Page 12
University Daily Kansan
Fridav. Jan. 15, 1960
KU Not Ready for Selective Admission
(Editor's note: This is the first in a series of articles on education in American colleges and universities. Will there come a time when KU must eliminate low-level facilities? Who would be eliminated. How would they be eliminated?)
What facilities will we need in the future? How well prepared are high school students for the exceptional student? What progress is being made to meet these problems? These are some of the questions which are discussed in this article and those that follow.)
By Priscilla Burton
In the face of booming college enrollment and increasingly crowded facilities, there has been much discussion of whether selective admission policies should be saluted.
However, George B. Smith, dean of the University, has reported that a study of the effects of selective enrollment policies has shown that the loss of teachers, engineers, lawyers and doctors might well be too great to justify the use of such policies.
A leader in the field of educational testing has suggested that several forms of selection admission policies will be adopted.
Frank H. Bowles, the president of the College Entrance Examination Board, has suggested that closing dates for applications for
admission to college will be established. Next, geographical limitations on enrollment will be established, he said.
The College Entrance Examination Board is an organization that administers standardized tests used by many colleges to determine whether to admit an applicant. The student takes one test and results are sent to all colleges at which he has made application for admission.
Semi-Selective Devices
"A third form of restriction will be the introduction of semi-selective devices. They consist of passing the word from universities and colleges to secondary schools that students of such-and-such a variety, academically and intellectually speaking, need not bother to apply," Mr. Bowles said.
A fourth form of restriction of application will be the introduction of definitive selective devices, in the form of tests of either achievement or aptitude, or both, and of interviews, he said.
But setting up entrance requirements also sets up problems.
In a study of selective admission to college based on scores on the American Council of Education (A.C.E.) Psychological Examination, 1948 College Form, and the Cooperative English Test, Form OM, George B. Smith, dean of the University asks "Who would be eliminated?"
Dean Smith says in his report:
"It is also fair to repeat that if restriction for admission had been applied through the two tests used in this study, 250 graduates of the class of 1959 at the University of Kansas would not have been admitted as freshmen if the 'cutting score' of the fiftieth percentile had been in operation. (All students getting less than one half of the answers correct would be eliminated.)
"The loss to the state and nation would have been 65 teachers, 51 engineers, 4 lawyers, 2 doctors, 11 pharmacists and 91 graduates from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the School of Business who majored in areas where the supply of trained manpower is in equally short supply," the report states.
and technical institutes students have always been selected, he said.
"We sometimes have a hard time in selecting students for scholarships, such as the Summerfield. The Summerfield test is rigid, but we still make mistakes and let people in who shouldn't be and keep out some who should be included." Dean Smith said.
Selective examinations also present the problem of the test to be used. Depending on the test selected and the desires of the school, the tests may be slanted to get a particular type of student.
Tests Shouldn't Eliminate
Dean Smith's view is that the tests and examinations used for placement and guidance purposes are significant parts of the academic life of state systems of colleges and universities. But, they should not be used to eliminate students.
By using the data available for the classes of 1955, 1958, and 1959, and assuming that the classes of 1956 and 1957 would show similar patterns it appears that the loss would have been over 1,100 individuals in only five graduating classes, Dean Smith found.
Taxpayers, too, believe that a state supported college or university must offer equal opportunity to all.
There are already some definite semi-selective devices in operation either before or after a student reaches KU, he said.
"About 27.8 per cent of the students here were in the top 10 per cent of their high school graduating classes and 80 per cent of the students were in the upper one half of their high school graduating classes," Dean Smith stated.
The probation program is sometimes an elimination factor, too, he said. Also, the "survival of the fittest" is a selective factor.
Township Trustees Accused of Laxity
(Continued from rage 1.)
parkment was making the run. The person answering the township telephone was incoherent. The reply was not clear. Chief Miller hung up immediately so that the lines would be free for further calls."
Three core calls were received, the last one at 12:14 a.m. No fire trucks had arrived. Chief Miller called the township again and reported the fire.
"Township residents should not be too quick to criticize the operations of their department. It is unfortunate that the Wakarusa department waited until the last minute to organize, obtain their equipment, and start the training of their volunteers, but rural fire fighting begins with several handicaps.
"Since these fires, we have received several requests from Wakarusa residents for separate contracts with the city department for additional fire protection.
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TODAY
Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship, 7:30 p.m. p82 Miss. Bible study and refresh-
TOMOROW
German Ph. D. Reading Exam. 9 a.m.
MONDAY
The Annual PEO Founder's Day Lunch-
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Public Lecture. 426 Lindley. "Physi1e3 Properties of Sea Ice." Dr. Wilford Weeks, Assoc. Prof. of Geology, Washington University, St. Louis.
After love, book collecting is the most exhilarating sport of all — A. S. W. Rosenback
"The pumping capacity of the township's 500 gallon truck is 250 gallons a minute. This 500 gallons must suffice until more water is found in a cistern, farm pond, or water tank wagon.
"To complete this entirely too long report, I merely want to say that I still disagree with the Wakarusa township trustees as to the wisdom of establishing their own fire department, but I readily agree with their right to make this decision," he said.
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The loss would have been 202 teachers,176 engineers,22 journalists,32 lawyers,25 doctors,43 pharmacists,and 482 graduates of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the School of Business,he said.
"No one is saying we can't let everyone study past high school, but two reasons for selective admission may be the need for space and the desire for similar groups," Dean Smith said.
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