Newspaper Page Text
April, 1967
THE MAROON TIGER
Page 3
ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE Conn
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Morehouse. Morehouse, son, is the Harvard
of the South. It’s Morehouse, son, or
no house.’ ’
And that’s the myth. Its echo bounces
perennially from one corner of the nation
to the other. Young men in Georgia put
down their plowshares; Floridians come
up off the beaches; Westerners leave the
cow pastures; Easterners leave the
crowds and revelry of the large cities.
Everybody is Morehouse bound, More
house, pride of the .South, builder of men.
One comes to Morehouse to seek a
well-rounded education. Of course that’s
what the tag “liberal arts” implies. How
ever, one finds that Morehouse is a school
that specializes. There is only one stress.
One finds that a well-rounded education
consists of making “A’s” in all subjects.
Academics is the stress, the epitome of
well-roundedness. And so much emphasis
on academic excellence is in keeping
with the age-old myth. The trouble is
that such a pursuit is confined only to
an elite. Academic excellence is judged
by “Who has the highest average?” Aca
demic excellence pertains only to those
who specialize in books. The “C” student
no matter how versatile he is, no matter
how much he contributes, is shunned.
One day a student went to talk to a
professor about an exceedingly important
problem. The first thing the teacher asked
him was, “What’s your average?” It so
happened that the student had a “B”
average. The teacher listened. Take a
look at the honor roll. OA the average
15 percent of the students make the honor
roll. These are the elite. These are they
who reap the benefits. What do you do
with the other 85 percent? Out of that
85 percent there are students who study
to master their subjects. They cannot
go too far because the teacher has a
“set” program, certain things HE wants
the student to learn. You go to class
and you’re brainwashed. You learn more
about the instructor’s beliefs and princi
ples than anything else. Don’t inject your
ideas. That’s blasphemy.
There’s a special course we teach
here. The title is “Howto go to Europe”.
First of all, you hit the books. Nothing
else. You lock yourself in a bag and you
memorize what scholars have said in the
past. You don’t have to apply it; just
learn it. You become a parrot of other
men’s thoughts. Your average shoots
sky high. Now you have a one-way ticket.
Secondly, you “eat cheese.” You talk to
all of the instructors. You pretend you’re
really interested. You laugh at their jokes
and everybody knows they tell lousy
jokes. But you laugh anyway. You let
them know that you go along with every
thing they say. Instructors are never
wrong. They have Ph.D’s. Ph.D. means
“I’m right—all of the time.”
We also have a remedial program here.
It’s entitled, “Why you didn’t go to Europe
or on Exchange.” You didn’t go because
you got off on the wrong foot. You sought
a well-rounded education. You didn’t eat
enough “cheese.” Who gets the scholar
ships? Who reaps all the benefits? You
don’t because you seek to get more out
of college than just stilted book learning.
Can you help it if you can’t master every
subject? Can you help it if you are a par
ticipant in society, in the college world
and not a book worm? Can you help it if
you make the homor roll once a year and
just miss it by one-tenth of a point the
second time?
The “A” symbolizes absolutely noth
ing if it’s only obtained in the realm of
academics. To excel only in academics
is not enough. The student who does is
no scholar; he is a tape-recorder. The
real scholar is a sampler, sampler of
books, sampler of life, sampler of all. It
is not his job to quote Plato verbatim. It
is not his job to know every fact in Rem
brandt’s life. The true scholar considers
fundamental principles. Aristotle said
what he had to say. The scholar, the true
scholar, pours all past knowledge into
one river. Then out of that river comes
his own stream of beliefs and principles,
a purified stream of thoughts and ideas in
light of what is going on today. That
is the scholar.
My appeal, then, is for the scholar, the
man who applies himself, the man who
contributes. Must the “A” plague always
hover over us? Must the hand of consider
ation drive us away from our beloved
institution? Off hand, I can name several
brilliant minds that have left us. They
had fallen into the pit of apathy because
no more was offered than a pot of pseudo
intellectual soup when their hunger called
for a well-balanced meal. Don’t put these
men on a diet. Feed them, let them eat!
And give them dessert. We are all children
of the same family; don’t feed some and
let others starve.
Grads in the News
LONNIE C. JOHNSON (left), recently
promoted management information sys
tems specialist, discusses programming
changes at RCA 301 console with J. T.
ZOOK, manager. Management Informa
tion Systems.
“The Men of Morehouse,” graduates of
the all-male college in Atlanta, Georgia,
have a tradition of leadership and achieve
ment. Morehouse College has produced
men of prominence and distinction over
the years, but many others, in less pub
licized pursuits, also make their marks.
One of them is Lonnie C. Johnson, a
Philadelphian who was recently promoted
to management information specialist for
the Radio Corporation of America’s Parts
and Accessories Center at Deptford,
New Jersey.
Mr. Johnson, who joined RCA as a pro
grammer in the Data Systems section in
July, 1963, helped implement the highly
sophisticated Management Imformation
System within RCA Parts and Accessories
operation. His new position includes
responsibility for the analysis of RCA’s
present computer systems and the plann
ing of future systems to improve data
transmission techniques.
Before coming to RCA, the Hampton,
Virginia, native was employed for three
years with the Defense Industrial Supply
Center in Philadelphia as a programmer
trainee. He graduated from Morehouse
with a major in chemistry and a minor in
mathematics, and has done graduate work
at Temple University.
The computer specialist is married to
the former Mildred Fitzgerald, a graduate
of Virginia State College, Petersburg,
who, later won a Master’s Degree in Busi
ness Education from Temple.
Mrs. Johnson is former chairman of the
Business Education Department at Abing-
ton. Pa. High School. The Johnsons
have one child, Carol Denise.
My Statement of
Conscience
by Robert L. Terrell
The following is taken in part from
a statement sent by me to Local Board
219 in Wayne, Michigan, concerning my
request for a conscientious objector’s
classification. It is being reprinted here
for the benefit of those students who
would like to do the same but don’t
know how to go about applying for the
classification. It is also being submitted
for those students who have not serious
ly addressed themselves to the criminal
acts that the United States is committing
in Viet Nam.
We must admit that in the final
analysis man has to accept responsi
bility for his actions. No matter what
the cost, one always has the chance to
say no when he is asked to participate
in an act which he considers criminal.
This is just as true of a bank robber or
petty thief as it is of an American soldier
waging war and destruction in Viet Nam.
Dear Sir:
I am by reason of my religious train
ing and belief, conscientiously opposed
to participation in war in any form and
I am further conscientiously opposed to
participation in noncombatant training
and service in the Armed Forces. I
therefore claim exemption from both
combatant and noncombatant training and
service in the Armed Services.
I believe the only worthwhile life
is one which is rooted in decency, love,
and respect for other persons. This is
not a purely arbitrary personal code, but
a universal common denominator of all
the world’s great religions. It is a com
pelling moral imperative which occupies
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 4-COLUMN 1)
Cut the college problem
down to size
It's too big, too important to let slide.
The problem : Colleges are facing greatly increased
enrollments every year.
But they may not be able to afford the facilities,
equipment and qualified teachers to train these poten
tial leaders.
That makes it our problem.
We urgently need leaders to plan wise use of our
national resources, manpower and human skills.
A loss in leadership would be a threat to our economy.
It would affect jobs, opportunities, living standards.
Keep our leaders coming, by helping colleges meet
the cost of educating them. Give to the college of your
choice.
College is America’s best friend
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Newspaper Advertising Executives Association.