Defense Courses Added
Emergency Studies Deal With Democracy, Power Politics, War Strategy, Maps, Mathematics, Electronics, and Tests
UNDERGRADUATES RESUMING their studies at Dartmouth this fall found open to them seven new defense courses which had been added to the curriculum as part of the College's national defense program. A senior course designed to strengthen democratic beliefs and taught cooperatively by twelve members of the faculty was among the emergency courses, which also dealt with power politics, modern war strategy, map interpretation, mathematics for military service, electronics, and tests and measurements for military personnel.
Announcement of the new courses, approved by the Committee on Defense Instruction, was made in the first of a series of national defense bulletins which the College mailed in July to all students and their parents. This bulletin, and a second issue which was mailed out shortly before the opening of College, pointed out that any of the emergency courses, or of certain other "defense courses" in the regular curriculum, could be elected as a sixth course without payment of extra tuition, provided the extra elective was for national defense purposes and not to make up scholastic deficiencies. In the same way, changes in electives were permitted up to the opening of College without the usual penalty fee.
In a prefatory letter to the July bulletin, which also described the opportunities at Dartmouth for military service, President Hopkins defined the educational policy of the College in the present emergency and made emphatic statement of his belief that the student and the liberal college both must strike a balance between the immediate and ultimate needs of the country.
"American college students are now preparing not only for immediately prospective military service," he wrote. "They are, as always, preparing too for a long life in some profession or business and for long-term citizenship in a world which will make the utmost- demands on its citizenry for intelligence and social responsibility. It would be a grave mistake for a student to concentrate his college efforts entirely on preparation for temporary military service, to the injury of long-range preparation for a lifetime career in which he will need to serve his country well as citizen, and perhaps as leader."
The liberal arts college, likewise, must balance short-run and long-run objectives, President Hopkins wrote. "It now has a clear duty to do all it can to aid in national defense; at the same time it would be derelict in its most important obligation if it lost sight of the purposes for which it primarily exists and of the coming generation's need for college-trained men."
With reference to defense instruction, President Hopkins wrote: 'We have introduced several short courses immediately helpful to men facing military service. We have altered the emphasis of others where it will make them more directly valuable under present conditions. Some of the new courses are designed to give students a better understanding of world problems, their causes and the efforts proposed for their solution, in accordance with the underlying purpose of the College."
The new course entitled "Components o£ Democratic Thought" is a novel cooperative undertaking on the part o£ twelve Dartmouth faculty members who are making a positive effort to strengthen the undergraduate's faith in democracy. Prof. Arthur M. Wilson of the Biography department is serving as director of the course; other members of the faculty group, representing nine different departments, are Prof. Royal C. Nemiah and Prof. Wm. Stuart Messer of the Classics department; Dr. Roy B. Chamberlin, Fellow in Religion and Chapel Director; Prof. George C. Wood of the Romance Languages department; Prof. Donald Bartlett '24 of the Biography department; Prof. Kenneth A. Robinson of the English department; Prof. Harold M. Bannerman of the Geology department; Prof. Earl R. Sikes and Prof. J. Milton McDaniel of the Economics department; Prof. Howard Meneely of the History department; and Prof. Philip Wheelwright of the Philosophy department. A special manuscript on the Christian tradition has been prepared for the course by Dr. Ambrose W. Vernon, Professor Emeritus of Biography.
In the words of its official description, "the course will attempt to integrate the student's thinking in three ways: historically, to show him how long and distinguished a history democratic concepts have had; philosophically, to show him how these ideas are related to all contemporaneous aspects of life and thought; biographically, to show him how these ideas have been translated into life-values, as in the case of men like Lincoln, Mazzini, Whitman, Woodrow Wilson, and Masaryk."
While "Components of Democratic Thought" is being given by members of the regular faculty, the two emergency courses offered by the Department of Political Science are being taught by men specifically brought to Dartmouth for the purpose. John Pelenyi, until recently Hungarian Minister to the United States, is presenting the new course entitled "Power Politics"; and Dr. Bernard Brodie of the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study, author of the recently published book SeaPower in the Machine Age, is presenting the defense course on "Modern War Strategy and National Policy."
Mr. Pelenyi, drawing on a long and important diplomatic career, is endeavoring in his course on "Power Politics," to give the student "an understanding of the means used by nations to determine their foreign policies and to make them effective in their relations with each other." His comprehensive course covers the foundations, instruments and evolution of power politics; the systems they follow and their particular problems; the mechanism and routines of power politics; the role of personalities in politics; a survey of the policies of the Great Powers; and a study of the limitations of power politics and the role which they will play in the world of tomorrow should efforts to eliminate them fail.
Dr. Brodie's course on "Modern War Strategy and National Policy" deals with the nature of war and with its role in national and international politics. It gives extensive treatment to principles of strat- egy and to military techniques on land, sea, and in the air, "with emphasis on the influence upon national policies of changes in these techniques." The course description states that it also "examines the circumstances making for interstate violence, the various concepts of war as an 'institution' of our society, and the meaning of the quest for national security The recruitment and organization of the military services are considered, as is the relation of these services to government and to the civilian community. The course reviews the methods of mobilizing the entire national resources, moral as well as material, for total war, and surveys the problem of post-war demobilization."
The emergency course entitled "Map Interpretation" is being given by Prof.
James W. Goldthwait and other members o£ the Geology department. Designed to aid in both civilian and military defense, the course deals with the fundamentals of using and understanding maps, and emphasizes contour maps and aerial photographs. The course is using various Army manuals, prepared for the training of officers in map reading.
The special defense course in mathematics is for juniors and seniors who can devote only one year to the mathematics needed for certain branches of the Army and Navy and for certain defense industries. It consists of special sections of Mathematics 3-4, modified to meet these needs. For example, for men intending to enter the Navy, the regular course is modified to include trigonometry, both plane and spherical, navigation, and the elements of ballistics.
The emergency course in physics is intended to help meet the urgent need for men trained in electronics, and is being taught by Prof. Willis M. Rayton. "The details of the course," says its description, "will follow, so far as they can be ascertained, the needs of the armed services for such training The theory of electron tubes and of electronic circuits will be treated to an extent necessary for understanding their action under conditions of ordinary use. In the laboratory students will connect up and study the behavior of such circuits and will become familiar with fundamental measurements of electronic and high-frequency circuits."
The defense course in psychology, taught by Prof. Edwin M. Bailor, is intended to give students the basic groundwork in tests and measurements likely to be encountered in the military services.
Although it does not meet the requirements for Civil Service, it may enable men drafted into the armed forces to be assigned to personnel work. The course is similar to Psychology 31-32 but differs in the emphasis given to personnel and military uses of psychological tests.
AMBULANCE PROVIDED BY UNDERGRADUATES, FACULTY, ALUMNI The "Dartmouth Ambulance" shown above is en route to England, for use by the BritishAmerican Ambulance Corps. The cost of $1350 was contributed about one-half by students last year, and one-half by faculty and alumni.
