Page Eight SCARLET AND BLACK Friday, February 1 Grinnell‘s Jim Mifflin goes up for two points in Saturday's 73-71 victory over Coo. Mifflin scored 23 points against the Kohawks and is currently third in the conference in individual scoring with 20.7 points per game. ' ) Kuniz Leller Continued from Page 2 the refusal tlo be obliged to any- one for anything. In this con» text, that of learning, such a meaning of “independence” _would imply that each of us can learn nothing or should learn nothing from anyone else. If this is absurb, then where may well be sense, very good sense, in saying: there are opportunities to learn un- der circumstances freer in some respects than those you have known heretofore. Why should an administration and {acuity say, for a short period to students and faculty: no classes and no attendance re- quired; no course grades, no course texts? The point is to focus on topics of maximum Importance: — the nature of man, his use of symbols, the nature of planetary system and motion of its parts, Mr. Fullmer has missed the educational bus if he thinks that the interim speakers are solely to entertain, solely to pre- yent death by boredom, or that the writing of essays is solely to consume excess paper, or that senior comprehensives are iven as punishment. Of course, e is speaking ironically, pos- sibly as spokesman for those who miss the bus. The job of learning to be your own boss, to formulate a design for learning and to carry out a project is diffi- cult. or course it can't be taught as training in read ing, or learning about the city (reference to the history bibliography.) Requiring stu- dents to present a plan would indeed help many students to avoid intellectual vagrancy or simple truancy. But won’t we have to rely on the individ- ual‘s desire :0 learn for its own sake? There is no perfect system of education; any system will fail to be the best for every scholar involved in it. Some will go home during interim, some will sleep rather than lis- ten and discuss, some will be bored and seek diversion, We can say sourly that these types shouldn’t be here, and we’ll have to pick Students Who will appreciate being weaned from the educational breast or bottle, and ready to outgrow spoon feeding of pabluml It would be ‘ better to say that no system can be completely successful. After all, in consolation after each of the 36 semesters 1 have taught, I say that lawyers lose half their cases, and physicians eventually lose all their pa- tients, and ways of salvation are also ways of damnation (a “perfect hell,” required log- ologically, says K. Burke, as well as a perfect heaven). As for submitting u “pr0< gram" to an adviser—why not now adopt Howard Bow- en’s proposal that each stu- dent ke e p an intellectual diary through his four years? It‘s the task of each of us to ensure that our win- ter interims and semesters and summer interlms add up to a pattern of coherence be« yond the ability of any test. The results may not appear quickly or be recognized swiftly. The excellence of George Berkely‘s student diary took more than 200 years to be appreciated. The catalogue uses the ideal of ”independence” in an intel- ligible sense — developing the abilities to formulate hypo- theses, to judge whether the evidence confirms or discon» firms, to imagine what we are not told, and to go beyond all received opinions. This is called becoming a person oi “independent” judgmen .” “Liberal’ education is too much conceived as “general" in contrast to “special and ap- plied or technical.” Whether this plan will work to free us from “servile bonds," from “envy,” from "‘rumours,” as Sir Henry hoped of his scholars at Eton, depends on how‘seri- ously we believe in it, we ens sure that it won't work. it we do act on the belief that it will, very likely it will some of the time, I’d rather see it work some of the time, so I choose to stress its promise. Paul G. Kunlz Informal Student-Faculty Discussions Are Insiilnied by Board of Religion By Suzanne Gelber “A grass roots attempt to solve a grass roots problem,” stated Board of Religion presi- dent Paul Courtright, charger terizillg recently formed stu- dent-faculty discussion groups. Genesis of the groups lay in student and faculty concern with factionalism and aliena- tion within the college commu- nity. Instituted and organized by the Board of Religion, some thirty discussion groups now exist, each possessing one faculty member and approxi- mately six student partici- pants. Eager to promote an “honest exchange of views" between students and faculty, Courtright hopes the meetings will “clear the campus chan- nels of communication.” Speaking frankly, the Board of Religion president noted that uncreative attitudes t 0 w a r d rule changes and student-facul- ty dichotomy seriously affect Grinnell’s public image. “The college community should be a unified organism. We don’t know exactly what the college problem is, so these discussion groups represent an attempt at direct definition. and indirect solution," maintained Court- rightl Set up to provide variety of class and gender, the discus- sion groups have draWn a slightly heavier response from freshmen and sophomores than from juniors and seniors, and from women students, rather than men “What is important,” stated Courtright, “is that student and faculty response to discussion has been genuinely critical and open.” Originating from a discussion between Roger Eldridge, col- lege chaplain, and Courtright, the groups were conceived with the express idea of airing view- points on facultyrstudent rela tionships TO SELL: l-pair of men's figure skates, size 91/2 e good quality. Art Arnold H No. 461, Courtright mentioned that the administration image of Grinnell seems to stem from identification of the college with schools such as Oberlin and Carleton and results in a feeling that Grinnell‘s rules are liberal by comparison. 0n the other'hand, students tend to compare Grinnell with in- stitutions such as Swanhmore and Reed, by whose stand- ards college rules appear restrictive. Explaining that such conflicts contribute to alienation, Court» right expressed the conviction that discussions held under auspices removed from faction- alism would provide a form [or objective consideration of dif- fering viewpoints. The twelve-member Board of Religion itself operates on a $1500 annual budget, drawn from Sunday chapel contribu- tions, which go to support the college religious program and Ahmednagar College in India. Students servo two»year terms on the Board, which Courtright hopes will ”deal with broad campus issues with ever-in- creasing effectiveness." 'There will be no services in Herrick Chapel this Sun- day, due to the “between se- mester" break. Regular col— lege services will resume next Sunday, Feb. 16. Mr. Roger Eldridge, college chaplain, will give the ser- mon. GLASSES Made and Repaired in Our Laboratory Contact Lenses CASES AND SOLUTIONS. EYES . EXAMINED E. .l. Jensen, O.D. Oplomefrisf Across from Post Office . Eat ”out At ll's Springlime of Virginia's Smari' .Si'yles for Misses — Juniors — Half-sizes Open 9:30 a.m. io 5:30 pm. Across from Post Office FREE! FREE! FREE! LOOK FOR THE BONUS COUPO ' In the Bowladrome AI'IRVANO 5 Ph. 236-6222 “lr is cuxlous llmt our ideologues do not reflzcl mm ollul on ills example: in our lime, wllomin fhl sxsruiln lirr won his 'libsralion from rm pm. Iyxl'rlg grip of the roprrrenlsrm assembly: There is no Paralysis in Moscow, nor was thus in Berlin [or . decade or so ills: 193:. No 'rclln- dalous up in legirlsnon' Ius boihercd Pravda. smln and Hiller,'l(llm:h. Chev and Milo; no cobweb: in illeir legislature hills, not even in ”In very darken comers.“ wm. is Dopl. cm, NAlIDNAl REVIEW; I5l7 Eon is sworn Now York lb, N.Y.lor a m- relay.