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University Daily Kansan / Thursday, April 28, 1988
5B
Award-winning KU professor sees politics in everything
By Christine Martin
Kansan staff writer
Dwight Kiel believes that everything is political.
Even professional wrestling.
"Humor is not opposed to politics," said Kiel, associate professor of political science. "Professional wrestling is a good way to think about politics."
"There isn't anything that isn't political," he said. "In wrestling, justice triumphs over the law. Wrestling aims at an audience that feels it's always been screwed by the laws."
Kiel said professional wrestling became popular in 1980 after the Iranian hostage crisis.
"Wrestling took off during a militarist time in the U.S." Kiel said. "In 1980 and 1981, you'd see Iranian wrestlers get the hell beat out of them.
"In wrestling, the bad guy cheats. The good guy breaks a few rules, wins and triumphs over the law. Wrestling matches are mini-stories about justice."
Kiel developed his political philosophy while growing up in San Antonio, Texas, and dring his college years.
He attended Cornell University from 1972
of 1976 and majored in history with a minor in
comparative literature. He attended the University of Texas at Austin from 1796 to 1798, earning a master's degree in political science. He then went to the University of Massachusetts from 1798 to 1893 to finish a doctorate in political science.
Kiel met his wife, Charlene Stinard, in Amherst. Stinard is now an environmental lobbist in Topeka.
He left San Antonio to attend Cornell because he was tired of the racism and bigotry he saw in Texas. He thought New England was better than rural America was the same all around.
In Texas, Kiel saw blacks being the victims of racial discrimination. In New York, he
Kiel said that New York policemen would pull him and his friends over on the highway because they had long hair. The police were quick to explain because they thought they looked like hippies.
"Rural life is the same everywhere in mid-America," he said. "But 'it's incredible how far we've come in America on the race issue. If all we paid for were a few hot summers in South Africa and Watts, we're look South Africa would be lucky to get off with a few hot summers."
Kiel described his experiences in Texas and New York as learning experiences. "There's not a real world. There's a lot of America, but no real America, there's a lot of America."
Kiel admits that he is not a reflective person and shrugs as he describes himself as a good teacher. It usually takes him more than four hours to prepare for a lecture and an hour to come down from the euphoria of teaching.
Since coming to KU in 1983, he has won two teaching awards and was nominated for two more. Last year, he was the first recipient of the Silver Anniversary teaching award for outstanding assistant professor. Also last year, he won the Mortar Board teaching award been nominated for a Hope award for the last three years and twice was a semifinalist.
"I get a big rush out of lecturing," he said. "It is a notice that I'm imparting information."
He has been writing a chapter for a Western Civilization textbook and has written ten chapters for graduate and undergraduate courses in the field. Kiel now teaches political theory classes.
Allan Cigler, associate professor of political science, said that although Kiel doesn't appear to be a reflective person, he is emotionally involved in teaching.
"Dwight is both a very serious idea- and academic-oriented person and also a real human being." Cigler said.
Kiel's enthusiasm for teaching comes through in the classroom, Cigler said.
"Sometimes, when people like what they do and believe in what they do, it's contagious." Cigler said. "He's a success in the room. He puts all his energy into learning."
Humor is important to Kiel, and he even researches it. For months, he has been researching clowns and jesters in feudal societies. Jesters who were not considered part of the feudal society politically because they could poke fun at politics without getting in trouble, he said.
Kiel also gives humor in politics today. "Gary Hart is the true notion of the buffoon," he says.
Kiel said that different "voices" overlooked by today's society fit in with his notion of the jester. Often, those voices aren't considered important in society. Like the jesters who weren't considered important to their society, the elderly, children, the homeless and the handicapped don't have a voice in today's society.
but the number of voices has been limited by society, he said.
"They don't trust the population," Kiel said. "It's a stupid policy if it limits voices."
An example of society limiting voices is the Supreme Court ruling that said a Hazelwood, Mo., principal could censor the school's newspaper, he said.
Kiel was attracted to the overall atmosphere of KU and its students and started teaching here in 1863. "It's a great first job I can't think of any other place where I can read and write what I want and get paid for it."
He likes the flexible hours because they enable him to spend time with his 2-year-old daughter. Sarah, who he worries about.
"My two great fears about her are that she will become the chairman of the National Republican Party or take Phyllis Schlafly's place."
But Kiel realizes that his fears about his daughter are unfounded.
"Students and kids have to come out of an existence. My kid will carve out her own space."
Test
Continued from p. 1B
The ultimate in preparation methods is a program like that offered by Stanley H. Kaplan Educational Centers, Ltd.
Ann Press, administrator of Kaplan's Lawrence office at 1012 Massachusetts St., said Kaplan's offered comprehensive preparation programs.
Kaplan's charges $495 for the GRE course.
aren weekly four-hour sessions initially prepare a student. Those include test-taking strategies and a basic review of the test's three subject areas: verbal, mathematical and analytical skills.
After that, students may use Kaplan's library of supplementary test material, tape-recorded analysis of answers and home-study material to prepare for up to two test administrations.
"Everything at the center is done in the context of the GRE exam," Press said. "By the time they take it, they are not apprehensive."
The average student spends a total of 80 to 100 hours on the program, she said, although some spend up to 250 hours.
"I'm not saying that a student can't study for the GRE alone," she said. "You won't get many to spend the hours alone."
Kaplan's students tend to score about 20 percent above the national average. Press said, Repetaters.
those who take the GRE once, then prepare with Kaplan's and take it again, also improve their individual scores by the same amount, she said.
Henry Wigington, program associate for the counseling center, runs the local administrations of the GRE. He said that studies by ETS and others revealed that preparations could help.
"Overall, they find that you can achieve a certain improvement," he said. "Motivation, oftentimes, can make the difference."
Harkins said that she did not think more preparation would have improved her verbal or analytical skills and made the semantics section was another matter.
Graduate exam tests skills in general, particular fields
"The math I could have improved," she said. "I'm disappointed in my scores, personally. Actually, I have a real hard time understanding the test. I don't think figuring out an analytical problem about jars of jelly says a lot about me."
Graduate directors use a variety of criteria, including GRE scores, to select applicants for graduate schools. Their admissions decisions also depend on undergraduate grade point average, recommendations, essays or other particular requirements.
A great deal of variety exists in the ways different departments use GRE scores to evaluate candidates.
By Charles Higginson
Some graduate programs do not require candidates to take the GRE at all. John Bunce, professor of mathematics, said that most potential math graduate students scored so high that the GRE could not effectively discriminate among them.
Special to the Kansan
The Graduate Record Examination is a standardized test prepared and scored by the Educational Testing Service of Princeton, N.J. Two types of GREs are offered.
The General Test assesses broad general abilities and the Subject Tests measure achievement in particular fields.
Subject Tests are offered in English literature, music, mathematics and 14 other disciplines. Graduate programs often require candidates to take both the General Test and the appropriate Subject Test.
"The General Test measures acquired over a long period of time and not related to any specific field of study," the ETS guide to the use of GRE scores says.
The General Test measures verbal, quantitative and analytical skills. General verbal ability includes vocabulary work and reading comprehension. Quantitative ability includes basic mathematical reasoning. Analytical ability includes skill in understanding arbitrary relationships and evaluating arguments.
Because some other graduate schools and many fellowships do require it, Bunce said, his department receives many GRE score reports anyway.
"We do look at them," he said.
He said that a good GRE score is one of the factors in admission of a candidate whose other qualifications were marginal.
On the other hand, some departments rarely consider applicants
whose GREs fall below a certain level.
The department of counseling psychology's doctorate program, for example, lists a required minimum score in the graduate catalog. That score is slightly above the 50th percentile.
GRE scores are very important, said Sherry Borgers, professor of counseling psychology.
"We pretty well know that people with low GREs tend to have more trouble." she said.
The department's national accreditation also depends on its use of the
cutoff level, she said.
"I won't say that there's never an exception," she said.
Her department allows for standard deviation in the test if a score is very close to the preferred minimum and the applicant is otherwise very highly qualified, she said.
For the most part, however, she said her department did not consider applications if the GRE scores were too low. Admissions to this program are highly selective. Borgers said, "There few candidates can be admitted."
"We're talking about one in 10 or one in 20," she said.
The department of computer science also relies heavily on GRE scores, said Victor Wallace, graduate director.
"We regard it as very important," Wallace said. "We use it as a cutoff at the bottom level."
He said, however, that the cutoff was somewhat adjustable.
Non-native English speakers and students from rural or inner-city backgrounds are judged less critically on their verbal skills, to allow for possible deficiencies in their school systems, Wallace said. In those cases, he raises the cutoff level for math scores.
Still, as a rule of thumb, experience has led him to use a cutoff at the 60th percentile in the verbal score and at the 75th in the mathematics score.
"There's almost no chance they'll be admitted if they are below that," Wallace said.
He has found that the GRE verbal score is the most accurate predictor of survival and academic success in
computer science. Like the counseling psychology program, admission into Wallace's department is competitive.
"We regard ourselves as a competitive admissions department," he said. "I think we are accepting about 70% of the people who might succeed."
Both Borgers and Wallace said applicants' other credentials heavily influenced their decisions as well.
The graduate division of the School of Journalism takes a middle-ground approach. Though the test is required for admission, it's only one element in an overall evaluation, said Tim Larsen, acting graduate director of the school.
"GRE is one of several factors that we consider." he said.
Bengtson said that often, all the factors tended to correspond but when discrepancies appeared, he tried to give the benefit of the doubt.
Bengtson looks for verbal-section scores at the median point, but even scores lower than that can be offset by other factors, he said.
"It can help you a lot, and it can hurt you, but probably not as much as it can help you," he said.
"Very relieved," she said. "And tired, I really hadn't slept much."
When Harkens finished taking the GRE at noon on that cold day in February, she was not thinking about her work or hurt her. She was too worn out.
tried a really hard job.
A few weeks later, she learned that she had been accepted into the master's program in the department of public administration. In the fall, she will be a graduate student.
There's no smoother or better way to celebrate your success.
Un Kappa Few. The funs just beginning.
Best wishes to the class of '88 from the beers that are in a class by themselves. HJ and HJ LIGHT.
The smoother, the better.
Un Kappa Few. The fun's just beginning.
By Mark Fagan
Classics study group helps students prepare for exams, does translations
Special to the Kansan
They're known as the "naked philosophers."
That's the meaning of Gymnosphista, the name of an official yet informal graduate student organization affiliated with the department of
Aristotle first used the term to describe the wise men of India.
"I proposed it as a joke, and everyone jumped at it," said Mark Milne, Saskatchewan, gradient student and president of the group. "So now, I guess we're stuck here." It was it. It was a flute of history, I guess.
Milne said Gymnopsihistai (pronounced "know-gwam-so-fist-tie") began as an unofficial study group for graduate students who were preparing for classics exams. It became an official organization in 1986.
"It's pragmatic in that it helps us prepare for the exams," he said. "But it's also good practice in translation, and practice makes perfect. It also offers a wider exposure to literature. Classes alone aren't enough."
Mine said the group read one text of 30-35 pages a semester at hourlong weekly meetings and that they usually translated about three pages a meeting.
But the gatherings, at 12:30 p.m. every Thursday in 1015 Wescoe Hall, are not totally academic.
"it's fun," Milne said. "It's a chance to get together with people that have similar interests."
At present, the group has only three members. But Milne remembered times last year when it had five.
"We weed to meet in the Union," he said. "One time after a play reading ('Prometheus Bound' by Aeschylus), we all eat satand had some drinks in the cafeteria and joked around. It was great."
Milne has hopes for getting more students involved this year.
students. He said that although executive members of the group must be graduate students, undergraduates were both welcome and invited to attend meetings.
"It helps to have at least four semesters of Latin or Greek, just so
you can follow along in the text," he said. "But anyone who's interested can come in just for the translation."
Charles Schleicher, Lawrence graduate student and Gymnasticha member, said that studying ancient writings was interesting because they related to present situations.
“You can learn a lot about a culture if you know where it’s been before,” he said. “We study a lot of politics in the readings and find that we can identify with it. We find that nothing really changes.”
Schleicher said that this semester's reading, "The Cattie Conspirey" by Sallust, had many applications to today's society. The story, which is written in Latin, is set in 64 C13 B.C. and details the life of Cattia, a Roman senator who plotted to take over the Roman consulship.
Milne conceded that ancient writings were not as easy to grasp as today's. He said Aristotle's works were the toughest.
"You can know what all the words mean and still have no idea what the heck he's talking about," Milne said.
Special Graduation Section in tomorrow's Kansan