Newspapers / North Carolina Wesleyan University … / Nov. 20, 1967, edition 1 / Page 2
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PAGE 2 THE DECREE IVlonday, November 20, 1%7 LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS “5aY, FHILLIR5. WILL YOI RUM OUT THERE ANP WHAT THC«E YaJ^J(5Srt|^5 ARE UP TO WITH THEIK hOCN HOUR RALLY?" EDITORIAL On October 24, the faculty after considerable dis cussion concerning the value of the Sophomore Pro ficiency Examination moved that the entire matter should be considered by the English Department. The English Department in turn is to make a re commendation to the Educational Program Commit tee of the faculty concerning the requirement. This committee is to study the matter and bring a report before the faculty in January. It is well that the English Department is in the process of discussing this matter. I wonder if they are also concerned with the implied lack in the standards of our English Department, particularly on the freshman level? The sophomore “hurdles” stand as a symbol of the level of faith that Wesley an has in its ability to train students to write. It is an established fact that it is necessary for a student to be able to express himself clearly and adequately in writing as well as verbally. This ability can be acquired to a certain degree in the freshman English courses. While the student develops themes on vari ous topics, he is to work on the structure of his grammar and build his vocabulary as well as chal lenge his creative talents. It seems to me that once a student has success fully completed this course he would be considered as a competent writer. Therefore there would be no reason to test hivS skills again. Also, the average of a number of themes would be a much fairer basis for a decision than the one theme written during the exam. A student can im prove his writing technique as well as express him self on several topics during a course. Whereas,-he might not reveal his true ability while writing on a topic he finds uninteresting and certainly im possible to research during an exam. This necessi tates repeating at least half of the exam and facing the possibility of another topic of little interest. The student body awaits the decision of the Edu cational Program Committee and hopes that they will express faith in our English Department. 'k'k'k'k'k'k'k'k'k'k "PASS-FAIL” OPTION EXAMINED --Amhsrst, Mass. - (^ P,)- LETTERS TO THE The Office of Institutional Stud ies recently conducted a na tional survey of the “pass-fail” option at the request of the chairman of a Faculty Senate subcommittee on the campus of the University of Massa chusetts. Results: At Pomona Col lege, juniors and seniors have had the pass-fail option avail able in elective courses out side their major for the past eight years. All freshman seminars are graded pass-faiL A student is allowed up to two courses a semester under this option with a maximum of four such courses to count toward graduation. The respondent felt that al though a few students try to manipulate the option to im prove their grade point average (GPA) - neither pass nor fall is registered in a student’s cumulative average - validuses far outnumber possible abuses., making the program a general success.'’ Dr. Harry G. Fish, Jr. 400 Peachtree Street Rocky Mount, North Carolina 27801 Dear Dr Fish: I would like to apologize to you, Dr. Carter, Dr. Weeks, and the staff of Park View Hospital for the nature of the article “A Look Inside Park View Hospital” published in the October 30, 1967 issue of The Decree, the official newspaper of the student body of Wes leyan College. The Decree is a student pub lication; it does not speak officially for the College and does not necessarily represent the thinking of a majority of students. It is a publication which operates with a great deal of freedom in what it publishes and in its editorial policy. The faculty and staff do not attempt to censor or proof read all that appears in this newspaper. This is, we feel, an educationally sound policy and defensible on the grounds that we want students to learn to make their own decisions and stand responsible for them. This policy also conforms to guide lines recom mended by the national college associations and the A. A. U. P. regarding students rights. Any other policy such as demanding that students not be critical or not reflect their true thoughts, would require that the College publish the students’ paper for them. As a rule, all student organ izations have faculty advisers to guide them in their activi ties. Since the College opened this term, I have served as acting adviser to The Decree while we were in the process of securing a faculty member as permanent adviser. In this particular article, I did not read the copy before it went to press simply because I have not required that copy be proof ed by me before publication. I have, in short, preferred to advise rather than censor. I do believe that the editor and the author made some mistakes here -- mistakes which I have already called to their atten tion. Had I seen the article I would have advised that the use of personal names, the placement of the article on the front page as a news story -r> Although not included in this survey, Princeton University and the University of California (Santa Cruz) have also had so me experience with the pass-fail grading option. The pass-fail option at Princeton, in effect since Spring term 1966, is available to all undergraduates. Only one elective course a year (outside the student’s major) may be taken for a pass-fail grade. It is also interesting to note that if a student fails to take advantage of the option in any given academic year, he can not pick up the option later. Faculty members report only the regular grade; the Regis trar’s Office changes the grade to pass or fail and enters it as such on the student’s record. No record is kept of the stu dent’s regular grade. At Santa Cruz, an experi mental evaluation program has been in effect for the past five years. As stated in their 1966- 67 Bulletin, “Evaluation will take three forms: faculty com ment, comprehensive examina tions, and grades,” Concerning grades, “Stu dents in lower division courses normally will be graded ‘Pass’ or ‘Fail.’ Students in upper division courses will be graded when it was, in reality, one man’s opinion as an interpre tive feature, (the absence of a by-line was a printer’s er ror), and trtat the implications covering the professional com petency of the doctors was in very poor taste. I regret per sonally that this kind of advice was not given and I am willing to accept personally the responsibility for the article. I hope this type of careless ness will not re-occur. I do know that the author of the article has personally ex pressed his confidence in you as his physician and that his parents, by letter to me ten days before the publication of the article, expressed their confidence in the way you were treating him. In fact, their letter to me stated: “...we feel that you have all done a very good job so far, for Steve, and trust that you will continue to do so. We were pleased to hear of the careful check Dr, Fish has kept of Steve’s arm, x-raying regularly. This sounds good to us.” I have interpreted this to mean that the parents were pleased with the way the college, the col lege physicians, and you have handled the young man’s prob lems. I am very much aware of the contribution that you. Dr. Car ter and Dr. Weeks are making not only to the health services of our students, but as friends of the College in general. I am of the opinion that your professional reputation, and those of Dr. Carter and Dr. Weeks, are so well established in the community that it would be impossible for the Wesleyan newspaper to damage them. It is my hope that all involved can accept the matter as an honest mistake made in our attempts to develop Wesleyan College into a strong and stable institution of higher education. Please be assured of our con tinued support of better health services in the Rocky Mount area. If I can be of service to you in the future, do not hesitate to call on me. Sincerely, Sim O. Wilde, Jr., Dean of Students 'K'\'»:-k-k'k-k1i'k-\'k'k-k-k'k-k'k'k-k'k-k-k'k ‘Pass’ or ‘Fail’ except that a Board of Studies, in courses required for the major in its field, may assign letter grades to students pursuing a major in that field.” Thus while the pass-fail is only one aspect of their eval uation scheme, they have had considerable experience with this method of grading. Their impression is that pass-fail does “give students courage to explore” and that while many suffer some disorientation at the start, most adjust and learn to “work for themselves.” There are, however, unresolved transcript and class rank prob lems, especially regarding the d raft. Conclusions: Most of the respondents felt it was too early to judge how successful their policy had been. One school, however, although feeling it was too early to justify any firm judgment, felt that all students were not using the pass-fail as had been intended. While the faculty had hoped students would use it as an opportunity to “explore new fields and broaden the base of their education,” many students appeared to be using it to See OPTION, Page 6 EDITOR November 11, 1967 Friitor: It is patients just like the one that wrote “A Look Inside Park View Hospital” who make our hospitals appear as prisons. I would agree that the writer would have had an ax to grind had the nurses and orderlies made sarcastic remarks about the injury rather than making jokes. Humor, even in its grossest forms, is always greeted more readily than sarcasm or indifference. If the patient in the adjacent room had been as irrational as the writer portrayed then it seems only logical that the writer had no business trying to bum a cigarette. Does the writer actually believe that a' paranoid or “screamer” would be allowed to have cigarettes? The writer would have really learned the meaning of the word “sickness” had he been given a pre-operative meal of solids rather than liquids. « I am stunned and disappointed that The Decree, as a spokes man for N. C. Wesleyan Col lege, would publish such biased and warped opinion. I hope that the students of Wesleyan College and the citizens of Rocky Mount will take this ar ticle with a grain of salt!! Sincerely, Bill Brantley Student N. C. Wesleyan ACADEMIC SHIFT EXEMPLIFIED —Albion, Mich, - (LP.) - Albion College is the“scene of an academic shift exempli fied in the development of new teaching methods, experimen tation in educational concepts and the search for knowledge ■ and answers to problems both new and old. A completely revised curric ulum and a unit system of measuring course work were introduced last year. Begin- ming freshmen are involved in a program requiring 32 units and two years of physical edu cation for graduation. A total of 13 units is required in core subjects. Each unit corre sponds roughly to what would otherwise be a four-hour course, though the number of class sessions is somewhat variable. In addition to one - unit courses under the unit sys tem there are 28 half-unit courses, as well as seminars and directed study, to pro vide variety and accommodate specialized areas. Each stu dent also has two free - choice courses in which he may en roll on the basis of “pass- fail,” but with no grade award ed. Various comments, both pro and con, have been expressed concerning the new program. Dr, Arthur W. Munk, chairman of the philosophy department, feels that “the new curricu lum and unit system offers certain noteworthy possibili ties. While, on the one hand, it gives instructors more op portunity for research and scholarly production, on the other, it also provides students See SHIFT, Page 6
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