Esther Bagwell Mathews (1926- ) completed her undergraduate degree in music education at Woman's College of the University of North Carolina (now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro) in 1949. Mathews recalls her student days, including the restrictions of life on campus, the body mechanics course, social activities and the effect of World War II. She describes student teaching at the Curry School on campus, the rigorous life of a music major, and influential music faculty and administrators such as Harriet Elliott, Alleine Minor, Elvira Prondecki, and Katherine Taylor. Mathews discusses her feeling that the quality of student has decreased in the School of Music and that educational standards have decreased in the public schools. She talks about Chancellor Walter Jackson, the move to Division I athletics and the Chancellor William Moran/Alumni Association controversy and the involvement of Vice Chancellor Bernard Keele.
