thursday, march 4, 1976
page 5
Teachers col leges-do they teach how
to teach?
By Joe Hudson
Nearly one-third of all teachers college graduates say
they think they have not been professionally trained and
are not ready to become teachers, according to the direc
tor of a recently-completed $1.2 million study on teacher
education.
Lack of financing and attention has led to inadequate
teacher education quality, said Paul Olson, UNL English
professor and director of the Federal Study Commission
on Undergraduate Education and Education of Teachers.
Olson was chosen committee director by the Office of
Education four years ago "because they thought I was
either good or an easy tool," he said. He had "run $5
million in federal projects before that," he said, mostly
concerning education of teachers. Olson said he received
no salary for his work and taught a full course load during
most of the research.
The commission's 300-page final report points to a gap
in responsibility for improving teacher education nation
vide, he said.
"Everyone claims to be interested in teacher educa
tion" Olson said, "but nobody is doing much about
it."
"Serious iespoasibityN lacking
Neither federal nor state governments have taken "seri
ous responsibility" to improve teacher education quality,
he said, adding that "teacher education tends to be left to
the most underfunded institutions in the United States."
The report, financed by the federal Office of Educa
tion and the Department of Health, Education and Wel
fare (HEW), suggests several solutions. They include
EubUc interest representation in the accreditation process,
etter data-gathering to pinpoint problem areas in educa
tion, public involvement in teacher recruitment and more
consistent federal action.
Olson said the report can be used as a guide for legisla
tion, legal action and "to motivate people.
"I hope people will read it and act on it," Olson said.
Copies of the report, entitled Teacher Education in the
United States: The Responsibility Gap, are available at
$2.50 from the University of Nebraska Press.
One of the more controversial points of the study,
Olson said, is its criticism of national standardization of
education.
Local communities not served
Although school boards have local control, education is
standardized through the system of testing, texts, norms
and accreditation, Olson said.
' This generates a system which "really doesn't serve the
local community very well," he said, adding that educa
tion needs to vary with differing environments.
MpK rasa's needs for knowledge of plants and ecosys
tems, for example, are not fulfilled by using standardized
texts, Olson said.
Virginia Trotter, HEW assistant secretary for educa
tion, said standardization is not a result of federal action.
The only federal role, she said, is to "reinforce pro
grams where the state is incapable."
Trotter, former UNL vice-chancellor for academic af
fairs, praised the study and urged that faculty, administra
tors, government and the community "work together to
develop the kind of responses from students we need to
develop."
Dance marathon could net $1 2,000
By Dick Hovorka
'And a one and a two and a . . '
Daisey would waltz while the band played on and on
and on and on . . . '
And on they played, for 30 hours to be exact.
A muscular dystrophy dance marathon sponsored by
KLMS radio and Chi Phi fraternity will be this Friday and
Saturday in the Nebraska Union Ballroom. The marathon
starts at 6 pjn. Friday and concludes at midnight Satur
day. Dave Voelte, a sophomore chemistry major from
Omaha, said Wednesday that 59 couples were signed up
for the dance, three times last year's number.
Couples from Lincoln Southeast High School and
Pawnee City also are signed up, said Voelte, a Sigma Chi
member and marathon chairman.
Thirty-five couples will represent 21 Greek Houses,
Voelte said.
Last year, he said, the marathon raised more than
$5,000. With more than 10,000 pledge cards out this year,
he said he thinks $ 12,000 can be raised.
"Being very idealistic, we may reach $25,000," he said.
Trophies will be awarded to the three living units and
the three couples raising the most money.
Voelte said seven bands are scheduled to play. The
Muscular Dystrophy Foundation will pay the bands who
are in turn donating the money to that foundation.
For every $1,000 raised, goldfish will be swallowed,
Voelte said. However, he said he is not sure who will
swallow them.
"Last year someone did (swallow a goldfish)," Voelte
said. "So I think we can find someone to do it ibis year."
Last year, 80 per cent of the contestants finished the
30 hour marathon, he said. Marathon registration will con
tinue until the dance begins.
If more than $ 10,000 is raised, the winning couple will
win an expense paid trip to Las Vegas to present the
money to Jerry Lewis on the muscular dystrophy
telethon.
For those non-contestants interested in watching or
dancing, there will be a $ 1 admission charge.
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