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Monday, Nov. 3, 1997
David Keith / KANSAN
Education proves too difficult for children of social experiment
Now that midterms are for the most part over, let the horror stories begin.
No, I don't want to hear about the professors who printed every other page upside down or those ambiguous essay questions tacked onto Western Civ tests. I've only been around four and a half semesters, but believe me, I've heard it all.
The horror stories I'm talking about take place after the test is returned. What's scary about them isn't the toughness of the tests or the length of the short-answer sections, it's the reactions of the students.
You know what I'm talking about. The professor distributes the tests, scores plainly marked in foreboding red ink with that tight, occasionally erratic circle that is the professor's only emotional outlet for that entire semester. I've seen the most easygoing teachers almost tear the paper with the pent-up frustration
Andrew Rohrback
opinion@kansan.co
it goes into marking those tests. Where does that frustration come from? Most of it comes from the gripe session which is about to begin after those papers are handed back.
Unfortunately, it's often the most caring professors who pay the most severe price. They start off class by asking, "So, did anyone have any questions after the test?"
That guy you saw being dragged home unconscious from the Granada the night before the test raises his hand.
"Yeah, I was like, wondering, why none of this was covered in class?" he mumbles.
"Well," the teacher answers, trying to put things as delicately as possible, "every question comes from the material I wrote on the board."
Granada Boy's girlfriend raises her hand next. "So are you saying that all we did on this test was regurgitate the stuff you talked about?"
A murmur runs through the back four or five rows of the class.
"Yeah, I mean, who cares about all these names, dates and whatever? I mean, like, how does this affect me —" Granada Boy invokes the mantra of the modern student — "in Real Life?"
Apparently "real life" is a place where you don't actually have to know anything.
"Yeah, you know, I just felt like we were just regurgitating everything from the book," another lost soul
By now, the classroom has descended into prof.bashing, a social disease that no one wants to talk about. Essentially, it's a blamefest in which each person wants to absolve himself of any responsibility for his grade. In retrospect, it's depressing, but when the heat of battle surrounds you, it's difficult not to succumb.
You wonder if that person even bought the book.
The fact is, most of these prof-bashers wouldn't recognize the Real World if it fell into their cafe latte during the MTV series. It's pathetic, but we should have seen it coming.
Our generation is the victim of a nationwide experiment to which none of us consented. Sometime during our childhood, someone decided that actual knowledge wasn't all that important. How many of us haven't heard that adage, "it's not what you learn, it's whether you learn how to learn"?
No one questioned it. It seemed so positive, so affirming, so progressive. No more rote memorization or recitation. No more multiple-choice quizzes. No more embarrassment.
Now, people are starting to realize that there is a place for memorization and head knowledge. There's value in knowing who invented the light bulb and in what year the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. We can't progress in learning at the expense of the knowledge we already have.
So us children of the '70s and '80s are stuck in the middle. We're not used to memorizing and studying specific facts. We'd rather discuss our opinions and talk about the Real World. But our teachers know that both types of knowledge — application and memorization — have value.
For those of you still complaining to your professor that the midterm was too hard, I've got a surprise: in the Real World, what you know means something. Practical knowledge is important, sure, but factual knowledge comes in handy as well. Even if you never use it, you're better off knowing it.
If you're frustrated because your professor asks questions right out of the lecture notes, try coming to class. Try taking notes. Try studying instead of staying up for the 11-hour "Road Rules" marathon. If that doesn't work, then — and only then — do you have any right to complain.
Kansan staff
Good luck making yourself heard over all your fellow students who are still battling hangovers from their "study break."
Rohrback is an Andover junior
korrback is an Amateur in journalism.
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Broaden your mind:
"The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything."
—Edward John Phelps, 1822-1900
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Viewpoints
Recognize diversity but fight racist proposal
For those of you who don't pay attention to the tomfoolery that is Student Senate, you may be unaware of a new proposal to add another requirement for graduation. The
Andy
Obermueler
andvo@kansan.com
change would mandate that all students complete a course that meets a diversity requirement, in addition to the non-Western culture class that some majors require.
Most of us come to college to get a degree that we will use in, not professional careers, not necessarily to become world citizens. We should not automatically be thought of as hood-wearing racists when we arrive, which is the assertion of
This course also could meet other requirements, such as required English hours, for example, and would not necessarily take away from any elective hours that students may take.
Multiculturalism, diversity and political correctness lambaste college students from day one. The idea of multiculturalism often is promulgated by the same people who complain about the racism of Columbus Day, the national anthem, and who say "herstory" instead of "history."
anyone who suggests a required diversity class. I'm not at all against other cultures — in fact, the converse of that is true — but I am against any movement that tells me how to broaden myself and compells others to do the same.
Sarcasm aside, the idea behind the requirement and behind multiculturalism in general is to end racism and build tolerance. Fine. Some proponents contend that hate crimes will decline if people are more educated about other groups and that students will fare better in the diverse world if they already have been exposed to other ways of thinking.
(People in college probably aren't likely to be the folks you see painting swastikas on overpasses anyway.)
But it is wrong to think that racism is simply favoring one race over another. Rather, racism is the notion that your race determines who you are, not the choices you make and the things you do. Ethnic courses, racial quotas in hiring and admissions and the like conclude that people are not individuals, only representatives of their race.
We are individuals first. As individuals, we may be Black or Hispanic or even Republicans, but it is the individual that must first be recognized. Individuals exercise their free will to make decisions — they don't rely on some sort of cultural groupthink.
The writer also decried the fact that several of his English classes that focused on race were taught by white women and that the classes were filled with white kids. This was not the experience the writer was looking for. Why? Could he not learn about a culture from an instructor who was not a member of a minority group? Could a class of white students not foster an environment in which such subjects could be objectively considered? Anyone who answers no to either question is a racist.
Spending four years in major-related classes instead of diversity-oriented classes doesn't mean that we are belltitting — the buzzword is marginalizing — or even ignoring other cultures, it just means that we are focusing on the task at hand, whether we seek a degree in business or English or whatever. Choosing to make yourself employable after you leave Mt. Oread is not inherently racist. Taking a class where race is central to thought and discussion, however, is.
Another contributor said that the issue needed to be considered from the African-American point of view. That's exactly wrong; there is no African-American point of view, there are only African-Americans with a point of view. And it is distinctive and unique, not the same as every other African American's. Broad statements about a group usually are called stereotypes.
Multiculturalism encourages the celebration of racial differences, which makes race central and thus breeds separatism. You cannot say that identity is determined by color and at the same time expect to teach people not to see color first. You can't preach collective identity and still expect people to focus on individualism.
A recent posting on a listserv discussion about the diversity requirement featured the comment that we shouldn't have a diversity requirement until we have more diverse faculty. This is racism. The notion that a white person can only teach white man's subjects (or indeed, that there even are 'white man's subjects') is the same as saying that an immigrant couldn't teach English or American Studies class, just like it would be sexist to say that a man couldn't teach a women's studies course.
UCLA, according to its General Catalog, has no higher priority than to advance the ethnic diversity of its students, faculty, staff and administrators. The highest priority however, should be personal development and education, not diversity.
Calvin Trillin once said that it's best to discuss this such ideas and people without using words like "nutso" and "wacko."
But in this case.he was wrong
Obermueller is a Liberal, Kan., senior in journalism.
GTA coalition's strength will increase with numbers
Two summers ago I had the second most challenging organizing experience in my life.I worked with the Service Employees International Union in
Denver encouraging mostly Mexican janitors, many of whom were undocumented, to stand together and improve their wages and working conditions.
The biggest challenge for me is being a college educator in white male and North American — was to overcome the barriers of fear and distrust between the janitors and myself. After all, many of
Mark Horowitz
opinion@kansan.com
the workers had fled profoundly disadvantaged circumstances and substantially lower wages than the minimum wage here in the States. Why should they risk being fired — or deported for that matter — by following the advice of a "gringo" with a union card?
I was most successful in organizing the janitors in Denver when I was able to gain their trust. To do so, I needed to communicate to them that they were not alone in their struggle for better working conditions and respect. They did not need to passively accept the conditions set by janitorial contractors. Indeed, through solidarity and collective action they could exercise some control over their livelihoods and develop their own capacities as well.
After my Denver experience, I assumed that organizing KU GTAs would be a comparative cake walk. I was wrong. Organizing GTAs has proven even more challenging. In Denver I had to foster trust by overcoming certain cultural barriers. Here I encounter a different form of cultural resistance — a kind of inchoate anxiety about unions in general.
To be sure, the union, like other organizations, requires resources to survive. Yet the benefits of supporting our coalition outweigh the costs, which are $5 per biweekly pay period deducted automatically
from our pavchecks.
Although I'm inspired by the approximately 70 GTAs that have joined our coalition since September, I am intrigued by the diversity of reasons people choose not to join. The reasons are manifold: from concerns about disturbing the "laws" of supply and demand by raising the costs of GTAs, to the more direct, "my spouse won't let me." It was refreshing to hear one GTA honestly concede to me that he couldn't pass up a monthly meal at Chili's — a cost roughly equivalent to GTAC's $10 monthly dues.
Although the contract is not stellar, it does provide concrete benefits for all GTAs starting next semester. The fee waiver alone that we won in our contract is worth $90 per semester, almost double our coalition's organizational dues.
Let me call right now for all GTAs to pass up a monthly meal on the town and join their GTA Coalition. GTAS have fought for more than five years to establish our union
— one of more than a dozen and win our first contract.
I should add that our goals are not unreasonable. KU GTAs deserve, for example, comparable health care benefits to those offered to GTAs at Iowa, Oregon, Michigan, Wisconsin, etc. Indeed, not offering benefits may undermine the University's competitiveness in attracting high-quality GTAs in the future. This is one reason why the administration and GTAC are working together on this issue vis-a-vis the State's Health Care Commission.
OK. We're not auto workers. And we're not undocumented janitors. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't stand together and protect our working conditions. I witnessed the unity of janitors translate into a much better contract with improved benefits and wages. Such janitors took great risks in fighting for more than $5 an hour. I hope you'll take virtually no risk at the cost of $5 per paycheck.
Horowitz is a Springfield, Mass., graduate student in sociology and the organizer for GTAC.