European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 6, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse 90ks debate m beginning this fall Buena Visla College a Small Liberal arts institution in storm Lake Iowa will require freshmen to attend at least 20 cultural events during the school year. The Massachusetts Institute of technology upgraded its humanities requirements last year a move aimed Al helping its science and engineering students i place their technological exp Orlise in a social context. Tale while institutions like these Are adjusting their course distribution guidelines a simultaneous More Var ionic discussion of the so called literary Canon is under Way. At Stanford the Quelton is whether an institution should require All students to read a common ,3 list of works that it believes embody a fundamental cultural tradition. The Issue is timely in part because iwo books the closing of the american mind by University of Chicago professor Allan Bloom and cultural literacy by be University o Virginia professor . Hirschjr. Have gained an unexpected popular readership in the past year. Both works Are critical of american education with Bloom decrying the academic culture of intellectual i openness in which All is relative and Hirsch lamenting the dismissal of a common culture and calling for a Deli sealed Core of concepts and information Lobo of Laughl loll students. But it was the Stanford controversy this Spring that Crystal sized debate on the question of a literary Canon raising in to a widespread Public airing n Stanford s Western culture program a requirement Lor ses All try semen that included a list of classic works ranging a irom Plano to Darwin was replaced by a new requirement known As culture ideas and freshmen must choose irom several year Long courses each of which will include a Core Reading list that focuses on women minorities class issues and Al least one non european culture. Next year s freshmen will read the hebrew and Christian bibles Plato St. Augustine Machiavelli Rousseau and Marx other readings will be chosen by individual professors. The Western culture course consisted of a longer Core Reading list. When Bennett visited the Campus in april he lambasted the faculty Lor the change arguing that it was not a product of enlightened debate but rather an unfortunate capitulation to a Campaign of pressure politics and intimidation in addition Bennett and others Ucic critical of the practice of choosing works based on characteristics of the authors. Does anyone doubt that selecting works based on the ethnicity or gender of their authors trivializes the academic Enterprise Bennett asked. Does anyone really doubt the political Agenda underlying these provisions in the months since the Stanford decision the charge of Polilli Bizalion has gained momentum. Lynne v. Cheney chairman of the National endowment or the humanities also contends there is a political dimension to the debate Hal was t there now the question is often asked who wrote the Book that is considered a much More important fact Ihan whether the Book is Rich intellectually or inspires a Strong aesthetic response she said. But among those who advocate a looser More diverse literary Canon the political charge has been both rejected and ridiculed. "1 hat s like accusing the democratic party of being political said King outgoing president of Stanford s Black student Union and a Leader in the Effort to change the Western culture requirement. If you re making intellectual decisions in a social sphere you re making political decisions Susan Resneck Parr Dean of arts and sciences at the if you invent a better mouse Tho rest of the world did t think we needed a copier but Carlson knew that they did often an invention is partly accidental. So much in creativity in t whal you do it s whal you observe Gundlach says. As an example he describes Iho Lime he was trying out his invention Hal allowed transferring the developed image from a selenium Plato to paper without destroying the latent the idea was to place a grounds Metal foil on top of the paper and remove both foil and paper from the selenium together. In my Sloppy technique and in the dark i put the paper on crooked. I just happened to notice that in that one Corner where in said Page 15, it transferred. I was aware Hal half a dozen people Wero working for the last three years on attempts to Transfer to Metal masters and Thoy had t found a Way to do in now i d done it by Accident. I really am a believer in less Ihan a neat organized Experiment which should be just Sloppy enough so Mother nature can intervene and say hey you Dummy it s not Over there it s Here " Many of Gundlach s inventions were involved in advancements in the xerographic process. His cleaning device made possible Iho development of the first Xerox desk lop copier in 1963, his drum system made fast copiers a really in 1965. He also has pioneered novel imaging systems such As a process Lor creating an usage by deforming plastic film to conform with an electrostatic charge pattern. Gundlach has ideas for solar panels a heal pump by slim and a Snow making machine that he is eager to develop. But he admits he in t As possessive about inventions As he used to be. As time goes by the commercial Snow making systems Are getting closer and closer to my concept he says. That s of the world will have it proven wrong Simonton said. And Newton devoted much of his career to the futile study of Alchemy. It s very hard to find a great scientist who did not provoke a tremendous amount of criticism Simonton said. \ Simonton also found most great scientists Wera introverts. Their parents olten were intellectuals themselves and could Allord to expose them to a wide Range of experiences and ideas he said 1 most scientists families did not subscribe to a religion but if they did. It was to a less dogmatic one sir Nonilon said. \ Simonton defined Genius As having an extraordinary Impact on the course of history or civilization and said .Ntelligence played a part Only to a Point. High scores on to tests do not correlate highly with Success in life he said up Embere 1988 a certain amount of .Ntelligence is required to master the concepts of technical Fields such As physics. Most evidence suggests that depending on the held an idol 120,130or 140 in Iho sciences is adequate. A pad. Has an average 10 of 130, while the average in is 140 Lor a . In As a Point of reference he said the average College graduate scores 100 on the .Ntelligence test the in lest measures your ability to master lots of into Malion and you need minimal Levels of that in your Field but it does not measure what you can do with thai ability Sii Tronlone said the lest cannot predict whether you will be a Genius in life just whether you Are in the beyond possessing a minimal level of -.ntelligence, he said it s important Only that a scientist s .Ntelligence enable him or her to make Rich associations of ideas " the researcher Hopes his theory will make people aware there Are no shortcuts to Success. University of Tulsa and formerly an assistant division Dite Clor Al the National endowment for the humanities said most of those involved in the Issue Are not driven by a political Agenda rather i see very capable. Intelligent engaged teachers and scholars struggling with real Parr contends that in recent years there has been More focus on giving students a variety of theor Chical Points of View. But she added great books by wonderful male writers Are not the Only works that ask those questions. Some variety of Points of View engages students lat More in the act of thinking and reasoning she oilers As an example Toni Morrison who won the Multi scr prize Lor her recent novel. Beloved. Parr said Morrison who is Black raises Many of he larger questions raised by the works of William Faulkner which Are Standard on most lists of classic american writers. Dartmouth College president James 0. Roodman said he opposes Well defined limited lists of whal should be taught because such lists often re Tecl artificial standards of the past while ignoring the universality of lists Are simply too exclusive he said. The rouble with classic works is they Are Ollen the obstacle to the study of near classic works Freedman said. There Are any number of very important books that Are deeply satisfying and provocative that Are not quite at the level of classic he said he would include in a Survey course both classics and near classics John Milton s paradiso lost Edward Gibbon s the his toy of the decline and fall of the roman Umpire. Sigmund Freud s Tho interpretation of dreams. Gustave Flaubert s Madame Bovary Fyodor Dostoevski s the Brothers Karamazov Mark Twain s the adventures of Huckleberry finn George Eliot s midst March Ralph Ellison s invisible Man the federalist papers a collection of Veals poorly and plays by George Bernard Shaw. The stars and stripes Page 15
