EngineersAidVietNam
Rv Howard Pankratz
The Agency for International Development (AID) means a lot to C. B. Hagar, Sterling junior. His father, M. C. Hagar, is an engineer for AID in South Viet Nam and has been giving the villages of Viet Nam the water and sewage systems they've lacked.
SpeedReading Aids Students
"I can't ever remember actually learning to read. I must have begun from comic books—I had over a thousand comics before starting to kindergarten," said Larry Parker, Kansas City junior, who reads novels at 3,000 words a minute.
Parker now in his second six-weeks session at the Rending and Study Skills Laboratory, goes through fiction at the rate of 3,500 words a minute and reads up to 1,500 words a minute with 160 per cent comprehension.
"I would like to get up to 5,000 words in fiction, but right now the machines in the lab cannot calculate any rate over 3,000," he said.
ONE OF THE FASTEST students in the history of the Reading Lab, Parker reads about eight times faster than the average college senior.
With some difficulty, Parker explained that he races down a page, just getting the details. His mind automatically organizes the sentences and fills in the missing words.
Because the process is automatic and the speed reader is unaware of his actual mental processes, it is difficult to explain how one reads so rapidly.
PARKER SAID THAT his speed increases as he continues to read. It takes him a few minutes to warm up.
He felt restricted in grade school when he had to read simple stories like, "The dog runs. See the dog run. Run dog, run."
"Grade schools should have reading labs." Parker said. "A youngster should not have to read first grade primers when he is capable of more advanced reading."
Parker stated that almost anyone can double his reading speed after one session of six weeks at the reading laboratory. Many students, Parker said, could read much faster, but they are too lazy to move their eyes rapidly.
Study Lab Offers Help
"I am afraid most students think we just teach rapid reading here, but many students could help their grades, find more free time, and enjoy their classes more by taking one of our study skills courses," Bill Antoine, instructor at the Reading and Study Skills Laboratory, said.
Antoine said that each student should take a few minutes and define, to himself, his reasons for coming to KU.
"If a student can see something for himself in the future, if he has a goal, then what he is doing now and the courses he is taking will seem more meaningful," he said. "By the time a person enters college he ought to have at least a general idea of where he is going with his education."
A STUDY SKILLS session, consisting of 12 meetings during a six-weeks period, gives the student the opportunity to think about and to define his goal.
This non-credit course is centered around informal discussions where the instructor stimulates the students to talk about and to solve their personal study problems.
Hagar, along with other experienced engineers under contract to AID, has attempted to gain the goodwill of the Vietnamese people for both himself and his country.
No more than 12 students are allowed to enroll in one class. Individual counseling is available to those that request it.
"What he attempts to do is see that not only the Vietnamese learn to run the systems but learn to build such systems themselves," said the younger Hagar.
HIS FATHER is advisor to seven engineers. As a plant is being built, he watches their work and trains a local Vietnamese, whose only requirement is an average intelligence, to run the plant.
Most Vietnamese engineers are being trained in the United States at present, and the Hagars were host to one for two weeks last year.
Unfortunately, as the war has intensified, the engineers of AID have been forced to stay in large cities with only occasional trips into the country.
"BEECAUSE AMERICANS paid more than anybody else, local labor was easily obtained. But this local labor could be infiltrated by Communists with either sabotage or kidnapping on their minds. Three or four engineers were kidnapped and only one was ever seen again." Hagar said.
His father checks with army intelligence before venturing out into the country. If there is a possibility that communists might be around, he takes two Vietnamese soldiers with him.
"Once he was checking a dam in an area which intelligence said was clear of guerrillas. As he and his interpreter walked across the dam, they heard little pings and saw splashes on the water. They dived off the dam and made it back to their jeep in record time. Intelligence wasn't too reliable." laughed Hagar.
AFTER CHRISTMAS and four weeks in the states, Hagar's father hopes to start his third tour. The people and country are
very appealing. The only dissenting voice has been that of Mrs. Hagar who also likes Viet Nam but would like to see more of her husband.
"Mom was moved out in February along with the rest of the dependents. She might go back with him if dad works for a private firm. If he goes back under government contract, she can't," said Hagar.
In the beginning, most AID engineers were married but as dependents were moved, single engineers became the rule rather than the exception. Those having wives left them in Bangkok, Thailand, and fly there for the weekend.
"As far as the war, my father supports it all the way. If there is victory, it is going to be more than simply a military victory. Viet Nam will be able to stand on its own force because of the institutions and organizations which are there now and which are being organized." Hagar said.
"AS FAR as demonstrations, he told me he better not catch me in any," Hagar said. "The engineers are not affected as badly by the demonstrations as the soldiers. One evening, dad spent a half hour with a young army sentry who was disheartened because of U.S. demonstrations. He tried to convince the boy that they were being conducted by a minority. The boy cheered up but it hits them pretty hard." Hagar added.
What does an AID engineer do in his spare time? Hagar smiled faintly and said, "Ever heard of all the bars in Saigon? Well, dad doesn't drink, so that's out. He spends most of his spare time with religious duties. He's on the board of the nondenominational protestant church in Saigon."
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