Friday. April 8, H766

SCARLET AND BLACK

 

The Liberal Liberal Arts College and Its Students: Part |

.A endemic life Stressed at Reed College

ED. NOTE: In the first in a series
on the “Liberal Arts College and its
Students," junior philosophy major
at Reed Rene Ballard writes about
keed College’s liberal policies and the
academic pressures which seem to
keep students ironi enjoying them.

A iairly reliable index of the charac-
ter of any college, 1 think, is the kind of
person it tries to make of its students.
College administrators are not always
candid in explaining the kind of College
they direct — I am not at all certain
even what Reed is supposed to be ~ but
Reed possesses an appealing simplicity
in the clarity and immediacy with which
it becomes evident to the ﬁrst year stu<
dent that Reed is dedicated to producing
academicians. what is not so appealing
is the degree to which this dedication

_ excludes nearly everything else.

In a way this directed narrowness
makes Reed a simple place to describe.
There are no fraternities, ior instance.
Nor are there intercollegiate athletics.
Much of the extra-curricular activity
common to other colleges does not exist
at Reed. But in a way it gives Reed a
certain complexity, ior the institution is
generally far more dedicated to academ-
ics than are the Students. Hence there
is a perceptible divergence between the
iomlal structure and the actual work-
ings of the college.

One of the paradoxical things about
Reed is that the college iS as notable for
the freedom it allows the Students as ior
its academic rigor. There are low spe<
ciﬁc rules; theoretically the student is
tree to do as he wishes as long as he
does not impair the rights of others.
However the college seems to extend
with one hand unparalleled social free-
dom only to rescind with the other the
opportunity to use it by imposlng an
academic burden which if taken serious-
ly leaves almost no time for anything
but working.

And at Reed the student who has had
little introduction to the discipline re<
qllired of the serious Academician is at-
tracted by Reed's standards and Reed’s
freedom. Once at Reed, however, he
otten learns two things: one. that he is
less inclined academically than he had
imagined, or two, that he is more cre<
arively inclined than Reed gives him
room to be. Creative work at Reed is
minuscule. Thus about on per cent of the
entering students leave Reed. Many or
those who stay do so with dislike or con-
tempt ior Reed, many simply out of un-
certainty. Not many are willing to sur-
render the freedom at Reed (or the re
strictlons common to other colleges; but
not many remain at Reed for more sub-
stantial or more positive reasons. Corl-
sequently there is a lot of confusion
among Reed students about themselves
and about Reed.

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Most ‘Eschew'
Middle Class

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it is much easier to describe what
Reed students do than what they think.
Most of them, for instance, eschew
middle class avalues and deride the
peaceful asininities of our society. And
however dissatislied they might become
with Reed, none are dissatisfied with the
policy of excluding fraternities and ath-
letics, etc., which seem to be lower level
complements of much of the nonsense oi
adult society. But if Reed students are
revolutionary they are so in a quiet way.
Most of them just look revolutionary:
they are in the summers and quite utten
during vacations temporarily and palm
lessly reintegrated into society, and after
Reed, usually permanently reintegrated.
A lot of them might favor a modification
of society's sexual mores and a lot of
them like socialism. But if anything, they
are ~ not subversive — just avantrgarde

THE ACADEMIC up: is the most important at Reed but it often takes a
very informal nature — at is the care above.

Reed has generally attracted the more
able and intellectually motivated high
school students. Yet students of this
category are also often times artistically
motivated. I would venture this guess.
even, that their interests tend to be more
broad than that of the average student.

which, l grant, is reheshing to someone
like myselt who has endured the provin-
ciallsm of the Midwest.

At any rate, the important thing is tor
all of their radicalism at Reed, not many
have given much thought to the applica-

tion of radical ideas once out of Reed.
What relevance or importance there
might be for society at large in the
values of the Reed society is not clear
to very many — perhaps to none. Never-
theless most derive a Certain Satisfaction
from Reed: reputation as a hotbed ni
subversives and dupes and a certain
primitive obligation to perpetuate it. In
this case society is the dope — particu-
larly Portland. Although there are Com<
munists (of intellectual persuasion at
least) at Reed, no one tinds it particular.
ly noteworthy, not because everyone is in
sympathy but because the existence at
political diversity is taken for granted.
Few Reed students would seriously hear
an argument which took it for granted
that Communism is prima facie unac-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

nearly 24 hours daily. Heretoiore there
has been little attempt to adopt the use
sumption that the average college stu-
dent is so ltkely to make serious mis-
takes, affecting himseli only or others as
well, that his major decisions have to be
made for him by those who possess the
requisite knowledge and virtue.

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Sanity Hangs 0n
Stolen Leisure

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Direction of most student life, lnsoiar
us it needs directing, is the business at
the senate, a joint body of students, ad-

t

CLASSES AT REED look much like those at Grinnell, It would seem they

are more important than here. however.

ceptable, although they are quite willing
to hear arguments to this eiiect. Students
here approach such questions academ-
icaily, and this tolerance is oiten mis-
taken ior acceptance.

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Not Much Time
For Opposition

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There is little political activity on cam—
pus. Most students are opposed to the
war in Viet Nam, but few spent much
time in active opposition. For the most
part the time for organized political
work cannot be spared.

With very few exceptions Reed stu-
dents ore mature enough to meet the re~
sponsibility which accompanies the free-
dom at Reed. Most of them are eager to
assume the responsibility. Often in other
colleges rules become. with the willing
acceptance of students, defenses ior tut-
tering personal values, substituting for-
mal prescription for the lack of comic
tion. Little of this exists at Reed. Stu-
dents here consider one’s social life,
panicularly one’s sexual liie, one’s own

business. lntervisitationislliberal, and _

recent proposals move to extend it to

ministration, and faculty. All of this is
created by, and helps to perpetuate, a
substantially mature student body. But
Reed social life suiiers from the ener<
vating work load. There is, to me at
least, a pervasive fugitive quality in al-
most all Reed social life. In fact, not
much social life exists, So in a Sense do.
bates about the direction of communlty
aliairs are only so much sound and tut-y.
In another sense. perhaps, they are not,
for the Stolen moments of leisure are, to
many, threads on which one’s sanity
hangs.

Probably the most certain thing that
can be Said about the Reed student is
that he is definite about What he does not
like — middle class values, conlcrrnity
for its own sake, political orthodoxy,
muddled thinking in general, halfway
approaches to education — but terribly
uncertain about what he does like ‘ the
values by which he shall live, his own
interest in education. his own aims and
designs vis—a-vis the ones he has con-
demned as narrow, common, and un -
teresting. And the most certain thing
about Reed is that it is difficult if not imr
possible here to discover the answers to
these sorts of questions. To the student
firmly resolved to pursue the academic
liie Reed is one of the best places, But
to the student still uncertain. Reed is
one of the worst.

 

