The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, June 11, 1963, Page Page Two, Image 2
Summer Nebraskan Tuesday, June II, 1963 Page Two By NANCY OSTBERG , EDITORS NOTE I The following story - was wrHtci for Uu Depth Reporttnf , class tffered br tta School of Journal ism. Naner Ostbsrr, a recent E"rd ato of tha School of Journalism hai tried to find nnswera for tho parent! who have heo wondering why Junior Isn't reading setae of (ho old classics they remember. Her I tor? tells of the fasclnatlnt derolopmonts In tho olasslo field. Two janitors open the door of a darkened classroom and wheel a television set to the front of the room. Their foot steps and the sound of the carrier echo down the tiled, corridor of the one-story elementary building. In another section of town, a 10th grade youth on his way to a baseball game tucks a paperback novel into his hip pocket and rushes out to yell, "Batter up!" Despite flu, domestic de mands, and the pressure of a deadline, two teachers pool their resources to develop a series of lectures on litera 'ture in depth. Meanwhile, they do not take time out from their regular duties in ' teaching 11th grade English in an Omaha public school. These seemingly unrealat , ed events find their mean ing in a debate that has been torturing the parental con , science since the evolution of progressive education. . Whether the setting is the informal atmosphere of a cocktail party, the business like formality of a PTA meeting, or the political harangue of a California election, Mama and Papa have been wondering why Johnny doesn't read the classics that they read when they were in school. New Hope To these frank and sincere questions, educators are now , giving new hope. Between arguments that classical literature is fos silized and thai modern lit erature is trasfli, observers point out that there have emerged new concepts in the teaching of English. Much of the story that Swede's Coffee Shop Lunches Snacks "Where Campus Friends Meet" NEXT TO NEBR. BOOKSTORE follows has been drawn from Nebraska and Lincoln by way of example, but ed ucators point out that na ionwide trends are being es tablished by such leading states as Oregon, Kentucky, Ohio, Georgia, Arkansas, South Dakota, Wisconsin and others. Remember the two jani tors? Would you suspect that the television set they were moving was also bringing culture to the classroom? During recent years par ents and educators have been afraid of what televi sion might be doing to their children. As for the young sters, the pleasure which they have gained from watching television at home has been transferred to the classroom. . Classroom television is not new, but this is the first year in Nebraska schools that literature for the elem entary grades has been in cluded in its offerings. The programs are beamed at the second grade level, but many first and third grade classes also watch. As their eyes become ac customed to the darkness, the magic of the story tel ler weaves its spell. On the screen appear not only the Ugly Duckling of Hans Christian ' Andcsen fame, but also the story of Marco and the wonderful things that he saw on Mulberry Street. The latter is a more recent "classic" by Theo dore Geisel also known as Dr. Seuss. "More and better contem porary literature is making it possible to strike a bal ance between classic and contemporary literature in the classroom," says Dr. Mary Mielenz, professor of secondary education at the University of Nebraska and a director of the student teaching program. "Television enables the Gooi Cool Crest offers you help to develop your "A 466-5624 . Wkinra Vow V iqo) Seta Are Hyrtimg children to visualize stories from literature in a very special way," says Delores Dudley, a young Lincoln housewife, now also a tele vision teacher and gradu ate student. Mrs. Dudley is the female partner of the husband and wife team which is producing the chil dren's literature programs through the facilities of KUON-TV in Lincoln. Mrs. Dudley, who gener ates enthusiasm whether she is telling a story to her television audience or sit ting for an interview be tween takes, selects the stories of her script from an approved list of ratings. "Children this age love animal, seasonal and holi day stories, and this is the kind of program that can supplement the work which teachers themselves are al ready doing," she said. Husband Robert, a staff director of UON-TV, di rects the literature pro grams "because he knows my timing." The Dudleys, who have both had previous television experience, say the teamwork "has worked out fine." TV Council The Nebraska Council for Educational Television is sponsoring the programs. Is this an isolated exam ple of classics in the class room? Perhaps it is at pres ent because the facilities of KUON-TV are limited to the Lincoln area. But a bit of recent history may provide the key to the future. Within recent months five new exclusive educational television channels have been approved for Nebras ka by the Federal Com munications Commission, and discussion is currently under way on the establish ment of regional education television network facilities. During its current session the Nebraska Legislature is also slated to study pro Grest Qolf clean, wholesome amusement. TJis.ggmewjjl cor - ordination, and furnish -you; relaxation.'! h nice place for nice people" v Open 10 o.m. fo midnight 220 N. 48 A ire m Located in posals that would greatly enlarge the state's educa tional television program. Televised literature, how ever, is designed to sup plement rather than take the place of written litera ture in the grade schools. Miss Edith Pembrook, coordinator of reading for the Lincoln public schools, noted that while Greco-Roman classics have seldom been included in the elemen tary books, the American heritage of literature has al ways been included. "We are adding to and emphasizing the American heritage," she said. Colorful library books and supplementary readers cross over into the classics. They may lose a little in the process of simplication, but the plot is still the same, says Miss Pembrook. What sixth grader or high school student for that matter wouldn't find the adventures of Beowulf en joyable if they were printed in large type and accom panied by drawings of drag ons and castles. Beowulf, Paul Bunyan and Febold Feboldson, the latter by Paul Beath of Gothenburg, Nebraska, can all be found in a typical sixth grade reader. In the lower elementary grades you will still find "The Three Bears," "Jack and the Bean Stalk," and other favorites v such as "Cinderella." The budding love affair with books does not end with reading. Elementary teachers also employ such delightful snares as simple dramatization, drawing pic tures to illustrate the story, oral entertainment and modeling in clay. Critical evaluation is a key concept. For Johnny it means developing a sense of observation by recording which books he is reading and how well he likes them. For the curriculum planners yoifiinn)ir and a nun WCWCJIsJS the Nebraska Union t tHue it means checking every book that is ordered with up-to-date listings of basic book collections. To the latter Miss Pem brook gives much of the credit for the increased em phasis on quality literature, adding that "with the av alanche of books that are now available, it is neces sary to have a quick and authoritative means of se lection.',' Older students are being led to the classics by still another lure. This time the bait comes in a tiny 6" x 4" package with a colorful cover. Until recent years the contents of such a package would almost surely have been one of three categor ies: lurid sex, grotesque mystery or shoot-'em-up western. But by 1959 the "quality paperback" had begun to penetrate the edu cational market. Remember the baseball player with the paperback novel in his hip pocket? Few library books could compete with that rough treatment. Nor could the li brary book be so inconspic uous as to avoid cries of "bookworm!" and "teach er's pet!" What's more, teachers who assign paperback clas sics are finding that stu dents like to own the books they study. Not only is it an inexpensive way to build a home library, but the child is no longer penalized for daring to mark up the book. Although recent historians point out that the paper back book was published as early as pre-Civil War days, it took two events of the past quarter-century to put the paperback classics ATTENTION! Business Administration Graduate Students Excellent Opportunity For Valuable Management Experience At The NEBRASKA UNION Part-time weekend night supervisor position available June 1 to continue into the Fall & Spring Semesters For Interview, Contact: Mr. Barnes, Ass't Managing Director, Nebraska Union, Administrative Office 111 (LOPPlflOS AS CDQ CDossrooEnn into the supermarkets and bookstores. But while the quality had improved, the image had not. As late as 1960 the New York Herald Tribune, in' an article by education editor Terry Ferrer, noted that "the paperback revo lution has not yet had a major impact on the Amer ican textbook field." "Teachers who Instruct with paperbacks are en thusiastic about the rela tively low price, the appeal to youngsters and the po tential for bringing culture into the school. "But more numerous are those who are unaware of the number of paperback titles available and those who still believe paper bound books are lurid and trashy with objectionable covers," Ferrer wrote. But by March, 1962, the trend had become more positive and the American Book Publishers Council meeting in Michigan was able to report: That they were now experiencing an orderly ex pansion of paperback sales to schools; That educators on both the secondary and college level were reporting an in creased classroom use of paperbacks; That school libraries were starting to incorpor ate paperbacks into their offerings; That nonaction and se rious paperbacks were in creasing in number while third-rate mysteries, west erns and romances were decreasing; and -That more than 1,000 high schools from Buffalo to Los Angeles were spon soring in-school paperback yupinnie stores for the benefit of student readers. A number of national edu cators were reached by telephone in connection with recent developments on the return of classics to the classroom. Among them was Dr. Alexander Frazier, director of the Center for School Experimentation at Ohio State University, who noted that many Ohio schools are developing their entire curriculum around paperback books. In the junior high school program in Lincoln, Ne braska, ttachers are given the option of supplementing the traditional anthology of literature with a paper back novel of their choice from a select list of titles. Included are such works as "The Red Badge of Cour age" and "Huckleberry Finn." "Each teacher knows which novel she can teach the best and which will be the most appropriate for her particular class," ex plains Dale Rathe, the jun ior high school coordinator for the Lincoln schools. Rathe reports that teach ers as well as students are enthusiastic about reading: the novel in its entirety with at least one of his teachers being greeted by the exclamation, "We're go ing to learn something new this year!" Rathe attributes students interest in the classics largely to one factor: stu dents know they are read ing works that other per, sons are reading and dis cussing, have been reading and discussing, and will continue to read and discuss.