1

VOL. XLVIII, NO. 7

ARDMORE and BRYN MAWR, PA., WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1951



Weekend Round
Table Discusses
Foreign Schools

Professors Consider

Need of Student

Supervision

The last of the events of Alum-
nae Weekend was the round table
on Sunday afternoon, with Helen
Hill Miller as moderator. Mrs,
Marshall, Miss Mellink, Dr.
Dulles, Dr. Cam, Mlle. Bree and
Miss Avitabile commented on sev-
everal aspects of education here
and abroad, with reference to
Miss McBride’s speech of a few
minutes before.

Mrs. Miller wondered whether
the best qualities of a student
would be brought out by the per-
sonal guidance of a system like
Bryn Mawr’s, or whether the best
results came if the university sup-
plied only the professors and ex-
aminations.

Dr. Dulles felt that setting an
arbitrary age for suddenly free-
ing a student from home control
night have a physiological and
psychological catch, for different
students mature at different rates,

Here Miss Avitabile suggested
that it is often misleading to say
the European student has no
guide. Often he lives at home and
commutes or stays with relatives,
rather than starving alone in a
garrett.

“Yes,” said Mlle. Bree, “but in
Paris, a student is more on his

own.” However, because of the
Lycee, the entering university
student is comparable to the

American junior. A student who
can’t manage is sent home. “Pos-
sibly undergraduate advising is
needed,” she said, “but this is fur-
nished by the recently instituted
preparatory year.”

“Dutch students would try to

Continued on Page 4, Col. 3



Avitabile Traces
Italian Student's
Scholastic Career

On Saturday, November 3, Gra-
zia Avitabile, professor of Italian
and French at Wheaton College,
gave the opening talk in a series
of Continental Comparisons in
the field of education. “Every
Italian dreams of educating a child
of his to be a doctor or a teacher”.
Higher education in Italy, how-
ever, is very selective, and al-
though the same educational op-
portunities are open to both sexes,
sons rather than daughters usual-
ly receive univefsity traihing. A
degree is necessary for a business
career in Italy, as well as for one
in a profession or in public service.

. Although it is difficult to make a

parallel between our educational
systems, the doctorates given by
Italian universities correspond ap-
proximately with the M.A. degree
given by American colleges.

Italy, Professor Avitabile con-
tinued, is “a land of contrasts”.
In the field of education, the gulf
is wide; on the one hand, there

Continued on Page 2, Col. 3

Copyright, Trustees of

Bryn Mawr College, 1951

PRICE 20 CENTS





e.

Dr. Dulles and Dr. Cam





Cam Depicts British

School Revision;

Dulles Pictures Systems in Germany
And Austria Scarred by War, Nazism

“The educational picture in Ger-
many and Austria is grim in the
extreme”, stated Eleanor ‘Dulles to
the alumnae, speaking on the pan-
el Continental Comparisons in
education. The “heartland of Cen-
tral Europe, Germany and Austria
can Le analyzed in many different
lights, depending on what you’re
iooking for’, she continued, and
she, chose as her topic three as-
pects of education: scholarship,
techniques, and ideals and ends.
The situation in Germany as she
saw it in 1945-46, and which has
only superficially changed since
then, was influenced by three ele-
ments: the physical condition of
the people, the result of the Nazi
government, and the effect of the
occupation. Dr. Dulles analyzed
these factors and went on to give
her prognosis of the future posi-
tion of education in these coun-

Continued on Page 5, Col. 3

Mellink Compares
American & Dutch

Courses of Study

The third speaker on the Alum-
nae Weekend program was Miss
Machteld Mellink, who spoke on
“The Dutch Way” of education.
She emphasized the high school
and university levels of education
since the elementary level in Hol-
land is not much different from
other countries, and is not a prob-
lem.

The word “college” is very dif-
ficult to translate into Dutch, said

‘Miss Mellink, since the divisions)

between secondary schools and
colleges are so different from the
American divisions. Only at the
M.A. or Ph.D. levels do the two
educations catch up with each oth-
er.
The high schools in the Nether-
lands take for granted that a
classical education is necessary for
every student. Therefor, the system
is very strict. It has an extremely
crowded program of liberal edu
cation with a few elective courses
for the students. Half of the cur-
riculum is concerned with the class-
ics. The rest includes’ science
languages, and other studies in
liberal arts. Despite the academic
strictness in the secondary schools,
the time for extra-curricular ac
tivities is not so limited as one



Continued on Page 5, Col. 2



Dr. Helen M. Cam as _ the
first speaker on Sunday morning
of Alumnae Weekend, discussed
the topic “Education under the La-
bour Government in England.” The
history of education in England
has been one of “bits and pieces”
since Augustine, the first Christian
missionary, arrived there in 597
A.D. It has been an amateur and
a private story, for not until the

Continue on Page %, Col. 5 .

Miss Bree Avers
French Scholastic
Life Independent

The last speaker on the Satur-
day session of Alumnae Weekend
was Miss Germaine Bree, who
spoke on “French Education’... Miss
Bree began her talk by giving an
outline of the growth of the
French educational system. The
universities first were church in-
stitutions which developed deep

traditions. By the time of the
Renaissance, new and independent
institutions were growing and

flourishing as well as the old uni-
versities. During the revolution,
the universities were at first sup-
pressed. Later, however, they
were reopened and they taught
the ideals of the revolution. Na-
Continued on Page 5, Col. 1

CALENDAR

Wednesday, November 7
7:15 p.m. Marriage
Common Room,
7:15 p.m. Freshman Self-Gov
examination, Rooms F and G.

Thursday, November 8

8:30 pm. AA _ Council,
Room.

8:30 p.m. Philosophy Club, in
the Common Room. Dr. Frank
Parker of Haverford will speak.
Friday, November 9

4:15 p.m. Art discussion, Com-
mon Room.

8:30 p.m. Maids and Porters
party, Maids’ Bureau.
Saturday, November 10

Hockey Weekend in honor of
Miss Applebee and the 50th year
of hockey in the US.

2-5:00 p.m. Hockey matches.

6:30 p.m. Supper, Deanery.
Dedication of the Scull property

Continued on Page 8, Col. 3

lecture,

UG

McBride Explains
Europe’s Differing

Educational Views

Miss McBride opened the Sun-
day afternoon discussion of the
Alumnae Association’s weekend on
Continental Comparisons with a
talk that, as she said, brought to-
gether some of the-points that the
six papers on Saturday had al-
ready brought out. She discussed
three main themes: the relation of
the student and professor, the re-
lation of the student to the univer-
sity, and the issue of freedom of
speech. Her aim was to show
briefly where American colleges,
especially Bryn Mawr, stood on
these issues.

On the question of student-pro-
fessor relationship, Miss McBride
presented three possible alterna-
tives: a) the professor teaches his
subject, b) the professor teaches
his subject and is also aware that
he is teaching students so that he
is practically guided by their in-
terests, and c) the professor starts

Continued on Page 2, Col. 1

Marshall Reveals
Politics Influence

Spanish Education

Mrs. Dorothy N. Marshall, dean
of Bryn Mawr, addressed the
Alumnae Assocation in the Music
Room at 2:30 on November 3. Her
topic was “An American Sees
Spanish Education.” Mrs. Mar-
shall stated that education is the
“grassroots” of the political situ-
ation, and proceeded to relate the
effects of recent political develop-
ment on the school system in
Spain.

The last Spanish republic ex-
isted from 1930 to 1986. The
chaotic period saw three govern-
ments of divergent opinion, and
it is amazing that anything was
accomplished in the field of edu-

Continued on Page 6, Col. 3

Dr. C. Van Niel
Delivers Second
Science Lecture

Crenshaw Speaker Tells
Photosynthesis’
Aspects

Dr. Cornelius B. Van Niel, Her-
stein professor of Microbiology at
Stanford University, was the sec-
ond speaker to be presented in the
Crenshaw lecture series. Dr. Van
Niel, who received his degree in
Chemical Engineering and his
D. Se. from the Technical Univer-
sity at Delft, Netherlands, spoke
on Monday, November 5 at 8:30
p.m. in Goodhart; his topic was
“Some Aspects of Photosynthe-

sa)?
.

sis

Dr. Van Niel began by saying
that life represents an extremely
complex state of matter which re-
quires a continuous inflow of ener-
gy. The human body is composed
of individual cells which obtain
their energy by the combustion of
various foodstuffs, as do those of
all forms of animal life. The ques-
tion is, where does that food come
from?

In the early 11th century, scien-
tists recognized a cycle of creation
of matter in which plants produce
organic matter and oxygen which
is consumed by animals, and the
animals in turn produce minerals
which are then used to create more
plants. In order to produce this
organic matter, the plants require
energy; this they obtain from
light, and “with the absorption of
light, plants convert carbon diox-
ide and water into organic sub-
stances and oxygen”.

Dr. Van Niel then compared this
process to a game of billiards. The
cue striking the cue ball is the
equivalent of the plant’s capture

Continued on Page 3, Col. 2





The unveiling of the M. Carey
Thomas portrait, a high point in
this Alumnae Weekend, took place
Saturday night at eight o’clock
in the Dorothy Vernon room of
the Deanery. Jane Bell Yeatman
Savage, president of the Alumnae
Association, opened the cere-
monies by thanking all those who
had made the occasion possible,
and introduced Miss Adelaide
Neall.

Miss Neall spoke of the present
occasion as another proof that at
Bryn Mawr dreams may become
realities. She said that due to the
generosity of Caroline Slade, be-
loved alumna whose last wish
made this action possible, the
Alumnae Association was able to
honor the woman who above all
deserves honor here at Bryn
Mawr. Miss Neall described the
chosen photograph from which
Mr. Frank Bensing created the
portrait of M. Carey Thomas
showing the great force and
promise of her youth.

She and Mrs. Savage then lifted
the brocade curtain and presented
to the Alumnae Association a por-
trait of young Carey Thomas in



Unveiling of Carey
Highlights Alumnae Weekend Program

Thomas Portrait

profile, looking forward into the
future with determination and
confidence.

Helen Taft Manning addressed
the alumnae, giving reminiscences
of earlier days with Carey
Thomas. She described the por-
trait as that of the years before
Bryn Mawr, perhaps a _ likeness
of the time when Miss Thomas
and Miss Gwinn wandered
through Europe from Rome to
Edinburgh. Perhaps she looked
|as thus when she appeared in eve-
ning gown and long gloves for her
doctorate examination at Zurich.
| Mrs. Manning, speaking of M.
| Carey Thomas’ passionate sense
of beauty, said that the plan of
the campus alone is a monument
to her aesthetic sense, from the
cloistered peace created by Pem-
broke and Rockefeller sheltering
the central campus to the north-
west view of the open valley.

Her proportion and sense of
beauty is also shown in the Dean-
ery which she always thought to
build into a house of gracious
living. I hope, said Mrs. Man-
ning that .with this portrait

Continued on Page 5, Col. 5