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University Daily Kansan
Opinion
Thursday, Sept 12, 1985
The hastily prepared, barely remembered teacher evaluations that students filled out at semester's end are now put to use.
Evaluating for students
Administrators use the forms to determine whether a professor receives tenure. Some departments also use them to make decisions on a professor's merit pay. Students, however, are rarely aware of this.
Ideally, teacher evaluations could benefit the entire University. They could help administrators judge a teacher's performance, help instructors judge the effectiveness of their teaching methods and help students select courses.
The present system adequately meets the first two needs, but ignores the last.
That has not always been the case. During the 1970s, Student Senate and Curriculum and Instruction Survey published evaluation results. This ended because of the cost and because not all professors participated.
Now, unfortunately, the information provided by students has become unavailable for use by their peers.
When students write their schedules in the spring and fall, they often face a bewildering array of choices. Advisers, word of mouth and a little research can help in choosing classes.
The cost of both compiling and publishing the information is the greatest drawback
Publication costs could be held down by printing only a few copies and making them available at the libraries' reserve desks.
The advantages of publishing the evaluations are difficult to assess. Whether it can reduce the long lines that weave through the enrollment center or increase student satisfaction in their courses are intangibles that are impossible to measure.
A published collection of course descriptions and teacher evaluations, distributed before enrollment, would provide this information for those who chose to make use of it.
Teachers in Kansas schools might desire a moment of silence, or at least some peace and quiet. But they apparently are wary of a Kansas law that provides for a moment of silence for prayer or silent reflection.
But if a purpose of the University is to give students information to use as they see fit, the published evaluations fit right in.
A moment of silence
The law survived scrutiny by Attorney General Robert Stephan after the U.S. Supreme Court in June struck down an Alabama law authorizing a daily period of silence in public schools.
School officials said recently that they didn't know of a school district in the state that took advantage of the law and observed a formal moment of silence.
Stephan said that the Kansas statute was in full compliance with the Supreme Court's decision.
Maybe so. But to designate a specific time for silent prayer or reflection, as the Kansas
statute does, risks the intrusion of religion into the schools.
Whether a formal period of silence is for religious or secular purposes, it has no place in the schools.
The danger comes when a school district or a teacher designates a specific time for a public demonstration of faith. The Alabama law did so explicitly. The Kansas law allows for the possibility.
Silent reflection is available to any student at any time. Silent prayers, as our private thoughts, can never be regulated.
Any law that permits such a practice should be abolished. Kansas teachers should be praised for not taking advantage of the current law. Perhaps they realize that a more fruitful period of silence occurs when students are learning to read.
Media warriors
Mikhail Gorbachev has shown again that he knows how to use Western media. Ronald Reagan wants to show that he still knows how. As they continue to posture, opportunities for better relations may slide away.
Gorbachev's meeting last week with eight U.S. senators also fits in the picture he is painting. That picture depicts the Soviet Union as seriously interested in peace if only the Reagan administration would cooperate.
In the background of that picture is the summit on Nov. 19 and 20 in Geneva, Switzerland.
Gorbachev recently allowed his first direct contact with journalists from the West since he took over the leadership of the Soviet Union. It came in an impressive and provocative interview with several important news officials of Time magazine.
Reagan, for his part, has disclosed an earlier request to appear on Soviet television. The Kremlin is unlikely to allow that to happen on suitable terms. The disclosure was made for its domestic political value, to gain sympathy for Reagan as he goes to the summit.
We can understand both leaders' efforts to polish their public images. That is part of politics and diplomacy.
But a lot more is at stake in the summit than political images and careers. The best hope, that Gorbachev and Reagan will negotiate seriously, lies in the refusal of people in the West to accept anything less.
That is why the public must not be taken in by pre-summit posturing. Public pressure must demonstrate to both leaders that serious negotiation is expected.
Rob Karwath
Editor
John Hanna Michael Totty
Managing editor Editorial editor
Lauretta McMillen
Campus editor
Susanne Shaw
General manager, news adviser
Duncan Calhoun Business manager
Brette McCabe Sue Johnson
Retail sales Campus sale
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John Oberzan
Sales and marketing adviser
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Museum heights don't daunt roofers
"It seems like they enjoy the danger," he said. "I'm like you. I think it's scary up there."
Not all of Ward's work has been on roofing, however. He's worked some steel-frame buildings.
Fear doesn't ground aerial crew
Once again, my fear of heights has challenged me.
Every day I walk by the Museum of Natural History, where a construction crew has been re-tiling the tower. Every day I cringe to see someone working so far off the ground with so little underneath him.
So I asked Ward about the frame of mind it takes to work high-altitude construction. He's worked at both ends of the crane and he prefers to leave the too end to other workers.
It's 125 feet from the ground to the tower's tip, says Larry Ward, the crane operator. Ward works for Burke Crane Rental of Wichita, and he has 160 feet of boom on the crane.
Those numbers are literally staggering to a person like me who looks before stepping off a curb. My head is lowered down the middle of a long stairwell
"All the ironworkers I've met are pretty wild, crazy people," he said. "It takes that. It may take that breed."
That made me feel a little justified about my fear, so I tried another idea. I'm of slight build — don't make me admit to skinny — so I asked Ward if people of heavier buildings were steadier up high. I was wrong.
"The best ironworkers I've seen have been thin and small." Ward said. "Some other guys are top-heavy."
So all you sane, fat acrophobes have two excuses. I have one. At most.
I talked to Randy Cummings, one of the roofers, about what it took to work on places like the museum tower. He didn't seem to understand what the problem was.
"If we're working with good material and a good crane operator, I feel safe," he said.
Cummings, who works for Gooch Roofs Co. of Denison, said each
Dan Howell Staff columnist
worker learned what felt safe and worked within that.
"How much it takes to feel not secure is the limit of what you can do," he said.
He said it took about three seconds for an object dropped from the tower to hit the ground. To him that is a fact. To me, it's the stuff nightmares are made of.
The wind obviously is a danger, but I was surprised when Ward said it had to blow about 20 mph before extra precautions were needed.
It wasn't the only point on which I was corrected. Cummings said quite a few high-altitude workers, including his brother, were married. He also said he wasn't looking just to make some big bucks and then get out of that line of work.
"I hate looking for work," he said.
"It's good to have a job. A lot of people don't."
That's what confirmed to me that takes a special mentality to do such work. To me, working on such a tower would be like the Navy: "It's not just a job. It's an adventure." Or, a torture.
I can handle heights if I'm inside, as in an airplane or the Washington Monument. Mountains and canyons sit on its surface; it's so wide open, I lose perspective.
The Gateway Arch was tough, too. It swains and feels open. Looking through the horizontal glass 600 feet down to the sidewalk was hard. But did it, I'm fearful, but I try to confront my fear and defeat it.
Well, up to a point. I can't look at a roofing job. I'm not get on a roller coaster. And I haven't found a ladder and keep both hands on the ladder.
I have, however, found a renewed appreciation of people who make their livings working high off the ground. I'm glad somebody can.
False alarm drills residents at 2 a.m.
A loud noise every half-second tells the world the game show contestant lost again.
But no, one who lends a closer ear
finds it is the horrible fire alarm. Not
a ringing telephone, not a lovely note
held for 48 counts, but rather an
off-and-on disturbing sound. Almost
as if there really were a reason to run
for your life.
With a half-hearted attempt to find a few wadded clothes, those first pleasant words fly at ceiling level to a sleeping roommate.
It seems hard enough remembering where one's leg ends and a foot begins, but the keys must be found and the door needs to be unlocked.
Forget the fire of fire, nonexistent, as one soon learns. Fire cannot possibly happen. Fire does not exist.
The hallway, now littered with half-dazed, unconcerned tenants, burps and bellows the impending danger; "Get Your Clothes On Before The Firemen Come And See You Half-Naked."
Kimberly Hurley
Staff columnist
Staring ahead at the stairway door, one desires to dig a hole and take a trip to China. Many consider strangling this fraudulent firestarter. Any means to deform, mar, or sever this person's life from the present.
This certainly is the act of one with less maturity than most. Perhaps one of the shiny white moons encountered (not by choice) on the way to class might belong to this wanted person. Oh, only if the hippo gym teacher from "Porky's" were here to identify that certain mole.
The stairway door opens to congestion beyond relief, unless a very large plumber with a stairwell-plunger decided to come calling at 2 a.m.
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Outside, fans gather at the fifty- yard line, or what was once the curb. Scalpers stand on the sidewalk, awaiting P.T. Barnum's suckers, but do not make money. This show is free.
Lights invariably flash on and from floor to floor: "Third's okay," is heard above the gries for pillows, Nyol, and the complaints of someone who remembers that confacts weren't meant to be slept with.
Red lights force their way into already-bloodshot pupils as firemen begrudgingly drag shovels and axes used to conquer nothing more than heavy air.
A photographer shoots bodies on the ground, indecently exposing terrycloth cloth bathrobes and sponge curlers. Someone asks the photographer where he was during the last fire alarm. Another, in hopes of capturing this great moment in a college career, yells "Party pics!"
A half-hour passes. Eyes begin to open, fighting against gravity, which tells them it is still night. More false alarms. No, you can't go in yet. Some wait instinctively, knowing when it will soon be all clear. And soon it is.
Run, run to the stairwell. See who can be the first to get trampled beyond recognition. Make it a true disaster. Make it memorable.
Second floor appears. People begin to leave the parade. Seven comes with many "Thank gawds," many collapsed knees.
Laughter, for the first time tonight,
echoes around ideas of capturing this
arson-tricker. Ideas of ink, nets,
nooses, guns, bombs, anything to let
sleeping students rest.
Doors close themselves. The halls are silent after ten minutes of yelling and calming down.
And it becomes another statistic. Another decrease in the number of false fire alarms.
Preserve Titanic as watery landmark
The Titanic has been found.
Last week a small robot submarine with special sonar equipment located the ill-fated vessel that sank more than seventy years ago on its malden voyage.
Robert Ballard, a marine scientist in charge of the expedition, said the ship was marvelously well preserved. He said he hoped that it could be declared an underwater memorial for the 1,503 passengers who died when the ship sank.
Ballard's hope is commendable. For the many people who died on the Titanic, the ship was their final resting place. There they were laid to rest, on the calm, undisturbed ocean floor. There they should remain.
'It should remain as a memorial to man's vain pride that he could build a ship of such strength and power that it was beyond nature.'
To try to raise and salvage the ship would be no different than digging up a long buried coffin to view its contents today. Who of us would be willing to do that?
Evidently Jack Grimm, the Texas oilman who financed several expeditions to look for the ship, would argue with this logic. He said last week that he would make an attempt to salvage the ship.
And others are making similar declarations. On Monday, other salvage experts were offering proposals to float the Titanic to the surface, using everything from Vaseline to liquid nitrogen. But so far, no one has given a truly valid reason for raising the ship.
One of the experts said his proposal would represent a step forward for the prestige of British science.
So this man warns to raise the ship to promote British honor. How very admirable.
And what other reasons are there to float this nearly forgotten relic? For the valuables on board? Diamonds supposedly worth $7 million are
Gina Kellogg Staff Columnist
Yet Grimm still hopes to recover the ship.
said to be stored in the ship's strong room. However, Ballard called it "financially stupid" to try to regain any of these jewels.
"It would be ridiculous for anyone to try and recover the wealth on board," he said. "I can't believe the wealth would equal the cost to get it."
Perhaps Grimm's purpose is to put the ship on display for the public. He could advertise: "Come see the ship that wouldn't sink! See the site where more than 1,500 people fought for their lives, in the ice North Atlantic
Besides, no one has yet proven that the jewels actually were on the ship. The Titanic Historical Society has denied that there are any jewels on board.
waters, before succumbing to their agonizing death! Walk on its deck and experience for yourself this horrible disaster!"
No doubt he would get more than a few thrill seekers — the same people who visit the Hyatt Regency hotel in Kansas City, Mo., and gape in athe rebuilt walkways and look to see whether there are blood stains on the floor.
Couldn't these people with their grandlose ideas find a better use for their money than to disturb this ocean reloi? Were they all sleeping during Jerry's telephony?
Attempts by Grimm and the others to raise the ship only mimic man's original, arrogant efforts to build it. These efforts deserve to share the Titanic's grave.
No, the Titanic should not be raised. It should remain on the ocean floor as a memorial — a memorial to man's vain pride that he could build a ship of such strength and power that it was beyond nature, and to those people who perished for that pride.
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