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Page 2 THE SPELMAN SPOTLIGHT September 11, 1963 SPOTLIGHT STAFF Ida Rose M!oCree Business Manager Gloria A. Knowles Cartoonist - - Carolyn Simmons Rpnnrterc Edna Johnson, Jeanne Terry, Pearlie Orr, Gloria Knowles, Willenor Caruthers, Annease Chaney, Charlotte Mize, Marilyn Holt, Judy Tillman, Barbara Glover, Betty Wilson, Barbara Rodgers. Typists - Sandra Griffin, Gloria Knowles Proofreaders Bernice Dowdy, Betty Stevens, Annease Chaney Cultural Interest Necessary Varied cultural affairs are essential to the liberal education of college students. Spelman College offers many cultural activities, which when taken advantage of by the students, afford such an education. There are plays presented by the AMS players several times during the year which always include several dramatic plays and one musical in the spring. The Spelman Glee Club and the AMS Chorus present several concerts during the year, most notably the Christman Carol Concert at Christmas time. In addition, the music department presents student recitals and guest artists throughout the year; Extrabdinary films, including classics and marvelous foreign films, are shown in Read Hall Gymnasium on Sunday evenings for Spelman students and their guests. The art department Sponsors periodically student and guest art exhibits in Laura Spelman. Dance recitals are presented by the Dance Club. Center-wide lecture series brings to the campus renowned lecturers in various fields of interest. Opportunities to witness cul tural activities should be sought after and certainly appreciated when they, are offered. Attend them regularly and reap the en joyment and artistic enlightenment which these performers and lecturers will offer this year. Cat. No. 4608 Construction work is big business. The other day I looked with starry-eyed amazement at the enormous strength possessed by a giant, monster-like caterpillar busy pillaging, ploughing, uprooting trees, rocks and anything that stood in its way—all for the pro gress of a new modern highway. Marvelous indeed are the man made machines which transform before our eyes entire tracts of land, with their accompanying natural obstacles, into smooth, beautiful highways which will advance the efficient travel of an entire city. But, even more astounding than our caterpillar friend in its capacity for. efficient, progressive work is the human mind, filled with thoughts, ideas, dreams, and potential plans for new adventures and endeavors. As Spelman students this year, we have before us a great chal lenge to advance these new ideas, to work positively in an effort to create for ourselves and for our school a vigorous, energetic driving intellectual force working always to fulfill its potentialities and even to enlarge upon these potentialities. Of course, such a goal will be difficult to attain unless each student recognizes certain fun damental requirements for its success. First of all, there must be cooperation if a strong, lively, alert intellectual community is to be created. We must work together for the progressive development of our school. Self respect and respect for others sound, I am sure, like hackneyed phrases, but surprisingly, if they are practiced and become traits, almost any goal can be achieved. Call it magic, maybe it is, but it works. Kindness and helpfulness, too, are keys in this cooperative work. Give words of encouragement to your classmates who show abilities in performing certain tasks. Unselfishly offer you services to those who need them and work cheerfully with these persons to achieve great things. Secondly, we must exhibit our intellectual curiosity. We are na turally adventurous. We are curious. We are anxious to find some thing, to delve into the unexplored. But, sometimes, we allow our selves to become stagnant in our inquisitiveness. Like the cater pillar, however, we must overcome these obstacles in order to progress. To start, question everything which does not seem to be based on rationality. Criticize those theories which do not measure up. Work, then, for revision of the theories or the devel opment of new ones, having at all times positive goals and re presentative proposals which will develop our school and its students. Then, there must be a willingness and a desire on the part of all of us to work hard for the realization of these goals. In the months ahead, the student body under the leadership of our presi dent, Betty Stevens, and the SSGA officers will strive to attain great things for Spelman. The greatest of these by far is the development of a keen awareness on the part of students of their role in the success of the college, their role as true Spelmanites in this tireless effort to bring to Spelman a spirit of intellectual fervor, a spirit which our college must have if it is to succeed. Plough under. Dig in, freshmen, for Spelman is your school, too. Let Cat, No. 4608 be an example and success is ours. Ida Rose McCree .5f’om ^Jlie DR. A. E. MANLEY Statement of Purpose For 1963-64 By A. E. Manley It is my pleasure to greet the new members of the Spelman family at the beginning of the 1963-1964 academic year and to submit a statement of purpose for your consideration. Few problems are receiving more attention by educators in terested in higher education than those involved in the experien ces students have as they part icipate in the teaching-learning situation. Even to the casual ob server it is evident that the tran sition from the secondary school into the college is a major event in the average student’s life. The environment of the college makes severe demands on young people, most of whom have not yet developed the skills and re sources for facing and solving basic problems of physical, men tal, social, and emotional adjust ment. There is little wonder, then, that in the face of such difficulties, many students who eagerly present themselves to our college in September return home before or at the end of the school year, perplexed, dis illusioned, and defeated. Acad emic failure is usually given as the cause for failure, though there are instances when far more complex causes are re sponsible for the failure of stu dents. In some instances, malad justments involving physical de fects, emotional disturbances, personality difficulties, lie be neath the surface manifestations of academic failure. Maladjust ments related to ideals, attitudes, appreciations, environmental con ditions may be involved. Caught in this whirl of events, the stu dent sometimes flounders and fails to make passing grades. While a great many students are defeated in their efforts to acquire a college education, it is noted that many others face the problems of college life and handle them successfully. During the 1963-64 academic year, it is planned to have an agenda for faculty-staff-student meetings consisting of topics which would bring a large num ber and variety of judgments to bear on problems of the student with special reference to teacher- staff-student relationships. Act ing on the belief that such dis cussions would be fruitful to teachers, staff members, and stu dents, several questions may be explored. Can certain areas of maladjustment be isolated through a more careful study of intelli gence, achievement, and aptitude tests? Is a combination of high school grades and aptitude tests a better predictor of college suc cess than the use of tests alone? What are some of the major fac tors relating to the success and failure of college students? What | is the teacher’s, the head resi- dent’s and the student leader’s responsibility to the total devel opment of the student? How can students be encouraged to part icipate fully in the wide variety of cultural and extra-curricular activities on the campuses of the Atlanta University Center and in the City of Atlanta? How should academic differences in students be treated? How can the dilemma resulting from, the conflict be tween college tradition and cul tural background of the student be treated? How can audio visual aids be used effectively in providing for a program of enrichment of teaching and re creation on the college level? What relationships between the faculty, administration, and stu dent body would best promote the objectives of the college, es pecially desirable teacher-staff- student relationships? It is my opinion that a study of these questions might suggest answers to fundamental problems of our college. Moreover, it is my belief that even tentative answers to some of these questions would contribute to greater efficiency in teaching, counseling, and stu dent participation in the educa tive process, greater stimulation of students with ability, and arousal of potentialities of other students. I am, therefore, urging ail j members of faculty, staff, and studentr body to place special em phasis on the problems noted above during this academic year, for if every member of the Spel man family will participate in a group interested in developing or studying one of these topics, I believe that the program of the College will be carried for ward, and better teacher-staff- student relations will be devel oped as a result. 3, rom DEAN CHIVERS Greetings To The Freshmen of 1963 For you the time is ripe!! All over America thousands of anxious freshmen will enter col leges for the first time this year and begin a new venture. This venture can be compared to the Parable of the Sower who hope fully planted his crop; but some of the seed fell “by the wayside,” some “fell on a rock,” some, “among thorns;” and others “on good ground.” In applying this analogy let us say that the Master Hand has planted two hundred promising hearts here at Spel man. Will some fall “by the wayside;” that is, will there be some whose purposes will be diverted by false advice, by complainers, by negative atti tudes, so much so that their motivating drive becomes sc dulled that they become those (Continued on page 3) He who knows not and knows not that he knows not is a fool —avoid him! He who knows and knows not that he knows is asleep—waken him! He who knows not and knows that he knows not wants beating —beat him! But he who knows and knows that he knows is a wise man— know him! —Proverb It is not how long, but how well we live. —John Ray When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, a hun dred. —Thomas Jefferson We are all born for love. It is the principle of existence, and its only end. Men are but children of a large growth. —John Drydeh Some marry in haste, and then sit down and think it over. —Josh Billings (Henry W. Shaw) Aire. ^ Soph<e- - home, s/rr/c -Aor- *5he ( .s our coo/c.