University of Virginia Library

Maddox : Originality, Not Indoctrination

PROFILE

By BEVERLY DOWELL

The students seem to have developed
"a priest-like kind of attitude" towards
studying this year, according to James
Maddox, assistant professor of English.
After the strike in the spring of 1970,
"we all became victims of apathy," Mr.
Maddox explained.

"Things change so fast" that it is hard
to classify the students, he noted.

One of Mr. Maddox's main interests is
the student at the University. He finds
them "much more heterogeneous" than he
expected when he first came to the University
three years ago.

What depressed him most about the
students is the attitude that "if the strike did
not work they should forget the whole thing."
"I have had many arguments with students on
whether political actions do any good," he
added.

Mr. Maddox would also like to see a change
in the educational system. One of the
possibilities would be giving credit for
non-academic work "such as spending two days
a week in Washington." He would also like to
see the University "put its weight behind an
experimental university."

"I think most of us recognize that
dispensing information is not an adequate
means of conveying things," Mr. Maddox added.
Most students are "so indoctrinated in the
educational system that it is hard for them to
express anything original" when they do get the
chance, Mr. Maddox explained.

"When I ask students about a book, I get
responses in terms of style or symbolism. They
rarely say they liked (or disliked) it."

He doesn't get "very radical responses
regarding education" from the student. The
students "still regard the degree as very sacred,
but so do I to some extent," Mr. Maddox said.

Mr. Maddox, who was reared in the South,
received his B.A. from Princeton and his M.A.
form Yale. Being "part of Gen. Hershey's
army," Mr. Maddox decided to begin teaching
immediately after finishing his graduate studies.
He chose the University partly because he had
been absent from the South for several years.

Despite the "unspeakable wrongs", the South
"seems a redeemable kind of place," Mr.
Maddox asserted.

Mr. Maddox finds the faculty to be "a very
exciting group of people" and does not think
that the undergraduates take advantage of their
opportunity to associate with the faculty. The
"faculty is very friendly" and "would be glad if
the students would take the initiative and drop
by their offices to visit," he said.