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University Daily Kansan Monday, April 28,1952
Editorials
Gives Answers to Cheating Problem
The report on the problem of classroom cheating made recently by the University of Wisconsin did more than point out what was wrong. It also presented several suggested improvements that would help correct the situation.
The principle faults named were that students were not sufficiently encouraged to grow up and develop an adult sense of responsibility, that students were developing a habit which might follow them throughout life, and that there was too sharp a difference between a student and a faculty member.
To correct these failings the student-faculty committee made the following recommendations: 1. Examinations representative of the objectives and subject matter covered in the courses.
2. Definite dishonesty punishment codes published before examinations.
3. Shorter examinations and an increased number of days for the examination period.
4. The essay type of exam or those which require each student to formulate his own ideas.
5. More proctors and more care in seeing that students cannot see textbooks and reference material during exams.
6. Passing out two sets of exams alternately, or presenting the same questions in different order on the exam papers.
7. Supplying all writing materials except pencils to students at the time of the exam.
8. Oral examinations whenever possible.
These suggestions may not be the ideal solutions to the problem of classroom cheating but certainly they are a step in the right direction. Certainly more representative examinations or the increased use of those which require the student to formulate his own ideas would make cheating more difficult and therefore make playing fair more rewarding.
Those faculty members who doubt that improvements are needed in the present system of giving examinations might take notice of one of the points made by the Wisconsin committee. It reported that "Student dishonesty during examinations is more prevalent than the faculty believes."
Tell me, prof, do you like to think that you are having the wool pulled over your eyes?
Interpretive Articles
Joe Taylor
Eisenhower-Taft Forces Clash In Massachusetts Primary
Tomorrow General Eisenhower and Senator Taft again will face each other in a contest of strength, as Massachusetts Republicans go to the polls to elect 10 delegates-at-large and 28 district delegates. Only this time the two men are meeting on completely equal terms.
The state GOP organization is resolutely neutral. Only one slate of delegates-at-large, acceptable to both Taft and Ike, has been entered. On this slate three men favor Taft, and three favor Ike. Four are uncommitted and are expected to follow the primary returns.
Massachusetts has become a Democratic state, and the Democratic organization under Gov. Paul Dever is united. But Ike is popular in Massachusetts and should Taft be able to carry the Bay state, he certainly isn't strong enough to drag the rest of the GOP ticket in with him. Therefore, it appears that the slate must be headed by the strongest possible presidential candidate.
In addition to the 33 delegates, there will be a place on the ballot where the voters can write in the name of the man they favor for the nomination. This is where the senator has a slight advantage, for his slate is clearly designated on the ballot as favoring him, whereas Ike's candidates are listed without any such identification.
Both political camps are urging voters to write in the names of Eisenhower and Taft in the place provided for designating a preference for president. Here Eisenhower has the edge, for nearly two-thirds of the city and town clerks in the state report that they will accept the write-in of "Ike" in this section of the ballot as a valid expression of the voter's preference for Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Interpretive Articles
In the opinion of Edmund V. Keville, executive director of the Eisenhower forces in Massachusetts, "Ike" is a universal equivalent for "Eisenhower" in the minds of the American people and should be constructed as a valid vote "because the name Ike" is nothing more nor less than a misspelling of the general's last name." And the statute regarding presidential preference voting in Massachusetts says that the inaccuracy of spelling is to be disregarded if the intent of the voter can be ascertained.
Taft has campaigned in his usual indefatigable manner. More than 30,000 persons gave him respectful attention on his three-day tour through 15 towns and communities. He finished his Massachusetts tour with no word of criticism for Ike. The adoption of this precaution was perhaps attributed to his New Hampshire failure.
There also has been a strong campaign movement accelerated on Ike's behalf by Senators Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and Leverett Saltonstall and by Rep. Christian A. Herter. Also campaigning for the general have been Sen. James A. Duff (Pa.), Rep. Walter H. Judd (Minn.) and Thurston B. Morton (Ky.), Gov. Alfred E. Driscoll (N.J.), Gov. Sherman Adams (N.H.), and Paul G. Hoffman, chairman of the Citizens Advisory Committee for Eisenhower. Ike's backers claim he will carry the write-in presidential preference poll and take 19 of the district delegates, winding up with anywhere from 20 to 26 of the 38-man slate.
The Taft strategists base their confidence on two points: (1) they believe Taft's forthright presentation of views has been effective, and (2) they regard this primary campaign as a prototype of the main election campaign of 1948 in which Truman stumped the country in a positive and determined manner, delivering forceful speeches of the same broad type Taft has been making. Basil Brewer, Taft's Massachusetts chairman, also has claimed 20 of the 38-man slate.
The Massachusetts test should be a good one, and a fair reflection of each candidate's strength. On the other hand, any effort to appraise the strength of either man in terms of votes in the primary would be purely speculative. For the first time in this year's campaign quest Americans must sit back and scratch their heads dubiously, and wait. —Dianne Stonebraker.
Letters:
Opposes Ostracism
Dear Sir:
I read with interest the article entitled "Students Find Out What Happens When They Break Conventions" in the Kansas April 22. The experiment was highly enlightening.
What I take issue with, however, are the reactions that occurred when the women wore colored socks. What kind of society has been set up here among the students when such a pieyayume and unimportant matter causes such examples of social ostracism? One of the experimenters was informed that she "would not be initiated into her sorority until she discarded the colored anklets."
Is any organization worth belonging to which demands such stupid and thoughtless obedience from its members? Are "friends" really worth having that will not speak because one is wearing colored anklets when convention decrees only white ones?
It is unimportant whether a student wears white or colored socks, but this brings an interesting point to mind.
The purpose of coming to a university is to learn to think for oneself and to decide what is the best, fairest, and most desirable course of action to take in any situation.
People are here to learn to do their own thinking. Yet here one of the most socially desirable institutions on the campus is dedicated to choking free decisions.
Americans have wondered how such people as the Germans could fall under the sway of a dictator, and how he could demand and get unquestioning obedience from a mass of people. Yet here in the U.S. the group being trained to be future leaders kow-tow to an absurd and meaningless convention.
It is a matter of some disappointment and disillusionment to find that people still care more for what their half-educated compatriots thing (I use the last word loosely) rather than what they think is the desirable thing to do.
In this case it was colored socks. The next time it might be something more important such as is it "socially desirable" to be seen with people of less "acceptable" races and religions.
William L. K. Schwarz college senior
A building project of "bomb ruins" is rising at Olney, Md., to instruct civilian defense volunteers in the best methods of rescue technique.
'Bomb Ruins' Built to Teach Civil Defense Rescue Plans
At the federal civil defense staff college at Olney, the government is spending about $200,000 on a street of ruins to be used in simulated disaster classes.
Five buildings representing a cross-section of American architecture, from a four-family brick house to a five-story reinforced concrete building, will be ready by July in their new but shattered shapes.
pipes requiring the use of gas masks, and live wires which give the careless trainee a mild shock.
To emphasize the most realistic destruction possible, the trainees will encounter, during a theoretical air attack and its consequent search for the victims," the sound of planes, exploding bombs and fires in the street. Once in the wrecked buildings, they will face jagged girders, tons of rubble, broken water mains flooding the basements, leaky gas
This project is a result of intensive planning. The irregularity of construction has required special skill because these "permanent wrecks" must be structurally sound models that will be put to constant use.
Civilian Defense Agency members traveled to Japan and Europe to view the results of bomb—and atom-scarred buildings. They also visited England's famous model "bombed village," Falfield, for ideas on the first U.S. rescue "street."
The builders of the project claim that it is more difficult than straight building because the substantial "alterations" must withstand continuous demonstrations. The steel beams, for instance, though twisted and broken must, at the same time, perform the load-bearing functions.-United Press.
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POGO and his friends