Friday, September 3, 1982
Daily Nebraskan
Page 5
JTs1ayskaiiL
Patti Gallagher
Oanial M. Shattil
Jerry Scott
Kitty Policky
Lori Siewert
Betsy Miller
Leslie Kendrick
Melinda Norris
Sue Jepsen
Richard Rolofson
David Wood
Larry Sparks
David Luebke
Dave Bentz
Craig Andresen
Robert Crisler
Carol Fehr
Mary B. Conti
472-3445
Don Walton, 473-7301
John G. Goecke
Margie Honz
Tom Ineck
Susan MacDonald
Patty Pryor
Duane Retzlaff
Michaela Thuman
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Bumper stickers . . .
Continued from Page 4
"The bumper stickers are sold in drugstores, gift shops,
stationery stores, Variety stores, department stores, truck
stops . . . anywhere that people pass through with time on
their hands," Harris said.
"You don't want to get too sophisticated," he said.
"That's not the market I'm reaching for. The eggheads are
not going to go in for something as earthy as a bumper
sticker.
"You don't see my bumper stickers on Cadillacs. You
don't see them on Mercedes. I don't kid myself. When I
sit down to write a bumper sticker, I'm thinking of the
average working guy, probably under 30, Mr. Average
Joe. He works a factory job, and he grabs a beer after
work. Maybe he's in a plant, or he drives a truck.
"And then he stops in at a store. He sees a rack of
bumper stickers. They jump out at him in Day-Glo colors.
He starts to laugh. He thinks they're funny.
"He starts looking at them. 'MAFIA STAFF CAR.'
'CAR IS OK - DRIVER NEEDS SOME BODY WORK.'
'THE LORD G1VETH, THE IRS TAKETH AWAY.'
'TEACHERS DO IT WITH CLASS.'
"Then one catches his eye. Maybe it's 'TO ALL YOU
VIRGINS - THANKS FOR NOTHING.' This strikes him
as something that would be hilarious on his car. He wants
to impress people. He wants to show them he has a sense
of humor. So he puts down his buck, and I have another
customer."
Harris doesn't have a bumper sticker on his own car,
a beige 1981 Cadillac Seville. His wife won't let him.
"She won't have a bumper sticker on our car," he said.
"She doesn't like the way a bumper sticker looks. She
likes to eat as a result of the bumper stickers I write, but
she won't put one on the car."
Harris takes a certain pride of authorship: "I'll be
driving down the street and I'll see a bumper sticker I
write. Maybe 'DON'T HIT ME - MY LAWYER'S IN
JAIL.' I'll get the urge to pull the guy over and say, 'Hey,
you got that bumper sticker on your? I wrote it, baby.' "
But he never does. He merely takes quiet satisfaction
in knowing he reaches an audience far bigger than even
the biggest of the blockbuster authors. And he thinks that
business will get even better.
"Someday I think every car will have a bumper
sticker," he said. "Maybe even mine."
(c) 1932 Chicago Tribune Co. Syndicate, Inc.
HOUSE OF FLOWERS
Anonymous evaluations favored
I am not sure Paul McBrearty is right in asking for
signed student evaluations; the reasons given in the Aug.
26 Daily Nebraskan editorial in favor of anonymous
evaluations seem to outweigh those against.
The boldest and most secure students will undoubtedly
ask what they want to over their signatures, and can do so
now. Vindictiveness might be prevented by signing them,
but the vindictive evaluation is easily identified and uni-
Guest Opinion
versally ignored. Teachers will feel pressure to give high
grades whether evaluations are signed or not, but teachers
who can't resist such pressures are known to their
colleagues as well as to students as easy marks.
McBrearty's arguments exaggerate the dangers of
anonymity. When I read evaluations, I don't look at one
but at the. overall pattern. If one or two students give me
all D or F grades and the pattern suggests that most stu
dents felt I did a good job, I ignore the exceptions unless
theymake specific comments that merit my attention. If
they do, those comments will be echoed in the majority
of evaluations as well.
If I see a set of evaluations that suggests that a
colleague's teaching is outstanding, I can take a look at
the distribution of grades for that course, the teacher's
own evaluation of the course, the specificity of student
comment, and the syllabus - all in the light of what 1
know from previous sets of evaluations for that or similar
courses my colleague has taught. It is possible to have a
superb class or a superb teacher; it is also possible to have
a very poor class or a very poor teacher.
Required or large classes tend to get lower evaluations
than elective or small classes. No one course and no one
semester will establish a pattern, but we have no better
measure of teaching effectiveness than the comment of
students in many courses over many semesters.
The danger is not In having evaluations anonymous;
one must always remember that students not only feel
relatively powerless compared with teachers, but in fact
are. (Consider as one example the absolute refusal of
grade appeals committees to consider whether a student's
grade in a course was fair in any non-computational
sense.)
The danger lies in turning data from student evalua
tions into numbers and then using those "anonymous"
Editorial policy
Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the
fall 1982 Daily Nebraskan. They are written by this
semester's editor in chief, Patti Gallagher.
Other staff editors write one editorial in her
place each week. Those will carry the author's
name and title after the final sentence.
Editorials do not necessarily reflect the views of
the university, its employees or the NU Board of Re
gents. The Daily Nebraskan's publishers are the regents,
who established the UNL Publications Board to super
vise the daily production of the newspaper. According
to policy set by the regents, the content of the student
newspaper lies solely in the hands of its student editors.
Christ UNITY Church
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Service-Sunday Morning, 10 a.m.
Study Class-Thurs. evening, 7p.m.ij
6500 HOLD EG E rDoun, Center jj
Frank & Louise Munkel, ministers
I For Information call: 467-1777 I
m.
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8:EQ - 6:00
BTOBY PRIDS7
BOBSBPBHflBBSU.C.'i
and misleading numbers to make judgments about faculty,
independent of context. Faculty rightly fear the mindless
administrative use of mindlessly quantified data.
It is probably harder to evaluate teaching than to judge
the value of published research. It becomes somewhat
easier if one remembers that the individual teacher wants
to know what he or she did well or poorly. Adminis
trators, on the other hand, need to know only which 10
percent or IS percent of a unit are outstanding teachers
and which 10 percent of 15 percent really need help. The
rest of us are probably in the middle.
These judgments are not much more difficult to make
about teaching than they are about scholarship.
Frederick M. Link
chairman, UNL English department
Letter policy
The Daily Nebraskan welcomes letters to the editor
from individuals and groups. The letters can be opinions
on stories, editorials, columns, guest opinions and other
material in the newspaper, or views on topics not covered.
Letters will be selected on the basis of clarity, timeli
ness and availability of space on the editorial pages.
Letters sent to the newspaper for publication become
property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned.
The editor reserves the right to edit and condense all
letters.
Individuals and groups also are encouraged to submit
material as guest opinions. Whether material should run as
a letter or guest opinion is left to the editor's discretion.
Anonymous letters will not be considered for publica
tion. Letters should include the author's name, year in
school, major and group affiliation, if any. Request to
withhold names will be granted only in exceptional cir
cumstances. Address all submissions to: Letters to the Editor,
Daily Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34, 1400 R. St., Lin
coln, Neb., 68588.
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