I employed the technique of having students submit a precis for approval. From
the
I could gauge whether the students were doing enough original research
and devoting sufficient attention to the caliber of their writing. The two most
difficult term papers to grade were those written by a young woman from Egypt
and a young man from Ethiopia. They had both worked hard, but their papers
were not up to an acceptable standard of writing. I prevailed upon them to seek
outside tutoring and assistance at writing good English. They both did so and in
the end, after several reiterations, submitted acceptable papers. As in the preceding
year, there were several outstanding papers. The best was by a young woman who
wrote about how American women could be trained to negotiate with Japanese.
At this writing I am undecided as to whether to teach for a fourth time. However,
I will probably do so for several reasons. First, because I feel a continuing
obligation to bring along the younger generation. And second, because I find it
does keep me on my toes and forces me to stay abreast of current events. Finally,
several of my better former students have been accepted for jobs where they can
make valuable contributions. It is this last reason, perhaps more than the others,
which will cause me to teach again in the fall of 1993.
Return of Paderewski's Remains to Poland
In the fall of 1991 I resumed my efforts to see to it that the remains of Paderewski
would be returned to Poland. I had worked out all the details to return
Paderewski's remains to Poland on June 29, 1991, the 50th anniversary of his
death. However, in April 1991, on a state visit to the United States, President
Lech Walesa threw a monkey wrench into the works. He told several reporters
that Poland was not ready to receive Paderewski's remains. He said that Poland
would not be completely free until a new parliament was elected in the fall of 1991.
I had no choice but to scrap the elaborate arrangements and plan to return the
remains in 1992. Since I was no longer in the government, the White House put
Edward Derwinski, the secretary of Veterans Affaris, in charge of the
arrangements.
It became immediately obvious that Derwinski and I had opposing views concerning
the type of ceremony to be held in the United States prior to the return of the
remains. I thought the ceremony should be a large one and held in the
amphitheater at Arlington Cemetery. Derwinski thought the ceremony should be
small, and held in the chapel. I felt there should be a maximum of publicity.
Derwinski thought that the publicity should be held to a minimum. I thought that
the pallbearers should be high ranking Polish--Americans, like Brzezinski, Senator
Muskie, and Congressman Rostenkowski Derwinski thought the pallbearers should
195
Previous Page
