CAMPUS: Law school graduates are having a harder time finding a job. Page 3.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VOL.103,NO.73
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
MONDAY, DECEMBER 6,1993
ADVERTISING:864-4358
NEWS:864-4810
Richard Devinki / KANSAN
Gary Price, professor of counseling psychology, developed the internationally used inventory style of teaching called Productivity Environmental Preference Survey. The style is geared for adults and helps them take advantage their learning styles.
Rhodes fulfills grad's destiny
By Donella Hearne Kansan staff writer
Even in grade school, Munro Richardson knew that he wanted to go to England's Oxford University. Now, the Spring 1993 KU graduate is on his way with a Rhodes scholarship.
Richardson, a Harvard University graduate student, is one of only 32 U.S. scholars to receive the prestigious award this year. A regional selection committee in Minneapolis announced the scholarship recipients Saturday.
Although he is enjoying Harvard, Richardson said, he will not be sad to leave.
"I see this as a step in the journey of where I am going," he said. "It's even possible I may come back to Harvard "
Dianna Richardson, his mother, said that Richardson had worked for the Rhodes for most of his life.
In the spring Richardson was chosen to receive the Mellon fellowship
Richardson
to do graduate study at Harvard.
The University's 23rd Rhodes recipient, Richardson was offered another prestigious scholarship, the Marshall scholarship, last week. The University has had only five Marshall scholars.
Either scholarship would allow him to study in England, but Richardson chose to accept the Rhodes because
he wanted to attend Oxford, he said.
"I made my choice because of the prestige of the Rhodes and the tradition of Oxford," Richardson said. "It was a tough decision to make."
Mary Klayder, assistant director of the honors program, said Richardson was a worthy recipient of the honor.
"He's a terrific student and a great guy," she said.
At the University, Richardson earned a degree in East Asian studies, an uncommon major. His mother said he had been interested in East Asian cultures for a long time.
"It started because he was intrigued with the art and history of East Asia," she said. "His interest just grew from there."
Richardson said the uniqueness of his studies might have been one of the reasons he had been chosen for the
scholarship.
"It's an unusual major," he said. "And being an African American studying East Asian studies, I'm even further set apart."
Keith McMahon, associate professor of East Asian languages and culture, said that Richardson had been a dedicated student.
"He was very well disciplined and intelligent." he said.
Richardson said that Oxford would provide some unique opportunities for studying Hong Kong's history, a subject he is interested in pursuing.
KU project helps people understand their learning style
He said he thought that the education he had received at the University was the reason for his success.
"All that has happened, the Mellon fellowship and now the Rhodes, has been because of the strength of KU's education system," he said.
Word of mouth helped make professor's work popular worldwide
By Allison Lopez Special to the Kansan
Are you the type of person who prefers to schedule all your classes in the morning because you have a difficult time concentrating after lunch?
Or, do you prefer to get those few extra winks of sleep and schedule your most difficult classes in the afternoon?
The answer to these questions indicates your preferred time of day to learn, one of 22 preferences surveyed in an internationally used inventory developed by a KU professor.
The Learning Style Inventory is the brainchild of Gary Price, professor of counseling psychology. It has been helping educators develop more efficient teaching methods for nearly 20 years by identifying how students in grades three through 12 prefer to learn.
The survey differs from the inventory only in that teacher-motivated and parent-motivated are not measured preferences.
The adult version of the inventory, the Productivity Environmental Preference Survey, is used in business and training for the learning and working environment.
"We assume that adults are motivated not because of their teachers or because of their parents but because of themselves," Price said.
Price said that understanding one's learning style could be an asset to any person entering today's quickly changing job market.
"We can't prepare people for jobs, but we can help them use their learning styles to their advantages." Price said.
Some think that learning styles may be the future of education,
"The students have changed, and now it's time for the system to change, too," said Ben Rambo, a teacher at Louisville Learning Center.
Louisville, Texas, who has been using learning style teaching since 1985.
Rambo, who trains other teachers to use the inventory, said that knowledge of his own learning styles had been helpful while he continues his education.
"It's a common-sense approach to teaching," Rambo said. "I believe in it wholeheartedly."
Sherry Dobbson, secondary curriculum director of Jacksonville Independent School District, Jacksonville, Texas, said that use of the inventory increased the efficiency of education by making the classroom more student-centered and less teacher-centered.
"A lot of it is simply making teachers aware that not all students learn just by listening." Dobbson said.
For example, a student who is auditory would be encouraged to read aloud. A kinesthetic student, who learns best through full-body learning, may be encouraged to pace back and forth when studying.
Dobbson said that students' selfesteem levels rose when their special learning needs are addressed.
"We have seen a tremendous change in students' attitudes," Dobbs said. "They respond in such a positive way."
Price said his plans for the inventory included increased global use, profiles printed in Chinese and the development of a computer program that would administer the inventory with pictures and sound.
Use of the inventory has been spread solely by word of mouth, which matches Price's quiet and unassuming demeanor. Not surprisingly then, many people haven'theard of the learning survey.
But this hasn't affected the popularity of learning styles among educators.
For more information about the inventory, write to: Gary Price, P.O. Box 1818, Lawrence, Kan. 66044.
"We don't advertise or anything." Price said.
"It's spreading like wildfire," Rambo said.
William Alix/KANSAN
O Tannenbaum
Laura Houston, 8, Kansas City, Kan., takes shelter from the wind while Clark Morton, Lawrence senior, ties the Houston family Christmas tree to their car and Jaimee Carswell, Belfast, Ireland, senior, checks that the tree is securely fastened. Morton and Carswell work at Pine Hill Farm, six miles east of Lawrence, cutting the trees and preparing them for transportation.
High price tag on health care calls for reform
By Liz Klinger
Kansan staff writer
Everyone likes to go out to lunch, but few enjoy picking up the tab.
The tab for health care in the United States represents a labyrinth of unimaginable proportions.
Health care costs are expected to reach a staggering $903.3 billion this year, 14.4 percent of the gross domestic product. How Americans could manage to spend almost a trillion dollars on visits to physicians, surgeries and medical equipment is as complex as health care itself.
No one knows what health care
HEALTH CARE
in the '90's
reform will bring. But one thing is certain. It must remove the roots of the system's hefty price tag.
What began as physicians making house calls in the 1800s has evolved into an endless maze of health care providers, insurance plans, high-tech medical machinery and massive
paperwork that does not guarantee good health or low prices. The only guarantee in the health care system is that someone must pick up the tab.
Ray Davis, head of health services administration at the University, said health care costs were skyrocketing because of:
the uninsured:
the insured who had uninsured family members;
long-term care:
job lock — people who switched jobs and went without insurance for a limited time;
people who put off medical treatment until their conditions deterior-
rated or created medical emergencies.
"The system in this country assumes you're going to take care of yourself," Davis said.
Tim Zeddies, director of planning and health policy for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City in Kansas City, Mo., said that the public's increased awareness of advances in medical technology had created a demand for more sophisticated and expensive services.
"Society has been willing to pay for more and more health care," Zeddies
See HEALTH CARE, Page 3.
Devil of a time in Chicago
After being down by 14 points in the second half, Kansas — with the help of senior guard Steve Woodberry — turned up the heat and beat the DePaul Blue Devils 79-74.
Page 9.
Holiday money woes plague many students
By Shan Schwan Kansan staff writer
Lack of funds incentive for creative financing
Besides the stress of final exams and projects this time of year, the end of the semester and the holiday season give students something else to worry about — money.
Many students say December is the worst time of year because they have to buy gifts for friends and family, and the money they had at the beginning of the semester — often loan or scholarship money — has run out.
"You spend it all early in the semester, and then you have to live two months off of
Spaghetti and Jeno's pizzas," said Tracy Daniel, Garden City senior.
But even living on cheap food does not always keep students from going broke at the end of the semester. Students can find a variety of ways to get a little extra cash.
One thing students do is sell belongings they no longer use or want. Several merchants in Lawrence will pay cash for used clothing or compact discs.
But some students look further than just selling a few of their unwanted possessions and risk their more valuable property.
When Daniel ran out of money, she said,
she took her jewelry to a nawn shop.
"I've pawned stuff three of four times before, like my necklace or my rings," Daniel said. "They don't give you much money, though. And you have to be able to pay it back or they'll keep your stuff."
"But I have to be really poor to do that, because it hurts," she said. "And it makes you really weak. I have to psych myself up for it."
Daniel also donates plasma to get extra money. She said that she could get $15 on the spot for a 30-minute trip to the donor center.
Plasma centers are not the only medically related sources of money for students. Newspaper advertisements and posters on campus lure students into medical research projects.
Kelly Dunkelberger, Woodland Park,
Colo., senior, participated in a medical
study during his freshman year. He said it
was the end of the fall semester, he was low
on money and he saw a poster in his scholar-
ship hall.
"I was walking down the stairwell, sniffing a lot, and I saw this sign that said, 'Are
He said he contacted the research center and made arrangements to participate. The study involved a new nasal spray that had potential health risks. Dunkelberger was placed in the control group, however, and he said he just sat in a room for seven hours and studied for his final exams.
you sniffing?" " Dunkelberger said. "They were looking for people with colds."
"They weighed my Kleenex," he said. "They'd come in every hour, have me blow my nose and weigh it."
Dunkelberger said he also got a free physical examination and received $175 for about a 10-hour commitment. He said it was worth it.
"I was kind of prostituting my body for money," he said, "but I aced my calculus final because I had studied all day."
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