College Teachers:
Who Are They?
Excavations at
Early Forts
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LINCOLN, NEBRASKA
Adventures in Academia
Creative Teaching: the Education
"A good teacher always
has and always will seize
upon individual abilities," Dr.
Kenneth F. Perry, chairman
of Colorado State College's
Division of the Arts, said
Thursday.
Perry was on the Univer
sity of Nebraska campus as
one of four special lecturers
for the All-Teachers College
Conference Wednesday and
Thursday.
Speaking on the conference
theme, "Creative Teaching,"
Perry explained that good
teachers have always aimed
at the individual members of
their classes.
The goals of creative teach
ing today, he emphasized, are
to help the teacher to work
more effectively with more
students.
Working with the individ
ual student is the responsi
bility of a good teacher, Dr.
Sam Wiggins, agreed, but it
can be facilitated by good ad
ministration.
Wiggins, professor of sec
ondary education and acting
Dean of Instruction at George
Peabody College for Teach
ers, explained that closed
circuit television and careful
scheduling of the class loads
can free top teachers to work
more closely with individuals.
Modern Teaching Aids
Closed circuit tele
vision, combined with proper
scheduling, permits stu
dents to learn in very large
classes the things for which
individual instruction is least
important, he said. Small
recitation sessions enable stu
Artists
Art k an Individual thing,
according to Tom Sheffield,
ceramics instructor in the
University of Nebraska Art
Department.
Forty skilled artists could
paint the same thing and
come up with 40 different In
terpretations, all correct, he
explained.
If art is so individualistic,
how does the Art Department
guide its students to develop
art which appeals to many?
Learn from History
Studying the history of art,
from early to contemporary,
gives the students ah idea of
the kinds of art that have
been present, "Peter Worth,
chairman of the department,
said.
"Each student reacts dif
ferently to the effect of his
tory important ranges of ex
isting expression, subject,
and treatment. Thus interest
and expression is awakened.
"But in creating a piece of
art, personal experience Is
most important," he added.
Because working with the.
product develops artistic abil
ity, the John Dewey method
of learning by doing is ap
plied to pottery, painting and
other art courses at the Uni
versity. Variety of Courses
The Art Department offers
a long list of courses, includ
ing "drawing, ceramics, sculp
ture, design, lettering, com
position, and interior decorat
ing. Peeking behind the scenes
in the classroom, one finds
students busy working at eas
els, stepping back to see what
difference each dab of paint
adds to the picture, sitting
at a table molding a vase or
shaping a dish at the potter's
wheel.
Developing Talent
Just what goes on in these
workshops before the finished
product is displayed? How
are the talents and interests
of the students brought to
life?
At first students get ideas
from things they ' have seen,
but without distinctive, per
sonal touches art is "false",
dents to work closely with top
teachers, he explained.
Wiggins emphasized the
importance of utilizing the
top, creative teachers for
small-group teaching. Too
often, he said, the best teach
ers deal with large groups,
leaving the ones with least
training and experience to
deal with the most important
teaching situations.
Before such programs can
be widely used, however, ed
ucators will have to throw
away "existing dogmas"
such as those regarding max
imum class size and no addi
tional pay for creative teach
ers, he said.
Other problems, such as
the often-prohibitive expense
of closed circuit television,
will have to be met by en
larging school systems and
increasing cooperation be
tween systems, he said.
Dr. Walter D. Cocking, ed
itor of "School Executive,"
went a step further.
On the basis of this year
long study and survey of the
nation's leading political sci
entists, r sociologists, econ
omists, government and in
dustrial leaders, Cocking pre
dicted that education as we
know it today will be non
existent by 2000 A D.
The top, or "master",
teachers will spend some
time each day with individ
ual students, working as cre
ative teachers do today, but
without the routine duties
which hamper most teachers
now.
The unit of instruction will
Learn
Richard Trickey, assistant
professor of art, explained.
"We let students exercise
their own ideas to a certain
point, but try to guide them
along professional lines," he
added.
Not All Are Artists
But art "is what some peo
ple can do and others cannot,"
Sheffield continued. "Anybody
can make a lump of clay with
a hole in it, but this isn't art,"
he explained.
Art is subject to individual
characteristics, in addition to
learning basic skills, Sheffied
noted.
Problems arise, he contin
ued, when people have diffi
culty with basic skills or in
being creative. :
Sheffield blames mass pro
duction for the loss of creative
ability. "Pure lack of never
having done any creative work
is the greastest cause for this
difficulty.
Non-Verbalizable Beauty
Shape, proportions, and cur
ves are all subject to varia
tion. Somewhere along the
way, it develops beauty which
f 1 t ji i r
I ' i I', f i J-
OIL PAINTING Jeanne Inness, center, stands back to
examine her painting as Martha Maher, right, leans for
ward for more oils. In the background, left, Darrell Sewell
puts the finishing touches on his oil painting. All three are
students in Dick Trickei advanced oil painting class.
Education Today:
How Should
Gifted Children
Be Trained?
See Page 3
... i
be the individual, not the
class, he said.
Rote learning will also be
non-existent, he explained.
Machines will provide infor
mation at the press of a but
ton. Higher Learning Levels
Students will be freed from
the learning level of informa
tion to translate information
into knowledge, understand
ing and finally wisdom, he
said.
Specific courses will be
missing from the education
of the future. Students will
study within broad areas in
a system designed to devel
op the potential of each stu
dent. In the complex world of
2000 A.D. there will be no un
skilled workers and few semi
skilled workers, Cocking said.
Half the population will hold
college degrees. Education
above high school may be a
financial necessity, he said.
And in that complex world,
"the one hope that we have
is education," he said. "We
can not guess. We must
know." -
And future education, the
"one hope," will be "on a
gigantic scale."
Cocking referred to figures
showing that although it has
taken the world approximate
ly 200,000 ysars to produce
two billion people, the next
two billion will be added in
about 30 years. ,
Schools will run around the
clock, throughout the year,
he predicted.
Over 100 million adults will
by Creating
is perceptive, but not verbali
zable; this is art, he added.
Exposure, being around
good art from day to day, see
ing and working with it, gives
one an appreciation of good
work, he added. "It is much
like swimming, you can read
all the books on swimming
you want, but you won't be
able to swim unless you prac
tice. "But practice is not all that
is needed. One can practice
a great deal before becoming
a violinist, but unless he has
the ability to tell whether a
note is A or not, all the prac
tice in the world won't make
him a violinist."
Reach a Plateau
Most art students run into
a brick wall or reach a pla
teau. When this happens, Shef
field stressed the importance
of persistance. "Through per
sistance and encouragement,
the student overcomes the ob
stacle." He also emphasized being
different in art, staying away
from the simple and common
making clay figures, pood-
be taking adult education
courses.
The master teachers will
be a vital part of the educa
tional system, he said. They
will be freed from routine
work to work individually
with each student.
But regardless of the sys
tem, it is the individual that
matters, according to Dr.
Everett T. Welmers.
Welmers, director of the
Bell Aircraft research cen
ter, is on a one-year assign
ment at the Advanced Re
search Projects Agency in
Washington, D.C.
Welmers, who expressed a
special interest in the aca
demically gifted student,
pointed out that the interest
of such students must be
caught early and held
throughout their school days.
Price of Boredom
Early boredom, caused by
making advanced students
lag behind until their class
mates match their ability,
may cause irreparable dam
age, he said.
Even when the student's in
terest can be recaptured,
Welmers pointed out, years
are often wasted repairing
the original damage.
The creative teacher, he
said, will find ways "to de
velop the potential of the su
perior student without neg
lecting the rest of the class.
For example, advanced
reading students may read
on their own while the class
is reciting without harming
the rest of the class or the
advanced student.
les, flowers which can be
done "by anyone."
What about inspiration?
Inspiration comes from
one's attitude and self-appreciation
of his environment and
from working with art. Shef
field explained.
Nature is the best source,
he added. "After a while one
becomes ultra-conscious of
shape so that a popular tree
takes the form of a bottle, a
leaf or a cloud and may give
a different new idea."
May Lose Idea
Trickey gives the painter's
viewpoint. "Often the student
starts out with an idea, but
once he gets into it he be
comes lost."
The principle applied to
most of these classes is to
work with the painting or oth
er form, see how it looks, no
tice its characteristics, and
possibilities and make it
grow.
"This growing process pro
vides inspiration in itself," he
added.
What about abstract and
concretes?
To Trickey the argument
between subject and non-subject
paintings seems stupid.
"It really makes no differ
ence," he added.
"We want our students to
like different art, but we want
them to be selective," he em
phasized. Most, but not all, of
the students at the University
do contemporary work, he
said.
The main task of the in
structors is to guide the stu
dents along the right paths of
good shape, color, and com
position. Plans Composition
Trickey also helps students
decide what belongs in the
foreground and what is the
background of a picture,
what blends look best and
what ideas can be seen in the
growing painting.
Smiling, one girl added, "He
tells us when to continue with
an incomplete painting, but
most of the time he tells us
when to stop. We have a ten
dency to overdo ill" t
Bernard :
Unsung Hero
Of Science
Reading List
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I- I. If I J'f r
A . -r-i i :l I- riv ti
Wiggins
Encouraging class-related
hobbies is another way of de
veloping talented students
without hurting classmates,
Welmers said. Either of these
plans lets students develop at
their own rates, but keeps the
social level of the class at the
same level.
Rapid Promotion
Even skipping grades is
considered less dangerous to
day than in the recent past,
he explained. According to
Welmers, many modern edu
cators find that academic
ability is often found in the
students who are most fit to
join a more advanced age
group.
At the opposite extreme,
Perry noted the need for spe
cial attention for the excep
tional or handicapped stu-
Regents Okay
Extension's
Fee Raises
"It will mean a 20 raise in
pay for our teachers," Dr.
K. O. Broady, director of the
University's Extension Di
vision, commented on the in
crease in tuition for extension
courses at the University of
Nebraska.
The increase was approved
Wednesday by the Board of
Regents.
Studied Other Schools
The change was recom
mended by Dr. Broady after
a study of extension tuition
charges of neighboring uni
versities. "The. tuition increase will
about bring us in line with
other universities on exten
sion courses," Dr. Broady
said, "and will help raise our
pay level above a mere pit
tance." The Board approved I h e j
following charges, effective l
this fall:
University credit courses,
evening college on-campus,
$12 per credit hour, up $2, and
off-campus. $14 per credit
hour, up $2.
High School correspondence
instruction, Nebraska, $13 per
semester; United States,
other than Nebraska, $15; and
foreign, $16.50. All are up $1.
$42,000 Income Increased
The total annual income in-
will amount to about !
crease
$30,000 from the university
level extension instruction,
Dr. Broady said. The increase
will be $12 thousand from hih
school correspondence instruc
tion, he said.
The Extension Division, ac
cording to Dr. Broady, will
continue to be only one-sixth
tax supported and five-sixths
self-supporting.
Film on Far East
Set for Wednesday
The Far Eastern Institute
will sponsor a film to be shown
in Love Memorial LiDrary s
Auditorium at 3 p.m. Wednes
day, according to Robert
Sakai, director of the Institute.
of Tomorrow?
Sti lJ I
Cocking
dent. The advanced student is
! receiving more , attenton, he
I said, but actually is more
capable of helping himself
than the exceptional student.
And when these extremes
merge? What about the
teacher who must teach both
intellectual erouDS in the
jsame classroom?
The good teacher can reach
both, according to Wiggins.
This is creative teaching's es
sence, he said: to reach all
levels of students within a
classroom, not just one or a
few.
Individuals can be met and
dealt with effectively within
the classroom, Wiggins said.
But it takes a good, creative
teacher.
And what makes a crea
tive teacher?
University Police Force
Tries to Help Students
The University Police, the
organization which maintains
law and order on the Uni
versity campus, tries to be
the student's friend, not his
enemy, according to Chief
Eugene Masters.
"We try to keep the stu
dents out of trouble instead
of getting them into trouble,"
Masters said.
Masters pointed out one in-
, cident to emphasize his point.
Problems at Rally
! Last fall at the first foot
t ball rally, several fraterni
ties turned out with banners.
Over the years it has be
j come a tradition to attempt
j to tear the banners down be
i longing to any other fratern-
ity. As a result several fights
I ignited during the rally.
I Some students were hurt and
others were collared by the
University Police.
Not wanting any more such
incidents to occur, Masters
talked to the students in
charge of the rallies. They
agreed that banners should
be abolished at rallies. No
more fights occurred.
Several times fraternities
have been punished for the
wrongdoings of one individual
rather than the whole fratern
ity. The University police
"try to punish just the in
dividual instead of the whole
fraternity when we find it
possible" Masters said
Thirteen Policemen
The University Police have
a 13-man force. There are
two sergeants, one for the
day shift and one for the
night shift. In the daytime
there are three men on duty,
two on the city campus and
one on the Ag campus. Their
main job is patroling the
campus and the parking area.
They issue tickets to cars not
authorized to park in the lots.
There are 10 men on the
evening shift. Two are night
watchmen on the city cam
pus and two on the Ag cam
pus. There is also a relief
man. One patrolman covers
the AS campus and three ja
Summer Schedule
Union Schedule
Pioneers Park
Television Guide
See Page 4
TUESDAY- JULY 12, 1960
AlUTeachers Conference
Welmers
Interest in teaching and in
students.
"Basic skills and all the
knowledge he can get," ac
cording to Perry.
And "recognition that
teaching itself is an art,"
Perry said.
The creative teacher bene
fits from scheduling closed
circuit television, freedom
from routine, small classes
and pay on the merit sys
tem. His potential is developed
by methods of teaching
courses.
But the creative teacher is
the teacher anywhere and un
der any circumstances who
creates within himself new
ways to create more effective
development within his stu
dents. trolmen cover
the city cam-
pus. They use
radio con
trolled cruisers wmch are
connected with the Lincoln
police.
The night men check all
buildings to see that nobody
is breaking in and check for
fires. During the summer
they watch closed fraternity
and sorority houses.
The campus gendarmes are
commissioned by the city po-
Masters
lice and have the same juris
diction as the city police but
are paid by the state.
Ends First Year
Masters, who will complete
his first year with the cam
pus police on August 1, was
employed by the city police
for 32 years. He was assistant
chief the last seven ot those
years.
When asked what the big
gest difference between the
city police and the campus
police was, he replied, "work
ing with the city police, I
was in contact with real
criminals."
Masters explained that
most college students who get
into trouble are young and
full of mischief, but they
don't mean to harm anybody.
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