Lecturing, Grades Blamed for Apathy

Three Faculty members last night attacked much of American educational policy, the typical college community, and, in particular, the Harvard lecture system as basic causes of intellectual apathy.

Participants Gordon W. Allport, professor of Psychology; Richard Alpert, assistant professor of Clinical Psychology; and Winston R. White, lecturer on Sociology, focused upon apathy from widely divergent viewpoints in a session sponsored by the Social Relations Society.

"I see apathy not as indifference, but as fright," said Alpert. The individual, afraid of standing out, loses any desire to act. "Coolness," according to Alpert, defines another characteristic type of apathy, personified by the failing student who reacts with "Only shlunks sweat it."

The three agreed that the American educational system and community encourage widespread intellectual apathy. From first grade through college, the successful student is the one who can "psych out the teacher or exam," in Alpert's opinion. The student is guided not by curiosity or intellectual motivation, but by desire for a superior grade.

"The worst method of education is the lecture system, where you present conclusions only," insisted Allport, saying that lecturing further discourages individual creative thinking.

Allport earlier developed a slightly different definition of apathy. Quoting from one of his recent studies, he contrasted the average foreign student's desire for political and social improvement with the typical American ("Radcliffe") girl's future plans: "Our summers we'll spend lobster fishing on the Cape... Finally, I want to take a trip to Europe, especially to Russia, to see what can be done about Communism."

White, however, took issue with Allport's comparison of foreign students with their American counterparts. Different values and different issues are significant to the students in separate societies, remarked White. Political activity takes priority in the country faced by revolution, while in the relatively secure American social system, marriage and occupation become the main issued for youth.