UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
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CORVETTE: AMERICA'S ONLY TRUE PRODUCTION SPORTS CAR, 1976 EDITION. CHEVETTE: IS INTERNATIONAL IN CONCEPT, DESIGN FEATURES PROVEN AROUND THE WORLD. FEATURES PROVEN AROUND THE WORLD. KU traditions traced The "hallowed halls" and hill of ol' KU are steeped in tradition, and at no time of the year do these become more evident than at Homecoming. Few students, however, seem to know where many of these traditions developed, so on pages four and five of this section the Kansan traces the history of some important symbols of KU. The history of the term Jayhawk dates back to an 1848 wagon train phrase but wasn't used as KU's mascot until 1886. The Jayhawk was first drawn by Henry Maloy in 1912 and has constantly been used since that time. It was a University professor needed a chant for his science club. The KU songs and seal are also reprinted, and the history of the Chi Omega fountain is dipped into. Vance Packard, social critic and author of "The Status Seekers" and "A Nation of Strangers," has said that a decrease in English skills has occurred nationally. According to Packard, a study of about 100,000 Americans by the Pew Research Center, indicates that by age 17 only about one half of the students sampled could put together simple sentences and express simple ideas in general, imprecise, language. In addition, Packard said that a 1971 survey by the Louis Harris polling organization found that about 18 million Americans had no immunological measures of literacy, such as application forms. One subject area measured in both the SAT and the ACT is English proficiency. The question of whether basic English skills of college students today are actually more or less than what has been discussed on a national level, as well as at KU. points in 170, on a 36 point scale. At KU the composite scores hit levels similar to six years, although the above national average is 45. According to several KU instructors, KU students at present are just as proficient in English skills as their counterparts of several years ago were but they aren't as proficient as they should be at a college level. James A. Gowen, director of treatman-sophomore English, said that no significant decline in verbal ability has been seen in the program. Students take courses, although such a decline had been reported by instructors in some other colleges and universities. Gown said the reported decline in English skills on other campuses occurred simultaneously with the return of instructors who had taught upper level courses for several years to lower level English courses. "The instructors returned to teaching basic English niques vary much from discipline to discipline that you can't say any method is best." He said he had to use the lecture approach because of the size of his classes. For bricker, a small group discussion" still 200 a week "the maintains some contact with students. "You have to know your students personally, too," he said. "I despise all of this business, especially the student number business, so I like to know them better." I've talked on a one-to-one basis with Staff Photo by DON PIERCE improved over the years, no one has yet the lecture and the note taking. become babysitting institutions, he said. Paula Jolly Staff Writer However, other instructors said that high schools were responsible for the lack of adequate English skills in college students. Christi Wedding, assistant instructor of English at the university, said that as being separate from spoken English, they aren't aware that word choice and sentence formation in spoken English are different from those in written English. College instructors often have to re-educate students to understand the difference, she said. "I think the whole idea of writing isn't emphasized in high schools," Welding said. "They don't try to develop writing skills because high school teachers don't know how to deal with the problems involved. Students are taught about grammar, but not about putting grammatical parts together. "I taught in high school for awhile and I think other teachers thought composition writing was an extension of talking about literature, and that it wasn't essential for a high school student's survival." Oliver Finney, assistant instructor in English, taught English 101 seven years ago and returned to teaching that course last year. He said he saw no noticeable difference in over-all literacy and verbal competency. However, even seven years ago the students' verbal preparation wasn't adequate, he said. nearly every one of my students this semester." "Students are often very frustrated because they "I used 24 rolls of 36-exposure film this semester." he said. Bricker said he learned his students' names by photographing each one of them as they walked on campus. "I think teaching methods have effectively changed." "I'd like to think that I've improved." He emphasized the importance of teachers keeping office hours. - hool教老师们 being to teach English skills. If you are a high school are overtime high schools have Oscar Haugh, professor of curriculum and instruction and the oldest HOPE award winner still teaching, a teacher had to learn a variety of methods to present knowledge. "Based upon conversations with recognized outstanding teachers, it would be nice to have some common to all of them is an intangible quality which they themselves cannot pin Chris lillip, chairman of the Commission on the Quality of Classroom Teaching, said, "There are as many excellent methods of teaching as there are excellent teachers." Ed Rolfs, student body president, said, "The prevalent thing that came out of the report is that a good teacher isn't necessarily one who has facts and knowledge, but one who can convey them to students." "I think it's scandalous that many teachers don't keep office hours," he said. "I suppose I have close to 20 hours a week and only 10 hours. I value that as being important." ciled in many colleges reported drop in English on to the different type of students h students and then came Bruce Wonor, student researcher for the commission, said two schools of thought existed among faculty and administrators about teaching. One school of thought, he said, is that teaching ability is inherent in the teacher, and that a poor teacher can learn only from mistakes and failures from watching good teacher. "This is the most successful sort of thing we've ever done," he said. "The students like the lectures. It's so successful that we worry about it. We have to remind the students that the books for our courses are more important than the lectures." The other school of thought is that teaching techniques are improved through mutual training. Quinn lectures with John Senior, professor of comparative literature and a HOPE award winner, and Franklin Nellick, professor of English. Quinn said that teaching together, the three provided contrast, balance and "a kind of richness." Ron Calgaard, vice chancellor for skills lacking Cargarq, Vice chancellor 103 See TEACHING page 9 According to Susanne Shaw, assistant professor of journalism, the English skills of students now haven't decreased noticeably when compared to the skills of students several years ago. However, she said that teaching should be done at such time on remedial teaching of skills that should have been grasped by students in high school or junior high. "Many university schools require that students pass an English proficiency test before entrance into the school," she said. "We're considering something like this. I think we should be more mindful of hand of English before they enter the journalism school." B John Bremner, professor of journalism, also said he saw no noticeable decrease in the English proficiency of students in his editing classes. However, the over-all skill level isn't ooed, he said. "The students give little indication that they had elementary or secondary school teachers who were concerned with the elements of grammar or with the use of vocabulary. Students have been taught elementary and high school teachers seem to have given up teaching the parts of speech. Students haven't been taught to diagnose words. Identify parts of speech, often obscure词语. aren't able to express themselves in writing without astrucile." he said. Another view of the relation of primary and second education to college student English skills was offered by Judy Freed, learning disabilities teacher at Hickory City Public School. The school is in District. According to Freed, the success of special education programs in grade schools has kept many students in school who would have otherwise dropped out. These students may catch up enough in reading and writing, so that they are quite as well as other students on the college level she said. Some KU instructors point to factors other than high school English instruction as possible causes for poor performance in English. One of the most frequently mentioned factors was television. According to Brad Tate, principal of Lawrence High School, teachers there haven't given up teaching the basics of English. One semester of grammar and composition is required of all students, he said. See ENGLISH page 2