January 14, 1982

              Saratoga Springs, New York
Skidmore NEWS
Vol. 62, No. 20
Thursday, Jan. 14, 1982
 
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Saratoga Springs, N.Y. 
Permit No. 5
ZIP Code 12866



Western Reaction To Martial Law in Poland
—Page 5





The Problem Of Education
  
The debate over balancing vocational and academic orientation is once again on the floor. Just as the last round yielded several decades of accelerated technological innovation, this one is also promising eventual consequences for the societal structure.
  
The previous stage of this dispute came at a time when liberal ideas were urging free and open education for all. That battle fostered what is probably the most pervasive educational system any country has erected. Public institutions took on the job of changing the role of education in our society and overhauling the middle class structure, while private institutions retreated to preserve their exclusiveness. The trend was clear: education would become a functional part of the individual’s life. With technology demanding increasing specialization, schools around the nation would supply the demand.
  
The situation today is very much the same, except that the questions posed to the schools have become more complex. The idea of vocationally-oriented education has fallen short of its expected goals. The answers are no longer readily available from the single-minded specialist, and disillusioned conservatives are calling for a return to the general studies education of the past.
  
Some valid points have been made in favor of this new trend. For instance, it has been discovered that students out of vocationally-oriented schools change professions up to three times throughout their lives. No single-minded specialist can effectively adapt to such drastic change. Just the same, a frequently heard criticism of this type of education is its inability to properly teach the Three R’s. If the two factions cannot agree on much else, this particular function of education should provide some common ground to work from.
  
But the fact still remains that there is a tug, during which common ground is easily slighted by the opposing groups. The reactionary tendencies have come at a time when the nation is extremely vulnerable to changing ideas. What good they will do is answerable only by a warped sense of logic. For instance, specialization in the educational. institution is being blamed for the nation’s woes. How stale an argument. It seems clear enough that the. technological course of the nation is irreversible and a commensurate specialization in our educational methods is the only way of keeping afloat.
 
This does not preclude liberal arts teaching in the classroom. Without a doubt, the professions of this age are very reliant on the arts for ideological direction. But the present cry is for a forced return to those arts. This request is no more than the elitist propensities that liberals of the past thwarted. Not surprisingly, the loudest proponents of this new trend have been the Ivy League factories of administrators. These schools have in the past few years stepped up liberal arts requirements for their graduates, created interdisciplinary courses, and instituted stringent liberal arts requirements will not eliminate the instability of single-minded professionals in their field. On the contrary, the logical step is to provide more rigorous training for the student in his chosen field. If he cannot find a niche in his profession, it is not penalties to enforce this new philosophy. Making additional liberal arts courses available, or integrating the many disciplines not relevant to their chosen field is not within said scope.
 
It is interesting to note that this educational shake-up peaks at a time when White House conservatives are threatening lower income groups with spending cuts that will reach the classroom. Another interesting aspect of this situation is that the largest group of affected students comes from the lower-income class. This makes education an unprofitable venture for them since liberal arts degrees are not easily marketable. The result of all this is none other than the restoration of a narrow gateway to upward mobility.
  
It should also be said that instituting because he is undecided but because he was not properly trained.

While the debate continues, the clarity obscurity of any one point must not be allowed to obliterate the un-

cont. on page 7





Fall 1981: Skidmore News Coverage
  
Goodbye Fall 1981, hello Winter and Spring 1982. Skidmore News' academic year thus far has been a year of exciting events encompassing the wonderful woes of wombat lovers, the successful culmination of Skidmore’s first Student Solidarity Day, and the tragic triumph of Anwar Sadat’s assassins.
  
Stretching back into September, we welcomed the freshmen class to Skidmore and ushered the Supreme Court’s first female court member, Sandra Day O’Connor, into office. Skidmore’s sports teams stepped into the new season with high hopes and enthusiastic estimations of their success in collegiate competition. Reaganomics hit the country with hard-fisted and heavy measures and his Secretary of Interior, James Watt, wondered why everyone seemed so riled up over “Just Another Redwood tree.” Third floor Howe, Wait, and McClellan residents wrangled with with their floors’ quiet hours and surprised freshmen unknowingly regulated to reside on them solemnly surmised that perhaps they should make the best of the sticky situation and keep their stereo systems low. An interesting interview with President Palamountain ended the month’s news allowing several students to catch some golf-time on the course.
 
October opened with a bang at Skidmore with the annual celebration of Oktoberfest. Outrageous offenses directed against Polish people here and in Poland, marked the beginning of a new awareness in America concerning the treatment of fellow human beings. Closer to home, New York’s Governor fell in love and the Palamountain’ palace was opened for review.
  
While Atlanta’s atrocities affected the entire nation, Albany’s scheduling of South Africa’s Springbok Rugby team caused the Capital district to rise up in alarm and actively protest or support the match according to their prospective political ideology.
  
Culture at Skidmore thrived with Lively Lucy’s weekly folk, jazz, or country performance and while Skidmore’s student directors scurried to prepare their prospective productions, the Theatre Department brought us Vinie Burrows in “Sister! Sister!”
 
Abroad, The Maze Prison Hunger Strike ended in Ireland but not before the toll of dead Irish prisoners had reached ten. Federal Loan cuts forced students to worry and wonder whether they would be able to attend college next fall and New York City Nursing Majors wrote their thanks to Skidmore for providing them with the means to attend the “Best Oktoberfest ever!” 

Latique Jamel’s article on NAACP Prison Programs reflected America’s troubled prison situation while two pages later the writer displayed his journalistic dexterity when he urged Skiddies to cultivate a “Sense of Scents.” 

Bars profusely welcomed parents to Saratoga during the traditional Parent’s Weekend while the S.E.C, scheduled a lecture on soaps at Skidmore. The end of October marked the entrance of Hosni Mubarak into Egypt’s Presidential position while November moved closer.
  
November’s news exploded with controversy over the Van Dam Situation and the long battle over who was responsible for the apartment building’s deplorable state began early and continued well into the month. On the federal scale, the “Amazing AWACS Deal” awarded Reagan with an important victory in Congress while England’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher wondered what could possibly go wrong next...
  
SSD finally happened and students, faculty, and Saratogians celebrated its success while Skidmore’s WSPN President, Steve Rosenbaum, spoke about future space for the station. Skidmore's Nursing Department was the focus of much investigation and the Nursing Task Force Report was issued in late November- a synopsis of its results appearing in December’s first . issue.
  
Debates over the Democratic Party’s precarious position in the nation's 

cont. on page 5