Monday, February 29, I960
. The Daily Nebraskan
Editorial Comment:
Page 2
fflrauuu li wMswwar HI iSlir
Educational Emphasis
On English Is Needed
i When Sputnik I was put into orbit a few
years ago, this country's educational sys
tem suddenly was put in the glaring spot
light of the eyes of the nation's politician's
scientists and educators perhaps brighter
than any time before, in history.
For it became apparent that something
was wrong somewhere that apparently
our schools and colleges weren't turning
out the type of student who could compete
with those from some European nations,
especially in the field of science.
At least that is the way it seemed. Why
else, it was asked, could Russia attain its
primacy in the infant race for nuclear and
space leadership unless we had failed
somewhere along the line in developing
scientists and improving the teaching
methods in our schools.
Because, the argument went, if we had
been turning out better science students,
we would have been able to achieve suc
cesses in these scientific fields earlier, in
stead of waiting and watching to see and
then fear what other nations could do.
Hence the advent of Sputnik heralded a
new effort to improve the nation's defense
network and improve U.S. military and
scientific power positions and right in the
middle was education, especially the type
that involved the engineer, the physicist,
the mathematician . . . and the teacher.
New federal education loans were set
up; special military deferments were giv
en to some college graduates in special
ized scientific fields.
And as science knowledge became in
vogue, so did language not so much Eng
' lish, but others like Russian, French,
Spanish and German.
These languages, it was said, were going
to be'of more importance to the college
graduate now than in any time in history.
For it was said thousands of Soviet stu
dents were studying English; that France
and Germany must be depended on more
than ever before; and that to keep on the
good side of Latin America was one of our
prime problems.
Hence we needed to study their lan
guages. All of the above suggestions and anxie
ties were quite valid ones. But it seems
that in our quest for a type of education
that would balance the world power struc-
ture, we may have forgotten one of the
most important subjects in "American
schools today English.
It is one of the basic fields for learning
well in others especially the foreign lan
guages. Hardly another subject gives such
an opportunity for expression and practice
of educational virtues such as precision,
clarity and accuracy.
But English hasn't been one of the pri
mary fields of study in the spotlight for
improvement lately. The sciences and for
eign languages, as mentioned above,
seemed to have crowded English some
what out of the picture.
But recently a number of American ed
ucators have recognized the problem and
have taken action to do something about
it.
One of the best examples is a Univer
sity of Nebraska graduate who is now su
perintendent of schools in Washington,
D.C. Fifty-four-year-old Carl Francis Han
sen has revolutionized the study of Eng
lish in Washington schools.
In English courses, as in others, he di
vides classes into four groups. At the top
are gifted students with IQ's above 120.
Next come two groups embracing those
of college ability and those who only pro
pose to finish high school.
Last are those who are slow learners.
' Better writing is one of Hansen's pri
orities. He says, "It seems to me more
important for us to know the structure of
language than to know how a spark plug
works in an automobile."
His program is revolutionary in light of
the English programs in most of the other
schools in the country. Theme writing
starts as early as the second grade; stu
dents in the top two high school groups
have to write 24 themes a year.
He makes use of college women "lay
readers" in arrangement with the Wash
ington P.T.A.
The results since Hansen took over in
1947 have been that Washington students
have raised their position relative to other
students in' the United States by 14 points
on three national high school achievement
tests.
Another Nebraska educator, Omaha Ben
son English department head Gunnar
Horn, has taken a look at the problem and
here is what he has come up with:
"I predict that in a few years there will
come a realization that some students had
better learn English before they concern
themselves with foreign languages.
"I further predict that some time this
decade parents will awaken to the fact
that written language is still a useful tool.
When this occurs, they will insist that
boards of education reduce the teaching
loads of English teachers to a point where
it will be possible for them to give stu
dents the frequent practice in writing that
is necessary to learning composition."
We can only hope that Horn's predic
tions come true. And we hope that students
and educators alike will recognize soon
that good English involves more than just
not saying "ain't."
-Coife iiSA'a l0iflFffl 'JHlsLl
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from the Editor's Desk:
It Seems to Me . . .
, im im' tff $
Kraus
Theory on what is to be published and
. what isn't to be in this year's IFC Rush
Book seems to be contradictory in part.
House bills, over-all house averages,
etc., won't be published in the book be
cause 1. the IFC last
Wednesday passed a mo
tion to repeal the planned
inclusion of the averages,
and 2. the IFC Alumni
Advisers feel that the
book shouldn't be com
petitive between the vari
ous fraternities.
House bill and initiation
fees should be left out of
print since the bills aren't
relative from house to
house. For instance, some houses charge a
low basic fee each month, which looks
good in print or in the eyes of a rushee,
but hit members for assessments quite
often for parties, special dues, etc.
But scholastic averages from house to
house are parallel and tend to indicate
to some extent if the fraternity takes men
of potential high scholarship and if they
encourage study halls and the like.
The inclusion of this material in the
Rush Book might be helpful to the pros
pective rushee who is interested primar
ily in obtaining an education at the Uni
versity and finding the proper atmosphere
in which to carry on his studies.
With the averages in print, however,
this would of course be a means of com
petition. But in the format the book is in now, it's
also competitive. Each house gets two
pages, one of which probably will include
a composite picture of the members; the
other, including tke house picture, sev
eral mug shots and house information.
Each house strives in its copy to paint a
pretty picture of how it has top alumni,
good scholarship, many activity men, etc.,
which certainly represents a form of com
petition. And the mug shots generally in
clude some of the house's outstanding ac
tivity men.
If there's competition to show quality in
activities, social events, and tile like, why
By Carroll Kraus
not scholarship, which should be a more
important factor to the rushee than most
others.
I, too, would like to see the book kept on
a non-competitive basis trying to sell
only the fraternity system instead of in
dividual houses.
But the concept of the book will have to
change before houses will agree to give up
their individual portions and produce a
really fine, overall picture of the frater
nity scene and fraternity men, without at
taching a particular Greek name to each.
But since the book is set up the way it
is now, and since the IFC is pushing
scholarship (as evidenced in last Wednes
day's meeting when it approved a $125
scholarship for a sophomore fraternity
man with a good average and with lead
ership qualities), inclusion of the house
averages would be a means of showing
that interest in grades is high and that
the Greek houses aren't afraid to bare
their averages to prove that they prac
tice as well as preach scholarship.
Noted in a column in the Kansas State
Collegian that one of Ohio's universities
has initiated an unusual approach to the
drinking problem.
The university permits it in men's
dormitories but only when roommates
are present. If the guy next door comes
in, it's illegal.
It's also forbidden at mixed functions
but Is OK at stag affairs if they're chape
roned. So three is a crowd at a bull session, if
they want to drink. Just like at dear old
NU; takes two to tango and three to func
tion. But before the exodus to Ohio, it might
be proper to mention that the columnist
didn't mention exactly which school it
was.
Coed Follies in general were pretty
good, it seemed, but sound or acoustics or
something didn't go over too well.
About the funniest thing in tlie whole
show wai it the very end; the bit about
tune in for next week's show.
Daily Nebraskan Letterips
Dorm Organization
To the Editor:
I and other interested fra-.
ternity men have been fol
lowing Tom Eason's series
of five articles concerning
an organization of independ
ent male students in Selleck
Quadrangle. We also have
taken notice of the RAM's
statements in the Daily Ne
braskan and have come to
some rather thoughtful con
clusions concerning this
project and all its implica
tions. .
The pink letter that was
distributed by the "inde
pendents" rather amusingly
brought out some very im
portant truths. Any organi
zation must be composed of
members who are willing to
give up some of their indi
viduality, time, money and
effort to promote that organ
ization and to help it realize
its goal. It is my opinion
that no man who is not will -ing
to give up these things
should be coerced into
membership in an organiza
tion that will require per
sonal sacrifice.
There are 23 active social
fraternal organizations lo
cated at the University of
On Other Campuses
CWC Plans To Grant
Baccalaureate Degree
The Board of Trustees of
Colorado Woman's College
recently approved a plan to
change CWC from its pre
sent status as a two-year
junior college to a four
year baccalaureate degree
granting school, effective
with the present freshman
class.
CWC president Dr. Eu
gene C. Dawson said the
college will remain basical
ly a liberal arts school in
"a wholesome religious at
mosphere devoted to giving
girls an effective education
for personal and intellec
tual maturity, education for
home and family living,
and for vocational activi
ties." 'Gentleman's C
Satisfaction with the once
fashionable "gentleman's
C" appears to be giving
way to serious thoughts
about the "under achiever,"
according to the Alma Col
lege (Mich.) Almanian.
A new policy is currently
In operation at Amherst
College which seeks to solve
the problem of the "under
achiever."
According to the Alman
ian, Fresident Charles W.
Cole of Amherst explained
in his 1959 report to the
board of trustees that the
college has decided to grant
these students a year's
leave of absence "in hope
that some months in an
other environment would
give them enough added
maturity and perspective so
that they might return here
and perform at a higher
level."
Fifty sophomores and
juniors were suggested as
possible under achievers in
the middle of the last aca
demic year. They were in
formed of the college's new
policy; ' conferences were
held with the faculty, ad
ministration and parents;
and the students' perform
ances were watched
throughout the, spring se
mester. Of these, 12 were granted
leaves, 14 began to work
up to capacity, 12 were
found not to be laggards
but students with limited
intellectual ability, 9 will
have their records studies
further and three withdrew
voluntarily for a year.
Although seniors were not
. . . Forget It
By Dick Stuckey
Hello.
Today we were going to
speak of how happy every
one is here at the institu
tion. But ... uh ... we could
n't find this.
So forget it.
Goodbye.
BREAKFAST
NOW BEING
SERVED
AT
Little Kings
330 No. 13
7-9 a.m.
Student Prices
included in the mandatory
leave program, since the
college felt it was too late
to take action for them,
it was noticed that about
two-thirds of the seniors
who had been coasting had
definitely better records
after the new policy was
announced.
No Calipering
Foresters used to caliper
women. But this year
they're going to caliper
trees, according to the Uni
versity of Minnesota Daily.
Calipering is an old tra
dition at Minnesota. On a
designated day, foresters
roam St. Paul campus and
measure with calipers the
upper anatomy of coeds and
secretaries.
The decision to abolish
Calipers Day this year was
made by the university's
Student' Activities Bureau
and School of Forestry rep
resentatives. Feelings ranged, said the
Daily, from general apathy
on the part of non-foresters
to anger in some forestry
circles and outright re
lief of coeds who have wit
nessed past Caliper Days.
One woodsman said, "It
looks like creeping paternal
ism has crept some more."
Nebraska for the purpose of
providing a well-rounded
college life to members who
voluntarily join, knowing
that more will be required
of them in time, money and
effort than that necessary
for a weekly RAM meeting
or dormitory "sock hop."
Selleck Quadrangle was
built with funds provided by
the University of Nebraska
to provide adequate housing
for male students who, for
one reason or another,
chose to keep their com
plete individuality in daily
living. Just as the majority
rules in fraternity living,
the majority shall rule in
the dormitory system,
maintaining a comfortable
atmosphere for eating,
studying and sleeping, and
leaving the other phases of '
college life up to the indi
vidual. Those who desire group
effort in social and other
endeavors should join a
group which has the know
how, the members' interest,
the financial capabity and
the tradition to carry on
such activities the Greek
letter college fraternity.
There are good reasons
why an organization such
as Mr. Eason proposes will
fail. First, it takes a great
financial capability to pro
vide services and enter
tainment for an organized
group. Only willing mem
bers will help pay this cost.
Second, it takes a slow
cultivation of social skill
and awareness on a group
level. This obviously re
quires every member's
complete cooperation and
much of his time.
How many Selleck men
un'iiino tn donate 1 to
OIC " ' ."'"ft -
20 hours per week to pro
mote the "social order of
RAMS?"
Third, it requires a cer
tain amount of tradition and
brotherhood to carry on a
sucessful social fraternity.
How many Selleck residents
are willing to pay $2.50 for
a composite picture of all
their dormitory "brothers"
to hang on their wall?
Fourth and most impor
tant, a successful group
must maintain some prestige
and acceptance among
other similar groups. Cer
tainly no true "independ
ent" will ever boost this
RAM house organization;
fraternity men will reject
it; and the sorority system
will laughingly ridicule it.
People who seek the
things Mr. Eason proposes
in his project should and
will join fraterities. Or
ganzied Independent "fac
tons" or "colonies" have
failed miserably throughout
the nation with few excep
tions. Mr. Eason will never
accomplish the things that
fraternities have stood for
and achieved long ago.
George Porter
President, IFC
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Daily Nebraskan
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