Bee, 1931-03-20

              the bee the greater university of buffalo weekly vol 11 university of buffalo march 20 1931 no 22 freedom and the meaning of education by alfred marx ricciuti not to be reprinted without the permission of the editor drawn by the promise of great things in the present symposium on freedom in the arts college socrates returns so that the dialect ical play of his intellect may cast clarifying light on the discussion scene the campus socrates i was at the grosvenor library asking questions when a squat plump woman asked me to leave my desire to know about the newer learning has brought me here this great field is the gathering place of the students i suppose average student yes certainly this is the place soc releasing his firm but gentle hold on the student's button-hole you can tell me about the ideas and customs of this place no doubt ? av stud i don't quite get your game but go right ahead soc what are you doing in this big stone building av stud who me i'm taking a bunch of courses — i take 16 hours a week soc perhaps you can explain what is meant by taking courses and also why you have 16 hours a week av stud a course is usually what is in some textbook the profes sor often reads a few other books on the subject then gives lectures that sort of paraphrase the course textbook soc but is this always the case av stud oh no but you would be surprised soc and there is more to the course i suppose av stud yes the professor gives examinations that are supposed to test what has been heard in the lectures and seen in the readings if the big examination is knocked cold the student gets so many hours credit soc surely these creditable hours do not apply on the student's age backwards or forwards av stud no not exactly when you squeeze through 128 hours of courses then as the final reward you get a big sheet which they say is made of a sheep's hide soc how barbaric but of course this quaint custom does not mean anything ? av stud no it means that the college education has taken and that you have become educated is this stuff all greek to you soc yes by the dog of egypt you see we had diseases in greece too but tell me now is the student educated if he has only 127 hours of credit ? av stud nope the professors say 128 hours equals an education soc since that is the definition it follows that every graduate is an educated man av stud no not exactly in fact a lot of nice fellows take four years of courses and graduate pure and uncontaminated by learning soc how oan that be possible av stud well it's this way a fellow has to take so many courses in literature so many languages so many histories and so much chemistry and psychology and other stuff if he does not like the stuff he must take it anyhow so the student attends lectures regularly that's half the battle keeps up a bluffing match with the professors then you understand he swallows the facts for a day or two before the final examination throws these same facts upon paper and is passed soc he is then as clean and pure of the subject as he was before the xperience av stud quite and exactly soc but surely the students and the faculty would not permit this condition if they realized it av stud that is a long story mr socrates the professors regard themselves as a superior tribe of olympians who profess they know what is good for us so they are continually trying to make us in their images soc in greece it used to be said that men themselves made the olympians in their own image av stud perhaps we students might learn that old method soc young man what does knowledge mean to you av stud frankly it has come to mean any damn stuff to learn or pretend you have learned soc yes but my boy did knowledge ever mean anything else to you av stud yes mr socrates once i thought that i would study the literatures of all languages and i would learn all the sciences and then i would be able to do something great i didn't know exactly what soc what killed all this av stud it was required — it was required — it was required that i finfeh three years of the sleeping latin tongue and that i dicker with french for a couple of years before i could do any intensive work in the literature of our own language it was required that i run through a literature survey that i had already done nearly as thoroughly in high school it was required that i take general science and then a playful little course or so in chem istry — i had been already intensively prepared in physics and chemistry and biology it was required that i take the first course in sociology — but unfortunately i had already read most of that text before the first two years were choked with orientation courses a sweet expression meaning three-quarters of an elementary text these were forced on the students because the olympians knew they knew what was good for them soc i knew there was something sleeping inside you now tell me were not your tastes in literature in music in painting in sculpture and in other cultural activities cultivated by contact with the learned men of the university av stud it may be that contact did a bit on the surface but truly i think that neglect of academic assignments to obey an inner urge and yearning — yes i know it development came from reading on my own hook in the writings of great men — men like plato who wrote of you 0 socrates soc yes i did say some of those things av stud it was they who drew me out if i have been educated at all soc then would you say that the faculty is superfluous and is even a hindrance to the student's educational progress ? av stud o no socrates my words are not to be taken in that sense soc what then is the matter av stud it is the coercion the stupid requirements and restrictions that set themselves between the student and the scholarly olympians the two classes cannot be en rapport until both groups are free to follow their own individual bents and make possible the true educative process of con tinual development soc how do the professors regard the impressment of unwilling students into required courses av stud there are many professors of course but it is said i know ot whether it be true or not that the faculty members are oppressed by such coercion and that it so troubles their spirits that their own education suffers soc chancellor capen made address at chicago meeting chancellor capen addressed the committee on institutions of higher education of the north central asso ciation on wednesday afternoon march 18th at stephens hotel chi cago the subject of his address was principles which should govern standards and accrediting agencies dr capen in the course of his ad dress said i believe there should no longer be any accrediting prac tices if tomorrow morning every accrediting committee in the country should adjourn sine die and every accredited list should be destroyed i believe american education would re ceive such a stimulus as it has not received in a dozen years there has been but one justification for accredit ing and that is educational malprac tice deliberate or unconscious i do not say that this has entirely dis appeared but i do maintain that it has been so greatly reduced as to re quire no such elaborate and costly — yes and tyrannical — machinery as the existing accrediting system to keep it under control student conference will be held at teachers college the western new york state in tercollegiate co-educational student conference will be held at buffalo state teachers college march 20-21 this conference is designed to give inter-campus contacts as well as an intelligent consideration of interna tional responsibilities which concern the thinking student of today among those who will lead the dis cussions of the conference theme preparing to live in a world neigh borhood are dr william pickens a negro phi beta kappa and secretary of the national association for the advancement of colored people mr paul harris jr associate secretary of the national council for the pre vention of war dr harry w rock well dr george neumann of s t c and miss helen reid of our own uni versity sherwood eddy will be the speaker at the banquet on saturday night registration takes place at s t c friday march 20 from 4-5:30 p m the fee is 2.00 and includes a buf fet supper on friday banquet and dance on saturday it is hoped that the university of buffalo will be well represented at this conference beaux and belles to vie for titles in beauty contest much interest is shown on the campus lately in the contest among fraternities and sororities for posses sion of the titles of handsomest man and most beautiful girl nominations are coming in rapidly but due to delay in distribution of the purity number containing the nomination blanks the bison has ex tended the closing date to saturday march 21st decide who in your opinion deserves these enviable dis tinctions and make your nominations the bison has expended much ef fort to make this contest truly repre sentative six well qualified judges have been secured to select from those nominated the two who most deserve the titles miss edith nata lie stark of the buffalo evening news mrs marjorie hartzberg of the courier-express americo bono of club mayfair herbert straub of shea's hippodrome and frank stock well of the pollack printing company have been secured to decide the con test these competent judges will be on the campus at 4:30 p m monday at which time the nominees will ap pear before them the results of this novel contest will be the feature of the next issue of the bison the fraternity-sorority number watch for it prominent men to speak in future convocation series wars spies and music subjects of treats scheduled i a discussion of international rela tions by an expert a narration of the methods of spies during the great conflict by a member of the british military service and a recital by the popular shea's buffalo string quartet are treats scheduled for future con vocations on march 25th mr paul harris noted lecturer whose work was recog nized by the national council for pre vention of war will discuss cus tomers or conflict he has spoken at several colleges and met with approval everywhere on april bth major thomas coul son author of the recent best seller mata hari and veteran of three wars will speak on spying on spies this promises to be unusually inter esting inasmuch as major coulson has a fine manner of telling what he has experienced mr john ingram will conduct the shea's buffalo string quartet at con vocation on april 22 details will appear in a later issue of the bee women's club to vote on nominees wednesday noon women's club elections will take place wednesday at noon march 25 the council met and nominated the following girls from whom next year's officials may be elected president — jean hahl dorothy sparberg vice-president — cynthia banks al berta isch and florence wallace secretary — charlotte houck edith arnold and helen heinrich treasurer — tessie whitman freda greenberg mary brown and sigrid grottem hostess committee — in order not . to overburden any one girl by having the responsibility of the many , luncheons the council decided on hav ing a hostess committee consisting of six girls the following have been nominated trudy silverberg jen nie kuschel iva trau elizabeth gross helen reiman betty town send renette bernhard rozilla gray marion martin virginia kerr peg simons six are to be elected luncheon will be served as usual at this meeting sign up early the faculty student tea an annual women's club affair will be held tuesday march 31 at 3:15 p m pharma-forum club hears mr mcgrath the pharma-forum club is becom ing increasingly popular if such can be judged by the large attendance of students at its second meeting last tuesday evening march 3 in the women's lounge of edmund hayes hall these meetings have been well-represented by all three classes of pharmacy and increasing interest in its promotion is felt after them the speaker of last tuesday's meeting was mr earl mcgrath as sistant to chancellor capen his topic for discussion intelligence was very interesting and several stu dents questioned him and entered in to a discussion on other phases of the topic which the speaker had not mentioned following the talk the constitution of the club as recently drawn up was submitted for approval of the stu dents present after minor sugges tions the constitution was adopted and professor lewis g truman was chosen faculty advisor for the re mainder of this term the meeting was followed by refreshments the next meeting will be on wednesday evening march 25 in the women's lounge fenton foundation presents ferrero prominent author good news for all those who have been waiting with varying degrees of patience for the next fenton foun dation lecture guglielmo ferrero will speak on the sunset of mon archy at the twentieth century club at 8:15 p m on thursday march 26th mr ferrero is an em inent italian historian and philoso pher author of the greatness and decline of rome those who are familiar with his book will need no urging to attend those who are not can be assured of an interesting and instructive lecture two papers to be presented before philosophy club the philosophy club will convene tuesday march 24th at 8:15 p m in the lounge of edmund hayes hall two student papers which promise to command widespread and diversi fied interest will be presented william haenszel honors student in sociology will speak on paradoxes miss constance mary reynolds the editor of the stylus will trace nietzsche's critique of greek trag edies in the birth of tragedy following the usual policy of the philosophy club the meeting is open to anyone who is interested cap and gown to tap outstanding women at home concert april 10 everybody set let's go the tickets for the annual home ! concert are here fresh from the printers just by the mere slipping of one buck into the hands of any glee club member boy or girl you can secure one of these delicate pink pieces of cardboard but think what that means that little piece of cardboard gives you access to the statler ballroom friday april 10 when you will be privileged not only to hear the two musical organizations at their best as a result of a year's diligent rehearsing but also at the conclusion of the program to whirl that little girl of your choice about the ballroom accompanied by the finest dance music till the wee wee hours of the morning if you desire special reserved seats just a quarter more will fix you up of course as usual the sororities and fraternities will have boxes ray johnson and irma wagner will take care of these reservations see them early this is also the night of nights for junior girls for cap and gown chooses the outstanding junior girls for the honorary senior women's society it's to be a big night more about the program next week cap and gown to sponsor bridge party saturday cap and gown society senior girls honorary organization presented the first of a series of musicales on wed nesday morning during convocation hour mrs henry ten eyck perry professor perry's wife who is an ac complished pianist held her audience spellbound with her three groups of classical numbers the program in cluded a mozart fantasia four parts from the bach partite in g major and two chopin nocturnes eohippus club eohippus the general science club will hold its next meeting in the honors room wednesday march 25 at 8 o'clock dr scofield will talk on personality there will be a dis cussion after the meeting continued on page 3 column 1