SCARLET AND BLACK The Scarlet {it Black Student Newspape, of A irookiy nowriiiipor published 6' ll C ll rich many or the Cullcgc your mine a ege :v “the firinnclt Committee on . in cm riililitaiinns Ra rcsnnicu Grinnell. IOWa “Ir nullonal advcrlising pby Nfl- “WNW” iioiiol Educational Advertising somccs, ' chnigion Ave. New York sir York low sec, WM cuss postage paid iii Crin- My“, iown siioscriniion mic intro per school year. I300 paid «,iinscripnons \\ H mm: 0 win-“9 9 Hilton huslm .im/rnm .iiiwixo r. comm LAi’OLil Loimk sr‘flkls EDITOR KLI‘ORTLRS iiiirry Fulton, Lloyd Gerson .iohn Brody Steve Grow are: Butcher John pepper Tom orrcnnnm. om: Butcher. Mark SAchman, Mitre Sit-gel, Phfl Monies. i c. Lnnunliz. Kalhryn iicinzu. Par [Asian Jon Sitin, Nada Marlglnk-Hi. Phil Snslch Requirements Fast on the heels of the so-called “Betts proposal" comes the proposal to abolish individual course require- ments. The question is currently at the divisional level, and, no doubt, will be presented to the faculty before long. It seems almost inevitable that the most universal requirement, the Humanities course, will be widely debated. We presume that the arguments for or against requirements in principle may be justly argued in the specific case of the Humanities course. Let us then, set forth some of the arguments against a required Humanities course. . The Humanities course requires a large faculty, some of whom resent teaching a course in which they are not primarily interested. For this reason some faculty teach the course half-heartedly, thus poorly. Students who are required to take a course which does not in- terest them waste time which might be more profitably spent. On the other hand, if anyone were interested in Humanities he would not need to be required to take the course. He would do so voluntarily. The combination of a disinterested teacher and a number of disinterested students makes for a very poor course. Further, the administration does not know the needs and interests of each student and so is not a proper judge of what courses any student might need to pursue his educational goal. Hence, a required Humanities course is indiscriminately unjust. A good counselling system would direct students to courses which fit their needs. Thus, a Humanities course may be recom- mended or it may not depending on the individual. These arguments, we think, must be honestly met by anyone defending the Humanities course require- ment. They may be answered as follows: It is true that some faculty would prefer not to teach a Humanities course. It is also true that some faculty would prefer not to teach introductory courses, other lower level courses, and courses in which they are not currently interested. They may still teach these courses well. In short, a faculty members personal preferences are important, but not essential to his doing a good job. Good teachers will teach the Humanities course well, bad teachers will teach it poorly. it is also true that a number of students are not inter- ested in Humanities when they enter the course and are not interested in Humanities when they leave the course. We have, however, on too many occasions taken courses where almost everyone in the course was there voluntarily. And in these courses we have seen interest that was something less than overwhelm- ing. We admit that there are a certain few students, the very great ones and the very poor oneTt'or whom requirements are useless, They do not need them. For the most part. however, this College deals with students who are neither very great nor very poor, And it is precisely these people who can learn most from good teachers and benefit most from required courses. The administration certainly does not claim to know each student’s personal needs. They are, though, justis fied in assuming some similarity in the students. After all, the liberal arts college presumes to offer a fairly specific kind of education, different from, say, a technical school. Anyone who has had any contact with a technical school knows the large number of required courses these institutions demand of their students. It is true that a technical school is more “fact oriented” than a liberal arts college, but if a liberal arts education is a goal which means anything at all, then it would » seem to be the case that there are certain definable means to thatgoal. A good counselling system, is. of course, highly desire Friday. May i. i970 able. And as one well respected faculty member says, “if you can get a good student and a good teacher to- gether, you don’t need requirements." Now, no one seems to know how to develop a good counselling system among the faculty nor exactly how to bring the good student and the good teacher together. By excluding the Humanities requirement we reduce the number of students taking Humanities, and so limit the contact which the greatest number of students will have with the greatest diversity of courses. Thus, we lessen the possibilities for contrast between good students and good teachers. It is not enough simply to refute the arguments against the Humanities requirement. One must, it seems, have positive reasons for keeping what we already have. There is a very old argument, but still a very good one, tor this, The liberal arts college is primarily concerned with teaching students a method or a number of methods for learning. The most important thing the college can do is to give the student the best tools for learning, such as the techniques of analysis, synthesis, etc. How- ever, the method must have matter on which to work, or else it will be like a wheel turning nothing. Now presumably the matter on which we work is contained largely in the texts taught in the courses. We think it fairly obvious that it is wise, both pedagogically and philosophically, to use the best matter available. One of the purposes of the Humanities course is to teach the method by means of the literature which has been recognized as best by a large number of men over a long period of time. If we require that the best methods be taught, it seems that we should require the best material be taught, specifically in the case of Humanities. If the proposal to eliminate requirements is adopted, we do not anticipate the demise of excellent education at Grinnell College. We expect only its diminution. It seems to us, though, that we ought to try to make the College better rather than create the conditions in which it will become worse, For these reasons, we believe that the required Humanities course, and by extension, requirements in general, ought to be re- tained. Adelberg Ties For Second Place In Iowa State Chess Tournament Professor Adelberg, mathematics, finished in a tie for second place in the Iowa State Chess Championship held this past weekend at the Memorial Union in Iowa City There were lhll‘tyrulne elitl‘anls, including Grinnell students Bill Sparks and Jay Southard. Professor Adelberg, who was leading the tournament going lull) lhe filth and last round, lost his game to Dan Harger, a student at Cornell College, who thereby retained his Iowa championship, Travel Grants Given to Seniors Three Grinnell College seniors have been awarded 197D~71 Travel-Service_ Scholarships to teach in India and Thailand. The three, all of whom will leave for a year in Asia shortly after graduation are: Lynn Adams, an English major; Mary Graf, an American studies major; and Janet Williams, an American studies major. Miss Adams will teach at Ahr mednagar College, Ahmcdnagar, India; Miss Graf at Si Thams marat Syksa School in Nakhon Si Tliannarat, Thailand; and Miss Williams at Dara Academy, Chiengmai, Thailand. In addition to their teaching duties, the Grinnellians are encouraged to become involved in curricular activities. In past years, TravelSerVice Scholars have served as tutors, head residents at dormitories, ads visers of clubs, directors of musical groups, and coaches of athletic teams. Established in 1959, the program has sent more than do Grinnell graduates to ion coun tries — Brazil, Ceylon, Chile, Colombia, Greece, India, Li, bcrin, Nyasaland, Tanzania, Thailand, and Turkey. Three members of Gi‘inncll's 1969 graduating class are cur i-ently teaching abroad under the program. Kaye Handiord, an American studies major is at A11- mednagar College; Susan Hunt. a French major. is at American College for Girls, Istanbul, Turkey, and Jane Parish, an American Studies major, is at Lingnam College, Hong Kong. — Choosing a room? A 2eredit course on learning and education will probably be offered to the women of Main Hall next Semester. If interested, Contact Ida Gudema (X450) or Esther Mosak (X255).