First Step
I am writing this letter in hopes
that some people will realize one of
the basic reasons why the ROTC
program should not be granted
academic credit. The University in
its present form grants it credit
because it is bound by traditional
ideas on how a college should
benefit a student in giving him an
education. However, the American
university today is striving for a less
institutionalized and more open
atmosphere of learning in which
courses actually broaden a person's
ability to learn and not stifle as
many of the courses, especially for
first-year men, now do.
A course such as the ROTC
program is inimical to these ideas.
It has a rigid and uncompromising
structure as shown by the ROTC
Affairs and Curriculum Evaluation
Committee report. This limits a
student's horizons and does not
broaden them. The ban ROTC
credit movement is the first step in
the re-evaluation of today's college
curriculum. I think it is time for the
University to take this step.
