Yale University - Banner / Pot Pourri Yearbook (New Haven, CT)

Page 14 text:

Undergraduate education on the level that Yale is involved in it contains some inherent conflicts of in- terestfl 'iUndergraduates too often fail to realize that the faculty has a responsibility to their professional area beyond the students and this University, and the faculty too often forget that a significant part of education takes place in the extracurricular interests of studentsfl Part of the responsibility for resolving this conflict lies with Mr. Kessen in his official function. The best indication of his success is his ability to combine the qualities of teacher, scholar, and adminis- trator, and still fire many of his students with enthusiasm. Perhaps it is, as one student suggested, by force of example. Returning to the University of Florida, he received his B.A. in Psychology, before proceeding to Brown for the Ph.D. At Brown 'The close-knit atmosphere of the . . . department provided for an extremely intimate inter- action between faculty and students, one that left a lasting impressionf, Following his thesis adviser to Yale, Mr. Kessen began the post-doctoral research that initi- ated his interest in human development. This led initially to studies of perception and sticking in the Hrst days of life, then to a consideration of the interaction between environment and innate capacities in the growth of childrenls intelligence. Over the years my orientation has become one of being more and more aware of the size ofthe problemf, One of the problems Xlr. Kessen faces is symbolized by the Institute of Human Relations, where he has his office. The building, cold and austere, is at a distance from most undergraduates, and might seem the epitome ofa research scholar's hideaway were it not for the bustle and almost electric warmth found around the offices on the second floor. There Professor Kessen shows the veggie I2

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The professor presents his material deftly, taking time to answer questions from the floor as they arise. Students sit back to listen, then wonder, then smile in turn. Having begun with a chalk drawing and the simple statement, K'This is a childf' he has hy now progressed to the more concrete fact of discipline: . . . if you must, quickly and on the bottomf, The class laughs, yet will remember the point made by NVILLIANI KESSEN, Professor of Psychology.

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534, AJ. same intense and disciplined thought that characterized his lecture. In addition to child development, the subject now is the Psychology Department, the Course of Study Committee, of which he is Chairman, and the problems of undergraduate education. 4 16 6 Born in japan of missionary parents, jOHN W. HALL, A. Whitney Griswold Professor of History, had a direct exposure to japanese culture before he developed an historianis interest 'in it. Though his home-life was American, he was free to experience and partake of the surrounding japanese environment. And partake he did his reserved and dignified manner, his soft, well-modu lated conversation, and his sensitivity and extreme politeness are disarming when contrasted to the harsh and direct ways of Americans. When Mr. Hall returned to the United States to attend Andover it was only natural for him to feel a tension between certain of his japanese proclivities and standard American attitudes. His approach to history is somewhat unusual, and probably to some extent was conditioned by his early experience with japanese culture. He regards himself as more of a social scientist than a humanist: My kind of history deals with large spans of time and masses of data to get at structures and patterns of behavior, and this has taken me more in the social scientistis direction than the biographical approach with which I startedf, Professor Hall sees japan, a major and creative element in the modern world, as offering an alternative to the European standards which heretofore have been the sole criterion of judgment. japan brings a whole new stream of history into the modern world. Today, I would say japanis history is as significant to the world as are the histories of France and Germany. Now that japan has become a modern society on a basis of equality with our own, japanese ways of life and japanese ideas have become directly relevant to us. Their experience may help us understand some of our own problemsf, Q0-mlm