. Bantam, 35 cents. SOMETHING ABOUT A SOLDIER, by Mark Harris. Signet, 35 cents. This novel is about Pvt. Daniel Miller, on leave in Minneapolis. Out on a party in a local bistro, he and a friend concoct a story in which Miller is identified as one Robert Jordan, a heroic soldier who blew up a bridge and killed many fascists in World War II. He gets in a jam, of course, and people believe him—a credulous reporter, Daniel's parents, the girl who had spurned him. The bistro sequence is a bright parody of Hemingway, and the book is still good fun. "Something About a Soldier" is not entirely humor. There is something wry underneath, despite the cover's screaming about "the hilarious experiences of an oddball G.I. who stood the Army on its head for 121 dizzy days." There is bitterness here, and irony; by standing the Army on its head, Pvt. Jacob Epp gets himself discharged and is the lone member of his old outfit to survive the war. There is some fine writing, and perceptive writing, here. Mark Harris has a much surer sense of the vernacular than Max Shulman, and he seldom departs from the possible to make a point. Jacob, who falls for a waitress in a Georgia PX: Captain Dodd, his superior officer, who is making time with the waitress, and the waitress herself are believable people. One can understand this high-IQ hero, this Jewish youth who reads voraciously and pastes end-the-war slogans on windshields. The greatest reservation about "Something About a Soldier" is this: There is always the gnawing worry that Mark Harris has been trying here for another crazy tale of a crazy GL, and it's a situation with more pathos than humor.