Millsaps College - Bobashela Yearbook (Jackson, MS)

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The Millsaps student studies because he has to, because he must make his grades, because mihtary service will be deferred, because this is an age demanding that a person have a college education. But the music major may read Wordsworth because he likes it, the novice chemist may delay his studying to attend a concert, and the purpose is then partially fulfilled. The purpose is not the overambitious one of producing an universal man, but simply the preservation of an indi- vidual capable of understanding — or, at least, aware of the presence of — disciplines other than his own. The Mill- saps student studies to be a doctor, to be a minister, to be a teacher; he learns to be an individual. . •W

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The Purpose [ 14 ]

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On frequent work-filled days, Millsaps students will creep from their studies to curse the insti- tution which seems to be spending their youth. They will spend hours mutually consoling each other with Job-like moans conc erning such pat and well-turned problems as the neuter social life, bad food and bad service, and the inexhaustible and ever popular complaint of Chapel. But when the need arises to promote the school that strange phenomenon, the paradoxical loyalty of a Millsaps student, blooms forth. Comprehensives are hallmarks of quality. Un- subsidized athletics are as noble and soul cleansing as Galahad or the Scout motto. Phrases like privately supported and limited enrollment seem as meaningful as one nation and indivisible. The Millsaps student has a real awareness of the uniqueness of his school and his outlook betrays this feeling. He scorns the things which are labeled collegiate. He would rather die than go to a pep rally, talk the Ivy League vernacular, or do the twist. Yet he goes, talks, and does. But it ' s different. It ' s a laugh-at-myself, know-something-you-don ' t dif- ference. This two-sided coin is Millsaps ' loyalty. The critical stance and cynical laugh is the Millsaps fight song, victory yell, and Alma Mater — a manifestation of love, but a love that would be corny if expressed in any other way than a partially sarcastic, partially concerned, partially fond comment on the grill or Founders Hall. [ 16 ]