Wednesday, November 17, 1954

THE COLLEGE NEWS

‘Page Three

 

Are Facing Indian

Virendra Agarwala, Secretary
General of the Indian National

_Committee ot the World .Univer-

sity Service, spoke in. the Common
Koom on Wednesday, November 10,
n “The Social Responsibilities ot
indian Students.”
in his talk, which was sponsored

' by the League, Mr. Agarwala stat-

ea that the indian citizen is a firm
believer in freedom. He said, “If
you take away his individual lib-
erty he will give you a kick—and
a slap also.”

‘1% in College

“Students in every country have
a unique responsibility,” explained
Mr. Agarwala. “The way that they
think today will decide what hap-
pens tomorrow.”

He pointed out that the way 1n-
dian students think will be partic-

ularly important in the future as

the nations of .Asia gradually as-
sume more oes in world af-
fairs.

Only one per cent of India’s pop- |.

ulation of 450,000,000 is receiving
a college education. Mr. Agarwala
teels that this important minority
does realize its responsibilities to
national and international society.
it is ditncult, however, for students
im india to put their beliefs into
action because of the lack of facili-
ues tor practical training.

' Practical Aid Lacking

For example, 90 per cent of the
students are trained in the humani-
ties because ‘facilities for teaching
medicine and engineering are dras-
tically limited. It is therefore
practically impossible tor students
to aid the tremendous rural popu-
lation in a practical ‘way, even
though the students feel responsi-
ble to the citizens of the nation,

On an international level, Mr.
Agarwala noted that students are
given the freedom to study any

 

Agarwala Discusses Problems ‘That

College Students

ideology and so become fit to judge
them all. He said, “Mutual knowl-
edge is necessary. for mutual un-
aerstanding.”

Living conditions affect the atti-
tudes of the students towards so-
ciety. “Many students sleep in the
streets, they can afford to buy only
a few books, and they are hungry
much of the time. Anyone with an
empty belly| cannot think of re-
sponibity J society.”

A Challenge

Mr. Agarwala said that the In-
dian student looks for hope, and
that democracy is challenged to
give him that hope. He said, “Man
is not impressed by any ideology
that has, not provided food for ev-
erybody.”

Agarwala was graduated
from the University of Delhi,
which awarded him a master’s de-
gree in economics and law. He has
worked actively in many national
and internatignal organizations in
addition to’ the World University
Service, which is sponsoring his
visit to America.

‘Oedipus’Highlights
UndergradWeekend

College Theater’s presentation
of Oedipus at Colonus on Saturday
night will highlight Undergrad
weekend, December 3 and 4.

The Rhoads open house on Fri-
day night will initiate the week-
end’s activities. Following the play
Saturday will be the Undergrad

formal dance and an open house.

The committee is planning to have
another dorm or Goodhart open for
those who cannot get into the open
house,

 

Panel Discusses Collegiate Preparation

As Part Of Alumnae Weekend Program

“Whence and Why,” or the prob-
lem of college preparation and se-
lection, was the topic for a panel
discussion by secondary school
heads and Bryn Mawr faculty
members. The discussion, held in
the Music Room on November 18,
was a part of the Alurnnae Week-
end program. —

Miss Isabel Gamble, , Assistant
Professor of English, and Mr. Hen-
ry Seattergood, Head Master of
Germantown Friends School, em-
phasized the problem of college
preparation,

Miss Gamble felt that in prepa-
ration for the freshman English
course, schools should stress skills
rather than facts. As the basic
skill of the “ideally prepared fresh-
man” she listed the ability to read
well —- “rapidly, attentively, and
precisely.”

Thinking Hardest

Miss Gamble also felt that.to de-
velop the habit of clear and logical
thinking, schools should emphasize
critical rather than creative writ-

“ing; -She-illustrated this need by
telling of the college freshman who

explained that she found no diffi-
culty in reading or writing but

“ that it was “this thinking” that

got her. down.

Mr. Scattergood discussed the’i in-
dividual academic work and guid-

ance that: is offered at his co-ed
day school, stressing what he con-
sidered two important factors in
college preparation, The first of
these was the tendency of second-
ary schools to anticipate college
work, and to concentrate on offer.

. ing it to the student instead of the

work that is best for his stage of
development.
Mr. Seattergood also felt that

 

secondary school counseling should
be organized so as to give the stu-
dent the greatest chance to make
his own decisions.

Miss Barbara Colbron, Head Mis-
tress of the Spence School for
Girls, and Mrs. Rex W. Crawford,
Principal of Philadelphia High
School for Girls, discussed the
problems of college selection from
the viewpoint of private and public
schgol students.

Closeness to Haverford?

Miss Colbron, who graduated
from Bryn Mawr in 1937, felt that
intellectual curiosity was only one
of the reasons why girls from pri-
vate schools go to college. The
others were a desire for prestige,
greater independence, friends of a
wider background, freer social life,
and a career, They choose Bryn
Mawr in particular because of the
high character of its work, as well
as its size; location, and closeness
to Haverford.

Mrs. Crawford felt that on the
whole, the public high school has a
more difficult task in interesting

students in college because of their

diversity of background, the pres-
sure to take a commercial rather
than an academic course, and the
competition of athletic and social
activities.

Why College?

Dr. Davidon, Assistant Professor
of Psychology, pointed out that the
problem was not so much “Which
college to go to” as “Why. go to
college.” He felt that too many
students go to college berause “it’s
the right thing to do.” The result
is that some students in college
would be better off elsewhere, and
tentially good students in
high school never get to college.

»

Two College Drama
Club Gives Oedipus

Sophocles’ Oedipus at Cotonnus,
W. -B. Yeats’ translation, opens
with Oedipus as an old man,
weary and bitter, wandering
through Greece in his exile. He is
seeking a final resting place for
himself, where he may finally find
peace.

This resting place is extremely
important for an ‘oracle has de-
creed that the city near which
Oedipus is buried will become the
greatest city in Greece. The loca-
tion of his grave acts as a centri-
fugal force drawing the characters
into focus. The ever-present Greek
chorus sets the mood and acts as
narrator in several instances. The
conflict between the characters
forms: the theme of the play.

Oedipus at Colonnus was publish-
ed in 1934 and was produced at the
Abbey Theatre in Dublin.

The cast in the Bryn Mawr-Hav-
erford production includes:

Oedipus ......; Stieeee William Packard
ANLIZONE ..,ecceereeeee Elizabeth Klupt
EEMGELO® sivesisecses lissdiuvaccings Ellie Small
TOOROUS i ciiniiiuise William Moss
RT ‘scsnimtisnaticuabmessvee John Pfaltz
| Polyneices .........cce000 John’ Hawkins.
A Stranger ....... Jean-Louis Wolfe
A Messenger .............. Eric Koskoff
Leader of Chorus Catherine Rodgers:
Chorus: Alice Baer, Charlotte

Busse, Mary Darling, Chris Fis-

cher, Barbara Goldberg, Connie

Hicks, and Pat Moran,

The play will be given in Good-
hart, December 3.and 4.

Pauling Discusses
HisProtein Theory

“All of this structure work will
lead to an increase in our under-
standing. of living organisms,”
said Dr. Linus Pauling, American
scientist scheduled to receive the
1954 Nobel chemistry award. Dr.
Pauling is best known to Bry
Mawr students as the author
their first year laboratory manual
and chemistry text book.

The 53-year-old professor of
chemistry. at the California’ Insti-
tute of Technology: spoke before a
capacit wd at the Franklin In-
stitute on Tuesday, November 9, on
“The Structure of Proteins.” A
world-renowned expert on this sub-
ject, he will receive the Nobel prize
for his work in studying the na-
ture of chemical] bonds.

It has been said that if in the
next fifteen to twenty years we are
going to come to an understanding
of the difference between: dead
matter and living material, it will

be through the discoveries made|

 

by Dr. Pauling. He himself firmly
believes that. an essentially com-
plete protein structure pattern
could be made within the next dec-
ade.

Amino Acids

His work has probably done
much to simplify the interpreta-'
tion of X-ray photographs, an im-
portant tool in determining struc-
ture. Instead of studying proteins
directly, Dr. Pauling’ decided to
test amino acids and _ peptides
which are closely related to pro-
teins.

He came upon the helical struc-
ture of polypeptide chains as evi-
denced by the fact that they
stretch. Hair is an example of the
type containing these so-called al-
pha helixes. Thé spirals have 3.6
residues per turn and bend at an-
gles seven Angstrom units from the
axis. The enormous protein mole-
cules are made up of these twisted
atom chains spiraling many layers
deep.

All globular proteins, for in-
stance hemoglobin, give radial dis-

lix. If they could be fitted into a
pattern it would facilitate greatly

tribution curves for the alpha he-|

 

the development of a complete
structure. ae

*

 

Reviewers Note Flaws in ‘Crucible’ Cast

But Consider Presentation Worth Seeing

By Molly Epstein, °56
and Marcia Case, ’57

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is
a play which portrays mass hys-
teria and the development of a
man’s ethic against the historical
setting of the Salem witch trials.

Basically, the play is a fine and
moving one, deriving its great
power from the situation rather
than from the undistinguished dia-
logue. The subject matter inevit-
ably evokes comparisons with the
contemporary American scene, ‘but
it is a parallelism of mood rather
than of incident. Salem is Salem,
and not a thinly veiled Un-Ameri-
can Affairs Committee.

The plot concerns a group of
young girls led by one of their
number™ (whose essential motiva-
tion remains unclear) into a pre-
tense of \\‘bedevilment,” which
leads them td\a series of accusa-
tions against supposed “witches,”
followed by trial8.and convictions
of witchcraft. The\ scheme snow-
balls because the tifmes are con-
ducive to the hysteria.\ If a gen-
eral message is to be irony lies
in this area.

Man of Courage

More particularly, The Crucible
presents the story of a man, John,
Proctor, who is interesting largely
because he is not a “hero” in the
storybook sensesxof the term. He
is not a man of supreme courage
and impeccable morals. He is not
an atheist, but rather an individ-
ualist in his relations to God.

He is forced by circumstances
into a position in which he must
decide what his principles really
are. He ultimately makes his
choice on the basis of qualities
which he never knew he possessed,
and does so purely on ban basis of
instinct.

The Hedgerow Diath produc-
tion of The Crucik# is memorable
chiefly for its excellent staging.
The whole play is presented
against a solid black backdrop

with simple early American furni-
ture used to denote location.”

Unfortunately, the general qual-
ity of the acting is rather poor.
For the most part, the company
tends to overplay and overdrama-
tize the production. The diction is
much too loud for the small Acad-
emy of Music Foyer. The facial

expressions are grossly exaggerat-
ed and one “aside” is a positively
grotesque. action, accompanied by.
a stage whisper which is practical-
ly a bellow. The first scene is par-
ticularly stilted, probably ‘because
as the situation becomes ‘more en-
grossing, the ‘flaws in production
become less noticeable.

Actors Feeble

The shortcomings of the actors
are particularly. evident in those
scenes which are not carried along
by the plot itself. They fail to
make explicit a great deal which is
latent in the play, particularly the
development of love and under
standing: between Proctor and his
wife.

Undoubtedly, The Crucible would
be far more effective if it were
played with more restraint. In
itself, it is an extremely rhetorical,
often confusing and obscure piece
of work. Nevertheless, its inherent
dramatic qualities are such as not
to be readily hidden and it is a
play well worth seeing.

WilliamC. Williams
To Read Own Work

The Philadelphia Fine Arts Cen-

ter will present the poet William

rlos Williams in a reading of his
own prose and poetry at 8:30 p.m.,
Friday, November 19, at the Uni-
versity\ Museum Auditorium, 34th
and Spruee Streets.

Williams \was born in 1883 in
Rutherford, New Jersey, where he

has lived ever \since. A former
medical student at the University
of Pennsylvania, bt has led a
unique double-life, that of a small
town family physici (he esti-
mates he has brought 20,000 babies
into the world) and that ‘of one of

 

rary poets. \
Williams’ earliest poetry wa
fluenced by that band of poets
fought to liberate free verse.
friends during the early 1900’s in
cluded Ezra Pound, H.D., and Ger- \
trude Stein.
Williams defines the poet as:
: “A man
whose words will
bite
their way

  
 

 

home.”

 

At Fall Reunion Alumnae Consider

Problems Of Scholarship Distribution

The visiting alumnae gathered
for a conference last Sunday morn-
ing to discuss scholarship prob-
lems. The two spedkers were
Frank Bowles, Director of the Col-

lege Admissions Board, and Nancy | —====

the need basis. He cited the on-
coming rush of students who can
pay: and the financial position of
the colleges as the primary reasons
for this.

Information Fund

Porter Straus, 1921, who is chair-| —

man of the Washington Bryn
Mawr Club.

Mr. Bowles pointed out that two
kinds of scholarships are now be-

‘ing given by schools throughout

the country—1) those which aim to
help a student who has the ability,
but not the financial mens to pay
for a fine college education, and 2)
those which have the college as

their focal-point,-trying-to—bring}|._T

to it geographical distribution and
students of higher ability.
Student Snatching

This latter type of scholarship
has resulted in an unhealthy at-
mosphere of “student snatching.”
Because, all other factors being
equal, students will go to the big-
ger name schools, the quality of
many smaller institutions, espe-

cially in the Mid-West, has deteri- 3

orated.

Mr. Bowles believes that this
problem is beginning to correct it-
self, and in the future more and

The College Board has set up a
new system whereby all colleges
will receive a common fund of in-
formation about the abilities and
financial status of the applicant. In
this way the situation as it is now
in which “too many scholarships
are being given to the wrong per-
sons for the wrong reasons” may
change.

Mrs. Straus showed how gradu-
ally through the
Mawr’s requirements have changed
to conform with those of the other
seven women’s’ colleges, thus al-
lowing a greater number of girls
to apply. Her job as scholarship
director is to find a girl who has
financial need, will benefit from
what Bryn Mawr has to offer, and
who will contribute the most to
Bryn Mawr. :
She . quoted one Washington
headmistress who said, “I like to.
send girls to Bryn Mawr because

they are always happy when oa a

aa

 

moressehularsiipe will be given on

get there.”

Ga

America’s most famous contempo- ‘err ™