Word: function
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Apart from the content of courses in one department or another, the concern of the College seems to be, in general, more with technical values than with humanistic values. According to the conception which seems prevalent among students--and to some extent among the faculty--the proper function of an instructor is not to enlighten the student about matters of human matters of human significance, but instead to be an expert on more or less technical questions within a narrow field. An instructor is usually known as an expert on logical empiricism, or 20th-century Indian nationalism, or whatever...
These waters-actually a series of reservoirs-were created by 31 major dams (six of them privately owned), which now function in a highly integrated system. "Today TVA can shut off the Tennessee River when the Ohio is in flood-shut it off just like a faucet," says David Lilienthal, TVA's early crusading chairman. TVA did just that a few weeks ago. and saved an estimated $100,000,000 flood damage in Chattanooga alone...
Part of the Clay Committee's difficulties must lie in the fact that Presidential committees are rare birds in this country, and therefore have no clear code of behavior to follow. The reason for their rarity is simple enough: the American Congress is assumed to fulfill the same function as the fact-finding commissions in European countries, and in truth, in matters that affect only the workings of the Executive, it fulfills it not too badly. Furthermore, extra-governmental organs such as the American Assembly at Arden House or the businessmen's Committee on Economic Development are always busy looking...
This trend is far from pleasing to the telephone companies. "It interferes with our basic function,'' says a spokesman plaintively. "We're supposed to be helping people communicate." There are also less philosophical reasons. The more unlisted numbers, the fewer phone calls, the less revenue. And the more work: operators spend time looking up numbers for inquirers, finding them unlisted, then explaining over and over that the number cannot be divulged, even though the caller is an old Army buddy, a favorite aunt, or a client who wants to place a big order...
Next year, as Chairman of the History Department, Mr. Fleming will preside over formal discussions among these men. But he points out that his function will be to make sure all sides are heard, but not to guide the opinions of others. His views on another departmental matter, the proposed plan to give sophomore tutorial for credit, are of a piece with his concern for individual privacy and scholarship. Tutorial should give an opportunity for "leisured reflection" and study whenever possible, he says, and a needless grade at the sophomore level does harm to this philosophy. This comes from...