Newspaper Page Text
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November 11, 1960
THE SPELMAN SPOTLIGHT
T)he Spotlight Stall
Editor-in-Chief Venecia P. Gardner
Managing Editor Roberta A. Smith
Associate Editor Joycelyn McKissick
Business Manager Patricia Smith
Art Editors __1 Johnny Price and Beverly Pratt
Typists Estrelita Holloway
Callie Herndon, Gwendolyn Greene
Literary Staff Patricia Nicholas, Nellie J. Kelley,
Barbara Adams, Lucia Holloway,
Alice Morgan, Kercenna
McChristan, Eleanor Hinton, Norma J.
Wilson
Faculty Advisor—— ; Marjorie Spring
Chairman of Publications Norma J. Wilson
Publications Office, Lobby of Packard Hall Phone: JA. 4-3005
The opinions expressed in The SPOTLIGHT are not neces
sarily those of the editors and staff.
From The Editor's Inkwell
The fall semester has been in session for almost nine
weeks, and the SPLEMAN SPOTLIGHT at least is making its
debut. We have managed to overcome many of the obstacles
placed in our path by both the student body and the ad
ministration.
In keeping with this latter statement, I wonder if too
often we aren’t contented to “let George do it”. We want in-
tergation, but we do not want to fight for it. We seek more
privileges through the S. S. G. A., but we do not want the
responsibility that goes with them. We fight for the right of
the Negro to vote. But how many of those with this right fail
to exercise it. An finally, we want a newspaper, but we do not
want to support it. We are very contente, too content in fact,
to sit back and watch the procession go by. Most of us will not
even utter a word of encouragement. We have been very
apathetic and sadistic. Our pleasure is no longer derived from
achieving victory, but in heckling and criticizing those who are
active in the fight
It is early yet, and many of these roads have “U” turns.
I ask that we take more of an interest and play a more active
role in the world around us. First, let us register for the forth
coming elections. Secondly, let us give more support to the
cause of the Negro. Let those who cannot demonstrate, at least
give the demonstrators encouragement and cheer them on, and
support the cause through the NAACP. Third, help the S. S.
G. A. to help you. Help your student leaders assume the re
sponsibility for student government. The S. S. G. A. is you,
and its success is dependent upon you. Last but not least, we
have said that we want a newspaper, our own organ of ex
pression. Since the SPOTLIGHT is published in the interest of
the student body, I wonder why the student body has failed
to support its voice of expression. Let the newspaper be one
of the main links between the student body and the adminis
tration. We need your support to exist.
I have traveled from the national scale to our own campus.
The inkwell is dry.
HUNTER COLLEGE,
THE BRONX
By Pauline Winkelman
The Negro in the South and in
the Harlems of the North has had
only limited contact with white
people. Similarly, the white group
has known few Negroes as equals
and friends. The ever-present
conspicuous factor of color has
kept both groups from seeing each
other as human beings first. Out
of this separation has developed
racial myths that each group be
lieves about the other, even
though it is impossible to charac
terize a whole group as musical,
or lazy, or superior.
There are many barriers set up
against a change from a segregat
ed to an integrated school sys-
barriers, and the ones which are
the hardest to get rid of, are
tradition and the role of the
school. Traditional prejudices
based on ignorance and rumor
are so much a part of our lives
that we accept them as truths
and do nothing to root them out.
The school is a great socializing
institution; here children learn
to get along with others in the
group. As the children get older,
the school involves them in more
and more social activities—parties,
dances, picnics, athletic events.
TWO WORDS FROM
HUNTER COLLEGE
Segregation is a yery difficult
topic to write on for two reasons:
1) one should write on what he
actually feels and not on what he
thinks he should feel; and 2) be
ing honest about his true feeling.
It has been said that the color
of a person’s skin does not matter.
This is nonsense — of course it
does. What is important is not
(Continued on Page Four)
This is what parents and obser
vers fear as they view the inter
mingling in the school of children
of various creeds, races and ori
gins.
The task of desegregation is
large. The Supreme Court realiz
ed that as it also realized that
times and needs change and with
them institutions designed to
serve these needs will be required
to change, whether through
changed laws or through pressures
of public opinion or both. It based
its 1955 decision on this. A start
has been made a start accom-
>
plished by informed, sensitive,
and intelligent leadership dedicat
ed to democratic processes in solv
ing problems. With this start, and
with this leadership, all barriers
will be surmounted.
The Student As A
Cooperating Consumer
I find myself haunted by a
student in a discussion period,
following a lecture on What is
Creative Teaching? The student
was a young woman with a bril
liant academic record, making her
plans for a career in medicine,
via one of our great Eastern medi
cal schools. The comments had
followed the easy pattern of talk
on what can a student get from
the normal college experience.
Then came her lightening flash:
“How can a student help a tea
cher to be his creative best?
I suspect there was a surge of
resentment on the part of some
of the faculty members present:
. . . presumptuous! . . . ridiculous!
. . . impertinent! But on second
and third reflection the question
was not presumptuous but rather
a question of a cooperative con
sumer; it was relevent not ridi
culous; intendedly helpful not
impertinent. It is interesting to
speculate how the climate of an
academic community might be
changed if [the (entire stucfent
body made their specfic contri
bution to helping the faculty to
be the most creative teachers and
counselors and scholars, their ca
pacities gave promise of being.
"How can a student help ..."
If the student holds high ex
pectations of the teacher, both as
man and teacher, and also of him
self as man and student, he helps
to build a climate of expectation
within which ideas are more easi
ly pummeled into shape and hopes
fulfilled. It is not simple to speak
to an unexpectant audience; a
class of students with low hopes
for the course for the instructor,
for themselves as students, makes
little demand for the instructor’s
maximum response. The Biblical
admonition, Ask and ye shall re
ceive, has its application in the
classroom: the interior urge of
desire must precede the open
capacity to receive, and expecta
tion can whet desire.
"How can a student help . . . ?
An easy but important answer
is, my hard work; by the kind of
concentrated effort which engen
ders new interest, arouses new
enthusiasm, and begets intellect
ual curiosity. Any teacher born
to teach responds to such a stu
dent, with a fuller offering of him
self and his gifts of substance and
inspiration.
The creative teacher is a hard
working teacher. Nothing is so
encouraging to him in his hours
of labor as the hard working stu
dent, offering the cloak as well as
the cost of endeavor, going the
extra mile beyond the mile-post
of the examination. There is an
association of hard work, which
affords its own kindly illumina
tion to concentrated labor.
"How can a student help
A third suggestion calls for the
act of acceptance. It may be
doubted whether genuinely crea
tive teaching, summoning the give
and the take of the classroom,
and then the counter-give and the
counter-take, can penetrate
through the barrier of complete
impersonality. The method may
be brilliant lecturing from which
much is learned; factual learning,
according to research, can take
place as successfully from lecture
teaching as discussion-teaching,
but it is doubtful whether in
either method the learning goes
beyond facts to become truly
within a climate of personal dia
logue.
(Continued on Page Four)
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SUPPORT
THE S. S. G. A.
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From The President's
Desk—
WHAT MAKES A COLLEGE
GOOD?
By Albert E .Manley
Through the years, since 1881,
Spelman College has endeavored
to provide a strong liberal arts
program. Thus, the institution
has, at all times and under dif
ferent administrations, been con
cerned with the question, “What
makes a good college?” I want
to examine this question briefly
in this first issue of the SPOT
LIGHT for the 1960-1961 academic
year.
People make a good college.
Three groups of people make up
the college constituency. These
groups are classified as students,
teachers, an alumae. The Per
formance of each of these groups
determines whether a college is
rated as good, average, or below
average.
A college is a good one if it
has a student body with the na
tive ability to do college work
and if these students have been
throughly prepared for college.
Given native ability and solid
preparation in such fundamental
subjects as English, social sciences,
mathematics, and the natural
sciences, students readily grasp
the ideas that are basic to intel
lectual growth. Thus it is possi
ble for them to perform satis
factorily in general and specializ
ed fields. Students contribute to
the making of a good college when
they have the desire to learn and
the determination and the will to
succeed. Since native ability varies
students who are less able than
others can make up for some lack
of ability through determination
to do their very best work. This
often means that extar hours must
be spent studying and preparing
assignments that will be accatable
to the teachers as well as to the
students, themselves. As students
progress from a lower class to a
higher one, there should be evi
dence of increasing ability to do
independent study and to make
mature decisions. Students also
make their contribution by having
clear and definite goals. Early in
their college careers,: they should
identify the fields in which they
wish to specialize; thus saving
valuable time which could be
lost by hesitance to make up their
minds.
Faculty members are important
members in the academic com
munity. If a college is to be rated
as a good one, the persons who
stand before the student in the
classroom must fulfill an extreme
ly important role. They must
have a deep interest in their sub
jects and must have thoroughly
WHY SPELMAN?
THIS QUESTION WAS ASKED
OF SEVERAL FRESHMEN WHO
GAME A GREAT DISTANCE TO
MATRICULATE IN SPELMAN,
"THE PRIDE OF THE SOUTH"
Elizabeth, Parnell, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania .... “I came to
Spelman because it is a college
recognized throughout the coun
try as a fine liberal arts college,
and I felt that being part of the
University System would give
me the type of education and
experience that would be help
ful to me later.
Ridgely Renwick, Claveland, Ohio
.... “My brother inspired me
to come to Spelman because one
is now at Morehouse, and the
other is a graduate of More
house. At Spelman, I feel that
I will have more personal con
tact with my instructors than I
would have at another school,
since Spelman is known for its
friendliness and close relation
ship.”
Luciile Wilkins, Los Angeles, Cali
fornia .... “I chose Spelman
because I believe t hat small
schools with the many close re
lationships . possible can help
the individual more. And after
reading and hearing about Spel
man, I felt that she could offer
me what I wanted. Also my
aunts attended Slepman, and
they wanted me to come.”
Vera Norman, Galveston, Texas
.... “After evaluating a num
ber of highly accredited col
leges, I chose Spelman because
its offerings seemed to have the
greatest potentialities for my
chosen vocation, and because of
its affiliation in the University
program.”
Michaele Barnes, Ohio .... “I
wanted the experience of being
in an all-girls school and felt
that Spelman was the best
choice.”
Lorna Hosein, Hartford, Connecti
cut (Trinidad) .... “I came to
Spelman because of its reputa
tion as being one of. the best
Negro colleges and because it’s
in the South. I also wanted to
associate with people of my own
race because I have been going
to predominantly white school”.
LaJoyce Henderson, Clarksdale,
Mississippi .... “I came to
Spelman because of the Uni
versity System and the cultural
life I hope to participate in
here.”
mastered them, for no teacher is
any better than his background in
his area of specialization. Having
mastered their subjects, teachers
should enrich their background
by evidencing or expressing in-
(Continued on Page Four)
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