~ 9 * Populat

.The Senate Committee to Examine the Objectives of University Education in P.E.I. is at its halfway pdint right now. For the past few months they have been meeting with different public groups throughout the Island and from talking to people‘whoiparticipated in these discussions I found that they were excited at the fact that the un— iversity was asking for their suggestions and ideas. One person said to me that even though the committee did listen to their sugg- estions, she wondered if that was all - would their suggestions become reality or stay just that, suggest? ions. ’

‘ Now it is our turn, the faculty and students of U.P.E.I., to get their two cents worth in to the comm— ittee. I am all for the purpose of the committee at this our most critical point of our young university.

We have just about stifled the religous dissentions that have haunted our grow- th and now we (meaning the university community) are heading dowthhe road to the city of the established universities. This is where everything should stop. Just think about it. Is this the road we want to follow? Is U.P.E.I. going to be- come another "traditional university"? U. of Toronto, U.B.C., McGill, Carleton, Dalhousie, do we want‘to follow the.crowd and boast' only of academic excellence in order to become one of the best.

I'll be the first to admit.

that I once held these institutions as those rest- ing in the right\hand of God. I thought U.P.E.I. was just a stepping stone for admittance to theSe epitomies of greater acqu- ired knowledge. But when you find yourself sitting in a lecture hall-with 500 other people and you don't understand which end is up V in the course, you stop and realize just how lucky You were at U.P.E.I.Here, most of the time I've found, we, as students you can go to our professors and at least get straightened out about the course, plus you have a 70 -30 chance that the prof will remember Your name the next time he sees you. - x

The siZe of the population at an institution and the student faculty ratio has a great bearing on how ‘

students and faculty will evaluate their years at a university. At U.P.E.I. we are fortunate enough to have a small student and faculty population. Alot of people think this is terrible since the "great" univer- sities have populations in the thousands. What this small-population does is actually set the stage for an educational experience that could challenge all existing forms of univer— sity education in North America. With the populat- ion, the people and the province could have the greatest form of post sec- ondary education ever wit- nessed. Instead of the students and faculty going

_through the "motions" of

education, they could really

"experience"it. Imagine g01ngvout to the

people of P.E.I. and learn- ing from them about their experiences, their problems: their solutions. These people of the community would ben- efit by being included and the university would benefit most of all by having all this experience and willing- ness at their disposal. Re— search for any dicipline could be done in this manner. Instead of sweating needless— ly over a term paper you know nothing about and will prob— ably never think of again

anyway, why not do some— thing that will give a little satisfaction. I'm sure ' professors know whether or not a student puts a little of himself into a paper.

No wonder professors some— times feel that their att- empts at teaching are really an exercise in futility._ Just think, oh learned mem- bers of the faeuity, how your jobs could take on a new light if you realized that your students were act-

‘ually interested in the

content of your course. Students and faculty could work together on re- search projects instead of against each other which is the case now — one fight- ing to get marks and the other fighting not to give them. Each could help the other and thus develop a person to person contact, each interested in what,

how and why the other is doing

something in a particular field.

To some people this may sound like an educational Utopia. But let's put it all together. The University is looking for direction after six years of getting off the ground. The university is looking for everybody's opinions and suggestions to gain direction for the coming years.

First of all, look at

~ ' 4~ . THE cAbRE, OCTOBER 8, 1974, PAGE 5

ion doesn’t make a univefs'tty

what we have now (remember— ing there's something good in everything). Then look at what others have and what they have done with them. Lastly - look at your find- ingS' and judge them on a human viewpoint, your own personal viewpoint and how the future could affect

you as a person. Even though _it seems that everything around us is turning tech- 'nological and automatic, always remember that only two humans can make another human and a machine will never be able to.compensate for the human touch.

To the Committee on ob- jectives — As a committee you have been asking people questions, you have heard those people talking to you. Your récommendations will come from people and as people you will write them for other people to read. Your recommendations and possible implementation of them in the future will be for the benefit of people. Don't lose the human touch. These days that can easily happen.

This weeks "Poke in the Ribs" goes to Rennie who became upset when he heard there wasn't going to be a "Poke in the Ribs" this week. Gotcha - Renaldo.

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