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By ROB EMBERS
Poor writing skills concern profs
Staff Writer
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The Johnnies of this country, those unfortunate students who have been accused of being unable to write, apparently are enrolling in increasing numbers at the University. They are members and assistant instructors here don't agree on the cause of the increase
James Hartman, associate professor of English, said recently that there were probably more students who couldn't write well entering KU now than 12 years ago when he began teaching at KU. He said, "I don't think the number of students who are good writers."
But, George Worth, chairman of the English department, said he wasn't sure significance changed since he began teaching here 24 years ago.
TOMMY THINK Johnny's writing is that
way he was it was five years ago or 24
years ago.
Students' inability to write is a topic the media just want to bring up periodically,
The "literary crisis" in education has been fuelled by the steady drop in the average score on the verbal section of the scholastic Aptitude Test and a survey by the Association of American Publishers indicating that college freshmen read on what used to be considered a high school freshman level.
WORTH SAID he was aware of these figures, but attributed the increase in college students who couldn't write to a higher enrollment of students who wouldn't have gone to college several years ago. He said that because KU had always admitted and was taught in school graduate, there anyway were been many students with writing problems.
In an article in the September Harper's magazine, Gene Lyons, former English professor at Texas University, blamed university professors for not providing students with writing skills. Professors pay almost no attention to good writing, he said, and most are unwilling or unable to teach freshman and sonohome classes.
"ONE WONDERS about the logic of teachers who use incompetence and unwillingness to perform a task being paid by public funds to justify their elevation to a 'higher' level of activity," Lyon said in the article.
Worth disagreed with Lyons and said that he faculty at KU co-operated in teaching his courses.
"Here's a man making sweeping
Aid applications now available
Financial aid applications for the 1977-78 academic year are now available to all KU students in the Office of Student Financial Aid, in 26 Stong Hall.
Jeff Weinberg, associate director of financial aid, said yesterday that the University would have $2 million for scholarships and grants, $1.75 million for National Direct Student Loans and $300,000 for work-study allocations.
"The deadline for applications is February 15, so students should pick them up and fill out the Parent's Confidential form before them to us as soon as possible," he said.
statements about higher education on the basis of sweeping generalizations about one category.
About one-half of the full-time faculty in the KU English department are teaching freshman or sophomore courses, Hartman and Meyer also teach their turns in teaching beginner courses.
He said that this year more than 6,000 students received some type of financial aid and that he expected at least that many again for next year.
CHRISTI WEIDLING, assistant instructor in the department of English, said the quality of writing was definitely worse when she began teaching three years ago.
She said students tended to write too much sociological and governmental "gobbledecked." Students also overuse the passive voice in their writing, she said.
The English department has introduced a tutorial program to help students improve
Weidling said the program, called V-6.
began this year and was the only program like it she knew of in the country. Students in the program review enough basic grammar and composition to enable them to pass the introductory English courses, she said.
HARTMANN SAID the University should go so far in providing remedial help to them.
Minimum scholastic requirements should be maintained, he said, and students writing well below the college level should have a semester to "get their act together."
"We should lean in their direction," he said, "but we can't take over the high school."
High school teachers generally have too many students, Worth said, and can't give the individual attention students need to improve their writing skills.
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THE PAUL WINTER CONSORT! Saturday, Oct. 23
He said that the KU English department alone couldn't handle the task of teaching good writing, so other departments and in the University also should stress writing.
Hoch Auditorium 8:00
General Admission tickets $4.00 in advance, $5.00 at the door.
Available at SUA and Kief's.
Brought to you by Fool's Gold and SUA.
The quality of the introductory English course, English 101, has improved, Harold man said, and should do a better job at it. But, he added, problems will remain.
"There always have been people who couldn't write well," he said. "But now we are seeing upper-middle-class students who can't write."
In the Hillcrest Shopping Center —Dial 841-2629 (Next to the Theatres)
SINGLE MEN want to DATE more effectively? A
DATING WORKSHOP has been developed. Come and hear details:
4:30 or 5:30
Tues., Wed., Thurs., or Fri.
Oct. 12, 13, 14, or 15
Room 224 Fraser
(KU students
over 18 only)
And the heat goes on
The University heating system will be
continued to be uninspected weekly.
Buildings and Grounds set Oct. 15 as the tentative date for turning on the system, which heats main campus buildings and chairs in the scholarship halls on the east side of campus.
Holly Miley, supervisor of utilities, said
Tuesday that the system might not be turned on Friday in the temperature condition.
The heating system was turned on last Friday after the temperature dropped, Miley said, but it was turned off Monday. Activating the heating system is time consuming, he said, because each building must be turned on individually.
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