2
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, March 28, 1968
An adult suggests ...
(Reprinted from the Wichita Beacon)
Karl Shapiro, Chicago essayist, gets our vote for hero of the week.
He has written a book suggesting that the country be given back to the adults. He would counteract flower power by rubbing out all concepts of the adolescent in contemporary society.
He would cut off the money supply to youth except what they earn, deny higher education except on proof of ability, and withhold free travel privileges to children.
In other words he would wipe out the child centered culture that has prevailed the past 50 years.
These ideas aren't as kooky as they seem.
The family would be strengthened, and youngsters would be given something to attain to adulthood. Perhaps some parental authority would be restored, and colleges and universities could concentrate on teaching instead of controlling riots.
Those who weren't cut out for academic careers could forget college and concentrate on more appropriate training. The junior colleges fit well into such a plan. They could substitute a four-year college program.
The youngsters probably won't appreciate the logic, and undoubtedly will point out that half the population is under 25.
But we must remind them that the other half is over 25.
... and a youth rejects
The above editorial, from the Wichita Beacon, will sound good to many people.
Believe it or not, a lot of it makes sense to some of us whose cross to bear is the fact that we are "under 25."
A lot of it makes sense, that is, if more is taken away from the youth of today, and toorrow, than just what has been listed.
Deny higher education except on proof of ability, but also deny us the pressures of modern education that the previous generations did not have;
Deny us a society that immediately judges a man's ability to be a success on whether or not he possesses a college degree;
Deny us the pressures of a panting draft board that keeps careful count on the hours and grades each semester, watching for failure;
And deny us the extremely competitive, impersonal nature of higher education, with colleges swelling into universities and universities evolving into mega-versities of 20-30,000 students.
Withhold travel privileges to children but also withhold their eventual feeling of ignorance and unfamiliarity with a fast-paced and rapidly changing world that shrinks more every day.
Cut off the money supply to youth except what they earn, but also somehow cut off the all too human reaction of today's parents to want
to give their children the things that perhaps they couldn't afford when they were growing up;
Cut off the relatively higher prices that this generation has, as well as a market that is geared and ready to serve the whims of young people;
Cut off the competition for good summer jobs among today's youth, so that they could earn, and save more easily.
All this is not to mention a war now being fought for the United States by teen-agers on the other side of the world, which is a continually sharp reminder voting and drinking age is 21 and the dying age is 18.
"Giving the country back to the adults" means, apparently, to shift the focus of attention back to the older generation rather than on the attitudes and actions of today's young people.
But as long as a good share of today's youth are in the spotlight because of their willingness to stand up and be counted on issues which have been the result of a genuine confrontation with their own consciences, I say let's not give this focus of attention back to the older generation.
Let's make them earn it, on the same criteria by which they may be in the process of losing it forever.
Respect.
— John Hill
Assistant Editorial Editor
"Captain Queeg . . . I'm taking over the ship!"
..quotes..
William M. "Boss" Tweed (1878-1923)
Leader of Tammany Hall
"As long as I count the votes what are you going to do about it?"
Letters Policy
The University Daily Kansan encourages signed letters to the editor for publication. They should be typed and contain the writer's classification and home town. Letters are subject to conservative editing by the Kansan staff. Libelous statements will not be printed. Send letters to the editorial desk, 112 Flint Hall.
Please limit length to about 250 words.
---
Editorial essay
Man in moon winks at Mother Earth
By Fred Shook
The Russians, who doubtless put little stock in America's commitment to land a man on the moon by 1969, now predict the job can be done within 5 to 10 years.
They're not saying which country will arrive on the big satellite first, but only that it will be done.
It is a great purpose that propels man's efforts to set foot on Old Man Moon, and if it weren't for the ideological differences between the two great powers, it would not matter quite so much which country achieved the ancient objective of a lunar landing. The important thing would be that collective man could point with pride that he had lived to see dreams become reality.
The bones of man have not yet foundered. But in America, even as the great hall of silver and shadow lopes around the earth giving man tides and times to plant by, there is evidence that the mighty machines built to fly to the heavens and back are jinxed by technological failures conceived in loss of purpose.
Politics and finances and vested interests are obscuring the real reasons for the venture. And one of the most important reasons for the space program lies in an almost primitive sense of wonder at the heavens.
It is the kind of feeling anyone can get if he stares long enough some night at the sparkling treasures of the boundless sky.
And of course part of the huge mystery of the night is a wedge of lemon called the moon—the nearest thing to earth, and a place that man will reach if he doesn't trip first over red tape.
But the red tape, and the reasons for it, are becoming a serious obstacle. The record shows that the moon landing program is limping along far behind schedule, with little hope of a success by 1969.
It shows also that Congvess has cut heavily, almost a half billion dollars, from the budget request of the National Aeronautics and Space administration for this fiscal year, thus forcing the cancelation of some programs and hindering others. One result of the budget cut has been heavy layoffs in the space industry.
Add to that the resignation of Robert C. Seamans, deputy administrator for NASA, and similar personnel developments which have occurred since the Apollo I fire that killed three astronauts in Jan., 1967. The fire itself is blamed on shoddy workmanship and carelessness, and it may have set the first manned Apollo flight back as much as a year and half.
With delay after delay, and the half a billion dollar budget cut, Space Agency Director James Webb announced recently that 20,000 firms who work for the agency are laying off about 4,000 employees each month, and there is the possibility that the number of men laid off may eventually reach 200,000.
Even many of those still employed are idle to a degree and some are finding jobs in other industries.
As if that isn't enough there are the skeptics who keep saying, "Don't go. We have lost nothing on the moon."
But they are wrong. Man has demonstrated his capability to do the job, and even if he comes back with nothing more than a handful of moon dust it will have been a trip well rewarded.
The moon is only about 70 hours away by rocket, a very close neighbor in relation to other bodies in outer space.
If we do no more than just get there and prove that it can be done, a basic desire at last will have been fulfilled and the rest of the space conquests can be left to coming generations to do with as they see fit.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY kansan
Newsroom----UN 4-3646 --- Business Office----UN 4-3198
Published at the University of Kansas daily during the academic year, except holidays and examination periods. Mail subscription rates: $6 a semester, $10 a year. Second class postage paid at Lawrence, Kan. 66044. Reqs. all services and employment advertised offered to all students without regard to color, creed or national origin. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of Kansas or the State Board of Regents.
Managing Editor—Gary Murrell Business Manager—Robert Nordvike
Assistant Managing Editors ... Will Hardesty, Tim Jones,
City Editor ... Rich Lovett, Monte Mace, John Marshall
Assistant City Editors ... Robbie Burken Jr.
Editorial Editor ... Janet Snyder, Ron Wilson
Editorial Assistant Editors ... Diane Wengler
Sports Editor ... John Hill, Swainson Connate
Sports Editor ... Steve Morgan
Assistant Sports Editor
Wire Editor ... Judy Dague
Photo Editor ... Mohanand Gayesh
Feature and Society Editor ... Ruth Gasserdar
Assistant Feature and Society Editor ... Jan Vaudeventer
Copy Desk Chiefs ... Chip Rouse, Charla Jenkins, S. Allen Winchester
Advertising Manager Roger Myers
National Advertising Manager Lorrie Boring
Classified Advertising Manager David Clutter
Promotion Manager Michael Pretzzer
Production Manager Joel Klassen
Circulation Manager Charles Goodsell
Member Associated Collegiate Press