Daddy rules at camp Dont's multiply
However restrictive camp rules may seem, they are totally necessary and desirable. Although many campers complain about the "Gestapo-like" atmosphere of camp, in the final analysis one discovers that he prefers camp with rules to other alternatives.
The purpose of the rules is to act "in loco parentis," or in the place of a parent. For many, probably the majority of the students in camp, this is the first time such a long period has been spent away from home. A five-day camp can be run successfully with a type of anarchy where students make their own rules—curfew at 12, breakfast at 9. But that camp must be small—30 students—and narrow in concept.
The Midwestern Music and Art Camp, however, is far from narrow in its concepts. The six-week period and the 2.444 students enrolled prevent having merely a figurehead of rules. In a group this large and this diverse, much more rigid rules are necessary. In addition, few parents will spend a large amount of money and send their children away to a strange city without knowing how the children will be provided for.
The three "D's" are the most attacked and yet the most necessary rules. Many high school students cannot handle beer or liquor. If a student does not know his limit, he merely drinks until he is drunk. This is certainly not a mature, intelligent action.
The restriction against driving is perhaps the most important one. Statistics prove that the 16- to 18 age group has the most accidents. In addition to this threat, most couples who have dated for more than two weeks find a car very convenient to use as a portable bedroom.
Lawrence boys confess readily that they are only out for a good time with the girls at camp. They want a girl now for what they can get. Thus, the restriction against dating non-campers is particularly applicable in a camp where rules are acting in the place of parents.
Another rule that is frequently criticized is the 10:00 lights out. It seems ludicrous at first
glance, but after thought and consideration the reason for this rule also becomes apparent. Since most campers have early classes—some at 7:45 and 8 every morning—an early rising time is needed. If the student is to function properly during the day, he needs a reasonable amount of sleep. In addition, high school students have a tendency to keep rather unorthodox hours. Mature, responsible adults do not abuse their bodies—they try to get the proper amount of sleep each night. But campers, who lack that mature judgment, must have an early bedtime to prevent their staying up all night.
An interesting comparison can be made between life with camp rules and life with parents. Take the case of the Lawrence campers who live at home. They have both more freedom and less freedom than the Lawrence campers who live at camp.And yet they are in almost exactly the same situation.
Lawrence campers have more freedom in that they can drive whenever and wherever they please. If the desire dictates, a Lawrencian can drink until he is "stoned." Of course, he can date non-campers and stay out as long as his parents will allow him.
Yet the Lawrence camper has problems, too. His parents know exactly when he comes home. They know if he took the car, where he planned to take his date, and who she is. If the Lawrence camper comes home from a back seat frolic with a few hickeys, his parents know about them. In this sense, since parents of non-Lawrence campers know only what their children tell them, the camper living in a dorm has some advantages.
In conclusion, the rules facing home campers and dorm campers are fairly similar in most respects. The need of high school students for these rules is great because of campers' naive, sophomoric tendencies. The majority of the rules of the Midwestern Music and Art Camp, however, are an integral part of camp life and camp operations.
— Rita Haugh
CAMPER EDITORIALS
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Complaints It hurts, Doc
Complaints are continually being made about dormitory rules. We know how inconvenienced we are when we can't go into our own rooms between 8 and 10 a.m. We complain about having to have word from the hospital to be allowed to stay in our rooms during room check when we're not feeling well. Girls can't accept corsages for the formal dance, and we don't have paper towels in the bathroom.
But when Monday night comes and another wing wins the pizzas, the people in each wing "talk it up" about winning the next week. Campers often overlook the reason for not winning—ignoring the rules complained about.
The rules can focus into necessities, but too often it takes a reward for us to realize that the rules were good for something. —Irene Bargas
If one's wing does win the pizzas, he goes down to the snack bar for the feast. The wing won as a result of combined effort, and he might realize that the pizzas aren't as good as the feeling of having done a good job with campers who aren't in his own division.
The pizzas are gone in about 30 minutes, but the memory of eating pizza at 9:30 p.m. with about 49 other campers will remain—it becomes part of camp.
Summer Kansan 3
editorial page
Friday, July 21, 1967
To avoid going to classes which they would rather miss, the students think up reasons to go to the hospital. The doctors and nurses can never refuse to give a student medical treatment, and the patient usually emerges with a bottle of pills and a legitimate excuse for not attending class.
As soon as the hospital doors are opened in the mornings, a line of students forms in the hall, waiting for the doctors. The various maladies range from a broken toe incurred by kicking a football with bare feet, to just a rotten feeling that a cold pill could fix in a jiffy. This is all well and good, but there are other types of ailments.
This trick backfires at times, as in the case of the young man who wished to skip class and went to the hospital. He complained that his neck hurt and was shown into a doctor's office. The doctor twisted and turned his neck a couple of times and wrote out a prescription for pain pills to relieve his discomfiture. The young man was later heard to remark that his neck hadn't really hurt when he went in but that he was in actual need of the pain killers after seeing the effective doctor.
It appears that the students in camp are either rude or extremely selfish if they waste not only the time which could be devoted to those who are in actual need of medical attention but also their parents' money. —Clare Thomasson
The barrage of don'ts from the camp administration began even before campers arrived at KU and has mounted steadily during the first four weeks of camp. Now, at the session's climax, campers feel supersaturated with regulations.
Most campers realize the need for the three cardinal rules forbidding drinking, driving, and dating non-campers.
But few can fathom the endless list of trivialities descending from the camp administration at each Camp Council session. Some of these edicts lack basis, others practicality, and many are totally ridiculous.
Examples include Sunday "Blue" laws condemning late-sleeping, sunbathing and making room inspection mandatory. Campers are not to be in their rooms between 9 and 10 Sunday mornings, an hour that is too early for church and too late for breakfast. Where is everyone to go?
Another overly strict regulation forbids campers from speaking to non-campers. Though an extended conversation could be harmful, giving a stranger directions or a greeting should not be condemned. When courtesy becomes a crime, rules have gone too far.
These rulings are typical of the topics of the camp administration's concern. In fact, the officials have been so engrossed in these details that they failed to inform campers of basic emergency regulations until the fourth week of camp after two incidents in Lewis Hall. Should not these issues, which could determine life or death, have been given preference over rules on the height of window blinds or Sunday sunbathing? —Bonnie Solow
'Perfect' camper
The girl walks down the street. It is Sunday morning. She has conformed with every dress and etiquette rule that the camp has posted. She is attired in a dress. She has on shoes. She is not wearing short shorts, nor does she have curlers in her hair. Since it is between 9 and 10 a.m., she is not in her room. So this girl, in the eyes of the camp gods, is the perfect camper.
She walks on, and her cigaret continues to burn. She is having trouble keeping her dress in place. It is seven inches above her knees and five inches below her collar bone.
Her boyfriend waits at the corner. He greets her and falls into step at her side. They continue walking, until they reach her dormitory—Lewis Hall. It is the hall with the rather large side yard, on which they proceed to stretch out.
As is the custom, they are under one of several large trees. They progress as usual.
The moral of the story—there is no point in keeping up false appearances.
The counselors all say, "You can't smoke near the door of the dorm; you can't wear curlers outside; you must wear shoes; you must wear dresses on Sunday. All these things are to keep up the appearances of the school, so that townspeople and visitors will think that you are ladies and gentlemen."
Yet what do they think when they see a smoking girl in a minidress making out on the lawn with her hippie boyfriend?
—Cara Chell
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS
by Dick Bible
"M SCORY PROFESSOR SNAP-YER NOT THE ONLY ONE BURDENED WITH EXTRA LARGE CLASSES THIS TERM."