Wednesday,' November 0, 1C33
Pegs 4
Dally Ncbrcskan
Test of Spoken J&ngiisxi
A requirement for foreign graduate teaching
assistants at UNL to prove their proficiency in the
English language is long overdue.
A proposal currently being discussed would
require all students from non-English-speaking
countries to earn a yet-to-be-determined minimum
score on the Test of Spoken English before becoming
teaching assistants. The test is given by Educational
Testing Services of Princeton, N J.
The proposal seems to be a fair and effective solu-'
tion to what has become a serious problem at UNL.
Still, there are those who oppose the test re
quirement. Hassan Sharifi, a UNL English instructor and
former director of the English as a Second Language
program, called the proposed requirement aroi-
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effective solution
trary and discriminatory.
The proper solution, Sharifi said, is not to remove
those who have an English deficiency from the
classroom, but to give them the skills they need.
To an extent, he is right The problem of ineffec
tive communication can be solved best by giving
foreign students the English skills they need. UNL
has an obligation to teach those skills but that must
come before the teaching assistants enter the class
room, not after. 11
The university must offer a short-term solution to
the problem. Students should not have to spend a
semester in a class where they barely can under
stand the instructor.
UNL has a responsiblity to offer its students a
comprehensive and comprehena&Die eaucauon.
is neglecting that responsibility if it allows graduate
students with sub-par English s jeffij to teach classes.
Sharifi says the proposed requirement is discrim
inatory because students from English-speaking
countries would be exempt. Students from these
countries are not evaluated in any way on their
teaching and communications skills, he said.
It is, of course, undesirable to single out any group
of students when implementing a requirement. But
the whole issue at hand is the inefTectiveness of
some teaching assistants because of their trouble
with the English language.
To require those who have grown up in an
English-speaking nation to take such a test in the
name of fairness would be a waste of time and
money. -
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vided by the university at the time of
registration for clsssss. Hand-to-hand
combat with police cHlcers was a daily
occurrence, with the students invaria
bly winning. We reccivtd classroom
credit for Tcamta3 to make bombs.
Instead of homecoming, we tore down
historic campus buildings brick by
brick. Aside from this, we were gener
ally very loving.
Csx All students had sex in public
places several times per day. This was
often done outside, in the mud. It was
not uncommon for a student to have
had more than 1,000 sexual partners
by the time he or she graduated. Birth
control pills were provided free in big
barrels placed at strategic locations
around the campus. During y warm
"Here we are, into the BOs she said, months both men and women usually
'And yet many college students today went naked, including to class.
"Bob Greem is en vacation. YkiU
he's arvay, we are printing faverits
columns from his new hook, "Ameri-canBeat"
A college student came to scs me the
other day. The purpose of her visit was
official; she was a reporter for her
school newspaper and she had been
assigned to seek out certain informa
tion. ''
U) Bob
Px, Greene
V
are still preoccupied with the idea of
1968. We know that 1958 really hap
pened, but from what we hear, it's
hard to believe. From everything we've
heard, a lot of us would rather be going
to school in 1963 than right now. I am
working on a story about whether
Parcxta We all killed our parents.
Attlr Clothing stores as we know
them today did not exist We wore only
Army fatigues, available at various
trading posts around the campus. Stu
dents were required to paint their
, faces with warpaint. Shoes, of course,
1988 ever actually existed and if it were forbidden; we went barefoot on
Tin panels bad, 'attempt
to d
isguise pove
rty
logic
New York City officials will spend
thousands of federal dollars to manu
facture tin panels decorated with pic
tures of windows and houseplants and
place them over dilapidated buildings
and torched tenements which line the
Cross Bronx Expressway in the South
-Bronx, according to, an Associated
Press story in Monday's Omaha
World-Herald. " "' l ''".'..
my new store here." . " i ;
"Gee, Mr. Hooper, that's a neat Idea.
I'd like to go nest shopping there. I
wish Snuffy was here; he'd love it."
"One, two, three new buildings a-ha-ha-ha
. . . " -, :
As good as it is. the Bronx project
just doesn't go far enough. Indeed, it truthful, sober and
'Chnsfopner
urbacli
has a virtually limitless number of
potential applications for vast im
provements at home and abroad.
Here are just afew possible uses of
the New Yorkers' revolutionary idea.
Erect tin panels along curbs in the
did, what it wa3 like."
She explained that hers was a mis
sion searching out history. She had
been told to locate "relics' such as
myself, men and women who had
actually been college students in 1963,
and to ask them questions about what
had gone on. Whether the legends
were true. Hers was sort of an archae-
al expedition into the hszy past
Well . . . I helped her all I could,
providing her with exhaustive infor-
raation about what the world of the
college student had been like in 1968.
And after she left, it occurred to me
that she probably was not the only
person wondering such questions.
There are doubtless millions of people
out there who were not around m
it?uo, ana wno wouia oeneiit Dy a
frank recall of
what happened in those college davs.
Thus, just as I helped the student
reporter, I will help all of you youngs
ters who want to know. I will tell you
the same thing3 1 told her. Here, broken
down into specific areas, is the truth
aoout wnat college was like in that
The idea behind the scheme: cover
up the ugliness of the South Bronx so
people driving by will be more willing
to invest in the area.
I sure hope some of my tax dollars
are used for the project
It's a good plan, which will no doubt
attract some crafty investors.
"Well, looky there, Mr. Hooper,
theyVe gone and cleaned up the South
Bronx."
"By gosh, Gordon, they sure have.
That's a good looking neighborhood
now. Look at those house plants and
new shutters in the windows of that
swank new tenement. I think 111 build
streets of Harlem, On the oaneb.Daint wonderful year of 1968,
pictures of round, happy healthy . napisg There was no dormito-
children plzying tag or skipping rope n3 fraternities or sororities. Instead,
cn grassy shaded lawns in front oftwo- JJPon arrival on campus each fall, stu-
story white houses with Levelor blinds dents were assigned to various com-
in the windows and giant TV antennas
on the root
No longer will New Yorkers who live
outside of Harlem be submitted to the
names
Hanoi
munes and crash pads with
such as "Peace Farm" and
Heaven. Regular meals were tnrhA
den; our diets consisted solely of gran -ola
and nuts. Money was outlawed
irritating ugliness of poverty. Better instead, we lived off the land, sharing
yet, Harlem residents who see the pan- all material goods for the benefit of the
els can rest easy knowing that they've people. For four years we sleet on the
finally made it to the middle class.
Closer to home, construct a hugs tin
wall around 11 emorial Stadium depict
ing well-paid professors conducting
advanced research projects sur
rounded by scholarly students.
cn Page 7
floor, because we felt it wsi r-nrn net.
ural, and a symbol of solidarity with
our brothers and sisters in the Third
World. We often lived 15 or 16 to a
room; there were no keys or loks
because we were all beautiful andwe
trusted each other.
Violence We all carried guns, pro-
campus at all times.
Ease It was far more socially
acceptable to be black than white.
Many student were black during the
academic year, becoming white only to
go home for Christmas and summer
vacations. I, for instance, was black
from my sophomore year until the
time I graduated asd began looking for
a job. " ''..--'.
Dro AH students were heavily
drugged t!l the Xtr.s. LSD was rou
i tintly pumped into the campus drink
; ing water supply, and student assist
ants handed out marihuana on our
way to classes. Vending machines
around campus offered mescaline,
sweet wine for the purpose of washing
the pills down. Beer was outlawed; any
student convicted of drinking beer was
automatically expelled.
Pclltica We were all, of course,
communists.
IXczHs Loudspeakers constructed
all over campus blasted rock music
into every corner of the college, includ
ing classrooms. This was constant and
at an ear-piercing volume, day and
night When we arrived on campus we
were given the home telephone num
bers of all four Beatles, whom we were
encouraged to caU any time we felt like
talking.
Acadenlea There were no classes
as such. Instead r. e all gathered out
side every day and said bad things
about Lyndon Jshnsen while our pro
fessors congratulated us for being so
young and wonderful We were all
given automate A's Just for living in
such an excitir.g and dramatic time.
It does seem L'.ie a ler.g time ago.
Just tailing ateut it to the college
reporter msde rr.s ncsta!ie. She too
notes whCa I tZzi her in, and then said
she had to f d beck to cempus.
"Goodbye," che ssii.
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