Crooks Says Choice Necessary Between Specialist, 'Whole Man'

The modern college student may be faced with a choice between becoming "a whole man" or a specialist, Thomas E. Crooks '49, Director of Student Placement, told a freshman class meeting on fields of concentration Saturday.

Discussing the pressures exerted by "big business" employers, he said that "This talk of the 'organization man' makes us wonder whether we are to become one of these nameless, pragmatic people." He expressed concern about the effects of modern business on "the man who knows how to play all the angles, but has no internal ethics."

Crooks noted that future employers had to be taken into consideration in making college plans, and advised, "don't be aloof from the requirements of the economic world, but don't be governed by them." He urged that each freshman include "some basic science and math" in his curriculum, because employers often look for students with this training.

Urging freshmen to choose fields of concentration on the basis of natural interests rather than prospective careers, he suggested that the future business executive might choose History and Literature, "on the theory that he'll never again have a chance to be happy."

F. Skiddy von Stade '38, Dean of Freshmen, noted that one-quarter of the students who enter the College with scientific careers in mind, eventually reverse their decisions. "Don't think of concentration solely in terms of what it will get you in terms of employment," he advised.

A series of conferences on fields of concentration, sponsored by the Union Committee, will begin tonight at 7:30, in the lower common room of the Union.