Of cabbages and kings- and other things
"The time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things."
For every editorial writer, there is a time when nothing really bothers him, when everything seems to be running fairly smoothly without the aid of editorial opinion. This is such a time.
Therefore, for lack of any major gripes, kudoes, or explanations, it is the hour for little gripes. Thousands of minute problems dismay editorial writers, and there is never any time to get them off our minds.
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Ronald Reagan and California higher education have come to be rather hackneyed subjects, but Reagan will probably continue to provide editorial fodder for tired, embittered minds.
An interesting episode in the saga of "Reagan's California" was recently given front-page play in the Oregon Daily Emerald, and makes for some rather interesting comments.
In a speech at the University of Oregon, it seems that Reagan "struck out against 'big government.'" "Big Government," according to that sage of the West, is "incompetent to deliver its promises."
He added, "every problem that besets us is being solved somewhere by someone who didn't wait for government assistance."
Great! Now if Reagan would just let California higher education solve its own problems...?
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About controversial speakers—there seems
to have been a dirth of same on the KU campus this year. Minority Opinions Forum—where are you?
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Student apathy is another well-worn subject, and is a problem which can be solved by only very sensational means. If somebody wants to do away with student apathy, may we suggest he either raise the price of 3.2 beer or abolish it altogether.
We also suggest that said person change his name and move to Tasmania immediately.
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And about that 15th and Iowa traffic light. We just wish that those who are involved would get together and come up with the same story. Maybe it will be here in time to save a few members of the 1984 graduating class. We can always hope...
We also wonder what the CRC, SDS, CYD and the other members of the alphabet soup family have been doing? Maybe they are all going to get together and form a trust and overthrow the university.
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One parting note of praise: Thank you Board of Regents for realizing that research is a very necessary item for a major university. We just hope the Kansas Legislature recognizes the same necessity.
Barbara Phillips
The people say...
To the editors:
Concerning "The Untender Trap: Our Grading System" which appeared 15 February 1967 on the editorial page:
Due to the nature of the university today, some system of evaluation of the knowledge with which a student leaves a course is necessary. I do not wish here
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS
to question this necessity. But I do wish to question the compromise offered yesterday, and assert that this was no compromise at all.
"I SAID, BECAUSE TH' BOARD OF TRUJTEEES HAS CHARGED ME WITH TH RESPONSIBILITY TO CUT OPERATIONAL EXPENSES."
The Daily Kansan, student newspaper at The University of Kansas, is represented by National Advertising Service. At East 50 St., New York, N.Y. 10022. A graduate of the University of Kentucky and a postage paid at Lawrence, Kan., every afternoon during the University year except Saturdays and Sundays. University holidays and examination periods. Foundation goods, services and employment advertised in the University Daily Kansan are offered to all students without regard to color, creed or national origin.
WE HAVE the two extremes, the "five grade" (A,B,C,D,F) system and the "pass-fail" system. The former is termed "bad" by some, since too often the grade becomes the goal of the student instead of it remaining simply a necessary (and necessarily poor) evaluator of the true goal—knowledge. The latter, on the other hand, is termed "good" by some, since it hardly permits the confusion of goals the other system promotes and thus affords the persuence of the true goal, while at the same time furnishing the necessary evaluation.
If one accepts the above description of the situation, it is then clear that the "compromise" offered by the "Brown and White" is not at all a compromise.
It is seen to be a modification of the A,B.C.D.F system which would merely increase the unfortunate consequences the system already entails.
One can see the disillusioned student ardently pursuing his pluses and minususes (to hell with knowledge) and wishing there was a C minus minus minus to rescue him from his D plus plus.
Don H. Faust Syracuse, N.Y. graduate student
ONE PHONE ONLY
CAIRO, U.A.R. - (UPI) -Cairo Gov. Saad Zayed has called on private subscribers who have two telephones to surrender one to help the hard-pressed telephone service.
2
Daily Kansan Friday, February 17, 1967
The Student Prince
HERBLOCK
THE WASHINGTON PINT
New books
MACHIAVELLI, by Giuseppe Prezzolini (Farmer, Straus & Giroux, $8.50)—A book of unusual promise that turns out to be a disorganized, undoubtedly scholarly, fragmented, occasionally interesting, and on-the-whole unsatisfactory work. Prezzolini was a professor of Italian literature at Columbia for many years, and unquestionably knows his subject. Yet he chooses to tell us first, about various aspects of the Machiavellian philosophy, then about the things the man wrote, then about his life, his precursors, his contemporaries. Most interesting for many readers will be the last section, in which Prezzolini looks at Machiavelli as a contemporary philosopher. Curiously enough—maybe quite properly; who knows?—Prezzolini does not like us to look at Machiavellianism as "the end justifying the means." This would present great problems to a vast number of KU students—and instructors—tackling the fascinating Machiavelli in the Western Civ. program.—CMP
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THREE GREAT GREEK PLAYS, selected by Lyman Bryson (Premier, 60 cents)—Another collection, this one containing Aeschylus' "Aagamemnon," Sophocles" "Oedipus the King" and Euripides" "Hippolytus."
THE VALLEY OF DECISION, by Marcia Davenport (Eagle, $1.25)—A blockbuster of the early forties, sure to draw readers for years to come because it's really a good novel. In this one Miss Davenport tells one of those dynastic stories—four generations of Pennsylvania mining family and the various persons involved in their lives. For the older generation: Sketches of Greer Garson and Gregory Peck, who were in the movie, decorate the cover. Marcia Davenport's skill has never been confined to the romantically trashy or the over-sexed. She has a sense of history in her work and draws believable portraits. These especially mark this big one.
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ESCAPE, by Ethel Vance (Popular, 75 cents)—There's some doubt that the market for stories of the Nazi reign of terror of the thirties is a big one today. Still, this was one of the best in the genre. The hero is a young man who goes into Nazi Germany to try to rescue his mother, and the suspense gets pretty heavy. What mars "Escape," as it marred many such novels of the time, is a deadly humorlessness about it all. Yet, think back on it: was there much about Hitler that was funny?
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BETHEL MERRIDAY, by Sinclair Lewis (Popular, 75 cents) One of Sinclair Lewis' lesser contributions to our literature, coming late in his career and stemming from his personal interest in the theatre and theatrical types. The heroine is a young actress; the setting is wherever a touring trope settles down. Pretty soapy, all in all, though if someone else had written it it might not seem so bad.
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THE 39 STEPS, by John Buchan (Popular, 40 cents)—One of the grand spy chases of all time, the subject of Hitchock's great film (maybe his greatest) and a story somewhat dated in the days of James Bond and Matt Helm. Back to World War I as a matter of the fact, the book being published in 1915. A wild jaunt over the countryside, the hero the fugitive, wanted for murder, and a crazy puzzle to solve.