College News, 1939-12-20, Vol. 26, No. 10

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The College News
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VOL. XXVI, No. 10
BRYN MAWR and WAYNE, PA., WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1939
Copyright, Trustees of
Bryn   Mawr College.  1939
PRICE 10 CENTS
6 Day Week
Considered
*    By Council
Theatre Workshop Opens,
Alumnae-College Panel
To be Planned
VACATION SCHEDULE
OPEN   TO    PETITION
"I suppose the time has come
for the bomb to drop," remarked
Mrs. Manning at the last College
Council meeting, December 16.
"The question of Saturday morn-
ing classes has been raised by the
faculty." A model of the probable
six-day schedule is now being
drawn up by the Dean's office,
while a committee is investigating
systems in use at other colleges.
Many of the Bryn Mawr faculty
are still opposed to the idea.
Miss Park stated that the pro-
posal was in no way a criticism of
week-ends, but was suggested only
as a means to lessen the extreme
pressure of what is now a four-
day week with a complete cessation
every Thursday. The change, if
instituted, would affect mainly
freshmen and sophomores, since
they have the most classes, and it
would be valuable in helping them
to regularize their own work after
the school study hall system.
Other subjects discussed by the
Council were: the plans for the
opening of the Theatre Workshop,
a joint meeting of the Alumnae
and College Councils, the student
mimeographing machine, and the
scheduling of vacations.
The Theatre Workshop is now
complete. At a meeting of the di-
rectors of the Workshop, on Mon-
day, December 13, it was suggested
Continued on Page Three
Rev. Noble to Hold
Evening    Services
Mr. Grant Noble will speak
on Fundamental Laws of
Life and on Life and Living
at two Sunday evening serv-
ices in the Music Room of
Goodhart Hall, January 14
and 21. He will discuss
"Christian ethics, especially
as applied to men and women
before and after marriage."
Picasso Stresses
Emotion of Painting
Clifford      Traces      Different
Styles of Artist's Work'
Chronologically
'^Music Room, December 18.�Pi-
casso believed that it was not
necessary to understand his paint-
ings, that one should be impressed
merely by the emotion of the paint-
ing, said Mr. Clifford, assistant
curator of the University Museum
in Philadelphia. Mr. Clifford re-
peated Picasso's dictum that every-
one wants to understand art, but
that the attempt to do so is just
as sensible as trying to understand
the song of a bird.
The lecture traced chronologi-
cally the different styles in Picas-
so's painting, of which there were
some 20 in 40 years. All these
styles, said Mr. Clifford, are prob-
ably of equal importance, although
in his discussion of the painting
Demoiselle d'Avignon, he desig-
nated it as one of the epoch-mak-
ing canvasses of the twentieth cen-
tury, one which probably more
han any other of Picasso's works
has helped to turn the course of
modern painting.
Whenever Picasso tried a thing,
said Mr. Clifford, he went a little
further than anyone else and usu-
ally succeeded better than anyone
else. But because he has so many
styles he is perhaps one of the
most difficult of modern painters
to understand.
Continued on Page Three
ASSEMBLY CONTRASTS VALUE
OF LECTURES, DISCUSSIONS
Fairchild  Discusses
Value of Students'
Active Contribution
Go'odhart Hall, December 19.�
Miss Mildred Fairchild of the So!
cial Economy department, speaker
for the discussion method in educa-
tion, pointed out the advantages of
student participation in confer-
ences. Assuming that each student
will make an active effort, the con-
ference system can be extremely
valuable. The opportunity for rais-
ing questions, for the expression, of
i individual opinions is provided;
from these ideas each student may
reason out problems for herself.
One of the chief difficulties in ed-
ucation Miss Fairchild believes to
be the fact that students often de-
mand an education which they can
absorb passively. From the ages of
16 to 18 students may be justified
in this attitude, but by the time a
Continued on Page Five
Workers, Students
Report Qn Problems
Of Nation's Health
Common Room, December 13.�
The Industrial Group held a panel
discussion on health, in coopera-
ion with the Science Club and
workers from the Kensington Y. W.
C. A. Reports were centered
around the National Health pro-
gram outlined by the Federal In-
terdepartmental Committee to co-
ordinate Health and Welfare Ac-
tivities.
Miss Eloise Spencer, who" is in
charge of health work in the Ken-
sington Y. W. C. A., began by out-
lining the problem, and by report-
ing on the recommendations of the
Technical Committee on Medical
Continued on Page Five
Maids' and Porters' Repertoire Grows;
Torgy and Bess' Production is Planned
Tuesday, December 19.�The an-
nual carol singing by the Maids'
and Porters' Glee Club, directed
by Meg Wads worth, '41, was
marked by several innovations in
the program. Lo, How a Rose,
Coventry Carol and Oh, the Holly
and the Ivy were added to the pro-
gram.  .Days of Christmas and Si-
lent Night are still the favorites of
the club, however.
On January 8 the Maids' and
Porters' Glee Club will hold tryouts
for a musical version of Porgy and
Bess which is to be presented in-
stead of the usual play. Fifi Gar-
bat, '41, director of the production,
Continued on Page Two
CAMPUS   OFFERED
HEALTH INSURANCE
Policy Made to Cover
Many  Extra  Expenses
In answer to requests from the
student members of the Council, ar-
rangements have now been made by
the college for health insurance for
graduate and undergraduate stu-
dents. The students Reimbursement
Policy, offered by the Connecticut
General Life Insurance Company of
Hartford, covers medical, surgical,
and hospitalization expenses up to
the maximum of 500 dollars in case
of serious illness.
In order that the student body
may avail themselves of this plan,
applications must be received from
50 percent of the resident students
by January 25, 1940. A full de-
scription of the policy, and applica-
tion blanks, have been sent to all
students and their families. The
cost for one year is 15 dollars and
includes protection during all vaca-
tions as well as the summer recess.
As arrangements were not com-
pleted in time to offer this plan to
the students at the opening of col-
lege for 1939-40, the Connecticut
General has now offered to accept
applications for policies dated Feb-
Contlnued on Page.Two   *
^
CALENDAR
From Dec. 20�Jan. 19
Thursday, December 21.�
Christmas Parties in the
halls, 6.30.
Friday, December 22. �
Christmas vacation begins
12.45 p. m.
Monday, January 8.�
Christmas vacation ends, 9
a. m.
Tuesday, January 9.�Cur-
rent Events, Mr. Fenwick,
7.30.                   �   ,     ^
Friday, January 12.�Dr.
Singewald will speak on Eco-
nomic Geography of South
America, Goodhart Hall, 8.30.
Sunday, January H.�Rev.
A. Grant Noble, Music Room,
7.30.
Tuesday, January 16. �
Current Events, Mr. Fen-
wick, 7.30.
Wednesday, January 17.�
Schuyler Ladd, 4th event in
entertainment series, Good-
hart Hall, 8.30.
Debate  Continued
By Panel and Floor
i
Stimulus Derived  From Two
Methods is Compared
by Students
Goodhart Hall, December 19.�
Members of the Curriculum Com-
mittee led the panel on discussion
and lecture classes as teaching
methods. The committee was rep-
resented by Mary Kate Wheeler,
chairman; Anne Louise Axon,
Marian Gill, Peggy Eppler, Vivi
French and Jane Klein.
Anne Louise Axon opened the
meeting with a brief explanation
to the professors for the seeming
audacity or impudence of student
discussion of teaching methods.
The purpose of this panel on lec-
ture and discussion classes was to
clarify the ideas of the students
about the methods of education,
while it is realized that the faculty
have far more experience of the
problem. "We, as students, want,"
she said, "to get information about
our own field, and information
about others, to think clearly, to
interrelate the ideas which we have
formulated, and to cope with the
facts we will meet later." For this
reason the question of the manner
Continued on Page Five
Far East Situation
And Effect of War
Discussed by Chang
The nationalistic spirit of mod-
ern China crystalized by the Far
Eastern conflict cannot be sup-
pressed now even by the military
conquests of Japan, said Professor
P. C. Chang, speaking on the Far
Eastern Conflict and the European
Situation. Mr. Chang outlined the
background of the conflict and its
relation to the present European
war.                  j
The growth of a unified indus-
trial China has been slow chiefly
because of her huge population and
her slow-moving democratic spirit.
From 1900 on, the new China has
Contlnuea on Page Five
Sloane States Need
Of Lecture System
For History of Art
Goodhart, December 19.�At the ,
present time, the lecture system is
the only one possible in the Bryn
Mawr Art Department, *said Mr.
Sloane, in the discussion of the
Curriculum Committee on the value
and application of lecture and dis-
cussion methods of teaching. He
clarified his opinion by the use of
exrinples of lecture and discussion
methods at Bryn Mawr and Prince-
ton.
The method of teaching art in
Bryn Mawr is based on an attempt
to give a clear analysis of man's
culture by means of the art he has
created. In order to do this a
great deal of background material
must be covered, including history,
philosophy and literature. Art is
taught mainly by the use of photo-
graphs and textual material, the
photographs supplying the visual
education "without which people
look un-understandingly at art."
The literature, Mr. Sloane ex-
plained, is often too short to fur-
nish good analysis, or too long to
be covered satisfactorily. Thus
the position of the lecturer is that
of one who has read widely and
can select for presentation to the
students those ideas which come
closest to the subject of a course.
Mr. Sloane outlined the confer-
ence system used in Princeton,
where conferences are composed of
not more than seven students. The
one difficulty, he pointed out, was
Continued on Page Six
ART CLUB EXHIBITS
FRENCH PAINTINGS
Common Room, December 17.�
Marian Gill spoke on the revolu-
tion in French painting, at the tea
opening the first of five Common
Room exhibitions to be presented
by the Art Club together with the
History of Art Department. The
current exhibit consists of 18 ex-
cellent reproductions. It is a rep-
resentative collection of the most
Continued on Page Six
Mammoth Spider Boycotts Freshmen
Long Papers From English Basement
By Olivia Kahn, '41
Long freshman English papers
were due Monday morning, Decem-
ber 11, and Marilyn O'Boyle duti-
fully trotted over to the English
basement to leave, her handiwork
in Mrs. Cameron's box. It still
amazes her when she remembers
that she was forced to approach
the box on her hands and knees.
The basement, she recalls with awe
when prompted to a discussion of
the matter, was filled with a mam-
moth spider web of colored threads,
red, green and blue. The threads,
shoulder high and tightly inter-
woven, climbed up the basenie'ht
stairs and clung firmly to the door
of each instructor. "I had to get
down and crawl," exclaimed Mari-
lyn. The worst part of the whole
affair in her private opinion is that
she'd volunteered to take her sister
Lenore's paper over with her, and
since Lenore is in Miss Linn's sec-
tion, Marilyn was forced to strug-
gle from one end of the basement
to the other.
Less  ambitious, other freshmen
turned away from the basement,
papers in hand, refusing to enter
the maze. The activity reached its
height when the freshman English
department arrived. The first pro-
fessor to enter was trapped in a
sea of multi-colored strings and
had to be rescued with a pair of
scissors. There was some compen-
sation, however, for the vandals
had left a lollypop in each office.
The News decided not to print
the details of this story last week,
but to wait until the mystery was
nearer its solution, AH the loose
ends have not been brought to-
gether yet, but our fund of knowl-
edge is considerably widened. Misa
Linn and Miss Roller have devoted
much time and thought to the
problem and feel they are pretty
close to the truth, although they
are not yet prepared to give their
final opinion. It was Miss Linn
who first put us on the scent of
the story and suggested various
sources of information. Miss Ward,
she thought, should be questioned
because she knows more than any
Continued on Pace Four