College News, 1933-04-19, Vol. 19, No. 18

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The College News
VOL. XIX, No. 18
BRYN MAWR AND WAYNE, PA, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 1933
Copyright  BRYN  MAWR
COLLEGE  NEWS.  1933
PRICE 10 CENTS
S?
Dr. Cohen Discusses
Philosophy of Historys
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Facts   Cannot   be   Determined
Without Ethical Criterion,
Lecturer Says
���T�
THEORIES      REFUTED
"To really understand history," de-
clared Dr. Morris Cohen, of City Col-
lege, in Goodhart Hall, April 13, "it
is necessary to approach the facts
with some "consciously-adopted theory
of social objectives. Only in this
way," he asserted in the course of his
lecture on "The Philosophy of His-
tory,'1 "can the historian choose his
authorities and avoid inadvertent
prejudice."
If the purpose of philosophy is to
understand the world in which we
live, Dr. Cohen remarked by way of
introduction, then time is a central
fact. The general tradition of phil-
osophy has, however, been hostile to
the notion of time. For the Oriental,
time is a material conception, and
history, unfolding in time, is corre-
spondingly unimportant. The an-
cients, believing the possibilities of
history limited to a cycle of events
which recurred again and again, also
paid little attention to history.
In modern philosophy, time is con-
sidered to be a category of appear-
ance, not reality, and the Idealists
made history a mere appendix to
ethic or to logic. Nineteenth century
thinkers, shocked at this Romantic
attempt to deduce history from the
abstract, treated the subject from a
strictly empirical viewpoint.
Although recognized philosophers
thus scorned to develop any philoso-
phy of history as a fundamental
reality, every-day life compels men
to form some conception of the past,
and all history textbooks are writ-
ten" with some ethical bias, con-
scious or otherwise. A dominant in-
fluence on Western civilization has
been the Old Testament idea of the
Jews, who conceived all history as
centering around one chosen people;
until recently, American text books
were written as if Americans were
another chosen people in the Wilder-
ness. In contrast to this Biblical
View was the eighteenth century
tendency to treat history as a strug-
gle against the darkness and super-
stition fostered by the Church.
The first explanation of history in
purely materialistic terms was ad-
vanced by* Hippocratus, who discus-
sed the effect of climate in determin-
ing racial characteristics. This the-
ory, in which Plato and Aristotle
concurred, is similar to the modern
doctrine that "mankind is the product
of environment." Although this
statement is applicable in many cir-
cumstances, confusion between neces-
sary and sufficient conditions should
be avoided, Dr. Cohen insisted; Eng-
land was always an island, but did
not become maritime until the be-
ginning of the Tudor era.
A peculiarly nineteenth century
idea is the belief that so constant a
factor as race can explain all the
changing episodes of a people's his-
tory. This theory has been largely
displaced by the conception that his-
tory is made by the forms of organ-
ized human life. The undoubted in-
fluence of political and economic in-
stitutions, should not, however, ob-
scure the fact that political differ-
(Contlnued  on  Page  Three)
.CALENDAR
Wed." April 19: Mrs. Pearl
S. Buck will speak on "The
Chinese     Sense    of    Humor."
Thurs., April 20: Professor
Robert Milikan will speak on
"Probing the Nucleus of the
Atom."    Goodhart, 5.00 P.  M,
Fri., April 21: Varsity
Dramatics, assisted by mem-
bers of Princeton University,
present Lady Windemere's Fan.
Goodhart, 8.30 P. M.
Sat., April 22: Tea Dance,
Pembroke Hall, f.00 P. M. to
7.00 P. M. Varsity Dramatics,
assisted by members of Prince-
ton University, present Lady
Windemere's Fan. Goodhart,
8.30 P. M.
; Sun., April 23: Varsity
Players will present two Eas-
ter miracle plays, The Deluge
and The Sepulchrum, the. for-
er in the Cloisters, and the lat-
ter on Merion Green. The per-
formances are to be preceded by
country dancing on the Green
at 5.00 P. M.
Sun., April 23: Chapel.
Musical Service to be conduct-
ed by the Rev. Dr. Andrew
Mutch. Music Room, 7.30
P. M.
Mon., April 24: Dr. Wil-
liam Pepperell Montagu will
speak on "The Materialistic
Theory of Mind." Goodhart,
8.30 P. M.
Tues., April 25: Mr. Lin-
coln Kirstein will lecture on
"The Russian Ballet." Good-'
hart Common Room, 4.30 P. M.
Wed., April 26: Mr. Lin-
coln Kirstein will lecture on
"Classical Dancing." Goodhart
Common Room, 5.00 P. M. Tea
at 4.30 P. M.
News Subscription
The college vote, oh the auto-
matic subscription to the News
revealed 125 as favoring it and
116 as opposing it. This is not
considered a sufficient majority
to put the measure into effect.
Lady Windemere's Fan
Will be Spring Play
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Men's   Part,* to   be   Played   by
Bryn Mawr Faculty and
f         Princeton
STAGING TO BE MODERN
INTELLECTUAL AMBITION
-PROMPTS UPPER CLASSMEN
TO FAVOR ACADEMIC WORK
Comprehensive Knowledge and General Flexibility of Mind
Are Considered Most Important Aims
of College Education
MAJORITY SIGNIF^ DESIRE TO TAKE HONORS
Next Friday and Saturday nights,
April 21 and 22, Varsity Dramatics
| will present in Goodhart Hall their
spring three-act play. The play, as
has been announced, is Oscar Wilde's
Lady Windemere's Fan, and the pro-
duction is to be in modern dress and
on an especially modern stage. For
the first time in several years, the
Varsity Play is to be acted before a
set of cycloramic curtains instead of
an ordinary canvas and wood inter-
ior. The experimental aims of the
Players' organization have been car-
ried over into Varsity's work, and
the sets, designed by Rebecca Wood,
are the first indication of this change.
The costuming is another innovation,
for, although the clothes are being
loaned by Nan Duskin, of Philadel-
phia, as before, they are planned this
According to results of the aca-
demic questionnaire fon, juniors and
seniors, circulated by the faculty
through the News before spring va-
cation, the majority of these two
classes are interested primarily in
the academic side of college, rather
than in the much publicized aspect
which includes social contacts and
general amusement. Four-fifths of
the votes cast assigned first import-
ance to academic over extra-curricu-
lar activities, but by an equally large
majority, the upperclassmen indicat-
ed a strong preference for knowledge
embracing a wide range of subjects,
rather than concentrated knowledge
of one or allied subjects.
The results of the voting as a
whole revealed an apparent contra-
diction in the intellectual ambitions
of the students. Although they de-
clared themselves in favor of com-
prehensive knowledge and the devel-
opment of a general flexibility of
mind, they also indicated by a large
margin a desire to take honors, giv-
ing as the first reason for doing so
time on a completely new scheme. The] 1( �
Committee Makes Plans
. for-Scholarship Money
(Especially   Contributed  By   Rebecca
Wood)
The  Undergraduate  Committee on
Scholarships,    consisting   of    Sylvia j
Bowditch, Caroline Lloyd-Jones, Bet-
ty  Lord, Josephine Rothermel, Flor-j
mood of the separate acts will be re-
flected in the coloring of the clothes
and the personalities of the individ-
ual characters indicated in the same
way. This is definitely an experi-
ment and it remains to be seen how
successful the final effect will be;
but it is a step in a new and unex-
plored direction, and much may be
hoped from a start such as this.
Quite as important is the renewal
of dramatic relations with Princeton.
Not since the production of The Con-
stant Nymph, in 1930, have Princeton
acton been seen on the Bryn Mawr
stage. Although it is not the The-
�fn   Ivtime  organization  with  which
ence Cluett, and Rebecca Wood, met; ,
�ii_  wr�    ��       �           j  ���      w     i '� Varsity is playing, the male parts in
with Mrs. Manning and Miss Ward.
on' Thursday to discuss how the Un-
dergraduates could help the scholar-1
ship fund.
The fund will be known as the Bryn
M
the play are being filled by Prince-
ton students. The faculty of Bryn
; .Mawr is also taking part, for Mr.
IMward Warburg, of the Art depart-
ment, and Mrs. William Flexner a)-e
lawr  College  Scholarship  Fund   to L^ takjng part |n the p,fty  as we�
distinguish it from that of the alum-
a- assisting with the staging and di-
nae or of endowed scholarships, and
any  checks   should   be  made  out  to!
that  name.     It  was   decided   not to;
conduct  a  regular  drive throughout I
the college, nor to conduct any sales:
or other enterprises which might con-' Choir Sings Parsifal
j rccting of the whole performance.
One more unusual  feature of the
(Continued  on   Page  Three)
Easter Miracle Plays
Since repeated showers throughout
Sunday made it impossible to pre-
sent The Deluge on Merion Green as
had been planned, the production of
the Easter Miracle Plays has been
postponed until Sunday, April 23, at
5 P. M. In order that the audience
which had collected might not be
completely disappointed, The Sepul-
chrum was given in the Cloisters, but
the performance suffered so much
from poor weather, noisy spectators,
and an autogyro overheard, that it
will be repeated after The Deluge
next Sunday.
flict with those of individual students
or of established organizations. It
is hoped, however, that any profit-
making entertainments such as Glee
Club or dramatics will contribute to
scholarships as far as possible, con-
sidering the great need and import-
ance of raising an adequate fund this
year.
The Athletic Association has al-
ready set an admirable example by
charging for the faculty-varsity bas-
ketball game for scholarships, and is
planning a basketball game with
Princeton at two o'clock this Satur-
day, with admission, for the same
purpose. Any other such entertain-
ing features which could be staged
for the purpose of raising money,
any private subscriptions from stu-
dents or outside benefactors, and any
ideas whatsoever for furthering in-
terest among the undergraduates will
be gratefully welcomed. Above all,
it is hoped that a general feeling of
responibility or even a crusading en-
thusiasm among the students will .re-
sult from the formation of the Un-
dergraduate Committee and the Col-
lege Scholarship Fund.
With Phila. Orchestra
Junior Month
Josephine Rothermel has been
chosen as Bryn Mawr's repre-
sentative in New York during
Junior Month.
(Especially Contributed By Suzanne
Halstead)
On April 1 at the Academy of
Music in Philadelphia, the Bryn
Mawr Choir co-operated with two
other choruses in singing the Flow-
er Maidens' Chorus of the Second
Act of Parsifal. This was given as
a part of the entire opera which was
presented by the Philadelphia Or-
chestra under the direction of Leo-
pold Stokowski, and featured many
famous singers in the solo parts.
The invitation to participate in
Parsifal was a priceless opportunity
for the Choir to sing really difficult
music in a professional production, for
the "Flower Maidens' Chorus" is not
only technically difficult, byt demands
subtlety in its interpretation. Its
moods range from the wildness of
the beginning Jo the soft allure, of
the middle and the derisive note on
whi<*h it ends..
Excitement was high among us
when, after the weeks of patient
work under Mr. Willoughby, we were
to rehearse for the first time with
Stokowksi, but he, even at the first
rehearsal, seemed satisfied on the
whole, although there were many de-
tails which needed more practice and
polish. Despite Stokowski's reputa-
tion for "temperament," he showed
(Continued  on   Pag�   Four)
the opportunity for wide rviuh/s$)0n
a chosen field." These results, how-
ever, are more correctly interpreted
as calling for a wide foundation of
learning upon which specialization in
a given field may be founded. The
college education built around the
major subject is in proce.s of being
discarded in favor of a general cul-
ture which can be used either as a
foundation for intelligent living, or as
a basis for intensive study in a sin-
gle field. Further illustration of this
trend is to be found in the large ma-
jority who assigned first place in iim-
portance to preparation towards flex-
ibility of mind and second place to
vocational training. Culture first,
and specialization and expert knowl-
edge second, is the creed for the pres-
ent juniors and seniors.
The question of examinations and
numerical marking is one upon which
there is the greatest difference of
opinion; fifty-one votes were cast for
abolition of exams, and fifty-three for
their continuance. The reason given
by almost all the abolitionists was
that examinations are no fair indi-
cation of one's knowledge; while only
three honest souls dared to state
their objection as relating to the dif-
ficulty of examinations. As a subr
stitute the long paper piled up a
commanding lead over general re-
commendations by instructors and
oral questioning. Numerical marking
appeared as the preference of a ma-
jority of only eight, while the public
posting of examination results was
definitely voted down in favor of a
system whereby marks should be
known only to the students con-
cerned.
The outstanding surprise of the
questionnaire is to be found in the
rating of oral reports as the least
valuable means of instruction. Re-
cently there has been a marked tend-
ency among professors to substitute
oral for written reports under the
impression that they are of more val-
ue. This opinion, however, does not
seem to have spread far afield as
yet. The other ratings in this sec-
tion came out much as would be ex-
pected, with lectures and written re-
ports occupying first and second
place.
The greatest amount of informa-
tion on the intellectual preferences
of the upperclassmen was included in
the answers to the question, "What
do you most want from college you
feel you have no opportunity at pres-
ent to get?" Here again the empha-
sis was on more freedom in planning
the four-year course, and an increas-
ed range of subjects, especially in
the fields of modern literature and
art. The complaint was made that
the present curriculum includes too
few courses dealing with the events
and trends of our own period, while
innumerable ones treat exhaustively
of ancient learning and art. The
feeling is that the ancient triumphs
too much over the modern in the
present catalogue. Suggestions of
ways in which the curriculum could
be expanded to allow for this demand
for freedom and breadth of field were
numerous, and included requests for
vocational training in professions
other than teaching, more music�in-
cluding courses in practical instru-
mental work (piano lessons not so
expensive), mechanical drawing and
design, domestic science, American
archaeology, and more geology field
trips, and a general workshop. Those
desiring to introduce a breath of
fresh air into the knowledge of the
past ask for an elective English
course on moderns and a course in
background tendencies and forces of
contemporary life, i. e., art and liter-
ature.
Thus the present junior or senior
desires first of all her freedom to
choose her own course of study, and
a few new highroads to supplement
the ancient and time-honored paths
of learning. There is no feeling that
the curriculum is full of evils or weak
spots, for the votes were evenly divid-
ed between maintenance and revision
of the curriculum. What complaints
were made, were in the form of sug-
gestions for improvements, rather
than that of appeals for reform.
As is always the case, there are
some students possessed of extraor-
dinary bents which they .feel should
be given a freer rein. Screams of
rage and pain continue to arise he-
cause of the existence of a science
requirement; but the great thorn in
the side of several voters is that they
feel the want of association with the
"emotionally and mentally mature'' in
the form of the professors. The cry
is "to be able to know more profes-
SOH socially, so that we may know
(Continued   on   Page   Four)
Reform of Dining Room
is Asked by Miss Park
Miss Park's Chapel on Thursday
morning was addressed to Diners in
College. There is no truer figure to
apply to the four years of college
than to call it a "Halfway House."
It is the middle step between family
life, where standards are set by one's
family, and life in which one has a
fundamental share, as a worker or as
a wife and mother. Between the
two areas of private standards corals'
this time when standards seem un-
important and life a holiday, in which
the individual may do as she pleases
before settling down to please em-
ployer or husband.
As a result of the conclusion- that
many individuals have reached, that
the college years afford chance for a
"fling," Bryn Mawr suffers from a
"disorder complex." It is true that
torn clothes may cover a heart of
gold, and untutored hair a brilliant
brain; but on the campus, there are
sights that are neither well-bred nor
femfnine, rather expressions of proud
and   independent  egos.             *
The meeting of these egos in the col-
lege dining-halls Results in dinners
full of noise, hur\, and bad man-
ners. Although the undergraduate
wishes least to be described as sense-
less and unattractive, at present she
merits that description.
(Continued'on  Pac* Thre�)