Rauch, Jean K.

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MANUSCRIPTS 15"Repeat that, please." Miss Phillips gave Susie a puzzled look.Susie repeated it defiantly, exactly as she had spelled it the firsttime. The teacher looked at her sharply. "That is incorrect, Susie.You may take your seat."Susie went to her desk, avoiding a foot thrust into the aisle infront of her. The dirty-faced girl who sat beside her snickered be-hind her hand, then exploded into a giggle, and the whole classlaughed."Ha, ha," whispered the fat boy. "Teacher's pet ain't as smartas she thinks!" Susie regarded the inkwell in the corner of herdesk intensely, wishing the bell would ring. It did, after a fewminutes that seemed years to Susie. The class lined up at the door,filed out of the room and down the stairs. She would be safe asfar as the corner; a big girl from the sixth grade whose mother wasthe Scout troop leader walked that far with her. Maybe theywouldn't, this time. Maybe just once they'd leave her alone. Sheturned the corner slowly."Ha, ha, Susie missed!""Teacher's pet missed a word!""Teacher's pet's a dummy! Teacher's pet's a dummy!" The fatboy jerked of f one of her blue bows and threw it into a puddle. Abig red-haired one pulled her sash untied. Susie walked on as fastas she could, trying to shut their jeers out of her mind, trying notto let them see that she could scarcely keep back the tears. When atlast she reached the corner of her own yard, she ran around to theback door, so they couldn't see her crying. Her mother was in thekitchen. Susie tried to slip up the back stairs, but her mother hearda sni f fIe and called her back."Why, Susie, what's the matter? Come tell mother about it."Sobbing with great trembling gasps, Susie burrowed into her mother."1-1 spelled a word wrong!" she howled, crying harder."Is that all! Heavens, child, everyone makes mistakes! Whatwas the word?""Encyclopedia. ""Why, Susie, you know how to spell that. I expect you werenervous; it can happen to anyone. You mustn't feel so bad abouta little thing like that."The IndividualistJean K. RauchTHE word individualist is derived from the Latin word individuus,which means 'indivisible.' The suffix ist indicates that an in-dividualist is 'one who is' indivisible. The word's meaning hasbeen gradually expanded and enriched until now it suggests onewhose way of life is determined by a certain philosophy known asindividualism.The individualist of today is a man who thinks for himself and16 MANUSCRIPTS/acts upon what he believes is right. His conscience is his sternestentre. To live up to his name, he must be honest and have an ob-jective outlook upon all he sees. He feels it his duty to be foreversearching, inquiring, and thinking. Since these attributes often sethim apart from his fellow men, it usually follows that he must be acourageous man if he is to remain uncontrolled, unrestricted, and un-coerced by the multitudes of conformists around him who believethat he should adhere, as they do, to the prevalent outlook of the day.It is not impossible for the outward actions of a conformist andan individualist to be regarded as identical, yet this judgment issuperficial, since the motives behind their behavior are entirely dif-ferent. The conformist believes and acts as he does, because he hasbeen told to do so or because he is mimicking others; the individual-ist believes and acts as he does, because he has weighed all possiblefacts available to him and has come to independent decisions. Heholds the same sentiments as did the author of this poem:Truth: be thou more precious than possessions without end;"Wisdom: be thou more sacred than the pleasing of a friend;Courage: be thou our strength to gain the distant goal;Beauty: send thou a cleansing wonder to the soul.The individualist has high regard for the mind of man. Hestudies its finest works and attempts to model his life after the liveshe deems to have been well lived, but he does not believe that allgoodness, virtue, and greatness lie in the past. He believes thatth.ere will be progress and that men, now and in the future, are, and:viiI be, responsible for that progress. He will not be blind to newId~as .because they suggest change, but will be open-minded andobjective, without undue emotionality and sentimentality. There-fore, when he encounters a new idea which does not seem to him:vorthy of his fealty, he will respect it as he would wish his ownideas to be respected, and even though he cannot support this novelView, unless it threatens his very existence he will give over to timethe. duty. of destroying it. Inherent in the nature of any man whobelieves 111 the individual is the desire to give evel-Y man the right tothink and the right to speak.l!nfortunately, in America today, conformity is very much theIashion, Although the rights of the individualist are protected byour Constitution, social and economic pressures are sometimesbrought to bear against him. A television program, which was re-cently produced by the Department of Education of New YorkState, illustrates how these pressures operate in modern businesses.The purpose of the program was to demonstrate the usefulness ofpsychological tests in selecting prospective candidates for executivepositions in industry. Here are a group of questions and answerswhich summarize the program's content. (The employee is askingthe questions; the proponent of the tests is giving the answers.)MANUSCRIPTSQuestion: What is the purpose of this test?Answer: To indicate how you will fit into thisorganization as a member of the management.Question: By what standard will I be judged?Answer: By whether or not you are a conformist.The norm is considered perfect.Question: How do you know that I will not"cheat?"Answer: vVe know that you will "cheat," eitherconsciously or unconsciously. All people do. This willbe taken into consideration in grading the tests.Question: But, by being unethical, I could give youan entirely false impression of my personality. I dowish to be accepted for this job, you know.Answer: Yes, we realize this, but if you are in-telligent enough to fool us, then the chances are thatyou are intelligent enough to be a useful employee.Question: Therefore, if I realize that I am a non-conformist, my only chance to be accepted for an ex-ecutive position is to be dishonest. Is that what youare saying?Answer: Well, let's put it this way: you must beclever.Question: May I ask how you rate a person whoranks high aesthetically on your tests?Answer: Many companies have adopted the stan-dard that any person showing an aesthetic preferencemore than seven percent of the time is automaticallyeliminated.Question: Could you explain what you mean by "aperson who shows an aesthetic preference?"Answer: He would be one who prefers music andgood books to, say, football and social functions.Question: Has this method been used in pickingour industrial leaders of today?Answer: Well, that is an interesting thing; as amatter of fact, no. The presidents of thirteen of themost important companies in the country were asked totake this test. They were told to be absolutely honest.Mind you, they are all top-notch in their fields, but theyall flunked miserably; they all were individualists. ButI have no doubt that if those men were in this r00111right now, applying for a job, they would pass withflying colors. You see, what one has to do is to be a"conformist in public and an individualist in private."Is such hypocrisy really essential and desirable in our countrytoday? ATe tolerance and understanding to be twisted into a ve-1718 MANUSCRIPTSneer of comradeship? Must the sensitivity and the kindness oftact be degenerated into out and out dishonesty in order to preserveone's right to earn a living? Neither business, nor government, norchurch, nor private citizen can force the falseness of unnatural con-formity without first destroying the integrity of the individual. Im-posing conformity as a prerequisite for leadership is unrealistic,unhealthy, and unworkable. We would be wiser if we sought todevelop an atmosphere of appreciation for those who are capableof original thinking. They have shown the way in the developmentof our civilization to its present peak, and their distinguishing charac-teristic-the uniqueness of their own individuality-is still our mostvaluable possession. Without it, the widening flow of our culturewould dry up in rivulets of bigotry and stagnate in ignorance andintolerance.The VisitNorman WilkinsTHERE was a funny odor in the house, like the time I was sickand the doctor had given me that awful tasting stuff. Daddywas no longer in his bed where he had been for so manymonths, and I couldn't find him anywhere. The door to the halldownstairs was closed, but I could hear people coming and goingmost of the day. Mama didn't say a thing, and I was kept upstairsuntil Mom Newton came to take me to her farm.;j:/The spring on the screen door needed oiling, for it clearly an-nounced when someone came out the back door of the farm house.Quickly I dried my tears and scooped deeper into the black earthsurrounding the blooming honeysuckle bush. If I were very still,Mom Newton might not see me, with my eyes red. It wasn't herfault that I felt lonely.Shuffling steps rounded the corner and stopped in front of mydi~gings. All I could see was legs and shoes. FIer legs were coveredWIth heavy, brown stockings, and her black shoes could scarcelyhold her feet. In fact, there were parts of the shoes cut away. Theholes showed bumps on the side of her feet which seemed to be form-ing extra toes. I looked down at my own shoes. They were cakedwith dirt, but they didn't have the openings in them like Mom New-ton's. I would have to clean my shoes before I went home thisafternoon. It wouldn't be appreciated if I tracked in dirt at home,but Mom Newton never seemed to mind. At least, she never saidanything."Why, Charles, I dicln't know you were playing in here." Irolled out fr0111under the bush, brushing myself as I came. "Nexttime I'll give you an old spoon so you won't have to use that olel tincan to dig with. You might hurt yourself on a sharp edge." Study-

The Individualist

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The Individualist

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