Page 2
University Daily Kansan Tuesday, Feb. 9, 1960
Evaluation Sheets
Clifford S. Griffin, assistant professor of history, has taken a critical stand (UDK, Jan. 21) against student opinionnaires which are passed out to faculty members by the All Student Council just prior to final week.
1. He has little desire to see himself as others see him. A person who invites too much self-criticism ceases to be an individual. In essence, the evaluation sheets are an attempt to build conformity among the faculty.
Prof. Griffin stated several reasons for his dislike of the evaluation sheets;
4. The ASC scholarship committee does not send a covering letter to faculty members along with the questionnaire.
3. The opinionnaires attempt to make subjective opinion objective.
2. Students base their opinions of the instructor and the course upon immediate pleasure rather than long-range benefits.
5. Most students are not qualified to judge teaching procedures.
6. He was not asked politely to distribute the opionionnaires. In effect, he was ordered by the students.
Rudy Vondracek, Timken senior and chairman of the ASC, came to the defense of the course evaluation sheets (UDK, Jan. 22).
"The evaluation sheets are strictly a service extended to the educators and in turn benefit the students. The service is operated at the student level and is by no means compulsory. The teacher should sift the opinionnaires and determine whether the suggestions and criticism of his teaching methods are valid." Vondracek said.
He added that he does not see how the teacher can believe he is being forced to conform. Instructors should be able to subject themselves to the appraisals of others without fear of conforming.
We have several opinions on the evaluation sheets.
We feel that too much desire to act as others want us to act leads us up the well-beaten path to conformity. We respect Prof. Griffin's quest for individualism.
If a teacher feels the students in his class are not qualified to criticize his methods and the value of the course, he should not pass out the questionnaires. But what of the teacher who finds half his class prefers to sleep through his lectures? Or what of the teacher who is constantly faced with uninterested students? A little self appraisal wouldn't hurt him. If this type of teacher has been lecturing under these conditions for 20 years, he should be out selling insurance. He is obviously not succeeding in his chosen profession.
The ASC's evaluation sheets might help these teachers-if they are not already beyond help.
We disagree with Prof. Griffin when he cites the need for the ASC to send out a letter to the faculty members describing the purpose of the questionnaire. He should have read the first paragraph of the evaluation sheet:
"The faculty member who distributed this form has done so voluntarily, and not from an administrative request."
The individual is subjected to numerous outside pressures persuading him to conform to existing standards. To the conscientious teacher—one who is aware of his student's attitude toward a course—the evaluation sheets are such a persuader. What can a teacher learn from juggling 30 to 50 different questionnaires that he could not learn from observing his student's attitudes?
Then the question becomes: how much self-criticism should we invite before we become too conscious of our individual differences?
Prof. Griffin made a mistake when he distributed the questionnaires to his students. He should have aimed the forms at the nearest wastebasket. - Doug Yocom
Is Cuba Going Communist?
This is one of the questions to be discussed by Jules Dubois, Latin American correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, during his visit to the KU campus today, tomorrow and Thursday.
Is Fidel Castro's revolutionary Cuban government a haven for Reds and a Western beachhead for international communism?
He will give the 11th annual William Allen White lecture at 3 p.m. tomorrow as recipient of the William Allen White Foundation's 1960 national citation for journalistic merit.
Mr. Dubois and other United States newsmen have been under
Emphatic denials that Cuba is being influenced by international communism have been made by the Cuban government in reply to President Dwight D. Eisenhower's insinuations of such influence.
severe attack by Castro, the stormy and vitriolic premier of the Cuban republic, since Castro's forces forced out dictator Fulgencio Batista Jan. 1, 1959.
Cuban President Osvaldo Dorticos Torrado said in a nationwide TV-radio address that "our government laments the progressive worsening of relations with the United States government but we understand this is a direct result of the incomprehension shown with regard to the development and objectives of the Cuban revolution."
Dorticos' message was a reply to President Eisenhower's report to the American people on the Cuban situation after U.S. Ambassador to Cuba Philip W. Bonsal was called home from Havana to discuss deteriorating Cuban-U.S. relations.
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS By Dick Bibler
President Eisenhower said Jan. 26 that the "U.S. government has confidence in the ability of the Cuban government to recognize and defeat the intrigues of international communism, which are aimed at destroying democratic institutions in Cuba and the traditional and mutually beneficial friendship between the Cuban and American peoples."
I WOULD LIKE YOU 'RUSHEES TO SEE THAT GRACIOUS LIVING WE HAVE INSIDE, BUT THIS DELIGHTFUL SURPRISE COMES AFTER YOU FLEDGE.
the tempo of the talk about communist influence in Cuba picked up last week as Russian Deputy Premier Anastas Mikoyan arrived in Havana to officially open the Russian trade exposition.
There is much talk of possible trade of Cuban sugar for Russian machinery and farm implements. Castro's land reform program is badly in need of machinery and implements. European and U.S. credit sources are cracking down on Cuba. Russia may be willing to credit a trade deficit with Cuba toward the spread of communism into the Americas, with Cuba as a base.
His visit to the Cuban capitol was expected to mark the beginning of an era of good feeling between Russia and Cuba.
President Eisenhower's attitude toward Premier Castro's bitter anti-American public statements has been one of "be patient and hope for the best."
Cuba could be ruined economically if U.S. importation of Cuban sugar were halted. Premier Castro's reputation among his Latin American neighbors has slipped. Perhaps he realizes that his anti-American tantrums him nothing and that he should rather emphasize the positive aspects of the social and cultural reform of the 26th of July movement.
From Detroit University- White Shirts
Why don't we show school spirit?
Huh?—We ask you: why not?
One thoroughly delightful idea is that of making everybody sitting in a certain section of the Memorial Building wear a white shirt—preferably with noise maker in hand.
We need spirit!
Oh, do we need spirit!
Just think, a thousand or so U-Dites all dressed like altar boys. Think of the prestige—the morale.
U-D certainly has a lot to learn from the sports minded high schools.
For example, why couldn't we have some pep rallies. That would be lovely.
Perhaps U-D could have a student uniform, let's say white shirts or blouses and red pants or skirts. Another lovely idea.
Perhaps there could be a new rule that no one is allowed to talk in the Student Union unless it_is to sing the praises of the current (seasonal) U-D team.
We could start having gang fights with Wayne State and send forces up to Michigan and Michigan State to show that WE have got plenty of spirit.
There is only one little problem with the idea that will be put into practice at tonight's game.
Suppose there is an adult present? — Varsity News
From the News-stand
Institutional Scholar
"The institution of higher learning that wants to demonstrate how high its learning is tries to lure a scholar of high reputation by promising him unlimited opportunities for research—no teaching, frequent leave of absence, and money for books, microfilm, travel and research assistants. The scholar is set up like a "grande cocotte" to shed radiance exclusively on the lavish protector. It is but fair to add that the purchaser of these favours sincerely believes that the scholar's presence will bring the institution not only prestige but also some mysterious quality inherent in research. The students will benefit even though kept at arm's length; colleagues will be inspired, even though the scholar is on his travels; the whole tone of academic life will be raised by this tribute to scholarship, even though the purport of the work in progress is unknown.
"In a recent book which is itself a notable piece of research and which is called 'The Academic Marketplace,' Professors Theodore Caplow and Reece McGee, of Minnesota, describe the ordinary procedures by which scholars are chosen when they are not the 'great names' in the profession. What a man has written plays a major role in these decisions, too, for no department wants to take to its bosom someone who is not 'a productive scholar'; even if they did, his chances of being appointed by the central authority would be slight. Yet in more than 200 interviews with those responsible for such choices and appointments Professors Caplow and McGee did not find one man who confessed to having read the scholarly productions of the prospective appointee. The books and articles were submitted, glanced at, leafed through, weighed in the hand, but not read. It would be wrong to infer from this fact that American university professors do not really care for scholarship. They are passionate about it, obsessed with it; few instances are known of a true scholar's being left to languish in an inferior post. A young unknown who 'brings out a good book' will be dragged from his hinterland college and given a position in one closer to the limelight. But in spite of this theoretical and practical devotion, the arrangements in force to foster scholarship in America foster at the same time faddishness, lip-service, make-believe and a great deal of unnecessary publication."
(Excerpted from "Publish Or Perish." The Times Literary Supplement, Nov. 6, 1959.)
Dailu Hansan
University of Kansas student newspaper
Founded 1889, became biweekly 1904, triweekly 1908, daily Jan. 16, 1912.
Telephone VIking 3-2700
Extension 711, news room
Extension 376, business office
Member Inland Daily Press Association. Associated Collegiate Press. Represented by National Advertising Service, 420 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. News service: United Press International. Mail subscription rates: $3 a semester or $5 a year. Published in Lawrence, Kan., every afternoon during the university year except Saturdays and Sundays. University holidays, and examination periods. Entered as second-class matter Sept. 17, 1910, at Lawrence, Kan., post office under act of March 3, 1879.
NEWS DEPARTMENT
Jack Morton Managing Editor Ray Miller, Carol Heller, George DeBord and Carolyn Frailey, Assistant Managing Editors; Jane Boyd, City Editor; Ralph (Gabby) Wilson and Warren Haskins, Sports Editors; Carrie Edwards and Priscilla Burton, Society Editors.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Douglas Yocom and Jack Harrison ... Co-Editorial Editors
BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
Bruce Lewellyn Business Manager John Massa, Advertising Manager; Mark Dull, Promotion Manager; Dorothy Boiller, National Advertising Manager; Tom Schmitz, Circulation Manager; Martha Ornsby, Classified Advertising Manager.