Evening Star Newspaper, March 6, 1932, Page 76

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. €, MARCH 6, 1932, What! No More [Joe College and Berty Co-E.d? Tiiteresting Results of an Experiment to Banish Rah-Rah Stuff on Antioch’s Campus. 1 HEN most people think of col- lege students they think of two things: Bookworms — stoop - shoul- dered grinds with thick-lensed spectacles; or jazzhounds— bad-tempered dumbbells in extremely styled clothes. A little over 10 years ago authorities at Antioch College, in Yellow Springs, Ohio, de- cided that something should be done to get rid of all the collegiate nonsense which had put typical college students in such bad repute. They decided that Joe College and Betty Co-Ed needed to be treated as though they were grown-up. They wanted to show the world that college students, treated the right way, would develop into human beings, not insects. So they went to work. They adopted a plan already used by the engineering school in Cin- cinnati, spplying it to all courses of study. They made their students attend classes in two shifts—studying for five weeks, then going out into the cold world and actually working for five weeks. They were to keep this up for six years. When students got through they were supposed to have more or less sense. Joe College and Betty Co-ed had grown up. Today Antioch doesn’t even have a foot ball team. No more hoarse bleacherites cheering 11 men on to victory for dear old alma mater. Now all the people who used to be on the sidelines are busy playing on their own teams. Twelve foot ball teams, uncheered, meet each other twice a week throughout the Fall season, for the love of the game. TlizRB is no hazing. Fraternities are out, too. The dormitories aren’'t locked up tightly at 10 or 11 o'clock every night. Nobody—except freshmen and sophomores—has to come in at a certain hour. There aren’t any police deans. That doesn’t mean, one of the students ex- plains, that nobody cares what you do. Stu- dent commi.ices and advisers stand ready to give edvice to any offenders, and, if necessary, something more than advice. But Antioch thinks it better to have stand- ards instead of rules. “We want to substitute ‘do’s’ for ‘don’ts,’ ” the community government officers say. The same thing applies to smoking. As a matter of fact, a good many of the college authorities, personally speaking, are definitely opposed to smoking for either women or men. But they haven't said “don’t.” They make it a matter of personal standards for the indivi- dual, with no regulations involved. The students themselves decided that it doesn’t look well for a girl to light a fag on the campus. There is & smoking parlor in the girls’ dormitory where they may blow rings to their hearts’ content. Smoking in the bed rooms or parlors of the girls’ dormitory, or on the campus, is forbidden, But from all this, don’'t get any idea that Antioch has “gone modern” in the worst sense of the expression. Far from it. “People try to read into what we are doing the typical spirit of modernism,” says Dean Henderson, “but actually our program seems to me to be an expression of ultra-conservatism in that we are trying to stick to fundamentals, eliminating as far as possible the dogma, rules and other superficialities of modern life. “Absence of rules regarding night prowling, for instance, is not a desire to have imitated the New York night life, but rather it is an expression of trust in the character and pur- pose of the students.” After the first two years, students at An- tioch don’t need to attend lectures. There isn't a set number of times when they must report to their instructors, either. However, they can’t escape certain courses. E isn‘t much gold-digging at Antioch. Lots of the girls pay their own way. Most of them are willing to do this. Since the girls work and earn money exactly as the boys do, it doesn’t seem fair to Betty Co-ed to increase her savings account while Joe College pays for her movie tickets and chocolate fudge sundaes. Lots of freshmen boys come to Antioch with the firm belief that they belong to a bill-paying sex. They don’t get the point when an An- tioch girl asks for her half of the check, just at first. But the second or third or fourth time Betty makes the request Joe will probably listen, and may even be convinced that she is right. The example of the upper classmen gets to work in due time, and the chances are that Joe will swing into the 50-50 group. Dr. Arthur E. Morgan, president of the col- lege, is a strong believer in what he calls “reciprocal equality.” “There isn’t any rule for it,” he says. “It's just an attitude of mind. I think it is much better for boys and girls to pay their way as comrades. A more normal college atmosphere is created. . “Prequently a girl has as much money as a Typical college students, except that Betty-Co-ed has gone home. A group of Antioch College girls im an informal pose. movies, dances and on picnics. mittee thought that maybe girls were less bashful than boys. If they were, this would be a method of drawing bashful students into social circulation. A dance was the main feature of the week. Girls invited the boys. Called for them and took them home. Asked them for foxtrots and waltzes. Did the cutting. But the idea didn’t go over. Girls were shy, too. Leap week couldn’t change them. So now Antioch is trying another plan. An “assimilation program,” it is called. It's de- signed to do what leap week failed to do. Boys and girls and faculty are mixed up in all contests and games, picnics, dances and carnivals. Sophomores entertain the freshmen at banquets instead of paddling them, or meeting them in midnight graveyards. The system, used by most colleges, of having an upper classman act as & big brother or big sister to a freshman is followed. Faculty mem- bers invite small groups of students to their homes, too, in order to dispel any feeling of shyness. The government of the school appoints committees that look after everything on the campus. Every student is made to feel that he is contributing to the college. Antioch’s whole history has been an adventure in education. It is one of the first col- leges in America to have co- education. Back in 1853, Authorities of Anti- och decided that something should be done to get rid of all the “collegiate” mon- sense. when Horace Mann was president, the boys moved over in their seats and made room for Student mar- riages are not discouraged. The moon doesn't have to wink an eye at elope- ments, because elopements are not necessary. However, notify the ad- ministration of- fice at least two weeks in ad- vance, and meet a list of re- quirements as to age, guard- ians’ consent and other things. After that, they get the president’s blessing in- stead of a college dismissal. Sometimes several couples marry during the school year. They live in the village. It doesn’t cost a cent more. Both have jobs. And both understand all about part- nerships and fifty-fifty re- sponsibility. This most modern college is in favor of the right sort mean that sex is emphasized. It isn’t. Boys and girls, so the Antiochians will tell you, are just fellow students. Taken collectively, that is. If one boy decides that a certain girl is different from the rest, nobody objects. For he isn't choosing her because she is a sorority president any more than she is deciding on him because he is a good quarterback, Straight thinking, ability to cope with life be- yond the campus, have something to do with it. The way that the Antioch curricula are arranged, & boy and girl have a pretty good 't have to stumble unaided through adjustment. The college stands of attitudes and adjustments in . It {eaches how to handle husbands wives and mothers-in-law. A home man- ent class takes up such household prob- as how to make a budget and how to equip a home. There is a nursery school to teach child care and training. Not only girls, but boys, are permitted to enroll in these courses. They are open to both married and unmarried students. R. MORGAN himself never was graduated from college. He attended the University He was used to thinking in terms of millions of dollars and large-scale labor. He just nat- urally put his students on the job. ice, factory employment, library training, die- tetics—whatever line a student thinks he would like to follow, he gets & shot at it while he is at Antioch. His college courses, as well as his job, instruct him. If he finds from experience that one profes- sion isn't what he had thought it, there is time to change. He isn't prepared for something he doesn’t want to do. Tomato ]uice Cmming Now Major Industry HE tail is beginning to wag the dog in the tomato industry in some sections. Prior to 1929 little effort was made to develop a market for canned tomato juice, but starting in that year, the beverage seemed to take & hold on the popular taste and production in- creased greatly. In Ohio and Indiana alone there are 19 plants engaged in production of the juice and several are devoted exclusively to its production rather than as a by-product of the tomato canning which formerly was carried on. Last year was the first, according to the De= partment of Agriculture, that a really satis- factory product was put out uniformly by the canners. Prior to that, the Federal experts claimed, an undesirable off-flavor and after- taste was frequently encountered, but last year seldom was 2 can inspected by them found to be off in any way. Crude Oil Output Drops. 40,000,000 Barrels WORLD production of crude oil fell off about 40,000,000 barrels last year under the previous year with the New World bearing most of the loss. The United States, which led with 850,000,000 barrels, supplying 62 per cent of the world production, was 48,000,000 barrels behind 1930, while Russia, which ranked sec- ond with 162,000,000 barrels, showed a gain of 36,000,000 barrels. Venezuela, third with 118,- 000,000 barrels, was 18,000,000 barrels behind 1930.