Page Two
The Pendulum
December 9,197g
Curriculum priority
Honors Course
With the additions to curriculum planned and already put
into practice, faculty, students and administration should
take the time to consider the pros and cons of each addition.
Although the administration has the final word on changes
at Elon, students can have a tremendous impact if they will
only make themselves heard by someone with more
authority than other students.
One course new to Elon this year is Fact and Value, an
honors course. This course is designed to be a challenge to
students who have already excelled in their academic work.
A professor of history and a professor of philosophy were
given special funds for summer research to develop this
interdisciplinary course. The fall semester was designed to
deal with problems of love and work and the spring with
their solutions.
At present, ten students are in the four-hour course, and of
these ten only five have signed up for the continuation of the
course in the spring. Granted that some courses should be
geared to students with the potential to do upper level work,
it still seems unfair to pay two professors’ salaries for a class
of five students while classes are overcrowded. It also seems
that administration and faculty should look into the causes
of why half a class is not completing the second half of a
two-part course. So far, no student has been approached by
either faculty or administration seeking his ideas or
suggestions.
Perhaps a review committee meeting in February with ten
members of the faculty and staff to evaluate the course will
have the insight to question some of the students who
decided against taking the course in the spring. This
evaluation is a good idea, but in an honors program as new as
this one, some evaluation should be going on simultaneously
with the course.
The administration is also applying for a government
grant to bring in a person with experience in
interdisciplinary classes to aid in making helpful
suggestions to the professors.
One idea, which is being pondered by the administration,
is to set up honors courses within the different departments.
This, appears to be a better investment. Students in an
interdisciplinary course are usually well informed in only
one of the disciplines, and they find it almost impossible to do
equally advanced work in the others. Granted an
interdisciplinary course would be helpful to pull together the
segmented type education one gets in four years but Elon
students do not have enough in-depth knowledge in several
disciplines to study advanced level work in all of them.
What seems a more serious problem than stimulating the
five or so students willing and able to do advanced level work
is stimulating the 500 or so students on academic probation.
Elon, being a small private college, must, in order to continue
operating, admit a certain number of students each year.
And each year a large number of students admitted are not
ready for college level work.
Supervised study
The academic skills lab is one attempt made by the
administration after English department pleading, to help
with this problem, but more is needed still. Another "crisis”
measure taken by the administration is the supervised study
which is being carried on in Mooney 111 and by individual
professors in Alamance. The evaluation of such "crisis”
measures will not be available until January. If successful,
the same type thing may be continued next semester.
Another supervised study program being considered would
entail opening Alamance throughout the semes{er to
supervised study in various subjects. Students would
possibly supervise in the different rooms with a faculty
supervisor in charge of all the study areas.
Elementary school teachers are challenged the most by
having students who are on many different grade levels
educationally, but all are the same age, therefore in the same
classroom. High schools have tried to deal with this problem
by having special honors classes as well as special education
classes for under-achievers. But the fact remains that a high
school is public and must try to educate anyone who
continues to attend. Colleges, on the other hand, have the
choice of not admitting students who are not up to college
level work academically. However, standards are such that
students on an eighth grade reading level who can pay are
admitted while quite intelligent students are clerking in
local grocery stores because they cannot afford to go to
college.
Letters
Not Again
Dear Editors:
Elen’s $10 parking tickets are
only a down payment to keeping
your car on campus. Three
parking violations is nothing to
laugh at The reason for so
many tickets is lack of space. I
feel if you pay $10 for a permit
that you should at least get a
parking space. My first
violation was a $5 hazardous
ticket for parking against the
curb. Since this incident my car
is kept beside the train tracks in
the grass.
Cut out "cut” rules
Dear Editors:
I am writing this letter
hoping that someone,
somewhere on this campus, will
finally wake up to the fact that
this is the 20th century.
Although I realize that it is
rather fruitless to try and
change things at Elon I believe
there are a few things that
desperately need to be
revamped, and priority number
one on my list is the attendance
policy. Granted, the school is
concerned about the welfare of
the students, but when did all
the departments heads become
psychoanalysts? Who gave a
faculty member the right to
lower a grade if their
attendance requirements do not
coincide with yours? Maybe we
did when we paid our tuition,
but if that is the case then we
made this mistake.
It has been said that a
student is a consumer of
education paying for the
knowledge and wisdom the
school (in the way of
instructors) can provide.
Considering the fact that we
pay for classes beforehand, I feel
we should use the time
according to ourneeds, not what
some administrative jackass
believes are our needs. Can you
imagine the department store
you bought your T.V. from
re-possessing it because you did
not play it the way they suggest,
or the car dealer you purchfised
your car from (with cold cash)
taking it back because they felt
you didn’t drive it enough? If
you think this is crazy, consider
the fact that these teachers we
pay cannot even add! Really,
simple math! Show me a
calculator or a slide rule or any
mathematical formula that
shows how three tardies equal
one absence, or how a C with
four cuts equals a D, but a C
with three cuts equals a C. Is
this the new math? Come on, it
just doesn’t work!
An administrative answer is
that most teachers are more
understanding than that, and I
think that is true, but I’m
talking about the few who
aren’t. For this minority who
prefer to deal with students as
numbers instead of people, this
system is just not fair. If
someone loses an A or a B
because of a cut, it’s more than a
shame, it’s an outrage and £tn
injustice. I hope teachers will
keep this in mind with the
semester at end because when
the smoke clears and the grades
tell the story, an infraction of
the "cut” rule can really hurt.
Gary Cartwright
Staff
Kay Raskin & Doug Durante
Gary Spitler
Gary Spitler
Larry Barnes, Julie AVhitehurst
News Bureau, Robert House
Brian Swart
Reporters
Dana Hill
Kemp Liles
Barbara Sawyers
Letters
Parking at Harper Center is
also forbidden, but I didn’t
realize that until I paid another
$5 violation. The guy who
writes these tickets must follow
me wherever I go because a day
later the third ticket was on my
car. I can’t afford to pay the
tuition and the parking tickets!
Elon needs better parking
facilities and new parking
rules.
Phillip T. Bell
SGA Donations
Dear Editors:
Recently while on the
Thanksgiving vacation I
noticed the "Magazine of Elon”
on the coffee table at home.
While reading through the list
of donors I was surprised to see
that the SGA was listed for
quite a sizeable donation. I don’t
feel that tlK SGA fees should be
used in a donation to the
college. The tuition I pay
includes SGA fees and if I want
to make a donation to the
college I would do so on my own.
SGA money should be used for
activities and entertainment for
the students. I would like to
know who is responsible for
authorizing the expenditure of
this money to the institution to
which we already pay over
$2,000 a year.
Bill McKinstry
Editor’s Note: This matter was
checked into. The SGA Senate
approved this contribution
earmarked for lighting
equipment for the drama
department
To increase attendance
Dear Editors:
There are many fine cultural
presentations in Burlington
For example, the North
Carolina Symphony appeared
r^ntly at a local high school.
The symphony is a credit to the
state and deserves to be
supported. Unfortunately, the
audience was small and far too
many of us missed a most
entertaining evening.
The resources of Elon College
are limited so the college alone
could not sponsor the
symphony. The symphony
ought to receive more support
from the college community.
Perhaps support for the
symphony and similar cultural
events in Burlington could be
increased if college program
credit could be given to those
students who attend. Such
credit would encourage better
use of the resources available in
the area which cannot be
provided by the college itself. It
would sdso encourage those in
the area who might sponsor
such events to do so by
increasing the audience for
these valuable events.
Anthony M. Coyne
Dept of Philosophy
Football Fame
Dear Editors:
Concerning your sports page
in the Nov. 18 issue of the
Pendulum, it was stated that
the mention of Elon College in
Sports Illustrated was its debut
Let me inform you that the
1974 (10 win, one loss) Fighting
Christians impressed Sports
Illustrated enough to have Elon
selected as a "team to watch” in
their 1975 Football Preview
and mentioned them in the
small college south section
along with Grambling.
Evidently Mr. Spitler was too
concerned with seeing his name
in print (it appeared five times)
than researching his
statements.
In the future I hoi« he takes
more care in reporting on the
toughest small college team in
America!
On to Texas!
Craig Kirtland
Sports Editor’s Note: You^
right about Sports Illustrated,
however, you’re wrong if y®"
say Elon’s on to Texas. You are
always welcome to come and
write sports news if you would
like, for I am solely, by ’
writing the entire sports pageis)
this year. If you don’t like my
name, come and let’s add yours.
Signed —"Sports”
Co-Editors
Assistant Editor
Sports Editor
Cartoonists
Photography
Business Manager
Linda Shoffner i
Sherry Summers j
Adviser, Dr. Mary Ellen Priestley
Published by the Communications Media Board of Elon
College in conjunctioiv with the Student Government
Association. All correspondence and articles; Box 5349, Elon
College.
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