North Carolina State University - Agromeck Yearbook (Raleigh, NC)

Page 24 text:

MAKE AMERICA A BETTER PLACE. LEAVETHE COUNTRY J - J.G. Peck sociology anthropology One of the unusual things about our society is that we are able to and willing to subsidize many if not most of our young people for a four-year period while they attend a ' university ' . We not only allow them to freeload in the sense of avoiding productive labor, (we do this with our welfare people and with our Hippy groups) but we actively encourage them with bribes, subsidies, tax support and the promise of the Great Middle Class status symbol, the BA. What the BA is in is largely unimportant. (Ask any personnel director the difference between an Economics BA and a Sociology BA, or whether it matters if it ' s a Civil or Industrial Engineering degree he puts on the road with his milking machine sales team.) One of the essences of the student-university experi- ence, it seems to me, is that the student is afforded a four- year period to experiment with new behavior and new thoughts, new experiences and new goals — in many ways, to push his own capacities to the limits of self and beyond if possible— in an environment and within a social sub- system designed to minimize the cost of change and the consequence of failure. II

Page 23 text:

IS as dgeto igalion I by a icomes Toio- on, not asuc- fbettie feeding idustry, ofttie •oyd ol lation, jxpend society, il train- lie uni- leed to smost I would he uni- it)y erei by its .IV, The university needs to emphasize equity and accept that perfect equality is nothing but a Utopian dream. The university of today is dealing with a very unique kind of freshman. The impact of the Instantaneous world of electronic information media can hardly be over- emphasized. While these media provide an extensive un- derstanding of the world we live In, they may not be able to provide the depth of knowledge necessary to make valid and meaningful decisions. As a result many a youth, In spite of some very admirable motives starts believing that there are two kinds of people — the ones who are free and the others who are persecuted, the ones who are enlightened and those who are prejudiced, and the ones who are for the peace sign and those who wave the American flag. The university environment needs to re- move these dichotomies. In that environment the youth ought to be able to Internalize that the American flag, for example, and the peace sign are not mutually elusive. The university needs to show by its deeds that the pride of being an American, or a member of any other nation, does not and should not prevent him from regarding him- self as a member of the family of man. Also, the world citizen does not have to deny himself an allegiance to family, community or a nation. In summary, I have a simple contention. The university cannot play the passive role of simply manifesting the current values of the society. Nor can It serve the society by simply defiantly assuming the role of Innovator of new values. Rather, the university needs to compromise the two roles by providing enlightened guidance and the tools of analysis for man ' s adventure of ideas and under- standing of the contemporary world.

Page 25 text:

that we most of ( attend 1 in tlie fltli oor actively ortand boi.tlie isk any ipomics if it ' s a lie road experi- afouf- id new lyways, beyond iai suli- and the fn college you can change your career identity each semester, and elect courses which will allow you to ' play-act ' the real-world identity you choose. Perhaps even more importantly, college offers you an opportunity to experiment with a range of ways of living, and with a range of groups to belong to — again, an opportunity to try on for a while a series of identities, to see how they fit, to see what kinds of satisfaction they bring. You can be a long-hair or a Frat-rat, a Commune member of a Cam- pus Politician, and you have no committment to it for longer than you want to dress and behave the part. It ' s all very temporary, very Now , and makes no obligation on the future or the future for you. Perhaps the secret of involvement is somehow tied up with the recognition that the University is really in the business of giving you the freedom to fail, where failure costs are minimized. To learn, to grow, to create, to move beyond what you were, means to risk a little more than you ' re sure about, to gamble on yourself a little bit beyond your own qualities. If, as students and teachers and ad- ministrators we can recognize this, then the University experience will be a fulfilling one.