4a
Opinion
Friday, April 20, 2001
For comments, contact Chris Borniger or Nathan Willis at 864-4924 or opinion@kansan.com
Perspective
Better teaching begins with better evaluation forms
I never thought I would see the day when I had to cover my eyes in math class. Normally, I avoid math as if I were on the football team, but this day sold me on going to class.
During the class after our first exam, our teacher began by revealing a disappointing class average of scores. The average score was on target according to math statistics and expectations, but certainly well below students' expectations.
In the minutes following the announcement, many class members voiced their frustration about the test's length. Some said it was too long, and some suggested fewer problems. The teacher took some of the questions and suggestions and explained that the test had the
normal number of problems but simply required more time to solve them. The unrest continues.
Although our instructor had planned to start the lesson, some students were persistent. Students from across the room least questioning the test's
kept questioning the test's length, gradually testing the teacher's patience. The question was reworded so often, it would have made Bill Clinton jealous. It was then that our visually frustrated teacher
Ben Tatar columnist opinion.kansan.com
invited us to "bring it on." Never before had I heard those words spoken in a math class.
hear those words that eventually broke the camel's back came when yet another person asked the same question, along with the help of a thesaurus. Our teacher not only asked the student to leave, but threatened to call security. Students froze. Calculators shivered.
As the rolling boil gradually calmed, the teacher gave one final explanation, stating that all of the tests have the same number of problems and that some tests simply take more time than others. She then assured us that "I've been doing this for a long time."
For most of this, I sympathetic with the teacher, who was being bombarded by the same question again and again. The biggest problem I had was the explanation of how long she had been doing this, and it made me reflect on the overall focus of many teachers I have had, as well as the effectiveness of teacher evaluations.
so after five years of filling them out, here are my ideas on how to make evaluations more effective:
1. Some form of evaluation should be done at midterms. Too many times, changes don't occur soon enough to have an effect on current students. Giving suggestions near finals for the upcoming semester may be helpful eventually, but how about now? If there are problems with certain techniques, testing formats or reading lengths, teachers need this medium. A sheet of paper could make this happen.
2. End the Partly Cloudy Syndrome: This one has baffled me so much that I have come up with a name for it. When a weather forecaster says it will be "partly cloudy," it basically means that you can expect to see more sunlight than clouds. Conversely, "partly sunny" means there will be more cloud cover than sunshine. One of the five bubbles on some evaluations read, left to right: Strongly Disagree, Partially Disagree, Neutral, Partially Agree, Strongly Agree. It seems to me that the two "partially" bubbles should switch places, or should be substituted by the word "mostly."
3. Kill redundancies. Can somebody please tell me what the difference is between "false" and "absolutely false"? Here's an idea. Let's get rid of one of these useless responses, and with the money we save on ink, let's add a men's sport.
4. Keep all instructors, tenured or not, accountable. The phrase "I've been doing this for a long time" is one of the biggest problems that I have with tenure. I can't begin to explain how many times I have filled out evaluations for dinosaurs with teaching certificates who haven't changed their methods in eons. How long one has been doing anything should never be a factor in whether someone with a suggestion is right or wrong. Too many teachers need to be more receptive to evaluations and suggestions.
As a graduating senior, I have many teachers I plan on personally thanking, but this inclass experience was truly one to cherish.
Who says math isn't exciting?
Tetar is a Highland Park, Ill., senior in music education.
ONE ALTERNATIVE FOR THE KU MEN'S SWIMMING TEAM: (if the athletic department can at least provide them with wings...)
Heard on the Hill
Should students who've done poorly in a class have a chance to retake it and replace the bad grade?
"Yes. There could have been lots of reasons for getting poor grades." Kim Briggs Kansas City, Kan., freshman
"School takes some getting used to. We shouldn't be persecuted for mistakes."
Jordan Brock Freemont, Colo., junior
"They might as well. They paying for it." Dustin Leite Newton freshman
"No. It's not fair to students who worked hard the first time."
Angela Mancuso
Olathe freshman
Perspective
Principles, not passion will bring end to racism
There is apparently a race on campus, a competition of sorts, in which the winners are those who most deeply and earnestly express their "feelings" about the oppression of certain minority groups. It is a trend that threatens to destroy the basis for equal citizenship.
Consider the mercifully concluded Tunnel of Oppression, just the most recent heat in the contest. The "interactive" show in Hashinger Hall
bastion of campus in its audience to synthetic displays of racism, sexism and homophobia.
The same day the Kansan ran a front-page story on Tunnel, a Kansan columnist flushed out the uselessness of imitating the homeless to achieve a few nights of therapeutic empathy. Such a temporary show of concern shares with Tunnel the chance to exhibit one's virtuous character and disgust of oppression.
It also does little goo
interactive shock tactics may inspire flashes of fleeting emotion, but they do not foster justice. These methods can be dangerous because of their potential for creating a perverted vision of tolerance and common citizenship.
Andrew Marino
Andrew Marino columnist opinionman.com
It has become clear that Pterotti and this small group of like-minded professors take any slight whatsoever against a minority member of the faculty as a sign of the University's racism. Their viewpoint and response is rooted in passion rather than a rational approach. A letter Pterotti sent to the Kansan recently makes clear
Enter associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology Raymond Pierootti and other members of the Kansas University Sexism & Racism Victims Coalition.
that he has confused means with ends. Pierotti wrote: "One problem with minority recruitment and retention is that administrators seek out minorities more interested in professional advancement than minority recruitment and retention. Most minorities are not impressed by these individuals, avoid them and end up leaving because of a lack of acceptable role models."
In other words, Pierotti thinks it appropriate to hire minority professors based not on excellence or potential in their respective fields, but based on holding a narrow political view. Were Pierotti's views on hiring professors taken seriously, there no doubt would be fewer minority professors granted tenure, at least on their merit. He gives no evidence for his claim that minority students are not impressed with minority professors who concentrate on advancement in their fields. Pierotti's views are grounded in a tribal power politics that deserves about as much respect as it gets.
His fellow racial ideologues (that's what they call themselves) have yet to convince a court of law that the University discriminated against them for denying tenure despite multiple lawsuits. Evidence, reason and law matter little to these professors; they have emotionally charged political agendas and chips on their shoulders. To think otherwise shows a stunted sensitivity to racism, not merely a reasoned conclusion based on just principles.
This, of course, is the problem. Efforts to make people understand what it feels like to be a member of an oppressed minority group do not form a firm basis for equal rights. Equal rights and justice must be grounded in reason so that they may develop into principles and convictions. Only then will citizens feel compelled to defend the rights of fellow citizens and see an attack on another individual's natural rights as an attack on their own.
Merrino is a Prairie Village senior in political science and English.
Editorial Voter turnout vital to elect hall leaders
Hall government elections should be in the fall, when students have more energy.
Despite the relatively high voter turnout in this year's Student Senate election campaigns, a smaller political arena was smothered to near extinction.
Each residence hall holds its hall government elections during the spring to elect officials for the coming fall semester. But in this year's election, only McCollum Hall was able to elect a full cabinet. The other halls struggled, electing only a write-in president in some cases, and in others, no officers at all.
As a result of this year's poor voter turnout in student housing, the hall government elections should be moved to the fall.
Think about the first semester of college, or of any fall semester, and remember that excitement, that desire to get involved and meet people. Granted, there are already a lot of events where students can socialize and meet new people. But one that has always remained an enigma to incoming students is their hall government, a clandestine organization that somehow manages to produce a dance in the hall lobby and possibly a hall T shirt by the end of the year. The biweekly meetings are met with shoddy attendance, despite attempted bribery with pizza and candy.
All this can change. If these elections are held in the fall, students who have a strong desire to get involved in their building can do so. It would take the mystery out of hall government. Excited students (including freshmen who just moved in) could voluntarily come to meetings and express what they want accomplished before the year's end.
It takes only 20 votes to elect an unopposed candidate into a hall government office, and this quota usually wasn't met. Elmer Fudd was almost elected president in one hall and if elected, would have accomplished nothing in the following year
If there is a rationale for holding these elections in the spring, it is obscured by a wall of apathy and a lack of interest.
Clearly, something must change. Hall government could usher in a new level of productivity if elections were in the fall, having elected a cabinet in which all of the officers would want to work.
Justin Henning for the editorial board
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Many thanks to the Kansan editorial board for writing about the GTAs deserving a better contract from the University. Thank you so much.
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The Free for All column shows the true ignorance on the KU campus. But that's why we love it.
Both my mother and grandmother are pro-choice, and I'm here. Unlike all the anti-choice people running around campus this week, they know what it's like to be pregnant and shoulder the responsibility of child care. We should thank our moms for being a party of the generation that gave us reproductive freedom, because what kind of life would women have without choice?
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I'm scared because we have a bunch of w毁 rigs on our campus now. I don't know what's going to happen, but it can't be good.
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I'd just like everybody at this University to know that Justin Mills is a puppet for Jason Fizell. He's the man who started Delta Force five years ago. Just wait 'till next year when Mills has to make decisions regarding this University and just see what happens.
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Hey, I'm a big supporter of Ben Walker and I think all this negative publicity ... wait, what am I saying? I'm not a supporter of that guy. Screw that kid.
If the average KU student has zero to five drinks a night, and I have way more than that, does that make me above average?
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I'd like to thank Ben Walker for making everybody who campaigned for him look like complete fools.
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My geography teacher went from totally lame to totally cool when she endorsed pot to the class.
I think the University should give Ben Walker some credit. He dedicated four years of his life to the people of this University, and this is what he gets when he leaves. I think it's a bull crap.
Ben Walker not giving up that baseball makes the VOICE coalition look bad.
Yeah, I was just wondering if the chan-
cellor realized that if he allowed alcoh-
ol to be served at the stadium, we
probably wouldn't have to cut our fine
teams like the swimming and diving
and tennis teams. We could shoot
those profits from the money made
from the stadiums to support those
athletic events.
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