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Volume 4, Number 10
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Published by the Students’ Society of McGill University, Montréal, Québec
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Tuesday 13 November 1984
U .S. Invades G ert’s by Michael Smart Americans Abroad, that organiza tion dedicated to mutual preservation in a hostile land, drew its wagons into a circle last Tuesday night to celebrate the reannointment of their Leader, Ronald Reagan. Toes
Report On Science Part II Of Demise Of Canadian Universities?
by Grace Permaul With the belief that a core cur riculum will improve the quality of education, the authors of “ The Great Brain Robbery” recommend that Canadian universities return to a system that was once considered by many to be elitist. Although it is true that a core curriculum would provide the first-year student with a better foundation from which he or she could later diverge, it is difficult to decide which courses should be part of such a curriculum. It is important to realize that the expectations of society at large also dictate to a certain degree what is or is not considered to be essential in the learning process. With much atten tion and concern directed towards the technological age and the individual’s ability to deal with computerization, “ how-to” courses are now being of fered and widely attended. As one who made the error of taking a computer course that was severely overcrowded, poorly organized and taught, I also responded to societal pressure. Although it is questionable whether courses which tend to be divorced from the discovery of truth actually do pro vide a broad base, many students con tinue to fill the classrooms and often do so to their detriment. Unfortunate ly, while some students would prefer to study Latin, the need to be employed during the summer months has increas ed the number of students taking courses which are skill-oriented. Although a core curriculum would eliminate some of these problems, a limited choice of courses could also mean a limited perspective on life itself. Perhaps the real core of the pro
blem is that in selecting courses, students are not receiving the proper guidance. A few minutes session with a pro fessor who signs the student’s form is not enough. I am one of many students who did not receive the necessary counselling to make well-informed course choices, therefore, I strongly believe that all first year students should have m an d a to ry course counselling to discuss course selection, future career options and the link bet ween the two. If we are in fact to solve many of the problems arising from the lack of consultation, then greater fun ding must be directed to advisory and counselling services where trained counsellors have knowledge of the courses that are offered. Almost all universities are faced with one major problem: a lack of funds. Unlike American universities, most Canadian institutions do not have strong alumni associations. Never theless, McGill has taken the lead and is making a concerted effort through the McGill Advancement Program (MAP) to raise funds on its own in itiative. This type of action will ameliorate the situation to some ex tent, but is only one step in a long pro cess to preserve to future of the univer sity. While we may not as yet have all of the answers, reverting to the elitist system of the past is not going to solve the problems outlined in “ The Great Brain Robbery” . The world in which students are pursuing knowledge and searching for truth is changing and the university must be able to adapt in order to survive.
The party, held at Gertrude’s Pub, was by all accounts a great success, not least for its native American delicacies, such as egg salad sandwiches on white bread, and for the American beer available at half price. Among the distinguished guests pre sent at an invitation-only reception preceding the party were William D. Morgan, Consul-General of the United States to Montréal, and Lynn Farr, director of Montréal operations of General Dynamics, an American-based defence contractor. Farr lauded President Reagan’s landslide victory, remarking, “ Reagan has stood up to the Russians, and that’s the ultimate test of leadership.” He compared the U.S. invasion of Grenada earlier this year to former President Jimmy Carter’s abortive at tempt at rescuing U.S. hostages in Iran
in 1980, commenting that Carter was “ a wimp” . Farr attributed the imminent closure of General Dynamics’ Montréal plant to the policies of the former Liberal government. He said he regrets the decision, which will mean the loss of 300 Canadian jobs, but defended it as the only option for the firm ’s American directors Consul Morgan welcomed the Con servative victory in the recent Cana dian federal election, predicting im proved Canadian-American relations in the years to come. “ I think (Mulroney) has shown it’s time to get friendly again,” he said, referring to Tory promises to relax foreign invest ment controls. Morgan also suggested Canadians should attempt to understand, their American neighbours better. He ad monished Canadians not to take the two nations’ economic and military in terdependence for granted, saying Canadians should “ remember where your (defence) umbrella comes from .” The Tribune has learned that neither Morgan nor Farr took advantage of the special on beer.
Stern Words For Education by Stephen Hum “ For me there is no word more beautiful than ‘iconoclast’. It conjures up the picture of religous images, icons and my hands smashing them .” Thus spoke Aaron Stern, self-procalimed iconoclast, a Nobel prize nominee and “ genius maker” . And for Stern no “ icon” is more odius, more in need of smashing than that of the 20th Century’s “ false pro phet” , public education. On Wednesday, November 7, 300 people gathered in Leacock 132 as Aaron Stern took his case to them, outlining a vision on the ‘world accor ding to Stern’ and artfully defending that vision against a series of ques tioners who, while never openly hostile, were often sceptical of his ideas. The world according to Stern is a place to warm the heart of a philistine; it is a place dominated by greed and brutality “ which asks us not to think” , which offered a test that told a young Aaron Stern that he should aspire to be a welder, in 1948. Stern, now a profesor of political science, repudiated that advice and graduated from Brooklyn College in 1950; three years earlier he had been an impoverished and ill refugee from Poland, a survivor of the Holocaust. In 1952 he launched what was to be a life-long struggle against modern education when he summoned the press to announce that he would mould his new-born daughter Edith, into a “ genius” , a statement that Stern freely admits was meant to shock a compla cent. Such a bold proclamation might well have disappeared into the “ lifestyles”
section of public consciousness forever if Edith had not proved him stunningly correct. After reading the entire En cyclopedia Britannica by age 5, Edith entered university at age twelve, and by the time she was 15 she had graduated and was an instructor in topology at Michegan State University. Now 32, Edith has been employed by IBM for 15 years in the c o rp o ra tio n ’s cybernetics division and is the mother of one son who is being raised by the same techniques her father used for her. Stern developed what is called the Total Education Submersion Method. It is based on the premise that knowledge is built in two stages. The first is the acquisition of information which begins at the prenatal stage and reaches it peak before age 6 . On this foundation of information a structure of concepts is then built. But “ children are brutally shoveled into a public education that is more in terested in peace and quiet than knowledge,” said Stern. “ There is con spiracy powered by greed to keep us continued on page 3