Critic endorses separate cultures
Film critic and writer Dwight Macdonald believes that high culture has and will survive by turning its back on a democratic society.
Joining author and anthropologist Ashley Montagu for a fast-paced, humorous, and informal colloquium sponsored by the speech and drama department, Macdonald discussed the topic "Can High Culture Survive in a Democratic Society," stating his belief in two separate cultures, one for the elite and one for the masses.
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"ANYONE CAN JOIN THE elite," said Macdonald, Esquire critic, "however, given a choice, only 15 to 20 per cent of the population show interest in the free cultural advantages of free libraries and galleries offered in America.
"Some people have genes which, under proper conditions will enhance their appreciation of art forms," argued Montagu. "However, everyone should be given a chance to develop these genes at an early age, long before they are exposed to the advantages of the free cultural advantages," he said.
Human beings have different capabilities and there is a natural aristocracy, said Montagu. The only way to discover the genetical differences is to give people unequal opportunities to help them individually meet the capacity of the rapid learner.
Macdonald feels that the United States is pushing the idea that everyone should take an interest in culture. He resents the government's attitude of "taking the public by the hand and making culture a status symbol or a patriotic thing."
The "gold-plated" age of television, ten years ago, featured some good programs in their "Playhouse" presentations, said Macdonald. However, he notes that American audience response to a higher form of art in television cannot be predicted since no network will chance airing this type of program.
"TELEVISION PROGRAMS are the fantasies of a few people on Madison Avenue," he said.
"The critical problem of our time is the mass education found on large campuses," said Montagu. "I have been talking about this for 35 years and students are finally realizing this is true. They do not like to be thought of as a number and not recognized outside the classroom."
Seeing a parody and perversion of education, Montagu notes a difference between instruction, which merely trains a student in something, and education.
"EDUCATION TRAINS THE student in the most important thing—his ability to realize his potential as a human being," he said.
Macdonald recalled that during his college years at Yale, the students who did not want to study got in the way of the studious. Seeing a reversal among today's college students, he suggests that perhaps they study more now due to frequent warnings of the economical attributes to be gained from a college education, including attending graduate school.
"Students today have a professional attitude too early," he said. "There is a fallacy of everyone being subjected to the same kind of education."
CRITICIZING THE emphasis placed on memorizing facts soon forgotten, Montagu cites cheating as one example of non-recognition of the moral and esthetic value of work. "The only source of happiness is its value as a bi-product of work—a sense of being glad to be alive." he said.
REGARDING architecture as an art form, he said that buildings lack an artistic value because they are planned by contractors whose only purpose is building for profit. "Architects should design for individual needs, not those of the masses," Montagu said.
Daily Kansan 5
Wednesday, April 13, 1906
A Poem Unlike Any Found in the KU Literary Creation (thank goodness)
The time has arrived and satisfaction is due, you may now purchase the cottonwood review.
25 American cents at the Union Bookstore, the Hawk's Nest, the Information Booth, the Abington Book Shop...in front of the library.
That Latin America has as much a right to be considered a part of the Western world as North America or Western Europe was the thesis of a speech given yesterday in the Forum Room of the Kansas Union by Harry Bernstein, noted Latin American area scholar.
Bernstein, a history professor at Brooklyn College, the City of New York, said that the non-western image of Latin America was nonsense and that it grew out of the continent's early emphasis on agarianism, underdevelopment and peasantry.
COUNTERACTING THE IDEA that Latin America's non-industrialism is a cause of its being non-Western, Bernstein said. "Latin America has a common inter-American market on ideas."
Terms Latin America 'Western'
The only figure in the seminar colloquia series who spoke on the Latin American area, Bernstein said that the non-Western image of Latin America was a contemporary fallacy because the Western world, North America and Western Europe, can contribute much of their beginnings to For-
tugal and Spain. These are the same two countries that settled practically of Latin America.
Nationalism, a prominent non-Western entity, was according to Bernstein, a prime factor in making Latin America western.
"ALTHOUGH THEY (the Latin American nations) spoke nearly the same language and had the same religion, they fought bitterly between themselves," said
Language was another factor which Berrstein believed caused Latin America to become Western. He said that the importance of Portuguese and Spanish language in that they had Western European roots makes it ridiculous to say that Latin American language had non-Western roots. The Western language of Latin America was important in giving that area an overall Western image.
Bus to shuttle before speeches
Eernstein. "They are nations; their fighting among themselves makes them as much Western in thought as they are in geography," he continued.
Shuttle bus service to Hoch Auditorium is being made available to the public this week for two sessions of the Inter-Century Seminar.
The buses provide rides from Zone "O" east of Allen Field House because of lack of parking space near Hoch Auditorium.
Summer Employment For College Men
The buses will leave the parking lot at 7 p.m. Wednesday, prior to the 8 p.m. seminar featuring Arthur C. Clarke; and at 8:15 a.m. Thursday, prior to the closing convocation, which begins at 9:15 a.m.
CALL: MR. BREWER VI-3 9160
Between 1-5 p.m.
Applicant Must Have
A Neat Appearance
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