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College news, December 5, 1956
Bryn Mawr College student newspaper. Merged with Haverford News, News (Bryn Mawr College); Published weekly (except holidays) during academic year.
Bryn Mawr College (creator)
1956-12-05
serial
Weekly
6 pages
digitized microfilm
North and Central America--United States--Pennsylvania--Montgomery--Bryn Mawr
Vol. 43, No. 08
College news (Bryn Mawr College : 1914)--
https://tripod.brynmawr.edu/permalink/01TRI_INST/26mktb/alma991001620579...
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from LYRASIS Members and Sloan Foundation.
BMC-News-vol43-no8
TRE SERIE
- «
Wednesday, December 5, 1956
THE COLLEGE NEWS
¢
Page Three
Administration And
Varied Experience Of Jr. Year Abroad
Life Of An American In.
Paris Described By
Bryn Mawrters
By Lynn Deming
Bryn Mawr College has for many
years been a participant in the
Sweet Briar Junior Year Abroad
Program, which® sends students of
all major: men’s and women’s col-
leges to study for nine months at
a European University. By far the
most popular request. among the
growing portion of the. American
students who desire foreign study
is the University of Paris, where
History, Literature, Art, and Phi-
losophy majors can drink in the
benefits of the most famous school,
and the most talked-about city in
the world. Those Bryn Mawr stu-
dents whose academic interest and
proficiency in French have landed
them inthe foreign metropolis
have all sorts of things to say
about it, ~~ extremely enthusi-
astic.
First of all, American college
juniors.in.Paris. are treated to the
privilege of living within the close-
ly-knit nucleus of a French family,
where adjustment*is usually made
fairly easy by a selective ‘matching
of “foster-families” and the stu-
dents who board with them. (All
financial arrangements are made
by Sweet Briar College). Although
students have occasionally run into
clashes of incompatibility, the ma-
jority agree that this living plan
is one of the most exciting advan-
tages of their Junior Year Abroad,
The French language, of course,
is spoken almost eighteen hours a
day, both within the family, and at
all classes taken in the various
schools of the University of Paris.
Unfortunately, many students are
unqualified for the more. advanced
courses given at the Sorbonne,
while the programs designed there
for foreigners are generally not up
to par. As a result, most Ameri-
cans take courses at any of the
other outstanding schools, such as
the Institut Brittanique, the Insti-
tut d’Etudes Politiques, or the
Louvre.
However, academic adjustment is
perhaps more of a challenge than
social adaptation, for Americans
must learn to accept such facts as
that one of the world’s largest uni-
versities functions without publish-
ing any accurate catalogue of its
courses before they actually begin.
Complete independence in one’s
work, as well as complete indiffer-
ence on the part of professors as
to whether or not lectures are at-
tended, or work is completed, com-
plicate the situation. Grades may
even be given which in no way
take into account all the duly grad-
ed work done by a student through-
out the term (with the exception
of the final exam).
Yet perhaps one of the hardest
adjustments for an eager Ameri-
can student to make is acceptance
of the fact that everything worth-
while cannot be seen and done in
Paris in nine short months. Such
a realization probably accounts for
the large number of Junior Year
abroad students who try to get jobs
_and positions in Europe after grad-
Students Discuss
Mrs. Marshall Presents
Pros And Cons
Of Program
by Eleanor Winsor ©
In the vacillations of all sopho-‘ “
mores there must come a moment |
when Junior Year abroad seems
the certain answer to “sophomore
slump”. The wide variety of pro-
grams which can now be scheduled
has removed junior year from the
class of language majors’ special
privileges and has made the gen-
eral possibility additionally attract-
ive. “Yet,” says Dean Marshall,
“the values of the program are
purely individual and vary with
the student.”
Mrs. Marshall, as an undergrad-
uate at Smith, spent her own jun-
ior year in Spain and speaks en-
thusiastically of the broad and deep
experience—the opportunity of see-
ing a different way of life from a
definite viewpoint. Unlike’ the
drifting tourist, the junior year
student has a working job in the|-
country. For her, doors are open-
ed not -onty~ to everyday “lire but)
also to intellectual life and she
has the occasion to meet and’ work
with outstanding professors. In Ker
senior year at college she can
bring to her academic and social
life a breadth of experience, view-
point and a new contribution.
~ The arguments for remaining in
an American college are quite dif-
ferent, Courses offered to Ameri-
cans abroad are general and do
not give the same opportunity for
research and individual work as
advaneed courses in the major at
Bryn Mawr. The continuity of in-
tellectual experience is broken by
concentration upon different things
and there is a transition back to
college work as necessary as the
initial step in the opposite” direc-
tion.
Financially the junior year pro-
gram is more expensive than a
college year as trans-Atlantic pass-
age must be counted as extra. Fees
are the same as those of the col-
lege which sponsors the trip but ‘in
addition there are one or more
university vacations when the de-
lights of skiing in the Alps or bath-
ing on the Riviera are an extra ex-
pense.
‘ CALENDAR
Wednesday, December 5
8:30 p.m.— Legislature Meet-
ing. The proposal to make Chap-
el Committee an autonomous or-
ganization and a voting member
of the undergraduate board will
be discussed.
Thursday, December 6
. 8:30 p.m—John O. Reinemann,
Director of Probation, Philadel-
phia Municipal Court will speak
on the “Work of the Juvenile
ourt.” Common Room.
Friday, December 7
8:30 p.m.—Measure for Meas-
ure” is the main feature of Un-
dergrad Weekend. This presen-
tation of the Bryn Mawr College
Theatre and the Haverford
Drama Club will be given at
Goodhart Hall. é
9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.—Rhoads
open house, “Pooh’s Corner.”
Saturday, December 8
uation, in the hopes of continuing
what seems, back in .America, to
have: been only a beginning.
It must be admitted, however,
that all “retournees” cite Paris as
an expensive place in which to live,
in comparison with other European:
capitals. While the cost of living
is comparable to that in the Phila-
delphia area, it denies to the Amer-
ican student that very beneficial
exchange of currency which he can
enjoy in Germany or Italy. How-
ever, the dazzling abundance. of}
music, art and theatre in Paris,
and the intrigue of French social
life itself, seem to have outweigh-
ed any such considerations of dis-
Continued on Page 4, Col. 3
ai "Serene
8:30 p.m.—Second performance
of “Measure for Measure.”
10:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.—“Ori-
ental Thiau Wu,” a formal dance
will be held in the gym with re-
freshments and _ entertainment
by the Octangle and the Haver-
ford Mad. Dogs.
Sunday, December 10 *
4:00 p.m. — Bernard Peiffer,
‘well known popular pianist, will
give a concert, under the spon-
sorship of undergrad. Gertrude
Ely Room.
Tuesday, December 11
8:30 pm. — Sir Geoffrey
Keynes will given an illustrated °
lecture on° “Blake’s Illuminated.
STRIFE Goes To A Darty: BMC
Smiles for Magazine Photographer
LIFE Magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstadt, shown
here at Pem West tea during his stay at Bryn Mawr on assign-
ment for LIFE’s
see below.
“American Woman” issue. For “full account”,
By Anna Kisselgoff
Once upon a time, when Lenry R. Huce was sitting in his castle
on 51st Street, before a sign on his sedan chair that said “CRIME-
STRIFE, Inc., publishers of MISFORTUNE”, he received” a” phone
call from Clare B., who was throwing a-little party at the Baths of
Caracalla in Rome, which are really just an imitation of New York’s
Penn Station.
“You listen to me, Lenry,” said Clare B., “you go right ahead
and put out an issue on the American Woman, you hear?!’
Lenry R. said yes dear and called in Alfred E.
“Kisie, old kid,” he said, “why dop’t you run right down to Bryn
Mawr and fill up four pages for December 24?”
Bisie said o.k. and did. ae
When Eisie stopped running \and got to Bryn Mawr, the Public
Relations Department, which is the most richly endowed department,
being second only to the Latin Department in tradition, came out to
meet him as did its chairman, the James Dean Professor of Press
Release. Everybody thought Eisie was a real nice guy even if he did
look like a professor. You must be very tired, said the James Dean
Professor of Press Release, may we take care of your Leica? LEisie
said yeah and everybody said wasn’t the Leica cute. Then they gave the
Leica a bone and let it run around.
Soon they took Eisie to his quarters on the window sill in Taylor
on the staircase between the first and second floors, where he spent
most of the next four days.
Eisie Feels He Is Being Watched
After the first day, Alfred (or Eisie) began to worry. I have the
feeling, he said to himself, that I am being watched. For some reason,
ae continued, I do not fit in. This is indeed very bad. The girls at
Bryn Mawr might suspect, although I don’t see how, that they are
being photographed. And if it is one thing STRIFE believes in, it is
he natural spontaneous candid photograph.
So Alfred solved the problem. He took off his tweed jacket. He
put on a blue sweatshirt. Now, he said, I will look like anybody else
at Bryn Mawr. I shall also get myself a green bookbag like Dr.
Sprague’s. Which he did, and after that not one girl at Bryn Mawr
noticed him when he crept. under the library desks with a@ light meter.
Alfred the Great roamed far and wide. One day as the Public
Relations Department was carrying him across campus, he saw a girl
climbing down into the manhole in front of Radnor Hall.
“My, my,” he said, “fancy meeting you.”
“Yes, fancy that—although you have made me pose in this spot
for three hours,” answered she.
“Ha ha,” said Eisie, “I take it you are going to play some subter-
ranean tennis?”
“As a matter of fact, no,” she said, “I am just going to my comp
conference.” And then she vanished,
“How spontaneous!”, exclaimed Eisie and took a picture of the
manhole.
Later Eisie went to a philosophy class because STRIFE is a family
magazine and you never can tell what the household pet will want to
read. The Bryn Mawr professor of philosophy spoke about many
things, including philosophy, and then he said: “Today I am giving
you an exam. Please answer the question ‘How many Angels can dance
on the head of a pin? ’ ”
This gave Alfred an idea: “I will see how many Bryn Mawr girls
can sit on top of Taylor Tower’s weather vane.” And that very day
Eisie took a picture of the Freshman Class Meeting atop Taylor’s
weather vane, which was facing North.
Next on the agenda was a visit to “Current Events” where the
world problems were being solved. LEisie did his job very well. In
+fact,—he_took.so many.CLOSE shots of the professor speaking, that
many began to believe the crisis was not in the Suez, but in’ ane ORE
mon Room.
Typical a Mawr Girl: Mopsie Fell
“And now,” announced Alfred, “I will take a spontaneous picture of
the typical Bryn Mawr girl.” Quite luckily, and of course, by chance,
there she was: the typical Bryn Mawr girl, Mopsie Fell, hanging up-
side down.from the almost perfect groined vault of Pem Arch, bidding
her date, Prince Rainier, goodnight. “Aha,” said Alfred. And Mopsie
Fell. :
Then came time for Eisie to mosey back home. The James Dean
etc. and everybody cried, but Eisie paid no heed and merely said he
hoped everyone at Bryn Mawr would subscribe to STRIFE so that he
could get paid for this job. And then he added, that if they didn’t,
Lenry R. would print the story on Harcum instead. Of course, this
was unthinkable and everybody said yes, yes; we shall subscribe, and
days and that certainly was not to be for nothing.
Books.” Goodhart.
And that, children, is how the Power Elite makes its money.
a nrslaneseeentiptesane rs
anyway the girls had been forced to comb their hair for the last four
Mora Vs. Gilbert
In Lively Debate
Last Thursday night, in the Com-
mon Room, Mr. Ferrater-Mora, of
the philosophy department, and Mr.
Gilbert, of the history department,
in their debate about history and
the philosophy of history, spoke of
the respective roles pf the historian
and the philosopher.
Mr. Ferrater-Mora made two
criticisms of current historical
work, referring not to any histor-
ian in particular, but to historians
in general, or “the hypothetical his-
torian.” The first was that histor-
ians are “too cautious”: they con-
sider it their task to “describe
events as they are,” relying too
much on facts. Mr. Ferrater-Mora
stressed that facts vary in their
certainty and in their significance,
and that in certain instances ‘the
significance surpasses the fact. His
other criticism was that historians
are “too rash”: they tend to reduce
facts to patterns examined by psy-
ichologists and. sociologists; ands
speak of “historical law” without
examining its meaning.’ Mr. Fer-
rater-Mora suggested that as both
historians and philosophers are
“too rash and too cautious” the so-
lution for the dissension between
them. might lie in combining the
rashness of one with the caution of
|the other.
No Hypothetical Historian
Mr. Gilbert first remarked that
one cannot talk about “the hypo-
thetical historian,” but must con-
sider representative historians of
our age. He went on to say that
great historians are not guilty of
the “rashness” of dividing history
sharply into fields, and that the in-
clination to accept laws from other
fields touches upon the problem of
the position of history between the
social sciences and the humanities.
The purpose of the historian, how-
ever, is to present “the uniqueness
of the historical situation,” which
can stand out only after the other
‘patterns have been abstracted.
As to the question of reliance on
facts, Mr. Gilbert stressed that the
significance of facts depends upon
the problem which the historian is
investigating; it is not possible to
establish a general significance of
an event. The question of the
meaning of history is not the task
of the historian but that of the
philosopher.
There are two issues on which
Mr. Gilbert would like the philoso-
pher to provide the historian with
more information. . One is how the
philosopher expects the historian,
whom he attacks for unclear use of
terms and concepts, to use logical
language. The other is a reference
to historical relativism: to what
extent is it possible to understand
another period if we don’t have the
right to judge it according to our
own values?- The problem which
gives the historian an interest in
events of the past is usually one
which comes from a present situa-
tion which he is trying to clarify.
Mr. Gilbert considered that the phi-
losopher is dealing with the same
issues as the historian, but that
his views are too abstract and that
him.
In the general discussion which
followed, Mr. LeBlanc suggested
that a méthodology for history is
a-task which should be undertaken
jointly by philosophers and histor-
ians, taking into consideration the
merits of both.
The Freshman Class announc-
es the election of Betsy Emer-
son and Pie Pinckney as Repre-
sentatives to Self-Gov and Joan
Strell as Undergrad Rep. The
new A.A. reps are Nancy Du-
Bois and Sally Davis. >
OPO I NTRS oe sen ce
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