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University Daily Kansan
Friday, Sept. 24, 1965
Is College Obsolete?
Every college student asks himself at some point, "What am I doing here? What is college for?"
Robert M. Hutchins, former president of the University of Chicago, recently offered the proposition that college is obsolete. Writing in The Saturday Evening Post, he proposed that a college education is not essential for success in contemporary terms, i.e., one's ability to earn money.
"A young man who goes to college has already succeeded," Hutchins wrote. "He has succeeded in getting born into a "good home" and a relatively prosperous family, one that has both the means and the inclination to push him to the degree. The college does not establish his earning power. That is established before he enters."
HE REGARDS COLLEGE as "a kind of personnel system for business." In his opinion, a college education is not good preparation for business except to the degree that it is preparation for life.
College, to Hutchins, is merely "doing time." The number of hours required to receive a diploma is only a reflection of the American standard of quantity, rather than quality, and has no bearing on whatever knowledge the student might absorb.
The 120 hours shown on the student's IBM card, not a demonstration of what he has learned, are what qualifies the student to graduate.
"The student is never compelled to put together what the specialists have told him, because he is examined course by course by the teacher who has taught the course." Hutchins writes.
HIS POSITION IS that college is obsolete because: 1) It is too departmental, and the student is so busy specializing that he has no time to sample a "liberal" education. 2) Examinations based on the "philosophy of regurgitation" do not compel the student to demonstrate that he can think.
Hutchins' opinions are valid, to a degree, but like all opinions, there is another view.
The other view is that, for virtually every student, there is at least one course which compels him to deliberate, to reflect, to arrive at his own conclusions independently of his textbook or his professor
For example, at KU, the Western Civilization program is planned with the express intention of making students think. The student who tries to regurgitate facts at examination time is often rudely awakened.
Because of the volume of philosophies which he must study, the student necessarily must reflect and deliberate.
Hutchins evidently does not have much faith in students, for he implies that a student won't voluntarily seek an education, as well as his passport to guaranteed success, the diploma.
COLLEGE IS NOT yet obsolete, or students would not be asking themselves the questions that began this editorial. The value of a college education is, and always will be, contemporary because, as Hutchins noted, it is preparation for life.
James Bryant Conant, former president of Harvard University and one of America's foremost educators, describes in his book, "Two Modes of Thought," a view which explains why college is not obsolete.
"The needs of an open society today, if it is to continue secure, prosperous and open, are, in terms of developed talent, of a different order of magnitude from the needs of a free nation a century ago. This fact is what has led to such a deep concern with schools and universities in many countries. . . It seems clear that for the majority of intellectually able youth the mode of thought they will prefer in later life is determined largely by education."
College is not only a preparation for amassing the almighty dollar. It is also a means to shape a mode of thought, a tool for living. It is preparation for life. And that is one success which is not guaranteed by the right social connections.
— Karen Lambert
Football Has Place, But . . .
A short article in Wednesday's Daily Kansan related the efforts of a student-faculty committee to obtain a tape recording of the second teach-in on the Viet Nam crisis scheduled for Oct. 9 in Toronto, Canada.
The article noted, "An earlier plan, which would have featured live broadcast of the teach-in in the Kansas Union, has been dropped due to a conflict with a home football game."
FOOTBALL IS GRANTED far too much importance in our university community. Of course the team is essential—it is a valuable asset in terms of cold, hard cash. But is football the be-all, end-all at KU?
It is a disheartening reflection of our social values when a home football game is deemed more important than the live broadcast of the teach-in.
Almost every day students hear of the importance of awareness of the world around them. I would assume that the alumni who come from far and near for football games heard the same preachment when they were in school. This makes it difficult to comprehend why it has been decided that the conflict of a teach-in and a football game could only be resolved by sacrificing the teach-in broadcast.
If the committee is not successful in obtaining a tape recording for re-broadcast here, I hope it will be realized that a significant educational opportunity was missed and that perhaps the absolute importance of the football program should be re-evaluated.
The football program has its place, but so does the live broadcast of the Viet Nam teach-in. At least the events could be considered equal.
— Karen Lambert
TRAGEDY STRUCK THURSDAY—Ordinarily, life is just duck soup for KU's web-footed friends. Alas, the idyllic paradise of Potter Lake was
With all this talk about inexpensive student diversions available on campus, I'm surprised at the exclusion (let's hope it's just an oversight and not a menacing plot to deprive impoverished KU students of good, clean, free fun) . . . at the exclusion of one worthwhile activity.
Teeter-Totter For Relaxation
Undoubtedly placed there by a thoughtful administrator evermindful of the mental and physical well-being of the student body, these tools of pleasure have remained, and are remaining, unused semester after semester.
THE MULTIPLE BLESSINGS of these campus fixtures are being overlooked. They offer free fun for pairs of well-balanced students, provide an outlet for energy, plus holding the prospect for healthful body-building activity. One would expect to see long lines of anxious students pausing a few moments between classes to avail themselves of these stimulating tools of free entertainment.
Students hear me! Let's start using those teeter-totters in front of Flint Hall before they rust themselves into the immobility of disuse!
Photo by Bill Stephens
— Eric Johnson
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shattered yesterday. See Monday's Kansan and discover how four became three!
NEWS STAFF
Judy Farrell ... managing editor
Assistant managing editors: Suzy Black, Susan Hartley, Jane Larson, Jacke Thayer.
Joan McCabe city editor Department editors; Dan Austin, photography; Nancy Scott, society; Mary Griffith, sports; Robert Stevens, wire.
Janet Hamilton. Karen
Lambert editorial editors Photographers: Bill Stephens, Harry Krause.
On the Side...
Four days of classes completed, and still no demonstrations. Have all our campus rebels gone South for the duration? South Viet Nam, that is.
Have you heard the one about the new students living in McCollum Hall? He went into the cafeteria and wrote a novel, called "The Trial."
The new crop of freshman women looks fine. A bit sad they're only three months out of high school.
"Taboos of the World" is playing downtown. No doubt based on the best-selling novel, "I Was a Teenage Marcher at Berkeley."
Now that the new gym is nearing completion, informed sources say physical education is going to become compulsory, like 7:30 Saturday classes. You may be excused if you have a note from mother.
Now that India and Pakistan have stopped fighting each other with American arms, they will probably qualify for U.S. aid to overrun nations. Or at least get a dam project.
Some of the faces that were pointed out when you were a freshman are still here. They are on the seven-year degree program.
Being a science-oriented freshman, the cute little blonde thought she was going to participate in a research project down at "O" Zone. She did.
Now that Fraser Hall is only a memory, perhaps other relics from the past may be sent to the graveyard, replaced by more progressive thinking. We had in mind grades, closing hours, 7:30 classes, Monday morning and "in loco parentis" attitudes.
Britain is preparing to devalue the pound. Does that mean we may drink more and gain less?
— Harry Krause
The conveniences that make living more pleasant are usually taken for granted. For instance, has anyone ever stopped to think just how convenient the abundance of sidewalks is at KU? The succession of campus planners who have been responsible for the layout of KU's sidewalks have shown consistent good judgment, generosity and remarkable foresight.
Hurrah for Sidewalks
I can't think of a single "Please Keep Off the Grass' sign intruding the vistas of manicured lawns and flower beds that adorn the campus. It hasn't been necessary, because "sidewalk superintendents," perhaps annoyed by those obnoxious little reminders, planned the walkways so that students in a hurry to reach their destination could take the straightest line between two points and still remain on concrete.
THE TEMPTATION TO shortcut across lawns isn't very strong because the sidewalks go in that direction. No rigid pattern of sidewalks laid out at right angles only at the perimeters of an area inconveniences KU students. Diagonal, radial and triangular patterns make the sidewalk arrangement a living geometry lesson, and even Euclid might enjoy tracing the sidewalk topography.
The marvel of it is that sidewalks are everywhere! To cite one example, Watson Library is at the convergence of five sidewalks.
The only problem I can think of in connection with the abundance sidewalks concerns the student plagued by indecision. It's probably traumatic experience to select a route of perambulation.
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— Karen Lambert
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