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Show TAH ATHELETiC172The functioning of a state University reflects the social ideals of the free society in which it operates. Political dogmas are examined, social trends are traced and developed, and the complexities of society's most intimate form of personal expression - its religious affirmations or denials - are laid bare before the ever-probing mind of the mature student. But while a private University may to a certain extent remain aloof from its mother society's self-determined shortcomings in both methods of operation and means toward education, the State University bears the more acute social obligation of mass producing graduates adequately equipped for an intelligent response to the challenges of the society. In short, the state-supported University must operate in the same manner as the society in which it functions.The American goal is success. For with that success come the compensations - both material and otherwise - that are never known by the loser. Prestige, affluence, progress, and recognition are all important recompense for the labors of intense competition. But even these rewards must play a secondary role to a more fundamental motivating force possessed by all: the desire for competitive excellence. Whether the results are determined by chance or by conscious hard labor, the one fact remains clear - no man will pass an opportunity to assert his superiority in any competitive situation. The wealthy banker who thrills at winning a quarter from a slot-machine, the mountain climber who risks his life for nothing more than the distinction of "getting there first," and the two children who fight to the point of exhaustion over a valueless rubber ball that will be forgotten by bedtime - everyone likes to win.The democratic society, in order to insure its own progress, must constantly supply itself with a people well-versed in the rudiments of competitive life. This can only be accomplished through a system based on the expression of these principles.But competition cannot run unchecked. For History has shown that man, in his appetite for supremacy, is fully capable of resorting to a nature not unlike that of his bestial cousins. So rules are made and controls established. The impartial enforcement of restrictive measures insures smaller rivals equal treatment against over-zealous, more capable competitors.So the State University is a direct product - even a microcosm - of the society in which it functions. And in a like manner the successful - academic or otherwise - must be determined by the same type of competition now confronted by their predecessors. The trading system, student government, service organizations, and outside activities of entertainment and recreation all serve as graphic illustrations of the competitive system.But a more frank and obvious representation can be found on a typical Saturday afternoon in the early fall. For it is here that the competitive spirit manifests itself for all to see and hear. Here the spectator can release a full week's frustrations with one lusty roar at the scene below. The heat of competition puts both spectator and participant in another sphere for the approximate two hours of the game's duration. And while this is taking place, the University itself reaps the profits necessary for competition on a still larger scale - the competition for a success that will insure progress for years to come.Jerry Clifton |