Friday, February 4, not. levine, Woods Discuss inconsistency In Policy on Restrictions, Freedom To the Editor: it appears to us that there are A number of inconsistencies in regard to certain social rules at Gl'lllnell. On the one hand the coir loge purports to develop respon- sibility in its students and on the other hand shows a distrust of their own Judgment by imposing lnany unwarranted restrictions For example, we are regularly allowed open dorms for only three hours on Sunday afternoons. Why so infrequently? We regard open dorms as not only an occasion for couples to be alone but also as an opportunity for groups of friends to get together informally. More open dorms would permit freer interaction between men and women, Another example oi the col- lege's failure to treat students as mature individuals is the policy or hours for women, reinforced by the nightly locking of the loggia. It' a girl is to learn to be respon- sible in her actions she must be. gin by determining her own re- strictions as she has to away from Gi‘inllell. We recognize the con- cern for the saioty of the female population. However, the locking out of ‘undesirahles' should not necessitate the locking in of the women. Therefore we suggest some sort of system whereby the women are given keys to at least one door of the loggia, so that they may come and go at their own discretion. These are the most prominent SCARLET AND BLACK Question Letter To the Editor: Questions: Could someone please tell me what a beatnik is? Has anyone ev» er seen a beatnik? At Grinnell College? Has anyone ever realized that the only beatnik was the first (me? Which means, of course, that it there is a beatnik on this camp us, we have the first beatnik west of the Mississippi? Why do so many people use words that don't mean anything? Paul R. Jones among many rules which evidence a failure on the part of the col- lege to respect the students as responsible members of the com- munity. We feel that the college should alter either these restric- tions or the stated goals of a Grins nell education. Sue Levine Laurie Woods David Lighthourne trains and rivers I was both heartened and appalled by Sandy Mc» Cortney Ehlers’ letter in the January let 5&3. it was all about Grinnell as a place to “face your- self,” but Mrs. Ehlers seems to have Grinnell con- tused with some curiously idyllic combination of both troglodytlc and pastoral ieatures. Thurtun wilder once said that “the price one pays lor a love that cannot integrate its hate is sentimentality"; think this may be the problem, It's possible to talk about SAGA load with a can tall] bemusemeiu, and it’s possible to look beyond the architectural Catastrophe Called Norris Hall to the North and see a “barn dotted Countryside." But if this is your preoccupation, you won’t really be facing the important issues; all you'll be facing Wlil be some petty considerations about an institu- tion which all too often has a penchant tor pettiness. Mrs. Elllers writes of spending ”four years tucked away , . . iinding what makes you tick” and my real quarrel is this “tucked away” business ~ as if the process toward maturity were a bed- time story told at length and at leisure, amidst a rustle but dainty privacy out in the sticks. Shades of Thoreau we then must be, full grown as freshmen With nothing beiore us but the ruminations at our sensitive hearts and introspective intellects. Mrs. Elllers end wilbur Jenks ought to get together. The trouble is that growing up is a definition of oneself, is convincement of being and sexuality by the process of mutual exclusion. We find ourselves by eliminating other possibilities. Fortunately or un- fortunately, this process has become so protracted is our socidpsycholugical time that the administra- tion's alternative is calling a halt and allowing the student to pout about it in a suspended state or ado- lescence. But a committment to the process of mu- tual exclusion is a committment to action, to an ex- pansive son of exploration through a certain inevit- uble amount of chaos and confusion. Resolving per- sonal issues means the “exercise of human faculties Photo Credits page i: ul., b., sturgis; on, \voll Page 3 Butt Page a. ul., l-lodleme; u.r., willieliu Page 5: Sturgls P’toe e- Storms Step Up To m CLOSE YOUR EYES IF YOU MUST! This may h. the mat [honking motion piotun you have "or count at large", with passion and lust - getting on with the whole hassle of Selfrdeflnltlon in an active, vital way. Consequently, anyone who has the nerve to ad- minister a modern college must have the nerve to tolerate conflict and disparity. Educatinn is no more a function of grace and gentility than it is a function of boredom and denial, The process of maturatlon is, traditionally, too much for ordinary society to take, because ordinary society, especially in our time, usually ignores or procrastinates issues which impatient. impulsive, garrulous youth simply must resolve. If this all sounds like quite a strain on your more neat, orderly kinds oi people, the process has its cer- tain advantages, To echo Dwight MacDonald, “The past cultures 1 most admire have mostly been pro- duced by communities, and remarkably small ones at that. Also remarkably heterogeneous ones, riven by (action, stormy wuh passionate antagonisms.” Out of dlsparlty and multiplicity you get a contlnu- ing atmosphere of vitality, productivtty, creativity and fulfillment. Mrs. Ehlers speaks for “the odd ones" and on poses Mr. Schifi, but i wonder which of them knew Grinuell oddly, as an exciting, stimulating place. I can imagine both, perhaps, but i wonder what each would think of a relum visit and a current impres- sion of the Grinneli atmosphere, an atmosphere which professors explicitly name as their reasons for imminent departures, an atmosphere with apathetic acceptance of a rigid social structure and a same- ness among students. It's always been curious to me how the more exciting and stimulating, Vital student always manages to eventually disappear; I've heard that the Burling boys provide free lifts to the bus station. Meanwhile, it i may be permitted to speak of the absurd, 3 large segment of the faculty seems to be horrified because the institu- tion’s inmates have a hostile attitude toward their cages. SUN. Thru WED. Continuous Sun. from 2:00 Pogo “VS Sill-Year Thai Scholar Writes of Spirit Cult To the Editor: As school in Thailand draws to a close for another year, 1 wish to relate to the Grinnell students some of my experiences during the past year and a half. During this time I have been teaching English at The Prince Royal‘s College in Chiengmai. l teach 9th grade boys. and llth and 12th grade coeducational classes. The teaching is quite frustrating at times because of the poor English foundations of some of the stu- dents. At P.R,C., English is taught from the second grade on, and is a required subject. The Stu dents study from five to eight hours a week. The program looks good, but the Thai educational system allows students to pass a whole year's work on an over-all average. Therefore, if a student does well in Boy Scouts, agricul- ture,_and art, and fails English, he still passes on to the next grade with no foundation for the next year’s English work. Aside from this problem, how- ever, the life has been very inter- esting. It would be impossible for me to measure the knowledge that I have gained. At a glance, Thai- land seems to be a fairly well Ile- veloped country. If one only vis- ited Bangkok, the capitol, he’d think that he were in any big city tour with its traffic problems, bl; buildings, and commercialization. Even in Chiengmai we see a great deal of Western influence. In the Lime 1 have been here, new, modi- ei‘n hotels h ve arisen; Honda: and automobi es have replaced bi- cycles; translstor radios are heard in all of the stores blaring Amer- ican rock ’n' roll music; television. are coming into more homes; Western styles in clothing are re- placing the simple Thai dress; and men’s and women's hair styles are copied from the latest style magazines. The longer one lives in Asil, however, the more one realized the culture is not the same as in the West. There is a slow, tropi- cal pace of lile. It is quite (asb- ionahle to be late for appoint- ments, or not to appear at all without notice. The students arc not used to responsibility, and or. ganization is very unorganized. Their attitudes toward life, death, and sickness are quite foreign to our way of thinking because many of them are Buddhists. Buddhism is the national religion. I recently had an opportuhltz to attend a meeting with a “spirit medium, Most Thai believe i- SPIRITS— (Contlnued on Page 7) THAI wnlsxsv. chicken and oranges make up a typical Thai 'spirit“ ottering, pictured above. The gilt; are given when the spirit at a dead person is eoniaetod by the living. LONGHORN GOOD FOOD PLEASANT ATMOSPHERE BIZARRE! MON.-§AT. B A.M.-1I PM. Bar Open ‘Til Midnlte (Closed Sundays 'Til April I) "COME lN AND SEE US" The Longhorn STARTLINGI JD‘S RESYAURANT Elevated — in my. Main, Grlunell I ‘ -. pioneer Bynwmuw calm nnd nears ROUSYANG rwinca EyTuM oowr Diluted a, Enou/tfiu iocearau -coioa ov EASTMANCULOR