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Tuesday, January 24, 1234
University cf Nebraska-Lincoln
Volume 83, No. 84
Kerrey speaks in support
of secondary education bill
By Ilona Koppelxasn
Gov. Bob Kerrey made aspecisJ appear
ance before the Legislative Education
Committee Monday to support a bill to
improve the state's educational system.
LBS34, introduced by the Education
Committee, proposes many different
solutions to the state's secondary edu
cation problems. The bill was spurred
by both the National Task Force on
Excellence in Education report and a
similar study done by a Nebraska com
mittee. Though the reports suggest new ad
mission guidelines, increased school
hours and longer school years, Kerrey
addressed what he called "the most
controversial and most important"
issue: increasing teachers' salaries. The
bill would increase secondary teachers'
salaries from $3?0 million to $591 mil
lion over a period of five or six years.
"We're not going to just buy our way
out of the problem," Kerrey said. "But
when you have the best teachers, you
have the best education system."
Kerrey blamed changes in the econ
omy for attracting teachers away from
their profession. He said teachers were
accepting jobs in outside industries
strictly based on higher salaries.
Kerrey said he wants the increase in
teachers' salaries to be a "shared re
sponsibility." The funds would come
from increases in local property taxes
and matching state funds.
"Those who criticize the property
tax push disregard the fact that salar
ies would go up anyway," Kerrey said.
"We're just saying, if you raise salaries
above a certain base level, well pay
half." " "
Kerrey said better supervision and
evaluation of teachers on a local level
were also necessary to make the invest
ment worthwhile.
He said the bill may attract atten
tion because it seems to eliminate
tenure, but emphasized that the bill
defines incompetence.
"Good people are cheap, no matter
what we have to pay them," Kerrey
said.
Sen. Howard Lamb of Anselmo express
ed some concern about the popularity
of a matching funds plan as opposed
to a block grant. Kerrey said though
the federal government has been lean
ing toward block grants in recent years,
he had yet to see any block funding
with no strings attached.
Kerrey noted the number of people
in the crowded hearing room, emphas
izing the importance of the education
issue to Nebraskans.
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Craig AndresenDaiiy Nebraskart
Gov. Dob Kerrey speaks at a legislative committee hearing Monday.
Soviets iiang t oiigii dnnEfi U .b. elections
Ey Pen Ahvard
A member of President Reagan's cabinet and
three international experts discussed American for
eign policy and arms control Monday in the Nebraska
Union.
The four speakers, invited by Ivan Volgycs, UNL
political science professor, followed their speeches
with an open discussion.
Dr. Stephen Larrabce, vice president of the Insti
tute for East-West Security Studies in New York,
spoke on the cause of the current impasse in arms
negotiations.
Larrabee said the Soviets backed themselves into
a corner by suspending Strategic Arms Reduction
Talks and walking out of the Intermediate Nuclear
Forces (INF) talks in Geneva.
Although the Soviet Union maintains strong inter
est in arms control, it can't make any conciliatory
gestures because it doesn't want to do anything
which could be construed as helping President Rea
gan, he said.
They are hanging tough until after the election, he
said.
Western Europe became more concerned about
the arms race after the United States lost strategic
superiority, he said. European confidence in Ameri
can management of its afairs deteriorated, he said,
partly because of ex-President Carter's foreign pol
icy. k
The three Soviet goals are to divide the United
States from its European allies, to divide the nuclear
from the non-nuclear powers within Europe and to
divide America from its Asian allies, Larrabee said.
Robert Dean, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of
state for politico-military affairs, discussed arms
agreements.
The United States' main goal of negotiation was to
make the Soviets realize it will protect Western
Europe from the Soviet threat, Dean said.
Dr. Richard Bissell, director for research at the
United States Information Agency, also spoke of the
increasing Western European disenchantment with
U.S. foreign policy.
The longer nuclear weapons are available, the
more communication links are developed between
the superpowers, .which decreases the chance of
nuclear war, he said.
The importance of Soviet public awareness of for
eign policy was discussed by James Critchlow, plan
ning and research officer for the U.S. Board for
International Broadcasting.
Both Radio Liberty and Voice of America are
broadcast in the Soviet Union and other countries,
he said. Together, they reach 25 percent of the adult
Russian population each week.
Radio Liberty broadcasts mainly news, especially
news the Soviet stations censor, he said.
Video teaching brings new dimension
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Crossword 12
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Sports 13
By Bill Caari . "
The students in 242 Bancroft stare intently at
television screens and ask questions via micro
phones which are propped on each desk.
V.T, Miller, faculty coordinator for closed-circuit
television, said UNL equipped the classroom last
semester with monitors, cameras, a directors' booth,
microphones and lighting so the room could be used
for interactive telecommunication.
Interactive telecommunication means students
can communicate with an instructor who may be
teaching class on another campus or even in another
city, Miller said. , .
Miller said telecommunication extends classroom
coverage of courses like engineering, nursing and
home economics. ' ' -
For example, both UNL and UNO offer Engineer
ing 373. The professor instructs the class in Lincoln,
but through the television system, the UNO class
room receives the signal
Omaha students can see the Lincoln professor
through a monitor and can ask questions through
the microphones. Similarly, the professor has two
monitors showing both the UNL and UNO classes.
Both the professor and students at UNL will hear
the UNO students' questions over a loudspeaker
system.
Miller said the program requires more pre-planning
than a normal course because of the media
equipment. However, he said, the program helps
ninate duplication of programs and saves time.
Although Miller said he thinks telecommunica
tion helps in prove the .quality of education, it does
not save money in the long run. Television camera
men and the telephone lines used to transfer the
signal cost the university money, he said.
Research shows that on items such as tests and
homework, students learn as much as in normal
classrooms. But, students say they do not enjoy
learning as much under the television system, Miller
said.
Miller said he thought students sometimes have a
negative reaction when the course starts, but their
attitude usually improves over the semester. Most
students prefer that the teacher be present all the
time, he said.
The advantage of telecommunication teaching is
that it uses the current number of staff to the fullest
extent possible, Miller said.
Mike Cumming, an Engineering 373 student, said
he thought the classroom was a big advantage
because it enables more people to take the course.
But, Cumming said, using a microphone to ask
questions might intimidate some students and pre
vent them from asking questions. "
Joseph Panarelli, the UNL associate professor of
engineering mechanics who teaches the course, said
he thought the telecommunications teaching helps
alleviate a shortage of teachers.
One alternative to the television teaching method
would be to hire someone with broadcasting expe
rience to teach the class, Panarelli said. However, he
said, that would be a disadvantage because the
instructor would not have enough time to devote to
the class. .
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