PAGE' TWO
HE DAIILY COLLEGIAN
"For A Better Penn State"
::•:.'ri , :c:m3or to the Penn Stat. 7
FAitablished t 940
Published daily elt,:ept Sunday and Monday during titd.
;regular College year by the students of The Pennsylvania.
State College. Enter!.l as second-class matter July 5, 1934
at; the Post-offi , o at .‘i,9.1.1:e College, Pa., under the aet, or.
March 8, 1879.
• Editor Bus.. and Adv. Mgr.
Ross Lehman "42. James McCaughey "4.
Editorial and Buoine:43 0 C fic,!
313 Old Matn 131(hr. .
Phone 711
Managing' Editor Thi,, E5:31.1 , 1
liews Editor This Issue _ .
Women's Editor This
Graduate Counselor _
Wednesday, October 8, 1941
A Freshman Unit
Make Up his Mind
Westbrook Pegler recently published a letter
:of , a freshman in college. This letter, Pegler
says, was not from the boy whom they call Dun
my, who is a cheap and shiftless little cynic with
.a mind and spirit fed on scandal and swing; but
the other one, who is a freshman and has written
to his mother. It merits repetition and follows:
• The son of George Spelvin, American—not the
"one they call Dummy, who is a cheap and shift-
less little cynic with a mind and spirit fed -on
scandal and swing, but the other one, who is a
'freshman at college—has written a letter to his
»aother as follows:
. "I received a very bedraggled letter from you
yesterday. Have you taken to chewing your let :
ters before you mail them or am I to blame this
laceration on the post office?
• "I have selected my room for next year and
made out my schedule of courses. Our room is
very nice, but there is much doubt that I shall
ever occupy this room.
"There is considerable talk of war here. It is,
in fact, the principal topic of conversation at
table now, as never before. The • question now
is when rather than whether. So there is con
siderable bother in my mind. Of those who are
taking the military science course only the best
will be accepted into the advanced course, be
ginning junior year. I have only been doing D
work in this course, so this obviously lets me out.
For this reason I have decided not to take the
course next year, as the elementary course by it
self is worth nothing as far as the draft or any
preferment in the army itself goes.
"As far as the summer job goes, I am not going
to let it stand in the way of this thing. Few of us
feel that we will get through more than next
year, if that.. New draft legislation and things
'coming up make it look as if our sophomore year
will be our last, and, although I try to make plans
as if I were going to stay four years. personally,
I don't think so.
"The whOle thing is that I am really terribly
confused. I don't know what to think and, be
cause there's no surety of any kind of future,
can't plan. I am utterly unable to make up my
.mind, and, all in all, it .is a most unpleasant af
fair. I feel that I ought to spend my summer
in something that would be really profitable, not
in the way of experience for a future job or and
thing like that.. but rather something that will
get me ahead in the Army, when I go.
"Senator Nye was up here the other day preach
ing the cause of peace. It was strange how angry
his speech made me. The ostrich over again.
He spent his time denouncing the New Deal and
declaring that this was not our war and that we
:would be fools to make again the same mistakes
of 1917, as if the situation were exactly the same.
"I realize that this is a very chaotic sort of
letter, but I. am sort of chaotic myself these days.
Really, I don't want any part of this beastly
business. I want for years or more of college.
I want to read good books and get a good liberal
education. I want to learn to appreciate the fine
.things in life. I am just beginning to realize
what a storehouse there. is in the Past. It is as
if I had just caught a glimpse through the key
hole of a great world. I am suddenly consumed
with a great passion to learn. There are literally
scores of courses I want to take. I want to study
music, drama, art (from a comprehensive rather
than a productive view), philosophy, other lan
guages, psycology (spelled better than that, I
trust).
"I want to write. I want to read, travel, do
things. Dammit, I want to live.
"I cannot imagine what has produced this very
glum letter from one who was supposed to .cheer
you up. It may be the reaction to the war news
in the papers and to many individual worries of
my friends."
Having read the letter, Mrs. Spelvin, Ameri
can, went off to a corner and worried. but her
other son, Dummy, said he was practically set.
He is ilximt band touring the L'anips to
Downtown Office
119-121 South Frazier St
Phone 4372
_ Herbert J. Zukauskaa
_Donald W. Davis. Jr.
Edith 1.. Smith
LouLft. Bell
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111i
THE FACULTY
SAYS
tra
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HAROLD. P. ZELKO
Instructor In Public Speaking
Much has been said of late, and rightly so, about
student-faculty relations at Penn State. The re
cent appointment of a committee to study methods
of improving these relations is a significant move
in the right direction. But it is very difficult to
determine where this improvement should start
and in what direction it should move, largely be
cause the causes of the condition are complex
and confusing.
Students can easily accuse the faculty of being
at fault and the faculty in , turn' can' blame the
student body. But this gets us nowhere. Let
us assume that there is room for improvement in
both quarters. Certainly the faculty recognizes
its shortcomings along this line. -
I propose to dwell briefly here on what ap
pears to. me to be a basic cause for. the poor
relationship—a cause which steins rather de-
finitely from the student body. I speak of the
time-worn tradition which has come to be known
as apple-polishing. To me, the practice of apple
polishing is not a bad one. On the contrary, a
student discussing his course or other problems
with his• instructor before or after class, in the
classroom, in an office, at the instructor's home,
en.the campus, in front of the Corner, or wherever
else it might be, is an ambassador for better stud
ent-fadulty relations.
One major fallacy in the student's mind in con
demning the practice is to assume that the facul-'
ty always looks upon this as apple-polishing. You
give your faculty little credit jf you think they
have no power of discernment regarding the
evaluation of a student who so converses with
them.
The point is this. How can we expect to pro.-
mote better student-faculty relations while this
mysterious stigma of "apple-polisher" is hurled
at students by their fellows for doing the very
thing we are trying to • promote? My proposal,
therefore, is this. Let's all talk with our in
structors more outside the classroom. Call it
apple-polishing, conversation, bull-session or
what you Will . • . but let's do it!
I pi•opoSe an Rini-Apple-Polishing Campaign
(i.e. anti- the term only) which might get started
through the medium of an Anti-Apple-Polishing
Week. During this week students would make
'it a point to talk freely with their instructors out
side the classroom and vice-versa. We might
have planned programs to promote studenf-fa
culty relations in other ways during this week.
We might, as a matter of fact, spend the week
concentrating on doing all we can to know each
other better. Perhaps after that we might have
broken down this vicious traditional attitude of
the student body, and one of the strongest bar
riers to good student-facUlty relations will have
been eliminated or at least Weakened.
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CAMPUS CALENDAR
TODAY
Rehearsal, Glee 'Club ; 10 Sparks,
7 p• m.,
Thespian tryouts in Little Thea
tre, Old Slain, 7 p. m.. •
"Cider Feed" jar all electrical
engineering students, especially
freshmen, EE building, 7:30 p. m.
.PSCA freshman project corn
mittee meets, 304 Old Main, 4:15
p. m.
DMA 'Central Council meeting,
305 - Old Main, 7 rp. In.
PSCA Community Service com
mittee meets in Penn State in
China room, 7 p. m.
PSCA Speakers and Public
Meetings committee meets in Hugh
Beaver room, 7 p. m. •
Sophomore men editorial candi
dates for the Collegian, 312 Old
Main, 4 p.
Sophomores and juniors play
hockey, Holmes Field, 4 p. m.
Badminton Club, 2 White Hall,
6:30 D. m.
Bowling .Club, White Hall alleys,
6:30 p. m.
Bridge Club, Recreation Room,
White Hall, 6:30 p. m.
Rifle Club, Rifle ',Range, White
Hall, 6:30 p. m.
Archery Club, 3 White Hall,
6:30 p. rn.
Honorary Badminton Club, 3
White Hall, 7* •
PSCA , freshman forum publicity
committee meets in 304 Old Main,
6:30 p. m.
Meeting of Alpha Lambda Delta
in , 220 Mac Hall, at 5 p. M.
TOMORROW
Swimming Club, White Hall
pool, 7 p. m.
(Meeting of all candidates for La
WELCOME
.t.A.LUMNI
WE ARE HAPPY TO SERVE YOU
AS IN THE PAST
Meet Your Friend's At
GRAHAM'S
WEDNESDAY, QCTOB . pR 8, 1941
Garden Days Program
Registration Drops
A decrease of nearly 100 from
last year's registration figure was
shown yesterday as only a few
more than 50 persons attended the
opening sessions of the annual
Garden - Days program which
opened , yesterday and will close
at noon tomorrow.
College faculty members on the
program are C. S. Anderson, pro
fessor of rural education; John
R. Bracken, professor of land
scape architecture; J. A. Culbert,
assistant in ornamental horticul
ture; F. V. Grau, instructor in
agronomy extension; C. B. Link,
instructor in floriculture; • Warren
B. Mack, head of the department
. of horticulture; R. R Meahl, 'as
sistant professor of nursery in
diustry; ' Stevenson W. Fletcher,
dean of the Schooi. of AgricUlture;
and .E. I. Wilde, profeSSor of or
namental horticulture.
Vie junior board, 318.01 d Main,
4 p: m.
Grange cider ..party, 405 Old
Main, '1 p. m.
• Hillel Coffee Round Table,,
Foundation, 133 W. Beaver ave.,
4:15 p: m.
Red Cross Group 'meeting, Hillel
- Foundation,' 3 p. m.
Education Student 'Council meet
ing„ 108 EUri'owes, 8 p. m.
, .
Eugene H. Lederer
REAL ESTATE
114 E. Beaver Ave. Dial 4066
State College
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