MAKING THE GRADE-XIII
GPA only visible yardstick
(Editor's note; This is one of a series of articles about grades and grading systems at KU and the problems they create.)
By Diane Seaver
The typical college graduate has only one evidence of his ability to succeed—his grade point average. This artificial rating system is the only all-inclusive index available of the student's college work.
Yet there is still hope of getting a job for the student who fell below the class median.
Grades are the rating system this university has chosen to use and as such are considered very seriously by those who offer jobs to students. The employer is interested in the GPA and equally interested in the conditions that explain the grades.
RECRUTTERS AGREE that to be fair to the student and their
business they must look at the "whole man." Whatever the field, the activities accompanying grades the trend of grades, the amount of working hours per week . . all influence grades and are used by the interviewers to spot the kind of people they want.
The all-importance of good grades is a myth. In journalism, for example, a degree is the faculty's certification that a student has passed at least minimum requirements.
Warren K. Agee, dean of the School of Journalism, said, "I am never asked for a transcript. Instead I often hear the question, 'Do you have a man who could handle the job?'
"I VALUE A TEACHER'S evaluation of the student in determining whether he could handle the job above the GPA. Good
grades indicate only the keenness of mind to recognize what is necessary to get a good grade," he said.
Opposed to the journalism field where grades are of little importance is the field of education. Because of the nature of the field, grades would logically carry the most weight in education.
THE GPA IS MOST important to college instructors but the GAP (geographical area preference) overshadows other factors for elementary and secondary school teachers, according to Herold G. Regler, head of the Educational Placement Bureau.
In education the student must have a 1.5 GPA to student teach. Student teaching is a prerequisite for a bachelor's degree, which a student must have to teach at any level. Regier said that "a procedure of natural selection operates to see who survives. Interviewers never see anyone that doesn't have a 1.5 GPA or better."
REGIER CONTINUED, "Interviewers judge a combination of the GPA, faculty recommendations, the student teaching grade and the student's reaction in the interview. But the schools that a student is interested in is determined by geographical preference.
"So many women come in saying that because their husband is in Medical or Law School or has a job in such-and-such a town, they have got to find a job in such-and-such town."
A man interviewing for the Cleveland, Ohio, school system said he looks for a high level of performance, especially in the area in which a student will teach. He tends to disregard low grades
in required courses and foreign languages.
IN THE TEACHING field, he said, scholarship is important after that "first job." It is significant for both promotions and job changes.
Besides the School of Education, good grades are vitally important in the School of Engineering and Architecture. Albert Palmerlee, in charge of placement for this school, said, "Our problem is not having enough students for the interviewers to contact."
He said the recruiters want technical knowledge as shown by a high GPA and a broad range of interests that would continue to grow and keep up with the profession.
See GPA p. 10
THE MAN INTERVIEWING
76th Year, No.138
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY kansan Serving KU for 76 of its 100 Years
LAWRENCE. KANSAS
WEATHER:
ON GRADES TO DRAFT
COOLER
Details on Page 10
Wednesday, May 18, 1966
Faculty petition Hitt
KU faculty members will present a petition to James K. Hitt, director of admissions and registrar, tomorrow morning at 10:30 am. protesting the administration
policy of supplying draft boards with details of students' grades.
with utensils.
Hamilton Salsich, assistant instructor of English who has put his name on the petition, said that
Doctors dissuade ASC 'smokers'
By Eric Morgenthaler
After hearing two speakers from the KU Medical Center (KUMC), the All Student Council (ASC) last night defeated by a 22-12 vote a resolution which would have petitioned the Board of Regents to rescind the ban on campus cigarette sales.
Dr. C. Arden Miller, dean of KUMC, and Dr. Max Berry, professor of surgery, addressed the Council on the effects of smoking and the reasoning behind the Regents' campus cigarette ban.
FOLLOWING THE TWO speeches, Council members debated the resolution for 20 minutes before the roll call vote was taken.
Dr. Berry told the ASC that cigarette smoking is an addiction fostered by advertising "which, at its best, is not altogether honest."
He described cigarette smoking as "the worst single health hazard in the world—and this is not an exaggeration.
"LUNG CANCER IS the most common fatal cancer among men," Dr. Berry said. "There is no other factor which contributes in any way as smoking cigarettes does."
Dr. Miller, explaining the reasons behind the Regents' ban, said that as the connection be-
so far 30 faculty members have signed and that he expects to have 55 names by tomorrow.
Salsich yesterday said the administration supplies draft boards with grade details, such as students' class rankings. This policy throws the burden onto instructors to decide what grade a student should have, while knowing that a poor grade may send the student to Viet Nam, he said.
See ASC p. 10
"THE GROUP SIGNING the petition does not believe the registrar's office should supply draft boards with any information without the students' request," he said.
SALSICH SAID THAT to some degree every KU professor is concerned about the grade and draft situation.
A grade should only be an indication of the student's performance in a class and should not be used to indicate the "expendability" of a man to society on the basis of a mark, Salsich said.
REPRESENTATIVES of those signing the petition will discuss the problem with Hitt Thursday when they present him with the document.
Police kill sniper and rescue girl
SHADE GAP, Pa. —(UPI)— Peggy Ann Bradnick, 17, was rescued unharmed by an assault force of 675 heavily armed men today and the deranged sniperkidnaper who held her captive for seven terrifying days in the rugged Tuscarora Mountains was shot to death.
The kidnaper, William D. Hollenbaugh, 44, an ex-convict who spent 13 years in a hospital for the criminally insane, was shot through the neck as he blasted away with a rifle at the attacking force. He shot and wounded a deputy sheriff.
Ruby is denied a new trial
AUSTIN, Tex. —(UPI)—The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied today a move to give condemned Jack Ruby a new trial on the ground that trial Judge Joe B. Brown had a personal interest because he was writing a book about the case.
HOLLENBAUGH, who shot FBI agent Terry Anderson to death Tuesday, died on the way to the Fulton County Medical Center at McConnellsburg, Pa., about eight miles south of here.
Peggy Ann and the wounded deputy sheriff, Francis Sharpe of Johnstown, Pa., were taken to the same hospital.
The girl was reported in "excellent physical condition" by a hospital spokesman. Sharpe was reported in fair condition with a wound of the abdomen, and immediately underwent surgery
PEGGY ANN, pretty, blue-eyed, brown-haired high school junior, was crying and appeared hysterical when members of the posse found her inside a small, ramshackle cabin near the top of one of the two peaks of Tuscarora Mountain.
Hollenbaugh, who for more than two years had terrorized this area with his sniper fire from ambush, seriously wounding at least two persons in that time, was cut down as he stood outside the cabin firing at the posse. He was shot by state police Cpl. Grant H. Mixell.
—Photos by Hector Olave
MIRROR, MIRROR—Patricia Anderson grimaces and grins as she watches herself sing "Baubles, Bangles and Beads" on last night's televised "Campus Talent '66" program.
Sne watcnea the snow along with 15 other girls in Gertrude Sellars Pearson Hall. Miss Anderson, White City freshman, and three other KU students performed with student entertainers from other Kansas colleges and universities in the hour-long program. "Once in a Lifetime" Patricia Wise, Oklahoma City, Okla., senior, with "Musetta's
The other KU students were Paul Hough, Topeka junior, singing "Once in a Lifetime," Patricia Wise, Oklahoma City, Okla., senior, with "Musetta's Waltz" and Irene Ballinger, Kansas City freshman, singing "Downtown."