Tufts University - Jumbo Yearbook (Medford, MA)

Page 11 text:

I By Lois Epstein UR final registration day was one we had looked forward to since the close of that first hectic rush in Sep- tember, 1951. W'e were anx- ious to answer yes to Do you expect to graduate at the end of this semester? -- anx- ious to put the finishing touches to the portrait of us as college students. But we were startled a bit in an unexpected way when we suddenly were made very conscious of ourselves, of what we looked like, what we thought and felt, and of how four years at Tufts had af- fected us, really. We were asked to write all this down, to make a scale of our ideas and impressions. We were searching for an average opinion, knowing this to be an unreality of statistics, yet we could see that some basic points of agreement, some col- lective tastes and attitudes did exist. Three hundred seventeen of us answered a questionnaire -and wondered - are we aver- age?', HEN we first came to Tufts we were filled with expectations and ideas concerning all phases of our coming collegiate years. Some of us looked forward to a whirl- ing social life, to showing off our athletic prowess, to making lots of friends or being leaders in the extra-curricular life - and some of us even wanted to improve our minds. But whether scbolasticisni came first in our goals or was just a necessary evil that en- abled us to remain in this won- derful world called college, we all had to choose a major field of study. Looking at our class now we find a very thorough division into almost every de- partment of the school. Of those who replied to the poll, one-third of the Liberal Arts students majored in Gov- ernment or Economics and a quarter in Bio-Chemistry. 20 percent of the Jackson girls of '55 majored in Sociology and the English department claimed 17 percent. 10 percent chose Government and the same number went into Biology. Among the Engineers, 35 per- cent followed Mechanical and an equal number selected Elec- trical Engineering. One quar- ter of those interviewed were Civil Engineers and we claim one Chemical Engineer. In view of the present oc- cupational plans of our class, which will be discussed further, it is interesting that only 1 percent of the Liberal Arts students and 5 percent of Jack- son majored in Education. Whatever our field it appears that we chose well: S2 percent of the L. A. respondents, 62 percent of Jackson and 72 per- cent of the Engineers inter- viewed have been very much satisfied with their choice of major. This satisfaction seems to be correlated with the ex- tent to which our majors have contributed to our broad, gen- eral education. Between 75 and 80 percent of both the Liberal Arts and jackson respondents were quite a bit or very much satisfied in this respect as were some 65 percent of the Engineers. Some dissatisfaction on the part of the Engineers was ex- pressed in that there was not room enough for Liberal Arts electives. Within the field of Engineering itself however it is felt that an excellent back- ground in all fields was given. In line with this we find that nearly 90 percent of the En- gineers feel their training has adequately prepared them for a vocation. This feeling is some- what less among the other sen- iors however, where 29 per- cent of the L. A. respondents feel very much prepared for a vocation and 34 percent quite a bit so. These percentages are similar among the Jacksonites. 30 percent consider themselves very well prepared vocation- wise, 35 percent quite a bit. It should be noted here however, that many of us did not choose our majors as backgrounds for a future job, but rather for gaining a good liberal educa- tion, and in that respect we have been well satisfied. UR major field itself is but one of the many things involved in our academic life at Tufts. Cur class did very well schol- astically. We can boast 83 scholarship recipients of those interviewed: 25 percent from Liberal Arts and Jackson each, and 31 percent from the Engineers.

Page 10 text:

We are the Seniors of the Class of '55. XVc came to Tufts four years ago, not quite certain of what we would find. We were eager to learn and we looked forward with a bright and hopeful an- ticipation. Looking at ourselves now we are at once excited and bewildered by what we see, for we are differ- ent from the people who first arrived at this Hill. Certain changes, somewhat indefinable, have come over us. They are incomplete, but as we view the results thus far we can say critically, yet with satisfaction - It is good. It will be better. We made a wide and objective survey of our class this year through a poll of senior attitudes, thoughts and values. We answered questions that attempted to discover the ways in which all as- pects of our life at Tufts have affected us and shared in the forming of the individuals we now are, and we found it difficult to rate the intensity of our opinions on a scale ranging from not at alli' to very much. Though the results which appear on the following pages are presented to give a generalized view of the Class feelings as a whole, we can relate ourselves personally to them for we know that che entire picture could have no exis- tence at all without each one of us. The changing world outside Tufts we have con- sidered also, for nothing can exist by itself and we have greatly felt the influence of the activity going on around us. The perpetual state of cold and too frequently fiery war which we have known all our college lives, the uneasy govern- ments of Europe and the political manoeuvers of our own statesmen have altered our future plans, and which of us could remain unaffected by the barrage of stereophonic sound, bermuda shorts or the chlorophyll craze. And though the course of our life at college is predetermined to a large degree, a presidental cam- paign or a World Series left none of us quite un- moved. The books we chose to read, the theories we took for our own - the very songs We whistled and the slang we used mirrored a whole universe of literature, politics, science and art. So we borrowed a bit from events close by as well as those a continent away, and carried on our own activities here at Tufts. The history of our class relates what we did in four years of college, and much of it seems not unlike the doings of a hundred classes before us. But we are a group of unique individuals in a world that is never quite the same from day to day and we know that the things we did here are exclusively our owng the ways in which we lived our last four years can never be duplicated, even by ourselves. Perhaps it was the voiceless knowledge of that fact that made Senior Week the frantic whirl it must always be. It was the last collective activity of the Class of 'SS and as we danced our way through the Senior Cruise and the Prom, and stood motionless under the wave of the Alma Mater at Pops, our emotions ran feverishly high. These were our last moments of being college students and we barely slept at all, so anxious were we to pack the memory of four years into four brief days. So we turn the page and take a final look at ourselves and the Seniors who changed along with us. It is not a memory of the buildings or the lawns of our college that we will carry within us for a long time to come, though of course the physical aspects of our four years at Tufts could not be completely separated out. But it is rather the people we knew here, those whose faces look out at us from this book, and all the others who contrib- uted to our education and our individual growth, that have had the greatest and most enduring effect on us. This is the page most difficult to close. We are the Seniors of the Class of 'S S. We came to Tufts four years ago not quite certain of what we would find. We Were eager to learn and we looked forward with a bright and hopeful an- ticipation. ' We are leaving in the same way. L. E.

Page 12 text:

We have examined the courses offered here and ft und them good. Of the L. A. stud- ents, S4 percent were well satis- fied with the variety of cur- riculum. Three quarters of the Jacksonites and 63 percent of the Engineers were satisfied in this respect also. We found a very similar breakdown regard- ing satisfaction with the quality of the courses themselves where 57 percent of Liberal Arts, 66 percent of the Engineers and 59 percent of Jackson expressed positive reactions. Most of us found quite a bit of intellectual stimulation from the courses we took, which after all is one of the most im- portant requirements of a good education. Three-fouiths of the Tufts men, 68 percent of Jack- son and 70 percent of the En- gineers were stimulated to in- dependent thinking by their courses. We voiced a mild criticism of teaching methods though. 70 percent of L. A., 80 percent of Jackson and three-quarters of the Engineers found the tech- niques fairly satisfactory. About 10 percent of all the re- spondents were only very little satisfied with the classroom methods. The root of this can perhaps be found in the com- ments about the lack of stud- ent participation in the classes. s N 3 Less than half the students were even quite content With this and 29 percent of the L. A. re- spondents and 28 percent from Jackson were very little or not at all satisfied with the amount of participation. The Engineers did not express as much dis- content. Only 13 percent were very little satisfied and none were not at all. Where the faculty itself is concerned the large majority of our class has been well satisfied. 69 percent of Liberal Arts, 70 percent of Jackson and 81 per- cent of the Engineers rated the faculty for the most part as very capable. Generally also, the personal contacts we made with our professors served as a satisfying source of intellectual stimulation. 84 percent of the L. A. respondents, 83 percent at Jackson and 76 percent of the Engineers found this to be so. Viewing the academic pic- ture as objectively as we can, our class is proud of our alma mater and very much satisfied with her scholastic reputation. The Engineers boast the loud- est here, 97 percent being well satisfied. 77 percent of the L. A. men and 82 percent of Jack- son are likewise satisfied with the place Tufts has earned in the academic world. T is evident to all of us as we approach graduation that though important, the scholastic aspects of Tufts do not tell the whole story of our college education. The people we met at Tufts - in classes, dormitories, extra- curricular activities - on dates - had a vital influence on us and we gained much from most of them. In rating the contacts we made outside of classes, 82 per- cent of the L. A. respondents, 95 percent of the Jacksonites and three-quarters of the En- gineers expressed a high degree of satisfaction. Any discussion of dorm life must of course take into ac- count those of our class who lived off-hill, which encom- passes 45 percent of the L. A. respondents, 22 percent of those from Jackson and 71 percent of the Engineers, or a total number of 140 students. Those who did live in dormitories gen- erally liked them, Jackson be- ing the most satisfied with 83 percent very contented. The extra-curricular pro- gram, which offered us an in- finite variety of activities, was also rated highly by 53 percent of Liberal Arts, 63 percent of Jackson and 47 percent of the Engineers. 32 percent of the L. A. respondents, 42 percent of Jackson and 30 percent of the Engineers found some intel- lectual stimulation in these acti- vities, which small percent- ages indicate that our interest in extra-curricular life was largely a social and relaxation- seeking one. School spirit however was not considered very high. Only a quarter of the class rates it as good, while the wide majority vary in their opinions of it within a range of not at all to somewhat satisfactory. Dating opportunities in ret- rospect were on the positive side. 72 percent of the L. A. students and 91 percent of the Jackson respondents were Well satisfied. From the 31 percent who did not know, it appears that the Engineers did not date as much from the Hill, though a third of them expressed satis- faction with social possibilities on campus. An all over feeling indicates that quite a bit of intellectual stimulation was provided by our contact with other students. 60 percent of Liberal Arts, 77