American College Life Is Wonderful—“Dates” As Important As Classes

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 95, 15 September 1948, Page 8

American College Life Is Wonderful —“Dates” As Important As Classes

“One of the many differences between the British country and the U.S.A. exists in student life,, whether for college or the arts. At home we are apt to look upon college (university sense) as a dull place of learning, and frankly it usually is,” writes Elizabeth Ede, a former Wellington girl from New York. “But here it is wonderful—lots of fun as well as work. Of course there are colleges solely for girls— Smith, Wellesley and so on, but the majority are co-ed, and the social side is well to the fore. Dates are just as important. as classes, and the whole set-up is one of easy friendliness. “The study part is also more sensibly arranged than ours from a practical point of view. You can take a plain old master’s degree in science, of course, but if you want, say to be an actress or a dance teacher, then you take a bachelor’s in arts and “major” in drama ordance. This means that if your degree requires 120 points of study, about 30 or 40 of these points may be earned in your “major” subject. A dance teacher, for instance, could earn some points in history of dance, and some in actually dancing or theory of teaching. Therefore almost everyone loves to go to college, because it does not mean that they must relinquish their hobbies—quite the reverse. “The value placed on a college education here is immense. When looking for. a job—even a typist is usually expected to have some college—and a store clerk (or shop girl) too. Students make enormous sacrifices to get their particularly the. music, art and dance students.