University Daily Kansan, June 26, 1980
More teacher education to pay off for students
By LAURALUCKERT
Staff Reporter
The June 16 issue of "Time" magazine reports that 20 percent of the teachers in the United States have not received basic skills in English and mathematics.
BUT JAMES GOWEN, professor of English, said this week that the quality of teacher education had not declined.
"We have always had the 'why Johnny can't read' problem in our schools," he said. "We have always had poorly prepared teachers, just as
the medical profession has its share of poor doctors and the legal profession has its share of poor lawyers."
Gowen said the influx of children into the public school system in the United States during the 1980s and 1980s forced schools to accept unqualified teachers.
AS A RESULT, some unqualified teachers gained tenure. With tenure, which is usually granted after two years, the teacher cannot be fired without cause.
"Then we had many teachers tenured that we wish hadn't been," he said. "I still don't feel tenure should be granted so soon."
But David Bays, director of undergraduate studies in history, said there was a general agreement in the history department that American and European history must be covered in detail than they were a few years ago.
Students are not being prepared adequately in high school for college work, he said.
"A lot of high school history teachers have not studied much history on the college level." he said.
He said that when he was a student at KU in the 1960s it was not unusual to be assigned seven or eight books for a history class.
"Now there is real resistance from students to assign four to six books," he said.
BAYS, WHO TAUGHT history at KU for 15 years, said writing skills of students have definitely declined.
Walks, humor define Senate bid
Staff Reporter
Rv DAN TORCHIA
To dramatize the oil crisis, James Maher, Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, has been walking across parts of Kansas carrying an empty gas tank.
He is also planning a 53-mile hike to Wichita to honor the hostages held in Iran. Maher shows no sign of slowing down.
In addition to walking, Mather, 43, has been using the telephone. Yesterday he staged the first of three "telecoms with 29 newspapers across the state.
Mahar, an Overland Park stockbroker, is running, or in this case walking, against John Simpson on the Aug. 5 Democratic primary. He said he planned to spend only $2,000 on his team as it was made up of volunteers and family.
THE TELECONFERENCES were consistent with his concept of conservation and low cost, said Paola Shumaker, Maher's press secretary.
"The total cost was $225," she said.
"It was a good way to keep in touch with the press."
MAHER READ two statements over the phone, outlined plans for public appearances, discussed his campaign issues, and answered reporters' questions.
This is Maher's second attempt at the Senate. He ran against Bill Roy in the Democratic primary two years ago, then opposed Sen. Nancy Kassamba in the general election as a candidate of the Conservative Party.
He has acquired an offbeat reputation. Some of his proposals could be considered outlandish.
In this campaign he proposed storing part of the Library of Congress in the salt mines of Kansas. Another idea was to form a Western Hemisphere Baseball League to strike out the OPEC cartel.
Maher's wit is often directed toward the other candidates.
"Giving a campaign contribution to my opponent is like giving food stamps to the Rockefeller," he said, making note of Simpson's wealth.
Bob Dole, who will he face if he wins in the primary, he said, "Dole has a slogan in his office that says 'you can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, those are good enough odds for me.'"
He said humor was budgeted as part of the campaign expenses, and was an essential part of it.
"Along with hard work and walking, you have to have humor." he said.
He will be walking for the next few weeks, traveling through towns in Western Kansas. He left for Hays
yesterday by airplane and will walk to McPherson and Manhattan. His walk for the hostages will conclude July 4 when he walks into Wichita
Mather said his campaign would start to focus more on Simpson. Switching parties, as Simpson has done, was not in the interest of Democratic voters, he
"WE NEED TO dislodge a little support from him," he said. "Our goal is the betterment of the party."
he said his campaign was gaining
heism in turn against Dole as an
independent if he lost the primary. For
now he is concentrating on the Aug. 5.
"We think we are doing pretty well, but we have a lot more to do," he said. And more walking of course.
And more walking, of course.
Roy Laird, professor of political science, agreed that students entering KU are less prepared.
"Students' skills in writing, their knowledge of history and foreign language have definitely deteriorated," he said.
ALSO, IN DECEMBER the faculty of the School of Education proposed to increase the number of graduating from KU by increasing the number of credit hours education students must take from 124 to 160 and should increase the program to five years.
Scannell said that since January a series of committees has been trying to improve the teaching of teacher education. The program would require education students to complete at least 100-110 hours outside the School and 50-60 inside the School.
But Laird said although the public school system should not be absolved from blame, the problem is a basic problem in society.
"We have always felt that the state requirement of 22 hours of professional education courses was not sufficient," he said. "We are hoping this proposal to approve the school of Education in July be approved for effect in Juniors by the fall of '18."
But Scannell said KU was taking several steps toward improving teachers' education.
DALE SCANNELL, dean of the School of Education, said that educators were upset with the decline in ACT and SAT scores among high school students, but he did not think teachers were to blame.
SCANNELL SAID HE was not worried that KU would lose prospective education majors who would turn to schools to get a four-year education.
Presents
an essay section and problems in grammar and usage.
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In the spring of 1978, a program was established between the School of Education and department of English at Stanford where both students had basic competence in English.
"A very large number of other universities are working on a similar program to improve teacher education," he said.
from
PRINTING
The program consists of an English placement test that the prospective education major must pass in order to be admitted to the School of Education. The program also still wishes to enter the school, he must pass English with a C or better.
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Gowan, who designed the English placement test, said the test contained
Serving the Lawrence community for 15 years
Wherever one places the blame does not change the fact that students today are less prepared for college, said Bays.
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