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Page 2 University Daily Kansan Tuesday, May 6, 1952
Editorials
Exam week is approaching.
Orals Solve Some Problems Posed By Shortcomings of Written Exams
As usual, it will be a period of needless pressure, unproductive cramming, poorly written essay exams on the part of the students, and disorganized, detailed, meaningless, so-called objective tests offered by the teachers.
That such a situation can continue in the great centers of American learning is an unfortunate reflection on the science of education.
The purpose of an examination is to serve as a teacher's ruler in measuring student progress. If the teacher is worth his salt, and if his classes are not too big, he will know the progress by the student's classroom performance.
Written exams, say their defenders, also aid the students in synthesizing and analyzing his subject matter, and insure retention by refreshing his memory. Is the present method the best to accomplish these aims?
Continuous writing over a 50-minute period produces nothing but fractured wrists and arthritic fingers. A rapid comparison of oral and written exams show the obvious inferiority of the written type. Oral exams obviate the arduous task of corrections, a menial job that takes up valuable
time of already heavily-overburdened professors
Some contend oral exams take too much time, but if a teacher spent the same amount of time with each student that he does correcting their papers, it would benefit to both instructor and student. And it takes far less of the student's time.
Professorial injustice is an overplayed item in the first place. Few are the instances where a teacher can be proved unfair. Teachers have a tacit code of ethics the same as any other professional group.
Are oral exams objective enough? Are they fair? s Esay type quizzes cannot be considered objective. And direct question-answer type tests never determine the final grade. That remains the prerogative of the teacher.
As for synthesis and analysis, oral exams offer the perfect solution. Here an instructor can readily examine a student's proficiency with a subject, not only how much he has absorbed, but to what extent he can take that knowledge, correlate it with prior information and with current studies.
And with oral examinations, the cheating problem dissolves.—Chuck Zuegner.
Interpretive Article
Ketauver Strength to Be Tested in Florida
Sen. Estes Kefauver will prove today whether or not he is a serious Democratic presidential threat.
A preference vote today in Florida will be used as an indicator of his ability to secure Southern support in his White House bid. The Florida contest will be the voter's only chance to clearly express their presidential preferences before the Democratic convention.
Sen Kefauver has racked up a win in every primary entered but has yet to be considered a serious contender for the nomination because of his supposed lack of support in the South and his definite lack of support from Democratic leaders.
With everything to win, namely respect of the leaders and foothold in the South, Sen. Kefauver actually has nothing to lose in Florida. His opponent is Sen. Richard Russell of Georgia, who claims to be the Southland's very own candidate. Losing to Sen. Russell in a Southern state could not be counted as a real blow to any Democratic candidate, especially Sen. Kefauver who chills the South with his views of civil rights. If Sen. Ke-
fauver even makes a showing, he will be able to discuss a moral victory.
A showing is just what he is very apt to make. He started one of his famous handshaking campaigns there recently and aided by his wife and father, there has been a lot of hands shaking now.
Kefauver's reception in the South seems typical of his success in the other states. Gov. Fuller Warren of Florida is backing Sen. Russell but 2,000 people listened to Sen. Kefauver speak at the University of Miami last week while 1,500 others waited outside in the sun to hear him speak from the steps afterwards.
Sen. Russell now has 37 delegates lined up for the convention. The Florida vote will pretty well indicate which man is going to get the state's 24 delegates May 27. The vote today may make a leading candidate out of either man. If the unlikely happens and the state turns out for Kefauver, the Democrats will have a powerful threat whether they want him or not. A threat that could match anything the Republicans might nominate.
-roger Yarrington.
Wall subscription rates: $3 a semester or $4.50 a year (add $1 a semester if in Lawrence). Published in Lawrence, Kan., every afternoon during the University year except holidays and Sundays, University holidays and examination periods. Entered as second loss matter Seat. 17, 1910, at Lawrence, Kan., Post Office under act of March 3, 1879
POGO and his friends
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Letters:
Student Says Kansan Slights 'College Daze'
Dear Editor:
Thank you for correcting a false impression of mine. I've thought all along that this de-emphasis talk referred to athletics. However, your short, unenthusiastik, run-of-the-mill articles on this year's College Daze musical "Strike a Match" have set me straight.
The show was the most original, lively, and entertaining affair that has happened to KU in a long time. I think that under the circumstances your de-emphasis was amazing. Your treatment of it as news material definitely shows that the de-emphasis movement applies only to this sort of activity—not to athletics.
Sam Sebesta
education junior
(Editor's Note: This comes as a distance surprise to the Daily Kansan since "Strike a Match" received two double-column stories last week. One was a front page announcement of the beginning of the show and the other was a very favorable review of the performance. Furthermore, Ye Ed has been approached by the producer of another campus show who asked why so much publicity had been given to College Daze. So you see it is all a matter of viewpoint.)
Interpretive Article
Democracy In South America Is Not the Sort Known Here
Cuban history has been so marked by revolutions that when Fulgencio Batista overtook the dictatorship of that country recently, its people didn't seem particularly disturbed.
its people didn't seem particularly Perhaps the answer to why Cubans were not too upset when Gen. Batista put Carlos Prio out of the presidency lies in the fact that seven years of riotously rotten government may have lost their incentive to fight for democracy.
Although it is a revolutionary country, the revolutions have not brought great social changes. The social changes occurred in between revolutions while the changes in government occurred with the revolutions.
Another Central American country in which the people were the subject of recent controversy is Guatemala.
A September tropical hurricane practically destroyed the banana plantation of the United Fruit company at Tiquisate, Guatemala. A year and $10,000,000 were needed to restore it. United Fruit, influenced by the Communist labor movement and government, decided against taking the risk. One-half of the 7,000 Guatemalan employees were discharged.
United Fruit later was ordered by a labor court to hire the dismissed workers and give them $650,000 back pay. The company refused and the court consequently ordered its property sold at auction.
Rather than lose its property, United Fruit agreed to res plantation work, rehire the workers and pay them the $650,000 on an interest plan spread into 1954.
The union accepted the three-year contract with a no wage increase during the period and a no strike pledge.
Latin American countries have a democracy of a sort, but it isn't what we would consider an enjoyable democracy. However, the United States cannot establish a democracy for Latin America. It must come from within—Helen Lou Fry.
Comments
FIRM LINE AT PITT . .
When Dr. George Counts, a Columbia university professor, was asked to speak at the University of Pittsburgh, several organizations led by a local minister protested. Counts, they said, has been affiliated with 19 Communist front groups.
Replied the university, "The attempt . . . to muzzle Counts is contrary to the whole thesis of American democracy, the right to express all viewpoints." Dr. Counts' speech came off on schedule.
A CLEAN RACE . . .
The rowing team at Cornell University was stopped cold last week by a whirl of suds.
A prankster had poured some Vel soap into the practice tank, and the harder the team rowed, the more suds they churned up.
WEDDING
Invitations-Announcements
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