Clarion-Ledger from Jackson, Mississippi • Page 113

Cfjc ClariomLctigcr Sunday, Apirl 2, 1978 Jackson daily news Section Scientist Ranks 100 Most Influential Persons DBIk THE 100: A RANKING OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSONS IN HISTORY, by Michael H. Hart; Hart Publishing $12.50. By CHARLES GORDON Michael H. Hart, whose qualifications include degrees in mathematics, law, physics and astronomy, is the author of a new volume, The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persona in History, Which is bound to create a lot of discussion. First off, it would surely be the opinion of most people in this part of the world, at any rate that Jesus Christ would have to rate the No.

1 place. Hart does not so rate the Man of Galilee, offering the following as part of his reasoning: "There is no question that Christianity, over the course of time, has "I must emphasize that this is a list of the most most influential persons in history, not a list of the grea. test. For example, there is room in my list for an enormously influential, wicked and heartless man like Stalin, but no place at all for the saintly Mother Cabrini." Pointing that "neither fame, nor talent, nor nobility of character is the same thing as influence," Hart omitted Benjamin Franklin, Babe Ruth, Martin Luther King, and even Leonardo da Vinci. So, since you and I along with all other living persons are also omitted from the list of 100, we needn't be chagrined in such company.

Taken into equal account by the writer, whose research and perser-verance must have been prodigious, these were persons who influenced past generations as well the present A Author Indicts Mathematics Education had far more adherents than any other religion. However, it is not the relative influence of different religions that is being estimated in this book, but rather the relative influence of different men. "Christianity, unlike Islam, was not founded by a single person but by two people Jesus and St. Paul and the principal credit must therefore be apportioned between those two figures Christian theology was shaped principally by the work of St. Paul.

Jesus presented a spiritual message; Paul added to that the worship of Christ Hart points further that Jesus Christ died "fairly young," leaving behind a limited number of disciples, forming only "a small Jewish sect." The writer attributes "in considerable measure to Paul's writings, and to his untiring proselytizing ef- poor? Kline believes the prime culprit is the overemphasis on research; he demonstrates that research and undergraduate teaching are in direct conflict. He, too, cites "publish or perish," but asserts that this is not a threat to the professors only, the real meaning of the phrase is "publish and perish the students," for it is the students who are cheated. The universities, in the desire to secure research professors, will offer high salaries, promise the professors that they will have to do only a minimal amount of teaching, and that they will be free to pursue their highly specialized fields. The money that students pay for tuition is diverted in large part from teaching to the research departments. It is true, the administration policies of universities are at the root of educational failings, but the professors must take their share of the blame also, a huge share.

They respond to enticements such as better salaries for research; compete fiercely for the status accorded to research; some of them actually hate to teach; and they use their status for material gains, such as royalties from miserably written texts. They offer courses in those highly specialized subjects in which they themselves are interested at the expense of student needs. The students may be planning careers teaching high school or elementary school, and will enter their own teaching posi fi l.l.ltV TALK TODAY A gallery talk at 2 p.m. today marks the opening of an exhibition of acrylic and watercolor paintings by John Davis at the McClung Gallery, upstairs at 205 S. State St.

Now a professional painter in Now Orleans, Davis was a teaching assistant in design, speech and acting at the University of Mississippi where he received his MFA degree. Other artists represented at McClung Gallery include Terry Cherry, Nancy Mosley, Robert Landry, Jean Nimrod and Lewis West. forts," the ultimate transformation of the tiny sect Christ left behind into one of the great religions of the world. ALL RIGHT, THEN, who does Michael Hart believe was the Most Influential Person who ever lived, if Jesus Christ is No. 3 on his list? As most must have suspected by now, it is Muhammad, "the only man in history who was supremely tions ill-equipped in the barest fundamentals, thus forming a vicious circle.

Step by step, Kline analyzes what is wrong in the teaching of mathematics. He deplores the fiasco of New Math, a disaster at the primary, elementary and secondary school levels. At the universities, the teaching of math courses is often entrusted to graduate students or young instructors; undergraduate students may select a certain course because of the eminence of the professor, only to find that they rarely even get a glimpse of him; if he does lecture, the classes are so enormous, the student derives no benefit from them. This is an excellent book on a subject of primary importance. Fortunately, Americans are awakening to its importance.

The feature article in the Saturday Review of April 1, entitled "Confusion at Harvard," describes the quiet revolution that is taking place at this prestigious university, and reveals the inadequacies in its programs and in the professors who are guilty of playing the same "professorial game" described in Why the Professor Can't Teach and The Professor Game. The situation can be remedied; the defects in our educational system cannot be cured all at once or immediately, but they can be corrected, and Professor Kline explores the reforms he believes are early personalities of the Opry, those persons without whom it might have been a failed experiment in a city which at the time prided itself on its status as the "Athens of the South." But he gives the often overlooked personalities of East Tennessee their due. Among these is Caswell Orton "Cas" Walker, a Knoxville grocerpolitician, who early recognized radio as an effective means to promote his political ambitions and his chain of grocery stores. Walker's long-running radio program, which now has become a daily early-morning television show, gave exposure at the early stages of their careers to Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, the Osborne Brothers, Tennessee Ernie Ford and, more recently, Dolly Parton. Ms.

Parton, a native of Sevier-ville, a community which lies directly between Knoxville and the Great Smoky Mountains, is consi-dered by many to be a link between the mountain storytelling balladeers of a century ago and the slickly situation of mankind. I WON'T REPEAT the list leaving that for the discernt' reader to study on his own. But, I will list the top 10, wfilph: has Buddha, Confucius, St. Paol Ts'ai Lun Johann GutenV berg, Christopher Columbus and Ai bert Einstein below Jesus in the rosy: ter. Hart believes, and argues most cogently, that his 100 men ancH women have "swayed the destinies of billions of human beings, mined the rise and fall of civilizafv tions, and transformed the courseDC, history." His book sells at $12.50 and its pub' lisher is listed as Hart Publishing-; Co.

(Maybe Michael Hart is nearly; as close to Renaissance Man some of the people he hails. rT; Even those addicted to S090-. operas and the music of Rod Stevi art can learn a lot from book. Showino work at Gallerv South. In 27 Exhibition: Ifcforfaa Put tin.

Community Room (until April 30). 27 Series 2 Lecture: Christopher Wood, Victorian Paintint, Community Room n. 8 p.m. 28- Repeat lecture, 1 30 m. 28-Art Study Club Lecture, Dr.

William Ferris, folklore ami fotkhfe In America. 11 a.m. MAY 5 Gallery Guild Lectures: at the Museum Rehearsal Hall: 10 a.m., 2 slide lectures. 4 tt alk Thromgk the Caller presented by Mary Sykes Cahan; 1 .30 p.m., lecture. Tomrh of enmilk mi the Vd.

by Penelope Hunter-SUebel. Tickets at the door, S3 SO for each 1 Studies Tennessee Music GARY WALTERS A PHIL EXHIBITORS Art NANCY TIPTON, Editor successful on both the religious and secular levels." And No. Isaac Newton, "the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived," who, "between his 21st and 27th years laid the foundation for the scientific theories that subsequently revolutionized the world." Hart said in his foreword: mandatory. He knows his subject and he has had years of experience, and has the necessary interest and compassionate concern for generations of studnets, to make this important book interesting. It should be read by university administrators; legislators who apportion funds for education should be informed on how such funds are used; certainly professors, especially research professors should read it, and above all, parents many of whom sacrifice some necessities of life to send their children to college, ought to be aware that the prestige of a university is no guarantee of a sound educational process.

Morris Kline has devoted 45 years to research, teaching and administration. He is professor emeritus at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Scieneces, New York University, and was most recently Visiting Distinguished Professor at Brooklyn College. His Mathematical Thought from Ancient Creece to Modern Times was nominated for a National Book Award in 1973. A Guggenheim fellow and Fulbright lecturer in Germany, he has taught at several major universities and has lectured at hundreds of others. Here is a professor who has published, and yet has found the time and desire to be a good and concerned teacher! packaged country stylists of today.

Her style often is closer to folk music than to that of contemporary country music, a result of her upbringing in a small rural community in which the links to the past were stronger than those to distant Nashville. A glimpse by the author into the background and career of Dolly Par-ton might have made an interesting sidebar: a study of the popularity of an artist whose style borrows as much from her antecedents as from her contemporaries. But in the brief work, the author touches on few personalities. Limited as it is in scope to only one state, this book cannot be viewed as a definitive work on the growth and development of country music. But in its treatment of both the Nashville "establishment" and its East Tennessee "country cousins," it is a work well worth reading by those interested in this musical form.

14 Antique Jewelry Clinic, Mrs. Dora Jane Janson, 10:30 a.m.-l p.m. 17 VSV practice session, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. 18 Repeat practice session, 7-10 p.m. 19 Board of Trustees meeting.

Community Room 1, 11 a.m. 22 OPK.MVC78.- The Mississippi Museum of Art opens to the public, dedicatory ceremonies 11:30 a.m.: opening of the 197S Mississippi Arts Festival (April 22-Mav7. EXHIBITIONS: East Exhibition Galleries: tHthml.it- llr Help from umr FrirmHs (until July 16). East Exhibition Galleries: TAw EzftrMtHNi. I9T8 (until May 28).

West Exhibition Galleries: Tke 1 M-r C4 nrA flan, IMiltnrf tlnr, TUMM SM lyn Tabb. WHY THE PROFESSOR CAN'T TEACH, by Morris Kline; St. Martin's Press; $10. By ROSE LEVINE ISAACSON Several months ago this section carried my review of The Professor Came by Richard D. Mandell.

In that book, Mandell told the inside story of campus politics, tenure, the myth of "publish or perish," the subterfuges and abuses of privileges by professors that are not apparent to outsiders. It was an expose of the professorial game in a general sense. This book, IT Ay the Professor Can't Teach, also indicts liberal arts undergraduate education as a whole, but the emphasis is really on undergraduate mathematics education. Mathematics education is by no means just a matter of teaching one of the three R's. It is the very backbone of our scientific civilization, the basis of our financial and insurance structures, and our technology.

It is vital to the study of medicine, biology and the social sciences; no student, whether or not he will ever use the knowledge, can ever be truly knowledgeable without some background in mathematics. Professor Kline asserts that mathematics education has been a debacle, and explains why we have come to this serious state of affairs. Why is undergraduate education New Book TENNESSEE STRINGS: The Story of Country Music in Tennessee, by Charles K. Wolfe: The Tennessee Historical Commission, the University of Tennessee Press; 118 $3.50. By MIKE FLANAGAN Country music, indigenous to the Southeast, has spread in popularity in recent years throughout the nation and into much of the free world.

Sparked by its growing acceptance among new audiences, and by interest generated by the recent 50th anniversary of the Grand Ole Opry, the form in the last several years has been documented in a number of ways. Tennessee Strings, published in cooperation with the Tennessee Historical Commission, treats the subject in the context of how it has developed in and affected the people of the state of Tennessee. Author Charles K. Wolfe, a faculty member of Middle Tennessee State University, begins his chronicle in 1916 with the visit of Cecil Sharp and ll I ALABAMA SHOW Opening today at Percy Whiting Memorial Gallery in Fairhope. is an exhibition of Gulfport artist Edie Sweet's medieval English brass rubbings, among which is this depiction of Sir John d'Abernon (1325).

in Stoke d'Abernon, Surrey. 11 Maud Karpeles to Rocky Fork, in search of old English and Scottish folk songs which still were being sung in the Appalachian highlands. These remnants of Old World culture, the author contends, are the antecedents of present-day country music. Noting that many of the early "stars" of the fiddling and string band forms of rural Southeastern music hailed from East Tennessee, particularly from the valley which extends from Bristol to Knoxville, Wolfe traces the development of what then was a form of folk music to its status as a multimillion-dollar industry, with special emphasis on that part of the state. Knoxville and Bristol, and not Nashville, were the early centers of what developed into today's country music.

Nashville, he notes, had little more than the weekly Grand Ole Opry until the late 1940s. The spawning grounds for country talent, and the recording studios, were to the east. Wolfe pays special attention to the AT THE ATTIC Art on exhibit at The Attic art gallery, upstairs at 420 E. Capitol includes the work of these artists. Ufa w.

i 1 A I 'f IT KMTl BE AKEK Clint Baker, craftsman who make, early American furniture reproductions, is one of the exhibitors at the Mini-Fair open 1-5 p.m. today at the Crossroad Store, just off the Natchez Trace, four miles north of Rocky Springs. Other exhibitors include: Pat Labarre, stuffed animals and dolls; Butch Wilson, woodworking; George Ann McCullough, enameled copper; Carle Rackley, woodcarving; Jann Ferris, jewelry. Mississippi Art AssociationMississippi Museum of Art Calendar Of Events VA Crnphir orla of iiwtom Homer (until May 14). Graphics Study Center: Works on Paper in the Collections of the MV4 (until April 30).

"Open f)nnr Dnzxle (Pnn I): To Dance, To ire (until April 30). Atrium Galleries: Key Vork from the Permanent nnrf Wir -fr-q uifitioH. As ft See It: Artists' renditions of the Arts CenterPlanetarium. 22 Symposium: Art mni the 4rtil im Contemporary Society, 3-5 p.m.. Jackson Municipal Auditorium.

23 Lecture: James Wines of Sculpture the Environment, Rehearsal Hall. 1 30 om- APRIL VSV practice session, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. 4 Repeat practice session. 7-10 p.m. 4 Documentary film series: tofht Mail, GnersonWrighL 5 Repeat documentary film, 1:30 p.m.

10 VSV practice session, 9:30 a.m. 12:30 p.m. 11 Repeat practice session. 7-10 m. 11 Documentary film: Ohmpim, Part fi.

Riefenstahl, 5.30 and p.m. 12 Repeat documentary film, 1:30 p.m. 13 Series 2 Lectures begin: Dr. H. W.

Janson, The Fkmerutg Amrrirmn Snlptwrr. m. 14 Repeat lecture, 1:30 p.m..