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VOLUME XX, NUMBER 3
NORTH CAROLINA WESLEYAN COLLEGE. ROCKY MOUNT,. N.C.
MONDAY. NOVEMBER 23. 1981
The Evening Division a home for the non-traditional student
By David W. Guth
Director of Public
Information
The advantages of a
college education have, in the
past, been the almost
exclusive domain of the
“traditional” student; one
that goes directly into college
after high school. This is the -
case no more, as non-
traditional students are
entering the classrooms
during non-traditional hours
to earn a college degree.
North Carolina Wesleyan
College, in answer to a
pressing need for adult-
oriented higher education at
night, inaugurated its
Evening Division last
January. Since that time, the
program has met with great
success and a growing
awareness in the Rocky
Mount area.
Evening Division
enrollment has grown over
two hundred percent since the
spring term. This fall, 166
students are involved in
undergraduate studies while
another 123 are involved in
graduate programs.
All courses required for
the bachelor degree in
business administration,
criminal justice, and liberal
arts are available through the
Evening Division, along with
courses leading to the Master
of Business Administration
and Master of Education
degrees (offered in
conjunction with Campbell
University).
Dr. Carleton P. McKita,
director of the Evening
Divison, says Wesleyan faces
a challenge “to maintain a
difference” from other night
programs.
“If continuing education
is defined as self-enrichment
courses such as weaving and
pottery, we are not into that,”
Dr. McKita said. “What we do
offer is a baccalaureate
degree of quality at night.”
Although the Evening
Division does offer a fully
accreditted degree program,
Dr. McKita says there are
some differences between the
night and day programs. Gone
from the night prograjn are
the convocation and physical
education requirements that
day s^dents have. At the
present time, not all of the
majors and courses offered
during the day are available
at night.
“This, in no way, implies
that the night program is
watered down,” said Dr.
McKita. “We are constantly
working to improve the
curriculum and to discover
what the people want and to
give it to them with quality.”
What kind of person
attends the Evening Division?
They come from many walks
of life and have diverse
motivations. „
Night students -^are
individuals seeking career
advancement or a career
change. They are people
interested in returning to the
job market after an absence
from the work force. Night
students are housewives, with
children leaving the “nest”,
desiring to finish a college
education interupted or
delayed by marriage. They
are all people with a strong
committment toward
personal enrichment.
“In order for a student to
become a serious night
student, the motivational level
is really high,” says Dr.
McKita. He says it takes a
special desire for a person to
willingly tackle the'academic
world after a day filleii with
the world’s pressures and
Flowers Receives Grant
By Brooks Skinner
Decree staff
Linda Flowers, Assistant
Professor of English at
NCWC, has recently been
awarded a prestigious grant
from the Ford Foundation to
write a book about the plight
of poorly educated young
people in eastern North
Carolina.
Professor Flowers is one
of twenty-three winners of an
international competition to
support the writing of non
fiction books on major issues
and trends in contemporary
society. The winning
proposals were selected from
among 1500 submitted to the
Foundation this past spring
following public
announcement.
The aim was to encourage
writing that would bring
humanistic perspective to
bear on contemporary
problems at a time of sharply
declining financial support for
such work. Final selections
were made by an independent
panel of writers, editors, and
scholars.
The working title of
Professor Flowers’ book is
“Throwed Away”: Lessons in
Eastern North Carolina. “I
want a book,” writes Flowers,
“about the tragedy of young
people in eastern North
Carolina who get out of high
school and have no where to
go: no jobs with futures, no
skills, no education sufficient
to enable them to enjoy
college and thrive there tif
they go) or to pass entrance
examinations for the armed
forces.”
Flowers continues, “The
primary of my own
experience, and that of my
family, will lend such a book
unity and substance; my
research will lend it breads
and historical value.”
Professor Flowers, herself,
was raised in Duplin County,
North Carolina and is the
daughter of tenant farmers.
Flowers joined the faculty
of NCWC in the Fall of 1980.
• She did her undergraduate
work at the University of
North Carolina at Greensboro.
She has earned an M.A. from
Ohio State University and
from the University of
Rochester in New York.
Professor Flowers is also
adding the finishing touches
on her doctoral dissertation; a
degree she has also worked on
at the University of
Rochester.
hassles.
In agreement with Dr.
McKita is David L. Smith, an
assistant professor of Hotel
and Food Services
Management at the College.
During the spring term, Smith
t^iught a personnel
management course at night
to a class of nearly three
dozen. All but one ^ those
students were actively
employed in business and
industry throughout the
Rocky Mount area.
Smith, who also taught
that same course during the
day last sporing, said, “They
(the night students) are much
more highly motivated; even
though when they come to
class they have already
worked ei^t to ten hours on
the job.”
Although he taught the
same material in the day and
at night, Smith says he
handles the two classes
differently. “Because they
can relate what we are talking
about in their everyday job
experiences, I am able to take
a more practical approach
with the night class ftan the
theoretical approach I have to
take during the day.”
“It is not just the class
that has gained from this
learning atmosphere. I have
learned from every night
class I have taught,” Smith
said.
The return to the
classrom after many years’
absence can create pressures
of its own. Dr. McKita refers
to these pressures as the
“phenomenon of the returning
student.”
“These are very fragile
peq)le,” he says. “There are
all kinds of uncertainties.”
Those uncertainties vary
from student to student. The
return to the classroom often
calls for the alteration of the
family situation and how it
operates. There may be a fear
of “outgrowing” one’s spouse.
The returning student may
wonder if he or she is
“indulging” in some sort of
luxury at his or her family’s
expense.
Dr. McKita says
Wesleyan is preparing to help
ease any shock creat^ by the
return to college. “When
people are in a bind, we have
the resources to help them,”
he said.
“We want to improve our
services to the night student,”
Dr. McKita said. “Colleges
that have had just the
traditional day students to
deal with have to make a lot of
adjustments to accomodate
the needs of the non-
traditional night student.”
Many businesses and
industries recognize the value
of enhancing on-the-job
experience with up-to-date
information from the
classroom through
reimbursement plans for
employees.
The advantages offered in
the Evening Division have
also been expanded into area
high schools. Through the
College Credit Bank Program
that was initiated in
conjunction with the Evening
Division, well motivated high
school juniors and seniors
with good academic records
can earn college credits that
can be applied to their
Wesleyan transcript or
transferred to another
institution.
Over one hundred people registered last August 27 for classes leading to the Master of Education
or the Master of Business Administration degree through Wesleyan’s Evening Division
Commmiity Council brought
back to Wesleyan
By Martie Barbour
Decree staff
“The Community Council
is a new agency organized by
joint action of the faculty,
staff, and students, four
students, two faculty
members, and one staff
member comprise the
Council-which is sometimes
called “The Community
Conscience.” The Council is
charged with all interests of
the total Wesleyan
community: it investigates
matters referred by students,
faculty, or staff groups; it
serves as broad council for
anyone having a problem in
the community; it makes
recommendations to the
faculty, the student
government, and the
administration.
“The Community Council
is not an honor court but does
concern itself with matters of
honor and ma^turity.
Established upon a
community Bill or Rights, the
Council stresses trust,
expressed in the motto,
‘Efficiency through service,
fidelity, and integrity.’ The
Bill of Rights states:
We the people of the North
Carolina Wesleyan
Community, do firmly intend:
1. That every student of the
community shall receive
equal and fair treatment in all
academic matters.
2. That every member of the
community shall maintain full
rights to his property and
shall respect the property
rights of all others.
3. That every member of the
community shall have his
word taken without question
and shall trust the word of all
others.”
This excerpt appeared in
Wesleyan’s 1961-’62 Bulletin.
But the Council described
didn’t last. After a while there
(Continued on Page 4)