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March 19, 1968 • THE MERCER CLUSTER • 6
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ROTC Credit Question Up
The question of whether to give!
academic credit for compulsory
HOTU looms before the Furman
(acuity in the next few weeks or
days.
The newly-created Academic
1’rogrom Committee, designed to
implement the "new curriculum”
has decided that further study of
(he HOTC issue is necessary.
Coder provisions of the revised
curriculum, slated to take effect
next fall, each male would take two
courses of military science for no
academic credit.
Deun Francis W. Bonner, chair
man of the Academic Program
Committee is leading the move to
reinstate basic ROTC academic
credit.
"We feel there is no effective way
of teaching ROTC with giving cred
it," Bonner told the PALADIN this
week. The committee was scheduled
to meet with the Curriculum Com
mittee this week in order to put the
question further before the faculty
at large.
In answer to questions raised last
semester concerning the validity of
teaching compulsory military
science in a liberal arts curriculum,
Bonner announced complete revis
ion of the basic courses. The first
course deals with military history,
with half of the lectures coming
from history department members
and the remainder from Army per
sonnel specifically trained to teach
the course.
The second course would deal
with “the nature of national pow
er" and would include lectures from
professors of economics, sociology,
psychology, and other areas as well
as from the special Army teachers.
Under the new curriculum, stu
dents take a total of 32 courses at
Furman. Eight of these are elec
tives; if military science is given
academic credit, a male student
would have to use two of his elec
tives in scheduling military science.
Bonner pointed out that Furman
will not use the expermiental ROTC
program outlined above next year
unless credit is given for the two
courses. If the non-credit plan is
not revised, Furman will probably
continue the present program, pos
sibly reduced somewhat in scope
and time .
But Bonner wil not have an
easy time convincing some mem
bers of the faculty that compul
sory ROTC should carry credit
The PALADIN sought out sev
eral teachers’ opinions on the
issue and found these results.
Some professors feel that giving
credit for the two required courses
disturbs the balance of the new cur
riculum. By requiring two courses,
they argue, the school is requiring
a man to take twice as much work
in military as in history or religion
(only one course is required in each
area).
Also, the question of electives is
mentioned. A student lias eight
electives; if credit is given for basic
ROTC, two elective courses are
used up. If the student then takes
the two advanced military courses
(for which credit will be given) he
has spent half his electives in mili
tary—the liberal arts professors do
not like this.
One professor questioned whether
Furman should submit to such fed
eral control; this, he said, is an ex
cellent example of control follow
ing aid.
In addition the question of who
controls the curriculum was raised.
Dean Bonner's approval of the new
courses in basic military, which re
quire credit given, without consult
ing the faculty was criticized, since
the faculty voted in favor of elimi
nating credit when the new curricu
lum was approved.
The basic question raised by pro
fessors, however, was whether Fur
man can claim to offer a rounded,
liberal arts education when requir
ing a student to spend more time in
military than in other courses, and
allowing a student to take half his
electives in one area.
One professor suggested that
new ideas may be needed He
mentioned the possibility of re
quiring one basic ROTC course
and drill for two years.
If the Curriculum Committee has
acted upon the ROTC question in
time, the faculty may vote on the
issue at their Monday meeting.
However, professors pointed out
that the committee may desire de
bate on the matter before making a
recommendation.
Pass-Fail; Does It Work?
Ann Arbor, Mich. — (l.P.) — If you’re an “A” student,
you find it hard to change your study habits to earn only a
“C” grade — even when that’s all that is necessary and all you
want to achieve.
This seems to be the result of an
experimental “pass-fail” option
adopted by the University of Mich
igan College of Literature, Science,
and the Arts.
Beginning last winter, seniors
were permitted to take one course
outside their major fie)d of study
on a pass-fail basis, with the credits
to count toward graduation but not
toward their final grade-point aver
age. This year the faculty has ex
tended the privilege to junior stu
dents as well. In general, students
have welcomed the innovation as
giving them a chance for academic
exploration.
Bat compilation of grades
achieved by 178 of the 203 students
who took advantage of the option in
its first year indicates that the
“good students” did their usual
level of work in the pass-fail coarse.
The pass-fail students were in the
same classes as students taking the
cnmw under the traditional grad
ing and credit system.
The instructor gave all students
the traditional letter grades, but for
those enrolled on a pass-fail basis,
the registrar recorded only “pass”
for those making C or better, and
“fail” for those getting D’s or E's.
Of the 178 students, 98.6 per cent
passed their courses. If grades had
been given, 19.6 per cent would
have received A's, 68 per cent B’s,
21 per cent C’s, 1 per cent D’s, and
.5 per cent E's.
The level of performance of the
pass-fail students in the courses
was similar to their general grade
point average for all work taken in
the University. In other words, A
students continued to make A’s.
Charles Pascal, a research asso
ciate who conducted the study for
the Center for Research on Learn
ing and Teaching, comments: “We
were surprised that students were
not adept at playing this new aca
demic game.”
He said that even though the stu
dents sought only to achieve a C, or
j-— ! -y level, their previous years of
“academic conditioning" made it
difficult if not impossible to do so.
The students themselves were sur
prised, he says. One pass-fail stu
dent expressed it this way;
“I'm trying hard not to work and
I still made a B-plus on the mid
term exam. I find myself trying to
do the minimum amount of work
to get a C. Otherwise I am frus
trated that I am wasting time in t^e
(pass-fail) course that I could be
spending on the otlier courses (in
which graded are recorded).”
Pascal recommends pass-fail sec
tions, in which all students are en
rolled on the pass-fail system. He
cites the example of “two lonely
mathematics majors" who enrolled
in a course in the history of art on
a pass-fail basis.
Since at least a third of the stu
dents in the class were “majors” in
history of art, the math students
not only were out of their depth,
but felt compelled to respond to the
competitive pressure for grade
achievement, he points out.
America Moves to Socialism
by Keith King
The American society is giving
up constitutional rights and indivi
dual freedoms so that general wel
fare of the members of this society
can be insured by the government.
This condition is not fully develop
ed yet of course, but it's beginning
to take hold. The feeling is there,
and man is placing security above
his constitutional rights and indivi
dual freedoms.
The American society is very
concerned with general welfare in
terms of physical safety. An excel
lent example of this is the concern
for the toll of lives taken on the
highways of this nation. The facts
and figures of the people killed and
injured are continuously drummed
into the American society. This
has created a feeling calling for
something to be done.
WesCeyan Correspondent
Stunt Night March 8
From an evening when students entertained each other
with amateur interpretations of original songs, Wesleyan Col
lege Stunt Night has evolved into an evening of highly polished
musical comedy productions.
“Class Day,” first observed dur
ing the early 1900’s, brought stu
dents to the Pierce Chapel of old
Wesleyan, dressed in costumes and
prepared to sing several popular
songs for the other classes. In the
1920’s, the event had become a
night of skits presented to the stu
dent body by various organizations.
In those days, however, the Wes-
leyannes were not allowed to wear
men’s clothing, and they weren’t
allowed to dance.
In the 1930’s, the winning class
was first presented the Stunt Cup,
This cup bore the winning classes’
names for 33 years, and in 1963, it
was retired by the freshman class.
Since then, a newer and larger cup
is awarded to the winning class.
In November of this year, each
class elected six girls to write, di
rect and produce a 30 minute stunt
Each stunt was written in secrecy
and will remain a secret from the
other classes until the dress rehear
sal before Stunt Night
Three weeks before Stunt Night,
the committees read the scripts to
their class and began casting the
parts. From then until the actual
performance, students will be paint
ing backdrops, learning lines and
revising them, making costumes,
and rehearsing original songs and
dances.
Besides giving the students an
opportunity to work together on a
common project. Stunt Night
serves a very practical purpose.
The proceeds from ticket sales pro
vide scholarships for students se
lected from the rising senior class.
Morals of Society: Yes or No
by Michael Rainer
Societies, with their mores and
morals, always impose codes of be
havior on their members. Many of
the rules of these codes are not con
sidered to be legally wrong, but
morally wrong. These societies
punish their members who do not
follow a certain ethical code. But
does a society have the right to im
pose morals and punish its mem
bers for not obeying them? If those
individuals who break the moral
code do not harm other members
of the society, does that society
have the right to condemn those
individuals or their acts?
The morals of a particular socie
ty change with each generation.
The morals that exist today are
are not the same as those that were
in existence ten years ago. Today
the adolescent generation speaks
out for free love, free marijuana,
and free speech while the older
generation cries out for the morals
of yesterday. But each generation
in history has invented its own ethi
cal beliefs from its earlier years of
rebellion
Morals also differ from one so
ciety to another. Morals are that
which is considered to be right or
wrong by the society in which one
lives. In the United States it is
morally wrong to commit suicide
while in Japan ethical teachs it is
quite an honorable death. Who is
unbiased enough to say which code
of behavior is better? Obviously one
society cannot be judged by an
other’s code.
The ethical beliefs of each gene
ration and each society are formed
and destroyed by the collective
thoughts of individuals. But if an
individual decides not to follow the
teachings of his society then he is
punished. He may become an out
cast or be ridiculed or satirized.
But does society have the right to
impose morals upon its individual
members? No a society does not
have that right. When the personal
moral beliefs of an individual do
not harm another member of socie
ty, this society has absolutely no
right to impose any rules on that
individual. Morals differ for each
generation ami society and no one
can say which moral code is best.
No one but the individual knows
what is right for himself and there
fore, no society has the right to
.force an individual to conform to
an imposed moral code.
Programs that urge the public to
be careful are not really successful
People just ignore the advice given,
and agree that something must be
done. So they turn to the govern
ment and look to it for protection
The government finds out that
safer can could be built and re
quires safety features. If it stopped
here it would not be so bad. But ac
cording to a CBS special, “The Na
tional Driver’s Test," over 80% of
the public thought that the govern
ment should require the auto com
panies to add more features to
make the can even more safi
Some even thought that the govern
ment should regulate design and
power of the engine. And now
there is just one of the many signs
that will mark the beginning of the
end for free enterprise and other
constitutional rights.
The American society is also con
cerned with the general welfare of
the unfortunate. The riots and pro
tests have all brought attention to a
condition which has existed since
the beginning of civilization. This
must be what Marx meant by the
great revolutions. Of course it is
not often looked at as a socialistic
revolution. Who in America would
think that the recent concern for
sharing the wealth and the realiza
tion that one man should not ex
ploit another is a rejection of cap-
itolism and a taste of the socialis
tic welfare state Marx predicted?
All that the people realize is that
the general welfare of the nation is
being extended. They don’t realize
that they don't have the decision to
spend the money they earned as
they wish. Instead, much of this
money is given to the unproductive
to reward their unproductiveness
Of course its not always like this;
in most cases the help is really
needed. But it seems that the tradi
tional Christian virtue of charity is
now a function of the state, and
that some of our personal rfeedoms
have vanished because we handed
someone else this responsibility.
These are only two examples
One could have used others; the
wanted gun laws prohibiting our I
right to own arms, the efforts o(
some to require products to be
canned in the same size containers
with similar labels of the same
color, or the government control o(
hospital and education. The trend [
is clear; there is no other conclu
sion. The United States is movinj I
with leaps and bounds into socia
lism. It all seems to be based on the
idea that the individual must be I
protected from the society in whick I
he lives, and to achieve this he must I
be fitted into a neat little groove [
with no freedom to harm others I
This might be putting it tool
strongly and the statement ia gens-1
ralizing. But maybe one must say I
it in this manner in order to stl
least show people what is happen-1
ing to their government.
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