Bethel University - Spire Yearbook (St Paul, MN)

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SOCIAL SCIENCES Cultures Studied Other people and their problems arc important to many students on Bethel’s campus. Many of these students major in the social sciences, so that they may more easily and sympathetically understand the various cultures and situations involving these people. Personalities, social institutions and contemporary social problems arc studied. Students majoring in this area are usually preparing for teaching, social work, missions, business or government. However, many students take social science courses just to understand social behavior and thereby become better citizens and persons. Courses in sociology and social work give students a view of how people live in groups and in social institutions. They get an idea of the types of research and field work involved in social work. Courses in specific problems such as crime and delinquency give room for investigation into these specific areas. Anthropology students study man in his various cultures. These courses enable students to see people through their own culture and to understand why they feel and act the way they do. Courses such as “Religions of Man” are valuable in knowing other people. Material needs and how they are met as well as the ways in which producer and consumer help each other are studied in economics. BETTY DANIELSON M.A. Social Work GEORGE J. JENNINGS B.D., M.A. Geography, Anthropology George Jennings helps Phil Van Dc Voordc to find the site of an ancient native culture discussed in anthropology class. HARLAND MICKELSON M.A. Sociology ROY RODGERS M.A. Family 27

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HISTORY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE Dr. Walfred Peterson uses a witty analogy to illustrate a problem in political science. The class “gets it.” Degrees Received Probably the largest number of graduates this year are majors in the department of history and political science. Besides the addition of two Ph. D’s, the department offered a major in political science — new last year — and a total of five semesters of reading courses for the ambitious student of world affairs. Of course it is not always smooth sailing as the beginning historian finds out when he discovers that an “important date” does not necessarily mean Saturday night. And there are oral com-prehensives for history majors to bone up on before graduation. This year the department has taken on a teaching assistant to help with the larger classes in freshman history. Next year they will become even larger as the course “Introduction to Western Civilization” becomes a requirement for graduation. Here the history department takes on a new responsibility for the general education of the student body as well as providing a field for specialization. At first it may not seem important that Napoleon met his Waterloo or that Boston had its tea party. But more and more one realizes the value of the past as a guide for the present and the future. DALPHY FAGERSTROM Ph.D., Chairman American History ROY C. DALTON Ph.D. European History WALFRED PETERSON Ph.D. Political Science FRANCIS WHEELER M.A. Ancient History 26

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LANGUAGES Miss Nelson looks as if she has a willy answer for Carol Christensen and Marlys Lehman. Hello In Any Language “Wie geht es Ihnen?” “Muy bien. iy usted?” “Jar ar bar.” It sounds confusing but it’s not “all Greek” to the language students. Under the new program at least one year of a foreign language is required for graduation. As they struggle with the difficulties of sentence structure, irregular verbs and the possessive pronoun, the students wonder why. But after a few weeks their tongues slip sideways quite naturally and they find themselves becoming interested in the cultural differences and historical heritage of these countries. German is the choice especially of those who plan to go on in science, medicine or philosophy. Pre-seminary students get a background for their theological study in the college Greek course. Because Latin America is so near and important and because of Bethel’s interest in missions, many students study Spanish. Our denominational heritage of Scandinavian, so Swedish is also a popular language. Techniques of learning such as records and conversation groups are being used by the students to increase their facility in the language of their choice. The library has two rooms reserved as language listening rooms. In later years students are often surprised at how handy the college language training may be. FRANCIS WHEELER M.A., Chairman Greek F.FFIE NELSON LILLIAN RYBERG INGEBORG M.A. M.A. SJORDAL German Spanish M.A. Swedish