OCTOBER 1,, 1969

CHANGES NEEDED

going dramatic changes as the participation and influ- ence of organized faculty, student, and nonaacademic groups has increased, as new outside coordinating groups have berm formed, and as politicians and the public have taken a new interest in higher education.

One set of criticisms con- cerns the staff available for undergraduate instruction in the Arts and Sciences. Most faculty members are highly specialized professionals who are strongly oriented toward their disciplines. Many are interested in the teaching of their subjects rather than in the broad intellectual and moral growth of students as- person's. In the case of U.P.E.I. we do have these people, but we have another type which insist-s they are the experts in what is to be taught, how it’s to be taught etc., and students are little more than guinea pigs for their “expert” mastermind- ings. These people constitute much that is bad within the university and indeed pres- cribe more of the same in the future —— a future not ham- pered by student feelings, etc.

But there is One aspect of academic life that has not changed very much. That is, the education of undergrad- uates. While much lip ser- vice is given to innovation, new technology, and the like, most teaching still centers around the textbook, lectures, close supervision of the students credits, and grades. Whatever gain has been made in effectiveness of instruction has o cc u rr ed through increased rigor of standards, improved motiva- tion, of students, better sec- ondary preparation, and im proved qualifications of fac- ulty, not through improve- ment of instructional meth- ods.

The University, though it gives lip service to under- graduate teaching, actually gives much higher priority to professional and public recog- nition of its faculty through research, scholarships, and public service. (Although it is doubtful if U.P.E.I. is as guilty as other institutions). The influence of the profes sional guilds, is also towards research. At U.P.E.I. some departments continually ig- nore establishing a healthy rapport with undergraduates, but seek to keep the student “dowri on the farm”; this Statement is supported by faculty reps to Senate who shout down students having a larger say in University gov- ernment. However let’s rise above this activity of a small, Insignificant band of j “inth lectual(?) George Wallace’s (“The Student as. Nigger”) bent on downgrading a. coop-

erative effort of students?

faculty - administration to Create a better university and eventually a better Worldl

Another set of criticisms concerns the intellectual con~

em and curricula of liberal ’

education. It is said that the CUTr‘iculum, despite the rhe tone in the calendars, is over- whelmingly professional or Dre-professional in its em- Dhasis. Even the general edu- cation movement that became Popular after World War II

appears to have about peter- ed out largely because of fac- ulty preoccupation with dis— ciplines and professions. The goal of most courses and cur- ricula is simply to convey the essential elements of a discip- line, rather than to develop students as persons. The curriculum has little impact on the life, values, goals, feelings and deeds of a stud- ent. By concentrating on con- ventional disciplines, it fails to come to grips with the universal problems of human life and with the great issues

of our time, which do not fall

neatly into line. From the point of View of the student, the curriculum often seems sterile and irrelevant, fails to motivate him, or even re- pels him.

The curriculum emphasizes the rational and scientific to the virtual exclusion of intui- tive, or an other approach to “truth”, to the neglect of the moral (and illi- mension of education.

Even the Humanities and Social Studies have become technical and pseudo-scienti— fic fields to the near exclu- sion of the great moral and policy issues at hand. The curriculum is spiritually imL poverish-ed 'at a time when young people are grasping for meaning, and at a time when colleges and universi- ties are the principle centers surviving in our society for moral and! spiritual inquiry.

The essential form of the curriculum tends to be stand)- ardized for all students—not only in one institution but also throughout the nation! Except for certain honors programs and selective sec- tioning of courses involving only a few students, and a handful of experimental col- leges, the possibility of diver- sification for students of dif- fering talents and temper- ments is Woefully limited.

Curriculum reform is us- ually carried on in a psycho logical vacuum because it does not consider students, their motives, aspirations, mode of learning, personality, and character development; it considers only discipline and bodies of knowledge.

I ask my conservative ac- quaintances, “What a bo ut Parity on Curriculum Plann ing Committees? why not?

» why are you afraid? is it be

cause the Emperor really doesn’t have clothes on???”

I feel these statements must be spoken to by facul- ty and administration—stud ents must also speak out for their future; after all who does have a larger stake in this university — faculty or students? ? ? ?

The urgency to answer this questiOn arises from the fundamental changes occur-

‘ing in the temper or spirit of

our society. A m o n g these

- CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

changes are the widespread concern about the pressing social problems of war, race, poverty, pollution, etc: The determine drive of - m a n y groups in our society (espec- ially the young) for greater freedom andhights and for participation in decisions af- fecting them; the rise of philosophies alien to the ra- tional and scientific approach to knowledge and to life; the increased yearning for ralia- ble valeus, relevant to life in an affluent, automated econo- my. These changes add- up to a clear demand for liberal education, they also call un- mistakably for reform of the content and method of that education as it has beenprac— ticed for the fifty years.

The price of failing to cor- rect past deficiencies and to adapt to new needs and con- ditions will be apathy, rebel- lion, or both, on the part of student, frustration on the part of faculty, and failure of the university to serve so— ciety in our primary function

How will we meet the chal~ lenges of educational reform, I cannot answer this question fully, but I do have a few suggestions, they are:

1. Give greater recognition to teaching and educational ins novations as tried by indivi- dual professors.

2. Play down the over dom- inant role of Professors’ pres- tige due to" research versus creative innovation.

3. Expose the folly of uni- versity prestige! Profession- al prestige is the motive force of a. University. Prestige for a university corresponds to profit for a. corporation. The vanity of the caademic world is hardly surpassed by that of any other field! with the possible exceptions of show business and politics. Stud.- ents are the victims of this vanity.

4. The concern of educators must be shifted to the growth of young men and women as emotional and moral as Well as intellectual persons. The curriculum should be nudged towards less emphasis on the scientific-rational and more on the pursuit of true know- ledge and a development of values necessary for a suc cessful response to our gene erational challenges.

5. Students should be given greater responsibility for their learning and the rigid “Do—as-you-are-told” system characterized by the course- gradreucredit-prerequisites for students to follow their inter- est an-d curiosity, and to ash sume increasing responsibil- ity for their own learning.

6. Divise a system that

makes independent learning a higher goal, preferably the highest. Make higher educa- tion more exploratory and ex- perimental in its approach.

201 WEYMOUTH STREET

when those little things happen

‘FALL’S AUTO BODY

COME To Us — — WE CARE

CHARLOTTETOWN

UNIVERSITY‘O‘F PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

7. Involve students to a much higher degree than present in all decisionqmaking processes. Seek to build a feeling among students that our university (in this case) knows where it is going and has a perspec- tive.

PAGE 7

If these proposals are con- sidered as part of an attempt to analyze our present system then I feel the obvious answer is student participatio non a fifty-fifty basis with faculty and administration.

(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3)

LETTERS

was a forcedl showdown be- tween the opposing support- ers of the two names in whrch those upholding the “Cadre” eked out a shoddy victory “over their opponents.

And why should we con- cern ourselves with such trivalities? Such procedure exhibited by the manner in which the selection goes even deeper than being a personal insult to each student at this university. A practice like this delves into the very bowels of principal. If our football team cannot choose its own name why can our newspaper choose its name? U.P.E.I.S.U. money runs the football team and seven thou- sand five hundred dollars of our money runs the news- paper. We also supply it with its offices and are responsible in the long run for any debts it may incur. So why don’t we have some say as to what title it will masquerade und- er? Are we going to allow our democratic rightts as students of this university to be eroded from under our feet or do we do something about it? Do we let this so—called “staff democracy” stuff this issue down our throast with—

out first examining and/0r

accepting or rejecting it.

It is not the name itself that leaves itself open to cri- ticism but the manner in which it was chosen. Since nothing is official until it is accepted until a majority de- cision is reached it is up to we the students to accept, re- ject, or suggest new alterna- tives. Do we petition for a

I referendum on this subject

or do we allow a smug min- ority to force their personal decisions on an unsuspecting majority? The answer rests on the individual responsibil- ity of each and every one of

US.

For further

THE CARD SHOP

In Downtown Charlottetown has in Stock Coles & Forum Notes —.- Study Outlines Peripheral Reading Material Good Bucks of all Kinds Also Greeting Cards, Art Supplies Stationery & School Supplies

THE CARD SHOP

‘ 138 GREAT GEORGE ST. DOWNTOWN CHARLOTTETOWN

CROSSROADS AFRICA

FOR A DIFFERENT S

WHY NOT CON

Come and meet Leona McQuaid next Thursday,

Nov. 6 at 8 pm. in Duffy Auditorium, who will speak of her experiences in Ghana this summer.

information contact Terry , Room 41, Main Building, Malpeque or call 2-1419.

Woman Power!

The position of most peo~ ple in North American soc- iety today is basically one of oppression i.e. he is not able for one reason or another the type of environment he wishes to live in. The posi- tion of women is one of dou- ble jeopardy in that she is oppressed again because of her sex. Women are treated as objects to be possessed, mindless bodies to be looked at. Beauty contests are a good example of this. They are very similar to a cattle auc- tion. What is sad is that girls like to take part in this type of competition. It seems that they wish to prove that they can sell themselves bet- ter than the next girl. I rea- lize that this is a little crude of me. I don’t want to sug- gest that the girls actually consider that they are selling themselves, but this is what makes the scene all the sad- der. Women do not even ques- tion the role they play in so ciety. They never ask if there is more to life than being a baby factory and a house wife.

In considering the position position of women and? why they so readily accept their position, I would like to look at the role education plays in the process. My thoughts on the matter are fairly summed up in the following quote from a policy statement made at the last C.U.S. congress regarding the status of wom- en: “From her entry into primary school until her gra duration from high school or university, a woman is in- structed that the only reality for her, and the fulfilment of that reality, is as a wife and mother.

I hope that the girls at this campus will take a close look at the role they play now and the role that will be expected of them in the fut: ure. If you find that you agree with the analysis that you found in this editorial, than you should do some- thing about it.

PHONE 4-9974

UMMER NEXT YEAR SIDE‘R AFRICA

Ross