2
THE SUMMER SESSION KANSAN
Friday, June 14, 1968
They will be back
Last week when the annual University of Kansas commencement exercises were held, more than 2,500 students wound down the hill to the stadium to receive degrees. They have departed, to be employed or married or settled. Will they ever return to the campus classrooms?
Chances are many 1968 KU graduates will return to the Hill. Although many feel that their education is finished, it is the wiser individual who realizes that his education cycle is incomplete and that he must return for further training, either formally, or on an in-service basis.
Perhaps the initial diploma was adequate 10 years ago but today, anyone who expects to keep pace with new developments in his field is returning to college for further instruction.
One illustration is the recent influx of graduate, in-service and refresher training offered in the field of engineering which a decade ago was considered a static profession. For obvious reasons, the medical profession also has found it necessary to demand of its members the continuous renewal and updating of knowledge through the extensive use of professional publications, seminars and conventions.
But no group is more conscious of the "race to keep pace" than the teaching profession. Teachers who have served as scapegoats for constant goading by other professions have returned to college in larger numbers than any other profession.
Changes in curriculum have forced teachers to return to update their educational standards and remain abreast with innovations in their respective fields. The last decade has brought such drastic changes in the fields of mathematics and English alone that the teacher who has failed to keep pace finds himself literally lost and unable to operate effectively within the profession.
Why the sudden concentration on the teaching standards? Thousands of teachers are purely interested in improving themselves and their methods which will lead to efficiency in their performance. For example, presently on campus are a group of publications advisers who are here because they feel a need to improve their knowledge in the field of journalism and thus improve high school publications throughout their respective states.
Many school districts and state departments of education have stipulated the need for further education of their teachers. Consequently, teachers wishing to remain in their present positions are stimulated to continue their studies.
The recent availability of federal and private funds has prompted more summer institutes which pay individuals to return to school, encouraging teachers to expand their knowledge in their fields.
Unfortunately, such programs affect a relatively small percentage of the estimated 7,000 students attending the KU summer session; only about 10 percent of the students have government or private stipends.
The need and complexity of the education profession calls for an increase in the funds made available by both government and private organizations. With the availability to these funds, professionals will be able to refresh their education.
Innovations in professions call for the continued education and training of the members of the profession. When the diploma is in one's hand and the dreams of satisfaction set in, it must be remembered that education is not a terminal process but the realization that as the world progresses one knows less each day.
'Baby' keeps you up all night
Judith Picard
Whether "Rosemary's Baby" by Ira Levin is read as a modern-gothic tale of terror or as a symbolic study of modern life, it is a book that cannot be easily forgotten.
It tells the story of Rosemary Reilly from Omaha who becomes a part of big city life in New York. She and her actor husband, Guy Woodhouse, find an interesting apartment in the Bramford, an apartment house with a history of evil happenings.
The plot hinges on Rosemary's desire to have a child. During the months preceding the birth of her son, Rosemary uncovers more and more evidence of the practice of witchcraft at the Bramford. The mounting suspense incurred by her discoveries forces the reader into knowledge of the black arts along with Rosemary.
The book can also be read as a devastating criticism of modern life and religion. Rosemary is an agnostic. She has lost her belief in God and the Church. Evil comes to fill the void left by this loss.
Other characters in the book are representative of segments of modern society. Guy is like many materialists in the world; he will pay any price to get ahead. The obstetrician, Dr. Sapirstein, has
left his religion and joined the cult of evil. From all over the world representatives of other cultures come to see Rosemary's baby.
The final, shocking scene is a grotesque parody of the story of the birth of Christ. The lands of the East have given the world religions of peace. The West has presented the world with death and destruction. Levin calls to the reader's attention throughout the book the theory that "God is dead." The symbolism of the last chapter seems unmistakable; when God dies, evil is born.
The plot of "Rosemary's Baby" is not easy to believe, but Ira Levin makes the reader accept it as believable. Each step of the book makes witchcraft and the black arts more real until in the end the reader sympathizes with Rosemary's love for her baby in spite of his heritage of evil.
This book is fun to read. It has good pace and characterization. In addition it is worth reading more than once. The surface story is important, but re-reading reveals implications of social criticism and an understanding of man's impulses for good and evil.
—Jo Cummings
THE SUMMER SESSION kansan
The Summer Session Kansan, student newspaper at the University of Kansas, is represented by National Advertising Service, 18 East 50 Street, New York, N.Y., 10022. Mail subscription rates: $6 a semester or $10 a year. Published and second class postage paid at Lawrence, Kansas, every Tuesday and Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; special packages, goods, and employment advertised in the Summer Session Kansan are offered to students without regard to color, creed, or national origin.
the opinions expressed in the editorial columns are those of the editorial staff of the newspaper. Guest editorial views are not necessarily the same as those of the opinions expressed in the Summer Session Kansan are not necessarily those of the University of Kansas Administration or the Kansas State Board of Regents.
Executive Staff
Executive Star
Business Manager Jack Haney
Advisor Mel Adams
Office Manager Helen Owens
Managing Editor Robert Stevens
Photography Bill Seymour
Advisor Dr Larry Day
Assistant Managing Editors Sister Elizabeth Thoman
Paul Swarlingen
Co-edited editors Mary Lu Haworth
Judith Piccard
Feature editors
Helen Bridgeman
Charlotte Coulley
Sports Editor Brother Robert Castille
Reporters: Verta Smith, Dick Reinke, Jo Cummings, Sister Marie Tucker,
John Classen, Catherine Demeritt, Ellen Boyd, Joel Ahlbrand, Mary Blanche,
Gweneth Reeder, Shirley Myers, Curtis Kenner, Sister Audrey Martin, Ina Rammon
The magic lamp
Once upon a time there lived a young and handsome prince, the third son of a very wealthy merchant king. The greatest of his family's riches was a magic lamp whose mysterious power granted each member of this family three wishes. This third son wished first to possess family love, second to gain recognition and third to follow his brothers' footsteps. Such was the magic of this lantern that all three wishes came true.
—Helen Bridgeman
"THIS IS THE TEXT FROM UNDERGRADUATED, BUT ILL EXPECT A LITTLE MORE FROM THOSE ENROLLED FOR GRADUATE CREDIT"
A campus
without direction
Campus maps of various size, shape and color are presented newcomers to the KU campus. These are considered overtures of friendship and good will to the bewildered novice. But the maps are inadequate.
Consider for a moment the difficulty of using a flat map as a guide for this rolling campus. Hill indications would help the map readers, but there is a better solution.
It would seem far wiser to use money which was spent in the printing of such maps for the construction of four large signboard directories located strategically on the campus.
Suggested locations might include Strong Hall, Student Union, Allen Field House and the Memorial Stadium. These would help eliminate confusion, for these
maps would be located where the general flow of traffic would see them. Therefore, no one would be lost for long.
Such maps would best be constructed from durable material with a weather-resistant finish. Illumination of the 15-foot signs would be beneficial for night stragglers endeavoring to find their way to the residence halls.
Beauty, serenity and majesty might well be adjectives used to describe the KU campus but to the newcomer it may best be described as impossible.
If action is taken on this project and the signs are erected to that they are available for the fall visitors, KU can be removed from the files of "Mission-Impossible."
—Judith Picard
Better than nothing
Late last week the House passed an omnibus crime bill ratified earlier by the Senate. Among its many provisions is one to curb the sale of firearms. As it stands at present, the bill contains the following provisions:
Firearms bill is stopgap
- bans interstate mail order sales of handguns
- prohibits the importation and interstate transportation of surplus military weapons
- limits direct sales of such weapons to adult state residents
- places a strict limitation on "destructive weapons"
- outlaws the selling of firearms to persons under indictment or convicted of crimes
- requires the federal licensing on importers, manufacturers and dealers in firearms and ammunition with stiff penalties for breaking the licensing requirements.
Although President Lyndon B. Johnson opposed the bill on the ground that it was "watered down," he nevertheless signed the bill into law possibly because of the emotion of recent events.
Ironically enough, it now seems a bad time for this bill to become law. Grief is high at Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's tragic death.
Some are asking questions—Is this a way of life in the United States, dating from frontier days? Does the present law violate the right to bear arms as established in the Bill of Rights? In answer to question one, we are not now living under circumstances of frontier days. We do not have to kill game for food or protect our lives from frequent attack. In addition, it would seem obvious, in answer to the second question,
that the Founding Fathers had no intent to allow a criminal or insane individual in society to run uncurtailed, with any method of destruction easily available to him.
A second and crowning irony is the fact that the late Sen. Kennedy himself opposed the bill on the ground that it had too many loopholes. Even with the new law people can still buy rifles and shotguns on an unrestricted basis. Therefore, radical individuals and groups still have easy access to deadly weapons.
It would seem necessary then, to work for an even stronger law, one which would go on to curb the sale of all firearms through mail orders, to minors, out-of-state residents, or to convicted felons. Admittedly such a law will not prevent all assassinations. The murder of Sen. Kennedy is a case in point. Sirhan Sirhan did not own the murder gun; it belonged to his brother. Even through strengthening the present law, fanatics such as Sirhan will obtain weapons.
Desire for law and order must come from a deeper impulse than law itself—an attempt to create an atmosphere in which citizens will live joyfully and be free to debate openly—and be willing to allow others the same privileges. Such tolerance is necessary in our democratic society.
But in the present such a firearms law would be a stopgap to make it a little harder for those fanatics present in the country to obtain firearms—and in the process discourage assassination and murder.
—Mary Lu Haworth