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University Daily Kansan
Friday, May 3, 1963
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KU Needs Stop Week
About three weeks from now a lot of KU students will wish they had begun this week to prepare for final examinations. But right now, with term papers due and those last hour examinations to prepare for and perhaps the Western Civilization examination to prepare for, not very many students will find time for review.
It is not the students whose last hour examinations and term papers are due this week, or even next week, who will suffer because of lack of preparation for final week. The ones who really will suffer are those who have two term papers due and three hour examinations during the last week of classes before final examinations begin. This may sound like an extreme example now, but schedules of this sort will not be uncommon.
OF COURSE, students who are overloaded with hour examinations and term papers during the last week of classes could write their papers earlier in the semester and begin preparation for those last-minute hour examinations a week early so only a brief review would be necessary during the last week. But not many will do this. For that matter, there are other hour examinations and term papers earlier in the semester that seem much more important at the time. And students must prepare for these before they can begin to give much consideration to work due the last week.
There is a way to bypass this situation. The last week before final examinations could be declared a "stop week." During such a week regular lecture and laboratory classes would be conducted, but all hour examinations, term papers and reading assignments would be suspended. The mad rush that usually is reserved for the last week would not be avoided. It simply would be one week earlier. This would give students time to catch their breath and begin to review in earnest during the week before final examinations without interference from last-minute assignments.
GIVEN THE assumption that a thorough review helps the student retain what he is supposed to have learned during the semester, it seems only logical to provide enough time for a good review. A stop week would provide this time.
The only instructors who would be inconvenienced by such a stop week are those who loaf along during the semester and then discover at the last minute that they must assign a term paper, an hour examination and 12 chapters in the text for the last week in order to complete the work they had outlined for the semester. Somehow, inconveniencing these instructors does not seem to be too great a sacrifice to make in return for the obvious advantages a stop week would have for students.
There is nothing unique about this idea. Other universities have made similar arrangements. KU could and should have a stop week too.
— Dennis Branstiter
"What Do You Mean, I Can't Take It With Me?"
©1962 HERBLOCK
THE WANKINGTON POST
KU Electrical Engineering Editor;
Letters to the Editor
Since Mr. Branstiter in his editorial of April 29 has mentioned the Electrical Engineering Department of the University of Kansas and its possible role in the location of the Western Electric plant in Lee's Summit, Missouri, I feel that I should be given the opportunity to present a few facts which may not be known to all of your readers.
By inference Mr. Branstiter implies that the KU Electrical Engineering Department is not renowned for research and mentions the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Michigan as examples of outstanding research oriented Universities. I feel strongly that the Electrical Engineering Department at KU ranks well research wise in comparison with other such departments in Big Eight schools. It is difficult for a comparatively small department such as ours to obtain equal footing with the very large departments in the Big Ten and West Coast schools. Our present
volume of sponsored research in the Electrical Engineering Department is about $150,000 per year and in the past eight years our volume approaches $1,000,000. This means that our research budget is slightly more than our teaching budget and a number of engineering educators feel that this represents the ideal balance between teaching and research. We do not wish to be in a position such that our research activities completely outweigh our teaching activities.
MR. BRANSTITTER claims that the University of Michigan by virtue of its respect helps draw research based industry to Michigan. I would certainly agree with Mr. Branstiter that the University of Michigan is one of the outstanding Universities in the country. Also I feel it has a very fine Electrical Engineering Department. On the other hand, the State of Michigan has been attracting a decreasing percentage of research and development based industry since World War II. The trend has been so pronounced that serious concern is felt in the State of Michigan and steps are being taken to change the pattern.
I should emphasize that the presence of a strong research oriented University in a given State or area is a necessary but not a sufficient condition to attract research based
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industry. The State of Illinois and the University of Illinois are in a position similar to that of Michigan.
The Western Electric Plant at Lee's Summit is a production plant. The Bell System research in this particular field of electrical engineering is done in the Allentown, Pennsylvania plant of Western Electric. The Lee's Summit plant will employ between 4,000 and 6,000 people within the next two years. We might as well face the fact that Lawrence is just too small to man a production operation of this size. The total labor force in Lawrence is about 12,000 and no company today would be willing to locate a plant in an area such that half of the available labor force would be required.
THE WESTERN Electric Plant does employ a fair number of electrical engineers and we in the Electrical Engineering Department have worked closely with the Western Electric people. At their request we have conducted several graduate level courses as well as
non credit continuing education type courses for the Western Electric engineers at the plant.
I personally feel that the presence of the University of Kansas including the Electrical Engineering Department in Lawrence was a factor in the site selection of the Western Electric Plant. Unfortunately in this case for the State of Kansas we are close to the Missouri line.
For several years we in the Electrical Engineering Department have been endeavoring to attract comparatively small electronic industry to the Lawrence area and we are hopeful that our efforts will be successful within a year or two. At present there are two such companies in Lawrence and we are confident that the number will grow.
In conclusion I strongly support Mr. Branstiter's main premise that an all-out effort is required if Kansas is to obtain its share of industrial growth.
W. P. Smith, Chairman Electrical Engineering Dept.
IT STARTED WHEN I WAS A LITTLE KID AND I
WAS PLAYING BALL AND I WAS IN A TIGHT
SPOT- SO INSIDE MY HEAD I BEGAN
ANNOUNCING MY WAY THROUGH
THE BALL GAME:" O.K. THE COUNT
IS THREE AND TWO JOEY STEPS
OUT OF THE BOX, DIGS A TOE
INTO THE DIRT. O.K.-HE'S
BACK IN NOW. WE CHECKS
THE RUNNERS. HE'S INTO
THE WIND UP. AND
HERE'S THE PITCH-"
EVER ANNOUNCED MY WAY THROUGH MY MARRIAGE:
"JOEY HAS NOTHING TO SAY. JOEY'S WIFE HAS
NOTHING TO SAY. JOEY'S FATHER-IN-LAW
SANS ISN'T IT THE YOU WERE MAKING
SERIOUS PLANS, JOEY? JOEY DIES A
TOE INDIE THE CARPET AND STARES
OUT THE WINDOW. JOEY'S LITTLE
BOY SAYS, FIX IT, DADDY."
The Hall Syndicate, Inc.
FROM THAT POINT ON, INSIDE MY HEAD I ANNOUNCED MY WAIT THROUGH EVERYTHING! SCHOOL FOR INSTANCE:
"THE OLD SECOND HAND IS TICKING AWAY, THREE MINUTES TO GO IN THIS HISTORY EXAM. JOEY CAN'T SEEM TO COME UP WITH AN ANSWER TO QUESTION 5.
HE LOOKS OUT THE WINDOW, HE PICKS AT A NAIL. HE LOOKS OVER AT THE OTHER KIDS—AND, WAIT A MINUTE—IS HE?
YES, HE IS! HE PICKS UP HIS PEN!"
AND SO IT GOES. FROM EARLY MORNING TO LATE AT NIGHT. EVEN WHEN IM IN BED:"JOEY POUNDS HIS PILLOW. HE CLOSES ONE EUE. HE CLOSES THE OTHER. HE FEELS SLEEP COMING. IT'S COMING— JOEY'S WIDE AWAKE. JOEY SNEAKS DOWNSTAIRS AND MAKES HIMSELF A DRINK-
AND EVEN AFTER I GOT OUT OF SCHOOL: "THE SUPERVISOR IS LOOKING OVER JOE4'S SHOULDER, JOEY PRETENDS TO BE BUSY. THE SUPERVISOR HAS FOUND A MISTAKE. JOEY CAN'T SEEM TO LISTEN. THE SUPERVISOR ASKS JOEY IF HE UNDERSTANDS."
*JOEY WANTS TO SCREAM.*