Tuesday, April 24, 1934
Pago 4
Daily Nebraskan
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Student esam files: Legal, but how ethical?
Exam files have long been one of the
benefits of belonging to a fraternity or
sorority. Now an exam file has sprung
up at Selleck Quadrangle.
One of the trio who organized the
exam file said he did it to make Sel
leck a "better dorm."
Having a copy of old exams does not
guarantee success on a test, but it cer
tainly gives an advantage to those who
have access to such a file.
Perhaps Selleck is a "better dorm"
because of its exam file. Put perhaps
an exam file, although not violating
university rules, is self-defeating.
Dean of Students Dave DeCoster
said Monday that according to his
interpretation of the section on aca
demic dishonesty in the student hand
book, an exam file, with copies of
exams professors had returned or
otherwise made available to students,
does not violate that section.
The information becomes public
domain after an instructor hands the
test back, he said. The instructor should
be aware that any tests handed back
might be used in such a file.
Accordingly, they should make the
next exam different.
DeCoster said some professors open
ly encourage students to look over
past exams to help them understand
how the professor asks questions, and
vvhat material he or she thinks is
important. .
. One of my professors includes
sample exams with the course sylla
bus and other materials.
Legally, exam files are OK, but their
existence encourages an unhealthy
attitude about college and learning in
general.
In sociology classes we learn that
the latent pu rpose of college is to show
whether or not a person can with
stand the rigors of everyday work,
long hours, meeting deadlines and fac
ing the daily grind. So what we learn at
college may not be as important as
what we prove by surviving it.
Many students do everything possi
ble to make college an easier trip. After
all, it's not what we learn, but that we
made it through, right?
Exam files are one of those ways to
make the road a little less bumpy. If
you haven't studied all semester, and
you need to study the minimal amount,
what better way could be found to
minimize that study? Who reads in col
lege anyway?
Like cheating, exam files are an
"easy' way out. They are not quite as
blatant, or academically illegal as cheat
ing, but they are just as self-defeating.
It's all right for professors to use
sample exams. Although they should
be able to formulate exams that are
understandable, and questions that
are self-explanatory, because they are
teachers. But most professors have no
teaching training. They "learn" by doing.
But that's another editorial ,
Exam files may become more pre
valent following Scllcck's example.
These "student helpers" may someday
become an institutionalized part of
colleges. Kinko's could make a fortune
selling old exams.
It's sad to watch the attitude that
college is just something to get through,
rather than a place to learn, become
any more prevalent.
Chris Welsch
Satellite repairers
go way out to aid
earthly consumers
For many years, my favorite line about the space
program came from a local consumer reporter who
n
JA
Ellen
Goodman
said, "If we can put a man on the moon, we can make
a panty hose that doesn't rip."
But after the recent space venture, starring Astro
nauts Goodwrench, I have decided that it's time for
an all-new slogan: "If we can get a satellite fixed,
surely we can get a hair dryer fixed."
As an average American, surrounded by the litter
of my own technological life, I watched the Flight of
the Five Repairmen with a certain degree of awe and
even envy. It wasn't the space trip that impressed "
me. I have grown used to that. But this time I wit
nessed a real-life service calL A group of repairers
had cheerfully gone out on a job (I mean way out),
determined the problem and solved it.
When the work was complete, the five appeared
at a news conference wearing T-shirts that read
"Ace Satellite Repair Co." I kept hoping that some
one would flash their 800 number onto the screen.
Okay, it took the space agency three and a half
years, from the time Solar Maximum broke down to
the time the repairmen arrived, but who are we to
complain about that? At least, the National Aero
nautics and Space Administration didn't make the
owners stay home and wait.
The way I figure it, as the Celestial Handymen
were repairing the Solar Max in space, the average
broken-down American household had no less than
five mechanical items in various stages of chronic
non-care. The difference was that most of these will
never get any better. "
Calculate for a minute all the items that are cur
rently labeled "more expensive to fix than to replace."
This encompasses the entire plastic world. My
above-mentioned hair dryer, for example, is in per- '
feet working order except for the switch that broke
off. The hair dryer cost $13.95 after the $5 rebate. A
new switch, parts and labor would cost $17.50. For
this reason it is now being operated with a pair of
pliers. .
The repair bill for Solar Max, in comparison, was
$48 million. Fortunately, the satellite would cost
$200 million to replace or they might have trashed
it.
There is also an entire category of machines
which we have to "bring in to be fixed." In my expe
rience, anything that is not spinning in space,
installed in concrete or attached to piping is now
regarded as portable. A 120-pound television set
with a handle, for example.
Anything which "has to be brought in to be fixed"
has only a" fifty-fifty chance of making the trip. But
earthly repairers are increasingly immobilized by
gravity. It's the customer who has to go into orbit.
The dealer for my broken-down imitation Walter
son, for example, is conveniently located an hour
away in a waterfront warehouse open between 10
a.m. and 2 p.m. on Tuesdays. Of Course, if I prefer, I
could take it directly to Tokyo.
There are also breakdowns that require a series of
visits in which the payment is guaranteed but not
the cure. To get someone to come and "look" at my
refrigerator last year, I was required to give him
everything but my Blue Cross number. He came, he
analyzed, he left. This was apparently a psychiatric
visit. -
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Letters
Greeks are greatest
Concerning the column "Greek Week Dont in
clude me," written by one Bill Allen (Daily Nebras
kan, April 23). It is very obvious to me that it is
simply another example of negative manifestation
toward the Greek System. It is sad to think that so
often the greatest organizations are those most sub
ject to ridicule.
Even lower than many of the implications that
were made in the article was the cheap tone in
which these mutilated views were presented. But, I
suppose when you aren't creative enough to find
something worthwhile to write, you slam an elite
group of which you were not accepted as a part.
Mike Barrett
freshman
agricultural journalism
Arts for students too
I am moved to respond to Ward Triplett's perpe
tuation of the myth that high quality performing
arts programs are for the "older, wealthier set" but
not for students (Daily Nebraskan, April 20). The
KimbalTHall series for 1984-85 is a direct and bril
liant refutation of Triplett's allegation.
Through the resource of Kimball Hall, and its
director, Eon Bowlin, students may experience such
world quality artistic gems as Shakespeare's "King
Lear" performed by England's Old Vic Theatre Com
pany, progressive jazz master Dave Brubeck, the
sterling St. Louis Symphony, premier cellist Yo-Yo
Ma and pianist Emanuel Ax for a total ticket price
(for all four events) of $10.80. Other combinations of
other equally attractive offerings are also available.
To compare this rich fare with Frank Sinatra, and
to compare the $2.70 average ticket price with the
$20 Sinatra tab, and then to conclude that "perform
ing arts" are for the wealthy elderly seems at least
mildly far-fetched.
The proposed Lied Center would be a wonderful
addition to UNL, to Lincoln, and to the quality of
student life; but, yet, its construction should be
evaluated in terms of alternative use of funds,
procedures for University program development,
and so on.
But the availability of the arts, both locally created
and imported, is a central component of a univerity
setting. Would that Mr. Triplett assisted in develop
ing student support for and interest in the arts as an
enriching element of the educated person. A $3
ticket to the Houston Ballet's performance of "Swan
Lake" is not beyond the economic reach of any stu
dent at UNL; I hope it might be within the artistic
reach of every student at UNL
Jerry LPetr
professor
economics
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