Butler University - Carillon / Drift Yearbook (Indianapolis, IN)

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Out of the Dark T|HH student of liistory used to be forced I to memorize all sorts ot meaningless facts and uninteresting dates. In recent years, however, some historians have begun to advance the theory that studying wars and elections and the other contests that have al- ways occurred and are always occurring among individuals powerful enough to exploit society is like studying a chess game. And so history has tended lately to become a study of such things as the rise of industrialism. the set- tling of the West, and the silver standard vs. the gold. It has begun to concern itself, that is, with groups of human beines rather than [ Bhelhr with individuals. But isn ' t it possible that even these social movements, though participated in by whole peoples, are caused and controlled by those same exploiters of society? The study of the human mind and its attempt, while developing itself, to make this world and this life meaningful and rational is, perhaps, the only genuine history. A Game? The acquiring of an education is considered by the modern student a social distinction, like the ability to play bridge: he displays his diploma as the prize for luck — sometimes skill — in playing his cards. This element of un- certainty, by the way, is what makes the teaching game even more fascinating — sometimes. But even a game must be scientifically formulated and played ac- cording to rules. The scientist in education is trying to find order and reason in the com- plication of convention and new idea that our institutions of learning have become: to dis- cover workable maxims and a scientific basis for measurement of concrete aspects of educa- tion. Is that basis to be found wholly in psychology? We wonder! He also suggests that all of one ' s education should be effective in later life, as vocation or as leisure; but must not something more than use and pleasure be considered if we are to show our young the values of life. ' ' Mr. Rich.xrdsgn y

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Where Are We Drifting CONOMIC thought is nothing new. Since Adam, men have been faced with the task of supplying Hfe ' s material wants. However, with the advent of modern economic theory, economics has exper- ienced an abnormal development and separation from true life values. A century or so ago, economics as an in- dividual science did not exist. Economic law was confused with moral codes: the pursuit of wealth as its own end was considered a deadly sin. Only in accordance with a popular mater- ialism has economics attempted to stand on its own feet, has money-making become the sole life aim for the vast majority of human beings. It is this attempt of economics to establish itself on an independent and meaningless foundation that must ultimately cause not only its own downfall but also that of the civilization based upon it. Economic theory which ignores morality and aesthetics is both dangerous and absurd. Beyond The Boundaries Persons who know much about language say that not even the most expert translator can put into another language the richness of style and fullness of meaning of the original. Literature inevitably loses much in being translated. A German cannot fully understand and appreciate Hugo until he knows French: a Frenchman can begin to comprehend Shakespeare only after he has mastered English: and an Englishman does not really grasp the wonder of Goethe until he knows German. What a tremendous amount of beauty and wisdom awaits, therefore, the student who is willing to expend the effort necessary to learn the European languages. His hours of labor will be long and hard, and determined applica- tion will be unavoidable: but beyond the drudg- ery he will find and appreciate the original flavor in the works of such minds as Goethe, Hugo, Cervantes, Dante, Ibsen, Heine, Kant, and Rostand.

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Americans Hope m™ ]OW can a woman play golf and tennis, I hear Charlie Davis every week, attend her X l bridge club regularly, and still have time - ' ' left to keep house? Well, unless she is an expert, she can ' t. And so friend husband becomes angry, and then bitter: and all at once the papers are full of another one of those sensational murder trials. So perhaps it is home economics that will save American home life, which at present seems to be rapidly becoming a thing of the past. For that science, if presented properly, will teach women how to so expend their time and energy that they may take advantage of the new op- portunities that have become theirs in recent years and also be good housewives. And after it has reestablished the American home on a firm foundation, home economics can render another great service to this country. It can create a butterscotch pie that, although delicious, will NOT cause anyone who partakes of it to have a fierce stomach ache afterwards. Getting Across Expression of human thought and feeling is accomplished by gesture or verbal expression. Tradition in language study has emphasized the written word because of its more lasting value. But its origin and interpretation is in the spoken word, which by intonation of voice and gesture has greater variety of color and emphasis, but that is ephemeral unless translated into the systematic symbolism of language. Two primary forms of spoken word are the speech and the drama; the art in either is in unified presentation and vividness and clarity of style: the basis of which is in the logic and rhetoric of the language. In public presentation, the interest of an audience may be caught by personality, gesture, setting: held for a time by technical proficiency. Judges and critics may even be influenced to give judgments on technicalities, but the true worth of a speech or drama lies in the com- munication of a well-unified whole of idea and emotion. Mr. Sifritt