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University Daily Kansan Monday. Feb. 27, 1961
The Corps for Peace
With the advent of the Kennedy Point Four "Peace Corps," the Silent Generation finally has a cause. And the cause is big enough to make those who have grumbled about the lack of ideals for which to fight sit down and deliberate for a good, long while.
Senator Hubert Humphrey, the vociferous think-man from Minnesota, conceived the plan for American students to be put into diplomatic service in the far corners of the world. Various legislators have modified it and attached their names to the plan but President Kennedy picked it up during the campaign and is now getting ready to push it through Congress.
It will call for a remarkable type of individual; a mass of them. The kind that hasn't stepped forward too frequently in the past—the Dooleys, the Schweitzers and the others less renowned who have given their lives in the service of humanity.
The plan is still in its rough draft but essentially calls for qualified college students (this is implied) to spend a number of years in the underdeveloped countries as a more direct means of American aid. It is the feeling that bodies can accomplish what dollars have not been able to.
It is an excellent idea and it would be the greatest American shot for a sagging, weary world since the landing at Normandy. But . .
For that is exactly what the plan is—living in a remote area, sometimes among the most primitive of people, eating the kind and the quantity of food they do, working beside them in the fields, and only receiving a token salary.
That's not much. It's at the opposite end of the rainbow from what today's average student dreams of. But there must be some who do want something more than life in the rut. And for them the benefits from membership in the Peace Corps would be incalculable. There are some English students who could testify to this.
Each year, a small group of young men and
women fromBritain set out for remote areas in the Commonwealth as representatives of an organization called "Voluntary Service Overseas." It was started two years ago and now has 80 members who spend one year among the people of underdeveloped territories.
Colin Henfrey, now at Oxford University, tells of his experience in British Guiana in a recent government newsletter;
"When I arrived, an 18-year-old, on my own, with no experience of anything outside the average British schoolboy's life, I was, to say the least, apprehensive. I knew I was to be sent fifty miles up the river to live among an aboriginal tribe and that I was to be entrusted with the organization and development of a community, but I knew little about community development, except what common sense told me, and nothing about the Indians of South America."
During his year, Henfrey completely changed the village from one of chaos and ruin to one that now has three new roads, sanitary conditions, a drainage system, three new industries and a community spirit that would never have existed had it not been for this little peace corps.
"I feel that all of us who are sent out are able to give something to the places where we work, because the enthusiasm of youth tends to make up, in part, for its inexperience. There is no doubt that all of us gain far more from the people we work with than we can ever give them."
Each of the 80 volunteers had similar experiences. As Henfrev concluded:
This would be a microcosm of the American Peace Corps for it is hoped that the Corps will have 100,000 volunteers. There is no doubt about its being a rugged existence and a precedent for American youth. But in the festering world the Silent Generation has been handed, sacrifice and dedication are the only solutions.
Frank Morgan
Editor:
Yanks OK
I would like to make a few skeptical remarks in regard to the article "Foreign Students Say Americans Are Cold," UDK, Feb. 20, 1961.
Miss McIntosh's statements concerning unfriendliness of KU student were rather subjective. During my years of study in Kansas I have found the students and the people in general of a most helpful and friendly nature. More so than in any other area that I have become acquainted with. However, I must admit, I have not been in Liberia. Loneliness is a state of mind for which a person is himself to blame.
Mr. Haertel came close to equating progress with rebellion. I cannot see any sense in fighting when I can get what I want without fighting. Neither have I yet met a hard-working student on this campus who would be content with retiring at 40 to watch television. And what is wrong with a big car? I could not imagine many Germans rejecting one for idealistic reasons.
To Miss Kalayan's statements one can only ask: are Americans supposed to adjust and change to make a foreign student feel at home?
Sulingen, Germany graduate student
Manfred Grote
High Schoolers Go Home!
Editor:
Concerning the comments of a few female high school students who had the privilege of visiting "typical" college classes here on the campus Wednesday:
From the superior tone of these all-knowing lassies, one might infer that they consider themselves able to by-pass "simple" undergraduate work and apply directly to a well-known graduate school. After all, why bother with elementary pursuits when one's intellectual status is above the majority of KU faculty?
A better way of exposing our young friends to the real nature of this institution of rudimentary learning would be to invite them
...Letters ...
up for a round of mid-sementer exams. This would provide them with a means of checking their supremacy before completely ignoring the worth of our supposed "equivalent - to - high - school" courses. Or perhaps they could observe the relaxed, easy atmosphere of final week; no doubt these haughty, "perceptive" young maids would "breeze" through a Physics 5, Quantitative Analysis, or Western Civilization final.
Bill Breckenridge
Louisburg sophomore
* * *
An Agreement on 'Angel' Editor:
A novel is one thing, a play another; no great or completely satisfactory play has ever been made from a novel. Because of theatre limitations and requirements, the stage has to condense, rearrange and change.
I was interested in the communication from ALR concerning "Look Homeward, Angel," and pleased with the reasonable approach taken. If the writer is not well acquainted with plays, I can sympathize with his disappointment. To attempt a discussion or answer to the several points brought up would occupy too much space; but may I make several comments, without verifying them, which might lead to fuller discussion?
THE CHANGES TO NOT REPRESENT Broadway influence; such changes have been going on for centuries. A student of English history, not familiar with the Elizabeth theatre, might have found fault with Marlowe's "Edward II" as this writer did with this play.
The play was not a dramatization or adaptation; the program specifically stated it is a play based on the book.
If the play had been able to spend all the time on the material that the novelist did, it would probably have been 25 acts long and occupied 50 or more hours of playing time. Some material, especially preparatory material, had to be left out.
In my criticism which was printed in the Kansas, I suggested that our present plays are often corny and that we are conditioned to perversion, violence, etc. I don't see how this criticism can apply to this play or its production.
When one reads a dialogue silently, he may or may not see humor in it; when he hears it spoken, in character, it often becomes humorous. If, despite some laughs, Gant did not end up as a tragic figure, then the writer of the article did not react as most of the audience did. If the "ground-lings" laughed at some inherently pathetic person or situation, then perhaps they should be blamed.
IF THE PLAY had not had its lighter moments, it would have been dull, repetitive and depressing. Even Shakespeare included lighter scences in his tragedies.
Does anyone want to carry the discussion on from this beginning?
I AM NOT sure what the writer calls "hamming." Realistic character comedy is one thing, hamming is something else. Incidentally, the New York production was played for more comedy than the production here.
Allen Crafton Prof. of Speech
Dailu Hansan
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LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS
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Frank Morgan and
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International Jayhawker
By Rab Malik Pakistani graduate student
Part II
Here a few comments about the students from Asia and Africa are also in order. The majority of the students coming from these relatively underdeveloped countries are here to learn skills in order to be able to improve the sorry lot of their people. This is a commendable goal. But most of us expect America to support verbatum the policies of our respective governments, no matter how foolish these policies may be. Upon finding that the Americans, because of their own self interest cannot possibly do it, we too become critical and accuse the United States for all our ills, imaginary or real.
The second mistake of the panelists was that they singled out sororites and fraternities, and generally indifferent attitude of the American students towards the the foreign students for a frontal attack. I cannot, with clear conscience, defend the cliquish behavior of certain organized groups on the campus. Nor am I overenthusiastic about the ritualistic nature of fraternities and sororites. It is unfortunate if the members of certain sororites are specifically forbidden to "date" foreign students. The foreign students, I am sure, have no intention, whatsoever, of corrupting the innocent youths of Kansas!
When Asia and Africa will learn to stand upon their own feet, I do not know, but the earlier they do it the better. The problem of the Congo, Algeria, Kashmir, and the Chinese threat in Southeast Asia are genuine problems, but I cannot see how the Americans can proclaim a magic solution for all these issues which would be satisfactory for all. The problems that plague the political scenes in Africa and Asia today are, to a large degree, the result of our short-comings. Let us place the blame where it really belongs.
Lest it should be forgotten, allow me to record the fact that Europe in its relatively backward period stood up to the onslaught of the advancing armies of Islam, thus preventing the Eastern imperialism from controlling Europe. Let it also be admitted that we in Africa and Asia, when the tables were turned against us, ignominiously failed to rise to the occasion and became the easy prey of what we like to call European colonialism. When we were preparing ourselves to be subjugated by a Europe in an exploiting mood, the Americans, to their everlasting credit, successfully overthrew the colonial yoke. The evolution of this nation from a colony to a world power has a lesson for us.
My foregoing opinions are the result of having heard a panel discussion by four foreign students on the subject, "What is Wrong with America?" I have by no means attempted to write a refutation of what was said by the panel members. The topic in itself is highly absurd and the opinions of the panelists were either too academie or too ridiculous to require a rebuttal. Although I must confess that I was somewhat stimulated by the whole affair.
The first mistake the panelists made was that of conveying the impression that they were representing the views of all foreign students. This is misleading. As was pertinently pointed out by Mr. Vergara from the Philippines, the foreign students are not at all agreed on "What is Wrong with America?"
But as for the personal friendships among individuals it is worthwhile to keep in mind that friendship is a two-sided proposition. The willingness of both sides to have such a relationship would seem essential. All the foreign students are neither angels nor amiable characters. Nor are all the American students indifferent and unfriendly. I believe that friendship among individuals is a social necessity and should be promoted and cultivated, but I am certainly opposed to imposing friendship on other people. It is difficult, in general, to scold people into friendship. The foreign and American students can learn a great deal from each other. I suggest initiative on both sides.