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Proposed reading skill course
oiven to curriculum committee
S complete at any time and formal educatii
Kay Felton, part-time UNL reading skills instructor.
By Paula Damke
A proposed reading and study skills course has
been submitted to the NU Curriculum
Committee for approval.
Kay Felton, part-time UNL reading skills
instructor, said the course was turned down by
the University Curriculum Committee in June
1974.
Felton now teaches a no-credit reading and
study skills course to 120 students through the
Extension Division.
She said the proposed course, Educational
Psychology 101 , Reading Acceleration, would be
a freshman-level course for two hours credit, and
could be taken passfail.
1973 approval
In 1973 the proposed course was approved by
the curriculum committees of the Educational
Psychology Department and Teacher's College.
At that time, she said, C.B. Childs, former
director of the Extension Division, authorized
funds to purchase the necessary equipment and
Ray Coffey, assistant business manager of
business and finance, said space would be
available.
Felton said she has a room for the class, but
lacks funds and the course now is not offered for
credit hours.
"There is a strong tendency to label college
reading courses as remedial, while it is true that
students with weak academic records will be
guided to them, the course content and
techniques will actually be new and useful to the
students," she said.
Felton cited Francis P. Robinson's book,
Study Skills for Superior Students, in which
studies show the average and superior college
student has insufficient reading and study skills,
and that superior students excell mostly because
of intellectual ability.
Need study skills
She said all college students need to learn
research-designed study skills.
Reading is not a skill in which development is
complete at any time ana tormai education
should stress continuous development of reading
skills, Felton said.
Most students, she said, continue to read with
a low degree of effectiveness and a high degree of
frustration.
Maturity in reading can be defined in a
number of ways, but most definitions include the
reader's ability to grasp literal meaning, recognize
implied meanings, reach conclusions not stated
and evaluate and criticize the quality of writing,
Felton said.
She said the Nebraska Educational Television
Council for Higher Education (NETCHE) last
year hired a reading specialist, Mindy Brooks, to
help the nine NETCHE colleges develop a reading
and skills program. The nine colleges, including
Chadron State, Doane College, Peru State and
Wayne State, have received grants through
NETCHE to set up programs.
NETCHE funds
UNL contributes a major portion of the
NETCHE funds, she said.
Felton also said Iowa State, Oklahoma State
and UNO are universities which give credit hours
for reading and study skill courses.
One of the major benefits which students have
said they gain from Felton's reading class is
learning to use their time wisely, she said.
Felton said the class is not a speed reading
class. A speed of 1,000 to 2,000 words per
minute may be appropriate when the reader is
seeking a general impression of the material,
while a speed of no more than 100 to 250 words
per minute may be needed to master a complex
subject, she said.
The class is now taught for two hours each
week, with two additional hours of laboratory
work over a seven-week session.
When credit is offered, the class will be
extended to an entire semester, she said.
Felton said there will be no additional cost to
the Teacher's College because the necessary
equipment will be provided by the Extension
Division.
Hall looks
for Pound
look-alike
Any students thinking they resemble
Louise Pound can find out by entering
the Louise Pound look-alike contest. The
contest is one activity planned for Pound
Hall Week and is scheduled for Tuesday
night. .
Pound Hall Week will run Tuesday
through Saturday. According to Ellen
Coker, president of Julius, the Pound Hall
government, the week will be a series of
events sponsored by the residents of
Pound Hall to create enthusiasm about
things happening in the residence hall.
Admission to Pound week events is
free.
Tuesday, housing officials will eat
dinner with Cather and Pound Hall
residents, Mrs. J. James Exon also will
attend.
The Louise Pound look-alike contest
will be held at 9 p.m. After the contest,
Rev. Duane Hutchinson will speak about
Louise Pound.
A speaker from the Coalition Against
Rape will be featured on Wednesday.
Thursday, a talent show and scavenger
hunt are planned.
Free movies will be shown Friday with
"Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" being
featured. . ' ' "
Saturday, a contest will be held to
paint the Pound Hall stairway. A surprise
activity which will include the entire
residence hall is scheduled to end out the
week.
mm
HEW to investigate sex discrimination charges
By Chuck Beck
Two federal officials will travel to Nebraska from
Kansas City, Mo., next week to investigate charges of
sex discrimination on two NU campuses.
J.L. Thomas, branch chief in the Kansas City
office of the Department .of Health, Education and
Welfare (HEW), said the investigators will interview
persons involved in a report on sex discrimination at
UNL and UNO.
The report, made by the Ad Hoc Committee on
Women's Concerns, cites various departments at both
campuses for irregularities in hiring and paying
women.
About 1 50 women faculty members and employes
signed the committee report said Larry Braskamp,
assistant to the chancellor. The report was written
last summer and was received by the UNL
administration in October, he said.
Thomas said the investigative process continues
after the HEW officials leave Nebraska. The case may
be reviewed by department officials in Washington
D., as well as at the Kansas City office. A final
decision may not be made for two months, he added.
Thomas would not discuss what Questions the
interviewers would be asking administrators,
department heads and the women employes.
"We want a true picture of what actually
happens," Thomas said. "We don't want anyone to
prepare answers before the interviewers get there."
NU faces possible loss of federal funds if the sex
discrimination charges prove valid, Adam C.
Breckenridge, acting vice chancellor for academic
affairs, said.
Thomas said, however, that often a settlement is
worked out between the conflicting parties. He said
his department could work with the university staff
and the women dissidents to work out a settlement if
necessary.
"The idea for the investigation is to make the
individual get the thing he wants," Thomas said. "We
want to restore the individual to the position he
would normally have had before the discriminatory
act was committed."
The investigation of UNL and UNO began last
summer after the ad hoc committee filed trie report
with his office, Thomas said.
One UNL department cited for discriminatory
hiring practices was the English Department,
Braskamp said. Nine of the 55 full-time English
Department faculty members are women and of 17
appointments made between 1968 and 1974, one was
a woman, according to the report.
Other UNL departments accused of inequitable
hiring practices were chemistry, modern language, art,
foreign languages and the College of Law.
Another area of discrimination detailed in the
report was inequitable salaries between men and
women employes. The report said there is a
difference of more than $1,000 in annual salary
between men and women clerical workers at the
University.
However,
Commission
the Chancellor's
at UNL
members of
on the Status of Women
reviewed last year's Faculty Senate report on salaries,
Commisison Chairperson Lois Schwab said. The
10-member commission of administrators, college
deans, faculty members and UNL employes could
find no significant salary differences between men
and women employes, Schwab said.
J LI J
The Physical Fitness Research Laboratory is conducting research on epilepsy.
Our staff would appreciate help from interested students with epilepsy or
convulsive disorders. Interested? For more information, please call 472-2297.
There's no obligation,
Physical Fitness Research Laboratory
MEDICAL SCHOOL ASPIRANTS
Over 40,000 men and women will apply to American medical
schools this year, but only about 14,000 will be accepted.
Qualified candidates have a valid alternative: medical
education in Europe. For information and application forms
(opportunities also available for veterinary and dentistry
candidates), contact the information office:
INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL
MEDICAL EDUCATION
Proviiionally chartered by th Reanti of th Univeriity of tht State
of Nw York,
40 E. 54 St., New York 10022, (212) 832-2089
page 6
daily nebraskan
monday, february 24, 1975
