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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 31, 1969)
1 ri PAGE 4 THE DAILY NEBRASKAN FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 1969 ! i h i. A t' t t Ed neat Continued from page 1 The TA system has been coming under increasing attack. Since 1967, ' the Ford Foundation has given $20.1 million to help 16 large universities reform their doctoral degree pro grams, including the TA system. The Ford Foundation plans to spend a total if $44 million on the seven year, project, and the universities Involved have agreed to put more than $160 million of their own money " into, the reform effort. - Ini.inaking the grants, the Ford Foundation denounced the "profligate wastage of the nation's finest talent" caused by traditional pattern:! of doctoral education, especially ia the humanities and social f ciences. An important aim of the, project has been to reduce "graduate students' teaching loads and tighten faculty supervision of their training. r-1 A report recently issued by the .American Council on Education, an organization of national and .regional education groups, focused on the TA system's effects on undergraduate instruction. It said that the teaching assistant faces ilsecurring conflict among his .teaching duties, his duties as a stu dent . . . and his duties as a pro fessional apprentice in a discipline." He often cannot cope with his teaching assignment when faced -with a group of undergraduates Concept now reality with higher education Continued from page 1 According to ' Beck, no other major university has an experimental college identical to the Centennial College although the University of Delaware has a similar experiment and the ; University of Michigan con ducts an honors college. : BECK BELIEVES that the n c ouragement of in dependent study is becoming common in higher education throughout the U.S. and has been unfortunately absent at the University. Scribner views the Cen tennial College as providing two fundamental changes in the ordinary life of the freshman. "The first change Is the residential organization," he said Thursday. "The social contact with each other will '"" reinforce the relationship the students have In the course study." ACCORDING TO Scribner, it is important that the rein, forcement work both ways so that the student does not feel as unhappy or lost in the University as so many freshmen do. "The second change is the "Chance for innovation in -teaching and learning," he added. "I would like to see the idea of classes aban doned entirely." ' TEACHERS SHOULD retain the role of guiding students, but the students should be educated through interaction with one another. Discover the discounts In USA, Mexico, Hawaii Canada & the Caribbean. A X Pyramid Book, only $2.25 &t your campus bookstore cr wherever paperbacks era told i I Oi? o ' ' . xj . I lBuck -Owens 7ERll I ,W And His Buckaroos A " f Ife I've Got You k'-j j On 1 Mind J 'x ..... 'i byJ Again I 1 WzWm J it i ional sia among whom are individuals more intelligent or more aggressive, . or both, then he," the report said. The council's study concluded that "poor training and supervision" of teaching assistants contributes to "a general and serious deficiency in graduate education with concomi tant failures in undergraduate education." Such criticisms are echoed fairly widely here at the University of Colorad. At CU, 18,217 students are taught by 1,046 faculty members and 263 teaching associates like Erik Muller. The 4-to-l faculty-to-TA ratio is about average for a large usiversity. Some of the harshest comments on the .system heard here come from present or former TAs. "It's sort of a tradition that you come as a TA and do the dirty work for a few years and then go off and dish it out yourself," says Tom Maddox, a former TA in economics who heads CU's Graduate Federa tion, a group that is trying to im prove TA conditions. Says a junior in humanities: "If a TA can teach well, he usually isn't well prepared, and if he's prepared, the chances are he's so tired that he's liable to fall asleep at the lectern." Officials at CU, like those at other universities, say they need some form of TA system both for teacher training and for economic reasons: The interaction has more of an affect on the student, and as a result he is more pro ductive," he said. Curt Donaldson, junior in teachers college and a member of the Centennial College committee, sees the role of the upperclassman in the college as that of a more experienced learner. "We tried to use up. perclassmen in an intellec tual experiment with Regents freshmen in Harper Hall," he said, "but we found that the time drain was too great." ACCORDING TO Donaldson, this problem will be overcome by giving up. perclasmen academic credit for taking part in the pro gram and leading discussion groups. "In helping plan the col lege, we have suggested to the faculty on the Centennial Committee what we would have liked to have included in the curriculum if the col lege would have been for us," Donaldson added. "The faculty have been very receptive to our ideas and treated us almost as equals." DONALDSON THINKS that few "gunners, in the traditional sense" will come out of the college. "They will be concerned with things that matter without seeking the social reward as a main objec tive," he said. "They still will have time to help in the things that change the cam pus, but they won't be in terested in many of the traditional activities." 1MAC0UNTCYTRIP J Uy i :, j. ' 1 - 4 I I L..r,--,lml.fn.,rflrl-rr,l.,,rrlir,l ,nr,v , ,,lf....-m, ,.-M.,-.,iM.,,,.,l, JMm -.. 1$ Also cvailabie on ReeMo-Reel Tape, 8-Track Cartridge end Cassette very, They assert that using low-paid grad students as teachers is an economic necessity in much of U.S. higher education, because many schools can't afford to have regular faculty members teaching every class. Still, they say they are quite aware of the system's shortcomings. Lawson Crowe, acting dean of CU's graduate school, says he would like to see the period of study between a bachelor's degree and. a PhD reduced to four years. Now, students in the natural and physical sciences usually plan on five years to get a PhD, while candidates for PhDs in social sciences or humanities, where research funds are less plentiful, usually require seven or eight years. Mr. Crowe says that in a four-year PhD program, TA duties would be limited to about one year. Prospec tive TAs would be screened carefully for aptitude and interest, and their pay would1 be higher than it is now. "My commitment is to do away with lingering poverty among graduate students," he says. For the present, however, it ap pears that some schools are handing out grants and assistantships with less discrimination than in the past as they compete to build up enroll ments. At CU last year, one depart ment for instance, offered a TA job to an applicant without even check Baroness featured during 'Weekend' The real Maria, Baroness Maria von Trapp, whose life inspired the hit musical "Sound of Music," will be featured speaker at the University "Centennial Weekend with Music" on Saturday. She will tell a luncheon audience of "Weekend" participants of her life and adventures as mother ,and leader of the world-famous Trapp Family Singers. Choral music from Trapp Family concerts as well as songs from the musical will be sung at the luncheon by the 34-voice Notre Dame Academy Choir of Omaha. OTHER EVENTS at t h e day-long music festival in clude a performance by the Pro-Arte String Quartet of the University of Wisconsin and an afternoon at the opera, featureing Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro." The morning program will 1 V plight of the ing to see if his grades were high enough for admission to grad1 school; it turned out his grades were too low, and the embarrassed pro fessors withdrew the offer. All this isn't lost on Erik Muller. "You get the feeling that they aren't really concerned with the quality of teaching that they're mainly in terested in having certain courses covered and having you get the PhD," he says. "Many times I've been cautioned by professors not to let teaching get in the way of my own woik." Mr. Muiler says he likes teaching and tries to be conscientious about it. In fact, he turned down better paying assistantships offered by the universities of Wisconsin and Min nesota to come here in 1965 because Colorado offered him the op portunity to, teach a wider range of courses. He received a bachelor's degree from Williams College in 1962 and a master's degree from the University of Oregon in 1965. Nevertheless, he says he's far from being a polished instructor. One sort of student that gives him particular trouble is the "coun terpuncher." This type, he explains, "rarely initiates anything, but he often can rebut very well a point you want to make and can make you look bad in the process." He says he has had fair success by praising "counterpunchers," in Two changes have been made in the Foreign Film Society schedule according to Tom Lonnquist, chairman. "Battle of Algiers' scheduled for Feb. 5 has been replaced by "Repulsion." "Belle de Jour" scheduled for April 30 has been removed from the film list and no substitute has been found, Lonquist said. open in the Westbrook Music Building, with Professor Emanuel Wishnow, director of the school of music, giving an introduction to the "Weekend" and Professor John Zed. an introduction to the opera. The Pro-Arte Quartet, the oldest musical organization of its kind in the world, was founded in Belgium in 1912. The Quartet, in residence at the University of Wisconsin since the outbreak of World War II, interprets chamber music from Hayden to the new music of today on na tional and international tours. Included in the Quartet are Norman Paulu and Thomas Moore, violin; Richard Blum, viola, and Lowell Creitz, violincello. The eight annual "Weekend with Music" is sponsored by the school of music and the University extension division. i her 1228 P CHARMIN PAPER PRODUCTS COMPANY A subsidiary of Procter & Gamble will 'interview engineers one year from their final degree, either 65 or MS in Engi neering, Paper technology, or MBA with technical 8S FEBRUARY 10-11 Here's an oprxxtimity to evaluate your technical skills and Interests wfA one of the fastest growing manufacturers in the nation's 10th largest industryl You gain first-hand information about career opportunities in a process industry, and see yourself functioning in an actual industrial situation. After a brief orientation, you wH be assigned a project, or projects, in the following fields: Production Management Plant Engineering Plant Industrial Engmeering Plant Chemical Engineering Each problem assigned to you will be In accordance with your particular level of training and will be an actual problem for which we need an answer. To solve it, yew will put to direct practical use many of the techniques you have just learned in school Length of program is flexible; minimum length is 8 weeks. Salary comparable to salaries paid by other leading companies who offer summer programs. Round-trip travel expenses paid from your home, or the campus, which ever is nearer, to where you will work. Choice of three locations: Green Bay, Wisconsin; Cheboygan, Michigan, or Mehoopany, Pennsylvania (near Scranton). M ATR IX (Management Trial Exercise! This is a special one-week non-computer business simulation exercise for everyone in our summer program. Yo6 and other summer trainees in yoor plant will each simulate the position of Plant Manager of a hypothetical plant. After being briefed on your responsibilities, you wiK make decisions affecting chemical pro cesses, products, quality, scheduling, cost control and industrial relations. The results An Equal Opportunity Employer grad effect silencing them with flattery. "I don't know If it's effective educationally, but authoritatively it seems to work," he says with a shrug. Mr. Muller currently teaches two classes in freshman composition for students for whom English isn't the principal language and one course in American literature for students of various grade levels. He's taking a course in Greek and another in modern poetry. His TA appointment calls for a 20 hour workweek, but he actually puts in more time. He faces his classes nine hours a week, and he puts in about 15 hours a week meeting with his students in his office. More hours are required to prepare for" the courses he teaches and to grade ex aminations and papers. All this, of course, is in addition to his own work as a student. "I don't have much time for doing nothing," he says. Nor does Mr. Muller's salary allow much room for frivolity. He and his family live in a simply furnished, one-bedroom apartment in Boulder. The rent claims $80 a month of his $280 monthly take home pay from the university. Another $20 to $25 a month goes to pay utility bills. . Erik and Ann economize in just about every way possible. They own a 1950 Chevrolet, but Erik walks the Schedule altered Union to present bridal shotv The Nebraska Union tauty Committee and Hov land Swanson will sponsor a broday show in the Nebraska Union ballroom Monday, Read Nebraska Want Ads 2:30-5:30 p.m. Every Friday CO m$3 ml 0MM Street 432 - of your decisions become the basis for fur ther decisions through the exercise. Extensive critique sessions follow this role playing experience. You, your fellow parti cipants, and members of management will discuss and evaluate the quality of your de cisions and the breadth of the implications you explored In reaching them. Efforts are made to relate this simulation to real plant operations. This concentrated one-week program gives you an excellent capsule pre view of the extent and v.iiety of challenges iacea oy a unarmin nant Manager. -.- 3' i if student two miles from home to the campus to save wear and tear on the car. The couple never goes out to dinner in a restaurant and rarely goes to the moves. They take turns at tending free concerts at CU so they don't have a to pay a babysitter. Erik tries to make the best use of his summers by finding part-time Work, but this has proved difficult in the Boulder area, he says. Last summer he failed to land a teaching job at an area college because senior instructors beat him to all the vacancies. He finally wangled an $800 fellowship grant from CU to write a 60-page poem about Boulder (he has finished 45 pages and thinks it's pretty good), and he got another $300 from the university for writing a correspondence course handbook for the CU extension center. The Muliers thus far have stayed out of major debt (they owe a total of $600 to their parents for various loans), but that's not wholly by choice. Last year Erik applied for a $1,500 loan from the university, but his request was denied. "They said they're already giving me $3,000," he says angrily. "Giving it to me. They're not giving me anything. The fellow in the loan of fice said a family of three can live in Boulder for $3,000, but that doesn't take into account new shoes, a new generator for the car or a trip to the dentist." Hospi- Fab. 3, at 8 p.m. "The Royal Affair" will be a Showing of new spring wed ding apparel, with models representing living units. !!R37 IL8M row , f 1 1 But you may be about to blow your life A X Xn astonishing number o! people make a stupid and tragic mistake. To put it simply, they jump into careers without really looking. The result I dreary life of frustration and anger. Can this happen to you? 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