Thursday, January 31. 1974
5
University Daily Kansan
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Kansan Staff Photo by BILL KERR
John Dougherty Talks to Journalism Students
Visiting Editor Discusses Aspects of Changing Press
"Journalism is the most fun you can have with your clothes on."
That's how John L. Dougherty, managing editor of the Rochester (N.Y.) Times-Union feels about his profession of 35 years. Dougherty is visiting the KU School of Journalism this week as an editor-in-residence.
Credibility is the major problem facing newspaper journalists today, he said, but the problem will solve itself when reporters do their jobs accurately.
"We are at fault for not doing our job," he said.
He said the economics of newspaper production was another problem. Costs are rising and the day of the 10-cent newspaper is fading, he said.
Technological innovations in communications will open new visitas for reporters and the public. He said new technical inventions should decrease errors and production costs. More revenue could then be diverted to reporting and editing, allowing the reporter to communicate and allowing the reporter to "help people know what they want to know."
Douherty said the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated was the most tragic moment of his life.
He was in charge of getting the paper out and had to make the decision to stop the presses, wait for the news of Kennedy's death and to be sure to run the days after the assassination.
The Times-Union is a member of the Gannett group, a chain of newspapers and television stations throughout the United States. Doherty said small papers that belonged to chains had an advantage of better national and international coverage.
For example, a Gannett reporter went to China in 1972 and wrote stories about China for the entire chain of more than 50 papers. If the papers didn't belong to the chain, they wouldn't have had these stories, Dougherty said.
Editor's Note: This if the first in a two-part series examining grading at the University of Kansas. Tomorrow's story will deal with other grading systems and with the computerized grade reporting system.
Dougherty his job is his main was mainly a supervisory position. He gets a "vicarious pleasure," he said, from seeing a reporter he has trained on the job.
Weight on Final Exams Questioned
By JILL WILLIS Kansan Staff Reporter
Professors' opinions about final exams differ almost as much as the subjects they teach. Even students' opinions aren't predictable - "egative."
Dennis Quill, professor of English and director of Pearson College, says that the college's emphasis on reading is well-established.
"I'm rather eccentric. I don't place a lot of emphasis on grades and exams in my classes. I do everything I can to deemphasize the importance of grades and exams. I don't think they have much of a role in the teaching process."
Quinn says he prefers the European system of education, in which the student is tested after completing each major level of school work.
1. I think there are far too many final exams and exams, period, in the University.
"Exams are desirable, but I prefer oral exams. A written exam is often only a test of the student's writing ability or his ability to cram facts."
ROBERT REINEIMER, assistant instructor in speech and drama, says that final exams should be used as a learning tool for the student. The calculation of the student for the professor.
"I give take-home finals early in the semester to be done at the end of the month."
Reinheimer says he evaluates his students mainly through class participation.
John B. Brenner, professor of journalism, says there is no need for final approval to the list.
noblemanhe says he is more interested in having the students tell him what they have learned instead of trying to "catch them on what they don't know."
"My classes have about 25 students. I get to know them long before the end of the semester."
BREMER SAYS his students write headlines and edit copy almost every class week.
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"It would be like saying we're going to have a final exam on the globetrotter."
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Bryant C. Freeman, professor of French and Italian and chairman of the French and Italian department, says final examinations are a problem but they are a fact of life.
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"The finals in my department count for one-third or one-fourth of the final grade," he says. "I came from the University of Yale where finals counted 50 per cent of the final grade. I believe finals are very important."
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Freeman says he is shocked that in some courses professors don't give final exam
"It is the studying for the final that it important rather than the writing of the final."
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"A final exam obliges the student to sit down and pull everything together, to look at the mountains rather than the molehills. It requires a very poor policy not to give final exams."
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George Worth, professor of English and chairman of the English department, says the need for final examinations depends on the nature of the course.
CHARLES F. SIDMAN, professor of history and chairman of the history department, says students should welcome the opportunity to be tested.
"You need some evidence on which to base a grade," he says.
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Worth says the final exam ought to reflect a substantial portion of the grade but not determine all of the grade or even the major part of it.
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"It is very important for a student to have the opportunity to demonstrate his knowledge," he says. "I regret all the attention given to grades, however."
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Sidman says students worry too much about their grades.
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"They believe grades will make the career. I wish less attention would be paid to that. Grades are misleading to a certain extent."
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from school to school, department to department and even teacher to teacher, he
"I suppose I would be happier with the earl of America in America but bare up on final examinations."
LYLE HETTINGER, assistant instructor of German, says final examinations are an effective way of measuring the ability of the teacher and the ability of the student to learn.
"If you're a good instructor, the students don't have to worry about final exams," he said.
Hettinger teaches beginning German courses, which have a departmental exam. However, he says individual instructors have some leeway in the evaluation of their students' progress other than their performance on the exam.
Hettinger says he can understand the reasons for eliminating a final exam in a small class, but in a large class the instructor must have a way to judge the
AS A GRADUATE STUDENT, Hettinger
doesn't like a course in which he
wouldn't be able to study.
"I like something to challenge me and help me know how I'm doing."
Paul Friedman, assistant professor of speech and drama, says he doesn't give a specific answer to this question.
FRIEDMAN SAYS he realizes that anyone who teaches math or physics can't pass an ISTE exam.
all of his students to receive the same results from his class.
"in the University there seems to be too much of an attempt to make everyone the same," he said.
All the professors questioned say there are no problems in grading the final exams before the grades are due to the Admissions Committee. The committee is given toward the end of the final schedule.
Arden Schaffer, Rochester, Minn.
junior, says he thinks finals should be counted more in the course grade than they are now.
"I would like to evaluate students on how much energy and work they put into learning," Ms. Reineck said, "and have faith in the book that you have assigned for the course, anyone having read it."
"The final should be an indication of what you've learned through the year," he says. Schaffer says he thinks that if a student does poorly on other exams but well on the final, the other exams shouldn't be averaged into the grade.
*If a final exam is supposed to be cumulative it should be graded much more than
See GRADING Page 10
Friday, February 1, 1974
8:00 p.m.
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