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THE SPELMAN SPOTLIGHT
Tuesday, March 7, 1960
Spelman Spotlight
Editor-in-chief Norma June Wilson
Managing Editor Venecia Gardner
Feature Editor Mary Miller
Art Editor Johnny Price
News Editor ..... Barbara Adams
Business Manager Eva M. Lowe
Staff Cecile Ganpatisgnh, Marian Watson, Marian Pitts,
Patricia Smith, Blondell Dixon, Mary J. Crew, Mary Frances
Watts, Jean Berrien, Lucille Brown, Eleanor Hines, Betty Durrah,
Jackie Walker, Nellie Kelly, Beverly Pratt, Barbara Irvins,
Eva Lowe.
Faculty Advisor Mrs. Marjorie Spring
Office — Packard Hall Phone — JAckson 4-3005
The Opinions expressed in the SPOTLIGHT are not necessarily
those of the Editors or Staff.
1:~}rom ^Jhe Editor’d inkwell
By Norma J. Wilson
The honor roll here at Spelman College, I feel, does not represent
the academic achievements of Spelman Students. The honor roll at
present is composed of students who have maintained a B average
with no grades below a B. This practice should be abolished. The
honor roll I believe should include students who have earned a B
average with no grade below a “C”. Now this is in practice as far
as the freshman class is concerned, during their first semester. Why
couldn’t it be extended?
It is unfair to expect a student to devote herself with equal en
thusiasm to all of her subjects. A student’s interest, most times, de
termines how much she will study a particular subject. If a subject
is a college requirement for graduation and a student isn’t interested
in taking it, it is possible that her grade will not be an A or a B.
There is nothing wrong with a “C”. It is a respectable grade. It is
an average grade In some courses it is a good grade. There is no
reason why grades cannot be averaged for the honor roll. An A
should be able to balance a C. What happens to the student who
makes four A’s and one C during a semester? Of course she is not
on the honor roll! Is she any the less a “Student” than the one who
has made five “B’s” that semester? I think not.
Let us look at other schools around us. Do they have the same re
quirements for being on the honor roll, or do they average grades
for the honor roll? Would it be lowering our standards any to have
an average system on our campus? The system of averaging grades
only allows us to be human enough not to be equally good in all
our subjects.
The present Dean of Women’s list includes those students who
have no grade below a “C” and who are good citizens on campus.
The Dean’s list could very easily include students with higher aver
ages than these whose names appear on the honor roll. This seems
to be inconsistent.
As a suggestion, the honor roll could include those students making
from a 3.00 average to a 2.5 average. The dean’s list could include
those students with averages between 2.49 and 2.00. I am not saying
that this suggestion would even work but I feel strongly that some
thing should be done about the honor roll.
Do you know of any school with the same type of academic honor
roll as the one existing on our campus? If so please notify me, for
I know of no such schools. What do you as students think?
Oops, my pen is dry again. /
A Happy Marriage
What do you think about the
current trend of reading poetry to
jazz? Scoffers at this phenomen
on, such as Nat Hentoff, jazz crit
ic of “Esquire” magazine, are mi
nus one sympathizer in Dr. Rosey
Poole — recent visiting Fulbright
lecturer on our campus.
Now-a-days a conversation on
poetry leads naturally to jazz; and
Dr. Poole, who “sleeps and wakes”
to the Modern Jazz Quartette (to
the utter dismay of her London
charwoman), is no exception. She
considers poetry plus jazz a “hap
py marriage.” After all, similar
marriages appear in the librettos
of opera and in the German
Lieder.
Dr. Poole speaks very encour
agingly to the very, very contem
porary artist who, she feels, may
have something important to say,
which possibly comes out in “stut
ters” but may well be the “nur
sery stages” of a new art. She
welcomes all new trends and ex
periments in art, and we at Spel
man welcome to our campus all
such inspiring personalities who
have patience with the artistic
struggles of our generation.
NOTE: Hear Langston Hughes
read his own poetry to a jazz
background by Charlie Min
gus in the Spelman Library
Listening Room.
Mary Frances Watts
Noble Thoughts
And a man said, “Speak to us of
Self-Knowledge”.
And he answered, saying:
Your hearts know in silence the
secrets of the days and the
nights.
But your ears thirst for the sound
of yOur heart’s knowledge.
You would know in words that
which you have always known
in thought.
You would touch with your fing
ers the naked body of your
dreams.
And it is well you should.
The hidden well — spring of your
soul must needs rise and run
murmuring to the sea;
And the treasure of your infinite
depths would be revealed to
your eyes.
But let there be no scales to weigh
your unknown treasure;
And seek not the depths of your
knowledge with staff or sound
ing line.
For self is a sea boundless and
measureless.
Say not, “I have found the truth,”
but rather, “I have found a
truth.”
Say not, “I have found the path
of the soul.”
Say rather, “I have met the soul
walking upon my path.”
For the soul walks upon all paths.
The soul walks not upon a line,
neither does it grow like a reed.
The soul unfolds itself, like a
lotus of countless petals.
The Prophet
Olie College Qirl
Upon looking through the SPOTLIGHT Files I happened across
an article by David Boroff concerning an eastern girls’ college.
I was interested in comparing the academic life of a girl in this
particular eastern school with the academic life of a Spelman girl.
The eastern college has an en
rollment of 400 and a faculty of
70 teachers, and is situated on
twenty-five acres of land. Dif
ferences and similarities can easi
ly be noted. The individual and
her interests are the central focus
of the educational process at the
eastern school. Here at Spelman
we find that our curriculum is the
center of the educational process.
“Each student formulates her
own course in accordance with
her interests,” says Mr. Boroff.
Would that be practical at Spel
man? I think not. I feel that it
would not be advisable for a
freshman student to be permitted
to select her own courses. In the
first year, if in no other, an in
experienced student needs guid
ance. Would you really like to be
“turned loose” to select your
own subjects, right from the word
go? Although the young women
at the Eastern College are allowed
this freedom, they are taking
courses which strangely enough
resemble some of our basic col
lege requirements.
Here is a shock for you —
they do not receive grades at this
college. Personally, I would like
to see this in more of the schools.
Grades are relative. They cannot
measure a student’s true worth.
Someone might want to know
what criteria companies would
then use to employ college
graduates, and graduate
schools to select students.
Well, the reliable standardized
tests could be used; most students
cram the night before an exam
anyway. What do they know two
weeks from the exam, or for that
matter, the day following the
exam? If a student wants to
learn, she will learn without
wanting a grade. If a grade is the
end in sight, then the means to
that end is wasted.
One student at this eastern
college had this to say, “There
are no standards here, no grades.
At first it threw me. Then I real
ized it was
standard.”
student wh]
ing in edui
fed educa
having anj^i;
wilders nDF
,s jbi
I
hli
1
t| n -
r myself. I was the
he is the type of
is really participat-
!tion; not just being
The idea of not
.type of standard be-
I can understand
wherein grades would not be suf
ficient for a standard, but I do
think that some type of standard
is necessary. Where does a grad
uate of such a school fit into the
competitive society? How does
she know where she stands in a
world such as ours?
In their junior year, these east
ern college students, “define”
(Continued on page 4)
Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor,
I wish to congratulate you and
the members of your staff for
the production of the first issues
of Spelman Spotlight. I under
stand that it is the first regula
tion paper that Spelman has pro
duced in ten years. Considering
this, the significance of what
you’ve done becomes quite ob
vious.
I was very much impressed by
the paper, and I hope that the
future proves favorable to the
progressive refinement of later
issues.
Jeff D. Nesbitt
Morehouse College
Poetry As A
Guiding Force
It is good to hear a poet speak
about his own poetry. Only he
can tell you what he would like
done with his work. Robert
Frost, on January 29, at Agnes
Scott College, gave us his opinion
on the use of poetry with these
words: “You can read a poem,
memorize a poem, print it, inter
pret it, or even make footnotes
to it, but do you know what I’d
like you to do with my poems?
I’d like you to take texts from
them—as you would from the
Bible.”
The idea first struck me as
being rather presumptuous on the
authority of the poet. However,
as Frost proceeded by reading
several of his poems, I saw that
excerpts from good poetry could
very well be used as texts. Take
for example the following two de
finitions of home from Frost’s
“The Death of the Hired Man.”
Warren, the husband, says, “Home
is the place where, when you
have to go there, they have to
take you in.” His wife dissents
with, “I should have called it
something you somehow haven’t
to deserve.” In only three lines
perhaps the most important
thought of the whole poem has
been expressed. For Warren the
home is a place where duty is
paramount, but for his wife home
is a gift given to one in spite of
his unworthiness. The difference
in the way they lived is illustrat
ed by the way each treated the
hired man. Applying this text to
ourselves and choosing the best
view, we might be able to say
with Robert Frost in his poem
“The Road Not Taken:”
“Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I—
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the dif
ference.”
Perhaps we ought to take the
advice of an 85 year-old man,
who as a poet, would recommend
to us the use of poetry to guide
us in our lives.
Mary Miller
The Critic
H two good dancers compose a
dance group, then the Benning
ton College Dancers are a suc
cess. But if the Bennington Col
lege Dance group is to become a
troupe of six good dancers, I
would suggest that they get a
good start by beginning with sim
ple things such as walking and
disciplined practice. It is unfor
tunate to say, but without the
grace of Miss Julie Arena and Miss
Shannon Theobald, the Benning
ton College dance group performs
no better than our girls after a
nihe-weeks course in body mech
anics. Without a doubt, our dance
group shows more skill and grace
than this famed troupe.
It is the opinion of The Critic
that a diet and dance studies
program would improve the
members of the troupe. The maj
ority of this troupe resembles fat
igued clogs in the rain.
In their favor we must cite the
well choreographed “EL Grite
(The Cry) and “In Flight,” not
to neglect the incomparable par
ody of Tom, Dick, or Harry. If
Miss Sholder even decides to re
tire from dancing, I would recom
mend that she appear on the stage
as a pantominist.
Contrary to The Critic, in the
opinion of many the Bennington
College Dance Group was “ter
rific”. Each to his own.
Success Of
Co-Recreation
In the month of January, the
Spelman students started the suc
cessful trend of co-recreation, for
the 1959-60 school year. The ac
tivities were held in Read Hall.
During the early half of the ev
ening the students participated m
basketball, volleyball, badminton,
and bowling. Also there were rec
ords played for those who pre
ferred dancing.
At 8:30 during the latter half
of the evening, the swimming
pool was opened. The observers
that crowded the bleachers, in the
swimming areas, had the pleasure
of observing the beginners swim
class, the physical education ma
jors, and members of the More
house swim team.
On February 19, the Spelman
students planned another evening
of co-recreation. But due to the
Morehouse Glee Club concert, it
was cancelled and postponed, the
Spelman students are still looking
forward to many more wonderful
evenings of co-recreation.
Nellie J. Kelly