Page Four

) Letters

Continued from page 2

a faculty member equal space,
and prominence, for a similar
piece whooping it up ior Arnold
Stein’s lecture on Milton i an
intellectual event on campus at
least equal in value and im-
portance to the showing of “The
Battle of Algiers”?_ If you_ would,
then be prepared [or i intend
to besiege the 5&3 with long
exhortatory articles advertising
those campus events which strike
me as important, And 1 shall
expect them to be printed and
ieatured in the same conspicuous
way in which you featured Mr.
Nasser's piece,

Were Mr, Nasser’s contribution
what it purports to be — a review
oi a movie 7 one could perhaps
see printing it alter the event and
on one oi the inner pages. But
Mr, Nasser 7 adopting the philo-
sophical position so dear to
revolutionaries, that die end
justiiies the means — converted
his review into a diatribe on the
politics and culture of the United
States. In the course of his dias
tribe, he committed many of the
philosophical fallacies which, one
is entitled to presume, his train7
ing has enables him to detect and
which his position obligates him
to eschew,

Now Mr. Nasser has confessed
to me that he is a “socialist.”
After reading his article, I am
inclined to reclabel him a “com-
munist,” but it really does not
matter: one may use the label
“fascist” nr “anarchist" or any
other “-ist'” it is the suffix “sist”
that is important, By making
himself an ”-ist” of any kind, Mr.
Nasser disqualifies himself for
teaching at a liberal arts college.
Lest any reader think me doctri-
naire,1reier him to Mr. Nasser’s
piece in the last 5&8. Such in
ability to write clearly (the paper
would not be acceptable by the
College’s standards as set in the
Humanities course) Would cer-
tainly make me reluctant to
expose my mind to Mr. Nasser’s
sophomoric rhetoric and fresh-
man logic. For $3200 a year, a
Grinnell student is entitled to
something more than that. A let-
ter is not the place to detail the
errors oi Mr. Nasser‘s'harangue:
but I give you my word mat I
am prepared to do so.

Well, an “-ist”, of course.
espouses something that- is cate-
gorized as an “rism” m in Mr.
Nasser’s case, i suppose that he
would have to admit to “social-
ism." The suffix “-ism“ denotes
one oi three things: (1) a practice
or action — e.g., plagiarism or

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baptism; (2) a state or condition
— e,g , barbarism or alcoholism;
tat a body of dogma and subs
mission thereunto 7 eg, Com-
munism, Fascism. American-
ism, antirAmericanism,
Angllc wsm, etc. Since one can
elevate air. word to any one oi
three kinds -’ dubious status
merely by adding “ism”, the
notion of a “body of dogmas' need
not imply very much rational
thought. The wildest set of
irrational impulses can be
converted into an ”-ism" by
anyone with even a low talent
[or etymology. Mr, Nasser’s
phrase”Counterrevolutionary
lnterventionism" as a label for
die foreign policy of postwar
America is a fine specimen of
the Idiot ease with which
‘-ism‘s' are generated. The phrase
achieves the paradoxical ends of
being inaccurately censorious
and flattering at the same time:
To concede any post-war ad
ministration of the United States
credit for a policy based on
dogma is to overestimate
grossly the intelligence oi both
Republican and Del ocratic
leaders. Europeans are always
getting into trouble by thinking
(a) that political leaders in the
United States think the same way
they do: (b) that they think at
all. “Intellectualism” is not an
“-ism” which Ameii- is either
adhere to or practice very much

The beauty of Mr. Nasser's
peculiar brand of “-ism” (shall
we call it “Nasserism”7) is that
it exemplifir-s all three dis-
tinctions oi the suffix “-ism”
simultaneously It is a practice,
like plagiarism or baptism, and
Mr. Nasser, like a baptist,
proselytizes with overtly ser»
pentine evangelism. It is also a
state or condition, like barbarism
or alcoholism; and Mr. Nasser,
like the alcoholic, finds himself
under compulsion to see
everything in terms of his
-‘-isrn.” And it is a body of dogma
and submission (hereunto, like
Communism and Fascism; and
Mr. Nasser. like both Coma
munists and Fascists, sees him-
self as riding the crest of “the
wave of the future,” triumphant»
ly capitalizing (it i dare use that
verb of him) on what is really
a spuriously selfsied and self
consuming sense of historical
inevitabllty 7 as ii men could
derive any sense ot virtue irom
being dominated and enslaved by
historical forces.

SCARLET AND BLACK

Well, probably no great harm
has been done, for we may rely
on the native and dense integrity
of the human mind to survive
even the most radical impact and
impulse; and there may even be
some good to be derived from
Mr. Nasser. Field trips are now
a regular part of education, and
hence we take the student to see
a slum, a dope addict, and insane
asylum. Mr. Nasser’s presence
relieves us Irom the need for
making certain kinds of field
trips; he is to us what C. S, Lewis
was to readers a Paradise Lost
— a living exponent oi a body
of dogma so alien that we ought
to feel grateful for having a ”real
live" example at our elbow. As
we ponder the ”ism” which Mr.
Nasser claims to represent and
espouse, we ought to keep him
firmly in mind. Nothing is more
salutary to a teacher man a good
example, even if one “good”
example he oisomething bad.

John Crossett
Classical Languages
To The Editors:

With regard to Mr. Nasser's
“The Battle of Algiers"
Anatomy of a Revolution, I find
myself in accord with his enthusi-
asm for the film, but distressed
by his complete acceptance of
Time's paranoid assessment of
the film as a “blueprint for
revolutionists.” “The Battle of
Algiers” is most emphatically
not a blueprint for revolutionists
and most particularly not a blue
print for urban revolutions If
there is a lesson to be learned
from the film it is that revolution
bascd on even a well organized
terrorist activity operating out of
an urban ghetto can and will be
Suppressed by established
authority.

what prevents “The Battle of
Algiers” from becoming simply
a tragic miscalculation of urban
guerlllas is that while the terror
LE'ITERS—

Continued on page a

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) Liberal Ed.

Continued from page 3

proceed inahitrand-miss fashion,
and a good education is an art.
like the art of carpentry and
architecture and engineering,
then it must, like any other art,
have definite principles; and if
so, then it must have a unique
goal and therefore a unique defir
nition.

3, By definition, students are
learners, not teachers, and to
allow them to decide on what
their general education should be
is to assume that they already
know what it is; it is like allowing
a sick man to decide on what
medicine to take or whether he
should be operated on or not.
Such education does not prevent
them from choosing specific
goals; in iact, it often helps them
to better survey the various
alternatives,

4. In general, professors are
competent in special fields, but,
having received a liberal educa-
tion. which is general in nature,
they have as a group some know-
ledge oi the advantages of such
education 7 certainly more than
students do. Differences
among them as to what that
education should be exist, but
they agree on most issues. The
lack oi a single definition does
not deny its possible existence;
it merely suggests that we should
make a greater eiiort to come
close to it.

5. Specialization does not ex»
clude the integration oi various
fields In fact, it makes the en-
couragement cl integration more
urgent. Lack of communication
results from lack of integration
Integration IS possible with a

DRAPES—SL

Friday. February 20,

liberal education which is
common to all Therefore a
liberal education should have a
single deiinltton.

6. The tendency in the last few
decades on the part of colleges
to pay less attention to the
development oi character m
students is partly responsible ior
the increase in lack of com»
munication between students and
administration and in campus
disorders, Freedom for one who
knows what the good 15 and
follows it is good; but, for one
who is irresponsible and follows
his emotion, it is evil. There exist
such things as proper habits for
all, e.g., responsibility, generr
osity. and respect for others, and
these should be part of a liberal
education for all students,

7. Man’s nature does not
change; he is still rational
(capable of making general
statements, communicating,
reasoning, etc.) So as long as he
remains a man, his generic
potentialities remain the same.
if he adds to his knowledge, such
change is one of degree, Now a
liberal education is Concerned
with what is best for him
generically. as a man; so such
education should have a single
definition.

The arguments here given {or
and against a single definition of
a liberal education are dialectical
in character, Our next concern
is to indicate some preliminary
principles of education and then
proceed to a definition.
______—.

Students interested in the
Washington Semester ior next
{all should Contact Mr. A Jones
Within the next two weeks. All
applications must be in beiore
spring vacation.

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