Page 2 SMALL TALK March 27,1992
Students from page 1
The information above can be boiled
down to this: if Methodist College is to
provide anyone with any type of educa
tion, it must, of course, stay in business.
In order to stay in business, it must re
cruit under-prepared students who are
much more likely than the average stu
dent to drop out or fail out of college. A
high drop-out rate costs the college mon
ey, which in turn puts the college in fur
ther danger of going out of business.
Methodist College has begun to imple
ment programs designed to halt this
downward spiral toward disaster.
Since 1989, Methodist College has
been building a program of "remedial"
(alternately termed "developmental") as
sistance to its students. It now offers an
orientation program for incoming fresh
men, new core requirements which give
students greater exposure to liberal arts
subjects than was required in the past, de
velopmental math and English courses, a
Writing Across the Curriculum program,
and a new program, called the Mentor
program, that identifies and assists un-
der-prepared students and monitors their
progress through remedial programs.
Dean Bitterbaum said that the Orien
tation 109 course, which teaches students
time and money management techniques
and makes them aware of certain poten
tial problems such as race relations, has
proven successful, receiving no negative
comments on student evaluation forms.
The college offers developmental
English and math courses designed to
bring the skills of under-prepared stu
dents up to a level that should enable the
students to do well in subsequent college
courses. Of the Fall 1991 entering fresh
men, 102 (over 34% of the class) were
placed in developmental writing classes,
and 109 (40% of the freshmen) were re
quired to take developmental math class
es. Dean Bitterbaum expressed hopes
that students who are assigned to these
courses would not feel that there is any
stigma attached to being enrolled in
them, but rather hopes that they look
upon these courses as opportunities to
gain the skills they need to earn a college
diploma.
The Mentor program, which is head
ed by Mr. Jesse Smith, consists of three
main parts-a study skills class, a tutoring
system, and a system to monitor the stu
dents' progress.
The study skills class, which is
taught by Mr. Smith and Dean of Student
Affairs Michael Safely, teaches students
how to take better notes, how to read text
books for better reading comprehension,
even how to be more creative. Student
tutors are available to help not only the
students enrolled in the Mentor program,
but also any Methodist College student
who would like help in a specific sub
ject. Mr. Smith monitors the Mentor
program students' progress and meets
face-to-face with each student as often as
possible, preferably, Mr. Smith said,
once a week.
The Mentor program has proven to
be even more successful than the admin
istration had expected. Mr. Smith cited
one example of a student in the program
who received a GPA of approximately
3.9 for the Fall 1991 semester and said
that the average GPA of students in the
program was higher than expected.
Although the college has already im
plemented the above changes and is
pleased with their success, the adminis
tration has identified other areas in
which it would like to see improvement
but for which adequate funds are not
available. The proposal cites a report
which states that 60% of college students
who drop out before graduation do so for
social, personal, or financial reasons,
rather than for academic reasons. Yet
Methodist College has only one person
in Student Affairs who has the entire re
sponsibility for "Guidance and Place
ment," and this person is currenuy hav
ing to spend most of her time on
personal counseling, rather than splitting
her time equally between personal guid
ance and career counseling. The college
would like to use Tide 111 funds to create
a new position for a Career Development
Officer, who would counsel students
about career opportunities and graduate
school, and who would implement a job
placement bureau. This would allow the
current Guidance and Placement Counse
lor to become a full-time Director of
Counseling.
Perhaps the most dramatic improve
ment for which the college would like to
secure Title 111 funds is a proposed
Teaching-Learning Center. Students who
had been admitted to Methodist with a
low SAT score or low high school GPA
would be required to enter the TLC pro
gram as a condition of admittance. The
TLC Coordinator and Mentors would
test all students entering the program to
determine each individual's needs. Each
student would then be assigned to a self-
paced program that meets that student's
individual needs. Any portion of this
program would also be available to stu
dents who have not been assigned to the
program but who want or need help on a
specific skill.
The administration hopes that these
programs will increase Methodist's grad
uation rate from the current 18% to 40%
by 1994-5 and to 65% by 1998. They
also hope that the increased retention that
should result from these proposed pro
grams will enable the program to begin
paying for itself in three years so that the
college will require no further grant mon
ey for these programs.
The programs currendy in effect and
tho se that have been proposed will great
ly increase the chance for every Metho-
disi College student to obtain a college
diploma, but the last element in the for
mula for success is motivation. Dr. Per
kins, in the Small Talk interview for the
"Tough Teachers" article, stated, "I'm
frustrated because 1 don't see a lot of mo
tivation in my students." Mr. Jesse
Smith, head of the Mentor program,
echoed this sentiment. He said that many
of the students now in the program are
making a sincere effort to improve their
skills by taking advantage of tiie help that
Student Robbed at ATM
by Gil Un
A Methodist College student was
robbed and badly beaten on Mar. 1,
1992, while using the automatic teller
machine at the BB&T bank branch on the
5300 block of Ramsey Street. Martin
Knoll, 23, of Cedarwood Apartments,
Fayetteville, was struck from behind
about 12:05 a.m. He suffered lacerations
and bruises to his face. Mr. Knoll's wal
let, which contained $22, three credit
cards, a bankcard, and his driver's license
was taken. Mr. Knoll was taken by am
bulance to Highsmith-Rainey Memorial
Hospital immediately after the assault,
but he was released that same morning
around 5:(X) a.m. According to a recent
police rqwrt, a suspect was arrested after
using one of Mr. Knoll's stolen credit
cards.
Mr. Knoll said, "I really don't quite
remember what happened that night, be
cause it happened so quickly. Although
1 had a broken nose, broken left jaw,
broken right check bone, concussion,
busted-open lips, and two black eyes,
Highsmith-Rainey hospital didn't do
much for me. 1 was so upset with the
hospital and the way they treated me!"
Mike Safely, Dean of Student Af
fairs, first received a phone call at 12:30
a.m. from student witnesses, Pamela
Johnson and Brian Smallwood who
called from Dominos Pizza that night.
Dean Safely said, "Martin's face was so
unrecognizable with blood, I wouldn't
guess he was a Methodist College stu
dent without recognizing his car!"
Dan Maher, Martin Knoll's room
mate, received the next phone call at his
apartment from Dean Safely at 12:45
a.m. "Martin's face was so totally
smashed that 1 couldn't even recognize
him at the hospital. It seemed someone
tried to kill him and not just take his
money," Mr. Maher said.
Mr. Knoll has been recovering
quickly at his apartment since the inci
dent happened. "I'm doing better every
day. 1 want to thank everyone who
helped me that night. 1 want to tell eve
ryone to please be careful out there, be
cause it could happen to anyone any
where in this town. Look at me, I need a
plastic surgeon to reconstruct my face,"
he said.
I was glad that Martin was okay
and hope it won't happen to anybody
again. Please don't go outside all alone
late at night! Use your common sense!"
Dean Safely said.
Dan Maher suggested, "To minimize
the possibility of crimes in this town, I
think we should have a Bank Machine
mside the campus! And if you must go
to tile hospital, go to Cape Fear Hospi
tal."
the Mentor program offers them, but that
some are failing to do so because they
are unaccustomed to the freedom of be
ing away frum home. "Every once in a
while," Mr. Smith said, "I'll have a stu
dent in my office to talk about his low
GPA and I'll figure out that he is having
ffouble, not because he doesn't have the
ability to do the woric, but just because he
doesn't get up and go to class. He's used
to having Mom and Dad there to tell him
it's time to go to school." He said he sees
the same lack of motivation in those who
"have papers due but don't start working
on them until the night before they're
due." "Ideally," he said, "they should
have been working on them a little bit at
a time over the previous few weeks."
Dean Bitterbaum agreed that all the
programs now available to students and
those that may soon be available if the
college receives the Title IH grant can
only take the student so far. During the
interview with Small Talk, he shared
some lines of verse which he said had
been given to him by a Biology professor
from whom he had taken classes at Ca
tawba College. He said that these lines,
quoted below, sum up his philosophy
about the student-teacher relationship in
education.
This bridge will only take you halfway
tiiere
To those mysterious lands you long to
see:
Through gypsy camps and swirling Arab
fairs
And moonlit woods where unicorns run
free.
So come and walk awhile with me and
share
The twisting trails and wondrous worlds
I've known.
But this bridge will only take you half
way there—
The last few steps you'll have to take
alone.
Author Unknown
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