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University Daily Kansan Monday, Oct. 17, 1955
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS
by Dick Bibler
It'sAQuestionOf Grade Emphasis
Mid-semester exams will be upon us soon. In traditional observance of this event, pledges from many organized houses will be stopping to see their instructors after class and obtaining signed records of their mid-semester grades.
And if past experience is any criterion, many pledges will return to the house with blanks.
"My instructor in this course wouldn't give me a grade," they will say. "He said that he didn't know for sure what my grade was, and besides, I should stop worrying about getting a grade and try to get something out of the course. He said he hated students who were in a course just to get a grade."
The instructor has a good point. Too many students approach subjects with the idea of getting a grade, not gaining knowledge. On the other hand, the student has some very pressing reasons for being concerned about his grade.
He may not, in fact, transfer schools, re-enroll, or graduate without meeting these requirements. A record of his grades is sent to his parents (if he is under 21) at the end of each school year.
Fraternities and sororities cannot initiate members who have not met the minimum grade requirements.
"GOOD GRIEF WELL NEVER GET A SEAT--I FORGOT ASSEMBLY THIS PERIOD."
A student may not participate in extra-curricular activities unless he has met certain grade requirements.
The problem here is deeper than a mere inconsistency. If studying for information and studying for a grade are two different things, then the educational measurements used in grading are of little value.
Students with high averages are placed on honor rolls and they are publicly lauded. Students with low averages are placed on probation and may be refused re-admittance to the University.
And yet, instructors tell them that grades are not important, that to be concerned about grades is to display an improper attitude.
But if we are to have grades, we must assume that they reflect, as accurately as possible, the student's knowledge of a subject. The least the instructor can do is to realize the emphasis placed on grade points and averages, and understand the student's desire to know his grade in a course.
-Larry Heil
Many faculty members started off the school year by giving more outside reading assignments than ever before. At least it seems that way from the size of the crowds packing the library every night.
Is Noisy Library Really Necessary?
Marion McCoy
Judging from the noise in the library, KU students have revolted against this system by deciding to make more noise than ever before.
However, there are several other factors that add to the constant racket in addition to the noise created by casual conversations.
The chief item adding to the noise is the new system being used to check out books in the undergraduate library. This system probably was planned to be more efficient and faster, but we feel it has accomplished exactly the opposite effect in reference to noise.
It would seem to be a simple matter for students to lower their voices when they come to the library to study. Why not end the debates, the loud conversations and the constant racket for a while? Let's follow the "quiet creed" and let the library return to its standing of a building for reading, reference work, and studying.
The process of checking out reserve books seems to take so long that a crowd always develops in the check-out area. Friends meet and old long conversations, dates are made, and beaven only knows what else.
At least two of the librarians must handle each call slip, with the book being passed down an assembly-line type of procedure which seems to conduce everyone thoroughly. The noise comes from the fact that each librarian must ask which student wanted which book, in addition to a demand or ID cards, and a stern warning that the book is due in two hours.
... Letters .
Editor:
Your editorial entitled, "Lawrence Needs Social Progress," appearing in the Oct. 13 issue of the UDK, should never have been printed, even though it was the personal view of the writer.
You know that there are some things that are thought but just are not said out loud. Furthermore, I do not believe the writer of the editorial knows the full meaning of social progress. There are other things in life besides "Wine, Women, and Song."
You must also remember that the people that you so viciously attacked are loyal supporters of your newspaper. They contribute a substantial amount to the publication—dollarwise, that is—with their advertising. They also bear part of the burden of getting you through college by paying their state taxes. IS THIS YOUR WAY OF SAYING "THANK YOU"?
An editor in the commercial world would be fired immediately if he printed an article similar to yours. Let's think twice before printing such an editorial again.
Incidentally, I am not a permanent resident of Lawrence, but I do not think that you should set yourself up on a pedestal and tell others how to run their business. If you are human, you undoubtedly have some faults too.
James T. Purcell
St. Joseph, Mo., sophomore (Ed. note—It would be a pretty shallow newspaper that fired an editor for voicing a straight-forward opinion on any subject. The UDK is not run that way.
The UDK will continue to print editorials designed to lead opinion. It will not hesitate to say the things that need saying "out loud."
What is the atrocious looking metal structure that has been adorning the lawn in front of the library the last few weeks, and what is it doing there?
A new commercial gimmick has recently been launched by a record-book shop on the campus—the blast popular songs like "The Yellow Rose of Texas" through a loud-speaker in the front of the store so that passers-by will get more than an earful I protest violently. This type of cheap, blatant advertising is used in the honky-tonk sections of our big cities and tends to drag the campus down to that level. I think it's a dangerous trend. Unfortunately, most people are rather complacent about such things, and I suppose won't become aroused until the adjacent
Editor:
Editor:
Kansas City, Kan. junior
Robert Kimball
men's store starts employing a barker and hula dancers to get some of those chino slacks moving. Allen Crumm
Allen Grover KU Alumnus
Engineers' Wages Continue Increase
CHICAGO - (U.P.)- Starting salaries for beginning engineers are continuing to increase, according to data compiled by Earl C. Kubicek, director of placement for Illinois Institute of Technology.
The figures show that the starting pay of the 1955 June graduate climbed to $381 a month, compared to the $363 paid to the 1954 June graduate.
The latest figure represents a decline from the all-time high of $383 paid to the 1955 January engineering class. The difference in the size of classes and other factors accounted for the starting wage received by mid-year graduates. Kubicek said that averages have increased every year since 1949, when the average was $282 a month.
Gold, Silver Lost In Flood
WORCESTER, Mass. — (U.P.)— Some $6,000 in gold and silver went "down the drain" when the big flood struck here recently. The gold and silver, in solution, were carried away by flood waters from the Electrochemical Industries, Inc., plant.
Michigan has 95 automobile plants in 45 cities.
University of Kansas Student Newspaper News Room, KU 251 Ad Room, KU 376 Member of the Inland Daily Press association. Associated Collegiate Press association. National Vertising service. 420 Main Street NY. Mall subscription rates: $3 a semester or $4.50 a year (add $1 a semester if in Lawrence Kans., every afternoon during Lawrence Kans., every summer except Saturdays and Sundays. University holidays and examinations. Entered second class master Sept. 17. Post office under act of March 8, 1873.
Daily Hansan
NEWS DEPARTMENT
John Herrington ... Managing Editor
Madeleyn Brite, Gretchen Irumen, Irene C.
Six, Lee Ann Urban, Assistant Manage-
nator, Linda City Editor; Bob
Lyle, Assistant Chancellor;
Kwalt, Telegraph Editor; Marion
McCoy, Society Editor; Jane Peac-
e编辑, Sports Editor; John
McMillion, Sports Editor; Sam L. Jones,
Assistant Sports Editor.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Ron Grandon     Editorial Editor
Ted Blankenship Associate Editor
BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
Paul Bunge ... Business Manager
Robert Wolfe. Advertising Manager;
Charles$ Sledd. National Advertising
Manager; Jack Fisher, Circulation Man-
ger.
Responsibility: Student Need
Editor:
May I congratulate the UDK on what it is able to do with a difficult assignment—that of giving young editorial writers a chance to practice without unduly misleading those who read its columns? Also, since I was quoted—not too accurately—on the subject of the Western Civilization requirement, may I add a word without unduly prolonging the discussion?
One half of the world, the Communist half, mercilessly drills its young in a certain doctrine. Our own youth we hope will imbibe the tested values of our tradition while developing a sense of individual responsibility.
Surveys show that most of our students see a need for flexibility in educational procedures. The "Pennsylvania Studies" of a number of years ago indicated that 25 percent of entering freshmen in our colleges already know and understand at least as much as the average graduating senior. This means that many of them should not need four years to arrive at the higher academic levels.
A requirement which accredits knowledge as such ought to speed up the time spent in the undergraduate college by the abler students. At the same time, for the less able this time might be prolonged.
That is why, in this requirement, a few students, who for various reasons are already well prepared, ought to be able to get "easy credit" if they are satisfied with this, rather than with doing justice to themselves either in marks or in the learning derived.
Others, less able, will be the source of some complaint because of the stiffening of standards which for them is involved in the impersonal testing of a comprehensive examination.
As for just how much supervision should be given, no instructor and no course worthy of the name of education has ever finished with the process of adjustment. Moreover, an editorial writer should not complain of "lack of supervision" when he did not himself make use of the assistance that was available.
A survey made some years ago of hundreds of students who had completed the requirement Showed that 89.1 percent approved the content of the course while 10.4 percent disapproved. By the same survey 78.3 percent approved the method involved, while 19.2 percent did not.
It would be interesting to know how these figures would compare with similar statistics covering other college requirements.
In the recent revision our Committee feels that it has considerably improved both the content and the method of the Western Civilization requirement.
Perhaps an even more significant issue is the question of how far our college requirements help the undergraduate to achieve a philosophy of life. English and American literature stressed in the English requirement square with the content of the Western Civilization reading list. In both these areas, no doubt, we shall continue to try to make further improvement.
Or take the biology requirement in relation to the rest. Just how does the concept of the evolution of life jibe with the values of a Christian civilization? Do our requirements suggest some possible answers to this question? Such, at least, are the crucial issues of modern education.
Walter E. Sandelius Member of the Committee on Western Civilization
..Short Ones..
An assistant professor of home economics at Wayne University says "substitute eaters" who like pie for breakfast and dessert before the main course show they have grown up feeling insecure and unloved. We can see it now: Recipes by Freud.
Summer hot dog consumption by Americans this summer is estimated at a total of 2,606,000,- 000, or almost 16 hot dogs for every man, woman and child. This must have caused a lot of wear and tear on Pop's legs at the drive-in theaters.
The Oklahoma A & M Student Union building doesn't have a thing over Las Vegas. An Aggie dropped a quarter in the cigaret machine and out popped two packages of cigarets along with three books of matches.