University of Western Ontario - Occidentalia Yearbook (London, Ontario Canada)

Page 27 text:

Nw Nf Q fuq' 2 i 5 Q , . QL, . sf ' ' u 2 refs , - b. 8 XX as Twig' xx' .sf K W rv if X ..-' ' 'sie g W . si' ,fx 1 ri, ,Les-ti? We--i-'qpx ,Af This is the professor, the man at the door, the gatekeeper, with his ordered mind and educated imagi- nation and this is all to be said because from these words all simi- larity among these men ends 'W 23

Page 26 text:

Time and time ago, a man asked me, What is a pro- fessor'? . Since then, with industry and integrity, I have searched in all the corners of the world, found all the sages from then till now to listen to their definitions. And a survey, a mountainous survey of great depth and many pages I tried, and all the men, who were professors or thought they were, took the survey and answered it so that with a computer mind I could devise the secret of their calling - the thing that makes them them and not us. What they all have said and how they have said it has brought me nowhere save back to this question. So I thought, prayed, turned objective to perceive the whirr that makes them tick - professors all. And now I find I can but try to explain it. And what is a professor and what does he teach and who profits from this experience, this expression, this communication of formulated ideas, ideals and such? ls it not simply that you have come here to this place, this school, this university with a spark of knowledge already within you, and that this man, this professor has unlocked the lock and let loose that spark and thus you have learned? How you look at and perceive that spark and what it does for you and you for it - that tells you how well you have learned. Some misuse this spark or send it into a state of disuse while others take it up and light with it other sparks that were until then partially unknown-partially hidden within them. The physicist and the doctor and the chemist and the historian all tell different truths, un- lock different locks, but it is all the one and the same lock and the same truth that one may know oneself, may unlock indeed the lock that is one's self, one's mind, one's world, one's universe to find the hollow beneath, the sharp curve that differentiates us one from another. ,M 1. --- H ...f , f , ,,-,,,,,,,,,.,.,.r..,--. fn- .. .Ap-uw-w ---1mv..s.-,- ,-:-ffsfm 1 ... v'-- ' ' ga .M-ww 'Y : W'wmuugpf -4v.4QUs-N rf -'U .1 I' Q 3, ..

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4 sift . .,,g , I e ln the face of universities growing larger and larger, stu- dents have growing fears of becoming mere numbers, instead of individuals. The challenge of preventing this is one of the major prob- lems facing the educators and the institutions of learning during the second half of the Twentieth Century according to T. J. Casaubon, Assistant Dean of Althouse College and former Director of tthe French Summer School at Trois Pistoles. A great deal of unrest and dissatisfaction he says, may be due to the dilemma of the students' individual needs, aspirations and sense of personal dignity in the face of mass teaching. Mr. Casaubon denies that large numbers of students can be given as a reason for poor teaching. Too frequently educators invoke the law of numbers as an excuse when it ought to be simply a challenge, he says. The disproportionate growth of the universities is per- haps an inevitable fact, however, if a centre of learning wants to have an impact on its students and do an adequate job, it must find ways and means of establishing rapport with its students on a small group or an individual basis. Pedestal teaching is ineffective preaching, remoteness too often tends to promote disinterestf' . af , .TS A-A 4' izxxtgzxiiv .A ...ruin- i' WWW ,ur