University of Kansas - Jayhawker Yearbook (Lawrence, KS)

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FALL NUMBER, 1946 27 serve, hence cynicism and pessimism increase. To there is only one sound basis for an optimistic outlook. That basis is the belief that educational institutions in our country could assume the major objective mentioned above and could expedite its implementation. So far this objective which we may call social, economic and political literacy has never been in reality a major one. It has appeared by inference in statements of objective. There has been much talk of citizenship and teaching democracy, but no implementation that w ould permit the development of genuine social, economic, and political literacy. The reasons for this situation are many and com- plex. One will be discussed at length as a major factor. Recently, General Chis- holm, Canada ' s deputy min- ister of National Health, published an article called Can Man Survive? He says, and I believe him, that man ' s natural and inevit- able future lies in the further development and use of his brain, his ability to think, a n d further, these influences, which everywhere limit man ' s thinking . . . and disturb his judgment are his `taboos ' . Now taboos are not just social sanctions set up in primitive tribes. They are present in all societies. They are the social sanctions set up in all tribes by interested and powerful groups and authoritatively imposed on the young to protect the privileges, ideas, or faiths of the old people. They affect attitudes about such things as money systems, educational systems, systems of government, sexual education and marriage, clothes, health, foods, and religion. Old ideas and customs are generally called `good ' or ' sound ' , and new ideas, or experimental thinking or behavior are usually labelled ' bad ' , ' un- sound ' , ' communist ' , ' heretical ' , or any of many othe r words. Like individuals, educational institutions are sub- ject to taboos and serve in turn to implement them. Therefore, to hope that man can improve his think- ing sufficiently and quick enough to survive is hop- ing for much. Yet I do hope for various reasons. Two in particular are appropriate here. In this great land there is still more individual freedom than anywhere in the world. The educa-. tional institutions have not yet become dominated completely as they are in totalitarian states. Ours is the only great nation where there is even a chance of an education effective and free enough to offer hope for the development about which General Chis- holm writes. And further, one out- standing condition among the unusual conditi ons men- tioned in the first paragraph may have far reaching sig- nificance. That is the nature of the population in most of the institutions of higher learning all over the nation. This population can be divided into two parts. The first is comprised largely of service men and women, most of whom are gravely concerned about their future and can appreciate the seriousness of the world situation. The second and smaller division has apparently less awareness of the import of recent events. They are planning a future as if certain of a return to the status quo ante. The more active and vociferous of these will endeavor to reconstruct the collegiate atmosphere of the campuses of past years. If the first of these groups become the dominant influence upon our campuses, they might be of ma- terial value in aiding the development of an educa- tional program less crippled by the taboos previously discussed. Whether they will do this or whether they will follow the other population into an escape situa- (Continued on Page 80) Slap, Th ink, and Read! Chosen to write the feature article for the first issue of the 1947 JAYHAWKER, Dr. A. H. Turney will be remembered by most students as the short, stout man who gave them their entrance examinations. Holding B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Minnesota, he is Director of the Guidance Bureau and one of the hill ' s most widely read and re- spected professors. The editor enthusiastically recommends this contribution as must reading for all thinking university students.