Newspapers / The pendulum. / March 18, 1993, edition 1 / Page 2
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Editorials March 18, 1993 Page 2 Viewpoint A woman humors the Final Four Wxill, ihal likmc a®jttn_Tianc to hear ihc ihrec words ihal I dread ibcaiiimj iroQrc llun amy other words in the human iUinguiisc...irhe Fiiiuil Ruir_ My lalhcr wu3 IhnnlhQr and ibe oujarity of my male friends have t>ccn lUiUcing jibout ifaits icwma far the past two weeks. The games ihavc ciuoorod iidcvitsicni 'sct for some time now and I am tired of iill (Of lihiii Ihjfie. OtI imc a '‘Itjfucair fentaSe. but I see no purpose in having this comcfil. W!h£)icefiilly>car£i;jflxmt»1ijt team can dribble a little round lutli Ibeiii jmd iifaoctt at i&nis^gh a badxt? I did this exact motion M^hcsi a Wits sbroe ^icars did ifltaotia^ a pair of rolled up tube socks iiuo iluimdiy baifticiL New, I ;adnuil aiua I have boca lo Duke in die past when they lhave M(an idie !NICAA cSuBngnondiip, and I will hand it to the Blue IQc»^ xhul dhc^' ican ufarnw a hcU of a paay. However, why use a win OIK ill) CKOUHC Ho Shnow a panty! I predia (and am almost willing no Ibci inry Me^ .and om it) that Duke will not even see the gliimmor ctf ithc iNICAA iragday ihai: year, but why cry? Throw a Tuimy juryway. Ewem lonort deserve lo let loose once in a while. IjunjiUlltQrieKatdtfiejtndaiiaieainipclJtionhcrcand there, but II jmi «tcflc lo ideal)) df waidiin^ tftkcse suncs. I think that all of this bai&xiihall ityfie is juia a caver tq) Tor more of this male bonding syndraame thiU noeonfi ao be ranaig^ rampant across this land. 1 xfaiiik that (this ihadficdiutl iSiuiflf k jufl one more excuse for men to £ca jiwjty ib-oni womaii and go get drunk and do it in the name of 4)pon. IFbtlas^ ihis is a lOop lil you want io "'ibiaiul,’” bond and take it like a man. Admit that it Its inoi mhe ;gamc mhal ycsuu r.caUy like but the *^ings” that go along wish ®lic igame ((ic. fecor, escape from females, freedom to «wair jil (the idirmiciii licaoea and not be held accouniaMc for it, etc.) Jind jmolhor wftuB is it|i with these belling pools? I saw some j^y oaiyang anound a plmacapy of a betting sheet and, I -swear, lit !had mane dcJtail am it tion the maps that AAA puts out Do )oui gnc^ffle bsve pcnhg^ better lo do vaih your time than lake cua iniilm and idcaw lihcflc Instead icf aibvowin^ yrar ■uney away on these bets, why not ga lin }«cuir Sio3e cms wak yam Indiana. Michigan. Kentucky and Ntmfl) CaniAina horagMr odkcrs w them and drive 39 miles to the Viirffiniii liinc and buy laneiy lickcts with your money? It seems to ane a'hai sonilcliiii^ looay lidxts would be a lot more fun than wjiidhii|g a bundh of «weity neai mn i|i and down a court. A« tear any jpniAicaiaa far the 1993 NCAA champ I don’t give a Ifaqitipy xap. Maybe CaroJii will win and we can all car pool the 40 numites aa idie paity as Ghapd Hill instead of the usual SO to Duihamn. Four-hour class format The most important issue ever for those attending Elon Courtenay Houston Guest Columnist The Pendulum GdMor: UailDaeX^Mmuni ■HUtarr'tPanM '35M"' CtMaoMMrtNtt'BMlwr: Jiadk HMi« %■»■» tmtrnr:: aBntikOai Bt!pa«*i]ni: iliotiSUli XMu! Jtmiic, IKiMitHi I I. Amy Sumum, -WMtaaD aa lUnqr.SUMWt waium omoc: l»fa'mninBMMnJkMB,,IESnCWHwt^XjC.ZTM4. NmKS««-2331 There is a proposal which will be put to the faculty for a vole in early April and if it passes, class at Elon College will forever be different The profKJsal to which I'm referring is one which would changc the present 3-hour class formal to a 4-hour one. Now, this might sound like a merely technical change, but the implications of such a move would effcct every facet of life at Elon. And this is why it is such an important issue. But before I go any further with this essay, I would like lo explain a few things. First of all, whenever a proposal like this comcs under serious discussion, it is difficult to criticize it without appearing lo be anti-education and anti-progress. (Of course, I am neither of these.) The dilemma is analogous to that of trying to say something educated about nazi Germany besides how horrible the holocaust was. People often miss the point because they're so locked in to seeing something only (mic way. Therefore I will ask you to' keep an open mind when reading this essay, understanding that I do not doubt the sincerity, or the motives behind the proposal in the least. The issues involved with this proposal are both subtle and complicated and no matter how the faculty votes, Elon will be permanently changed. The way 1 sec it, Elon is on the precipice of an epochal change. The school is changing, literally, right before our eyes - the question is - how do you want Elon to change? In an attempt to fully understand the complexities of this issue (and thus be able lo represent it accurately lo you) I discussed it. in depth, with Brad Hamm. Dr. John Sulliv:an. Lela Faye Rich. Mark Albertson, Dr. Alan White. Dean Bill Rich, and Dr. Warren Board. And I would like to thank them for their patience and lime. Their help was invaluable. When I first heard of ihe 4- hour class format proposal, my first question was - why? Why docs Eton need to do this? And the anH\Vcf, 4i iseems^, appears to be this?'by H:ria^gfmg to trie'il-hiluf I class format, two things would be Jack Duval accomplished; (1) the quality of intellectual interaction between students and faculty would be increased; and (2) the course load on the faculty would be reduced (from nine classes to six). Both of these goals are much needed, and I applaud the aiiempi to realize them. As a mailer of fact, I don't think anyone would dispute their validity. Bui I must ask if the 4-hour format is the best method to achieve these goals. As I mentioned before, the implications of such a change would be far-reaching, and ihis is where we need to focus our critical attention. The most logical place to begin, 1 ihink, is with the changes that will have lo be made in ' scheduling. With the 4-hour class system, Mark Albertson informed me, classes will most likely begin ai 8:00 a.m. and will run until after 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. One-lhird of the classes will meet four times a week, one- third three times a week, and twie- third twice a week. Undoublably, some classes are beuer off meeting four times a week, language classes being a good example. But with one-third of the cla.sses necessarily meeting four times a week, I fear that many of them would be forced into the four times a week slots. This would be an unfortunate waste of time for many of the Business and Communications classes, which require large amounu of independent, out-of class research and hands-on type activities. Since classes would be meeting past 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, there would be a tremendous amount of conflia for students who work after school, are active in inlermurals, and, most importantly, play varsity sports. ‘Whfcn’l tatk^ \iHlh (aihktic director) Dr. White, he said that currently, the teams which practice outdoors uy to start their prikcticcs between 3:30 p.m. and 4:(X) p.m. And that athlcies arc encouraged lo lake their labs (which traditionally run late) on Mondays, in an attempt to avoid exactly whal would be caused by the 4-hour format "Inevitably, you have upper- level classes taught in the afternoon, so the people you depend on most (upperclassmen) are the hardest hit" Dr. White said of ihe late classes. "The only way I know around it would be lights (on the praciice fields), and that's a major expense, and I don't know where the money would come from.” Aside from the monetary issue, which we will examine later, if our athletes are expected to praciice at night, when will they eat (will the cafeteria stay open until 10:(X) p.m.?), and more importanily, when will they study? The most severe consequence of the 4-hour format would be ihe loss of 25 percent of the courses offered. This is inevitable, for if class lime is increased by 25 percent, then the number of classes offered will necessarily (without additional faculty) drop by 25 percent When I discussed this with Dr. Board, he was right lo pomt out that it will be 25 percent of the course titles that will be lost That is to say that just because a course title doesn't appear on the schedule any more, doesn't mean that the material taught in that class won't be taught any more. For example: Western Civ. 1 and Western Civ. II might be combined into one class under a different name. Now, this is not necessarily i bad idea. But ibe problem I see is that you would be taking six hours worth of classes and puuing them ipto one four hour class. My concern is that (assuming the professors wouldn't be giving brutal course loads) the two hours being given up would constitute a signiHcant toss. If the Glasses are lengthened by 25 perccnt, iben the number offered is reduced by 25 percent Thus the number of classes required for a major is lessened by Sec Dnval, Page ^
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