PAGE FOUR Editorial Opinion Finals—Term Trouble For ten "weeks the fall term careened'along on its inevitable course, looking neither right nor :left, Stopping for no whim, demonstration, tradition or plea. The giant experiment in education—and it is an experirrient-arried everyone associated with Penn State on. its momentum. As with any experimental form of Hiring, a period of adjustment:was, and still is: necessary before a: verdict can be levied. But also associated' with any expetimeht is eiCute observation of the subjects involved arid an' attempt to negotiAte any obstacles to the success of the plan as rapidly and as efficiently as possible. During the last term this newspaper withheld direct evaluation of the term plan for three reasons. First, we did nor want to prejudice reactions, pieferring to do more observing than talking. Second, the plan was new and needed time to grow, to adapt and to be adapted to. Third. we do not have the facilities to undertake a representative and accurate analysis. But our observatiOns lead us to believe that one major problem is thvAail of a final examination period. L~ 'university This size it is inevitable that at times t.e- - Telt hand won't know what the right' hand is doing. In this vein, there NI, 'ere many assurances: from the ad : mini4tration at the inceptiokAf.the _term plan, that there would probably be a deemphasis on final' examinations —due - to the dissolving of the examinations-study week. But this was not the case. Comprehensive examina : nous were given in most courses. We fully understand : that. dictatorial directives from any college administration to its faculty will immediately call forth, and correctly so, the fear that academic free dom is being circumscribe& Yet the educational aims of the institution should be shared by both the faCulty and administration. The situation thus faded by the student is a monstrous form of cramming under heavy stress which results ip everyone being cheated. The faculty is cheated in that it cannot get the excellence it should expect; the student is cheated because he cannot, in a few days; organize and absorb the comprehensive premises. and -theories behind three or four courses; the administration is cheated be cause such a situation fosters unrest and resentment where such do not have to exist. As we see it there are two solutions io the problem. There must be either a real deemphasis of final examina tions in favor of periodic tests—or the reinstatement of a final examination period. The former would involve implicit cooperation on the part of the faculty. The latter, although it would eat into vacation time and probably necessitate a hike in board fees, would seem to be the. best answer. A final examination period might bring with it some of the intellectual integrity which was lost when the term plan became an actuality. For although every ping was done to equalize the classroom hours between the semes ter and . the •term, the earth's revolution around the sun remains the same—and that still means less Contempla tion-time in an area where contemplation should be supreme. - - To the Victprs . . Although a few games brought disappointment; the 1961 version of the Nittany Lions ended ".the season - wi l th, a roar that pleased all . Penn State followers. • Injuries hurt the Lions in early season games. and they failed to reach'their pre-season billing as one of the nation's top ten teams by the end of the regular season. Although some State r fans were critical, Coach Rip Engle was „confident that the lesin would be unbeatable if all the injured players were able to return to the lineup. Engle's prediction was verified by the impressive vic tory 7. over Pitt and the G..tor Bowl romp over Georgia Tech. ' The Gator Bowl triumph over the highly-touted Rambling Wreck has raised Penn State's grid prestige to an all time high.- For this achievement we owe the football players and coaches special thanks. They sacrificed, their Christmas vacation "for the glory of Old State." ' THE DAILY COLLEGIAN. UNIVERSITY PARK. PENNSYLVANIA It's odd that a city which is the site of a major bowl game should be more alive with celebrants and merry-making on the night before the big game than on the night after. But this was the case in Jacksonville, Florida, just one week ago. All but a few thousand of the record-breaking crowd of over 50,000 that trekked to this city to witness the Gator Bowl were Georgia Tech par \ tisan.T. And the haughty southerners ruled the town Friday night. As they blustered from party to party they con-/ descended to infer to the inZ fide! Yankees that Penn State didn't play quite the same brand of- ball as the South eastern Conference teams. And they were Confident that they • would be ous and nappy Saturday night after the game proved their point. The point proved by the game left Jack sonville in a Did you ever stop to wonder what the People who have eerything do with the Christmas gifts "for the people who have everything?" For instance, what does the executive do with the Monogrammed yo-yo advertised in the New York Times just before Christmas? The yo- l o is solid walnut.with three sterling silver initials (so what if you don't have a mid- We name). The Times ad also t , ays the yo-yo can be used f : or k paper weight in more serious moments. I Suppose "the man with pull" ipr whom the ad says the yo-yo is' in-tended could use it .or . therapeutic re laxation, bu t what happens when a client ikalks in to see this trusted ex ecutive pract ic --ing "loop the loop". or — "walk the dog." T h'e e w York Times also advertised Nils* Pram°• such luxury items as solid gold toothpicks. The toothpicks come in a leather case and far the more elegant there are gold ,toothpicks with diamonds and initials. I don't know if you need -gold teeth •to make use of this item, but I think that The record snowfall of last winter could be duplicated this year if the weather pattern that prevailed last month continues until spring The heavy snowstorms of last-winter:produced new seasonal snowfall records throughout the Central third of the Commonwealth anchin sec- buns of southeastern and south western Pennsylvania. Perhapi the most: dramatic example of last winter's un- I usually heavy - I snow can be found in Harris burg's weather I records. - The normal "winter snowfall in the capital city is 30 inches, and the heav ie s t seasonal snowfall p r vious to last winter was 55 inches. -18 y the end of last January that record had been surpassed, and when the last snowflake hafallen in April the-season's total was an amazing 81 inches. The snowfall in - State Col lege was similar to other areas of Central Pennsylvania and the • old - seasonal snowfall ' record of 75 inches was exceeid - ed by 17 inches. - Successor to The Free Lance, est. 1887 PahUshed Tuesday through Wards, rooming during the nalserslff /ear. Ths Malty Collegian la a student-operated newspaper. Entered as geeing-class matter Jot, I. 1114 at the State Collet*. Pa. Post Office ander the act of Mara S. MIMI. Mall Saheeription Prices $l.ll a year Mailing Address Six 211. State College. Pa. Biickboard Day After the Night Before now and again Have Everything? Snowed Another Record? by foe' myers • . . ••••. 4rk MYERS A Student-Operated Newspaper O'llr Batty Tottegituf JOHN BLACK WAYNE HILINSKI Editor 7111 PH = Business Mantra by pony dranom it would match beautifully. In a feature story December 21, the Associated Press listed some gifts which they billed as "better to give than to receive." Among the items which were advertised ,under the heading of "things you probably never knew existed" are false doggy eyelashes and automatic dog waterers which are rnechau isms by which Rover can get his own drinks. What was that about a dog's life? There are also luxuriot`is do mestic items which are some what more commonpl'ace. For instance, the New York Times Magazine had an ad for a ster ling silver whisk.broorn com plete with monogramming. This charming, little item is only five inches long and will fit in a desk,: suitcase, purse ,or dresser. Maybe next year they'll have handy little . jars of silver polish in purse-sized - polish kits to keep the whisk brooms clean and shining. After all, who'd use ti;i- tarnished whisk broom? ,Although., the weather pat tern during the past four weeks has resembled -the one that prevailed' through most of last winter, ihe snowfall has been more erratic and some what lighter. , To date 12 inches of snow have been recorded here as compared with 25 inches last year. A storm that is expect ed to bring heavy precipitation to the Commonwealth late to day and tonight may add sev eral inches to the snow total. Whether or not last year's extraordinarily heavy snowfall will be repeated this winter cannot be determined. How. ever. if the upper air pattern remains essentially unchanged through March. the snowfall should be considerably greater than normal. Since upper air patterns often retain some degree of ,persist ence from month to month, snow shovels, boots and snow tires may prove handy equip ment in the coming months. FRIDAY, JANUARY 5. 1962 by Johnny Black That rebel hush fell about three' hours be fore' dark and BLACK about three seconds after Roger Kochman hpled in Galen ,Hall's second' touchdown pass, culminating a drive tha t covered the length of the field in just one minute. From that :lime on, the few thousand ;leather-lunged Lion lovers out-roared the whole city of Jacksonville with a play of spirit that made the 1961 Gator Bowl a historical event second only to Sherman's march to the sea. While the attention of -the televiewers was forcibly fo cused on such superfluous items as the Gator Bowl Queen and Miss America, the handful of Penn State students who had journeyed_ to I the southern climes rallied 46 honor their team. Marching through' the Geor gia Tech stands with "Wreck Tech" banners_ unfurled, they rushed the gate and poured on to the field to r form the tra ditional honor :line. The stu dents were joined by exuber ent alumni and even sailors and Marines whose accents be trayed them as Yankees. The only din of merriment in this suddenly •silenced city on Saturday, eve arose from the lair of the Nittany Lion =Mt You GMAT? ) Il 1 1 i 4 : -• I MADE AN A6REakENT WITH N6SOTH6kARL, I'LL GIVE UP MY BLANKET IF SHE CAN EWE UP BIT NG HEM FINGERNAILS! • • N I'HAVE - . A FEELING '7OJ DON'T THINK SHE CAN DO 1T... POOR MISS OTHAAR I tce wee . oF_E NEE ME
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers