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Volume LXVVII, No. 6
Guilford's Diverse Grading: Policies
Jim McMillan, Art Professor
BY HOLLY HOBBS
To the Guilford student, the
16-credit course load is more than
just four courses. To complete
the homework for and to attend
each class requires four different
mindsets. Material presented for
an art class is completely dif
ferent for a history class, for a
foreign language class, and for a
physics class. Not only that, but
each professor presents his/her
own personal priorities. This is
reflected by grading policies and
attitudes toward teaching and
students, as well as the different
courses taught by the same in
structor. These attitudes and
policies are as diverse as the
courses offered at Guilford.
To illustrate the diversities,
four professors, Jim McMillan,
Art Professor, Sarah Malino,
Chairperson of the History
Department, Jim McNab,
Chairperson of the Foreign
Language Department and
Sheridan Simon, Chairperson of
the Physics Department were in
terviewed regarding their
grading policies and teaching
techniques.
Jim McMillan received his
B.A. degree in Fine Arts at
Howard University in
Washington, D.C., and his M.F.A.
in Sculpture at Catholic Universi
ty, also in D.C. He studied in
WQFS - The Art of Noises
Beyond entertainment, "The
Voice of Guilford College,"
WQFS offers an accessible learn
ing experience. Senior Reb Blan
chard, general manager of
WQFS, has taken advantage of
this opportunity and at the same
time ameliorated "The Voice."
"I got caught up in radio at the
end of sophomore year and more
so last year when I was news
director" Blanchard, a political
science major, said. Since then
he has worked his way up to the
top doing something he enjoys
and at the same time learning a
great deal about communication.
WQFS is completely ad
ministered by students. Including
the position of general manager
there is; news director, Chris
Schelin, production manager,
Grant Reed, music directors,
Tim Savage and Pam Vesilind,
Guilford College Greensboro, N.C. 27410
1^
Sarah Malino, Chairperson of "*
the History Dept.
France at the Academic Julian,,
received a certificate there, and
applied sixty hours to his PhD at
Tyracuse University in New
York.
After World War 11, McMillan
taught at the Armed Forces Ser
vice Institute, to help veterans in
upward level degrees. In 1947, he
began teaching at Bennett Col
lege, between his studies in D.C.
and France. He has been at
Guilford since 1968.
McMillan's interest was in
becoming an artist, but he needed
some sort of financial base to do
that. After his first student ex
hibit, he realized his teaching had
not come through. "What I saw
was little pieces of me." That is
when teaching became a
challenge for him.
To McMillan, the most impor
tant thing about teaching is this
challenge. "Something as per
sonal as art requires more than
teaching skills and techniques. It
requires finding ways of motiva
tion to initiate insight," said
McMillan, "The question of
evaluation is recognizing the
relationship between teacher and
student. In the beginning, a stu
dent may feel unsure, and the
process must be nurtured
carefully, for sometimes the
creative process may be stifled.
The teacher must nurture,
cultivate, guide, prod the student,
IMB
Reb Blanchard at the helm of the good ship WQFS.
and the staff of approximately 40,
most of which are disk jockeys.
Staff members may choose what
* I iJj
Jim McNab, Chairperson of the
Foreign Language Dept.
to continue that upward spiral (of
achievement). With more con
fidence, the cycle will continue."
On the question of grades,
McMillan feels that they are an
element of motivation. They
define what excellence is. "To
use grades as a guide is not
necessarily good...but it serves
as a reference for the student,
hopefully creating motivation,"
McMillan said.
Establishing diologue is an im
portant part of McMillan's class
procedure. Diologue clarifies
concepts, while not saying how to
do assignments. McMillan gives
assignments to "integrate the in
tellectual with motor skills."
Critiques are another impor
tant part of class procedure.
They allow the student to see
his/her own work in the context
of the class and to get inter
change of how what is visibly
presented has come about.
"Hopefully the exchange benefits
everybody," said McMillan.
McMillan grades on class par
ticipation and attendence. At
tendence is crucial, according to
McMillan. He also grades on the
products themselves, the ability
to follow through with guidelines.
His evaluation is not so much on
the "Creative dimension," but on
the application of skills and con
ceptual ideas. Improvement is
also considered.
photo by Holly Hobbs
type of work they partake in. This
is a change from the past when
DJs were required to do a certain
>* jjl^l
Sheridan Simon, Chairperson of
the Physics Dept.
"Each student is an important
entity," McMillan said, "Art is
an individual expression, but
before individuals can express,
they must have the fundamen
tals."
Sarah Malino received her B.A.
from Wellesly College, and her
M.A. PhD in American Social
History from Columbia Universi
ty in New York. Her dissertation
was entitled: "Faces Across the
Counter: A Social History of
Female Department Store
Employees 1870 - 1920." She join
ed the History Department in
1979.
The most important thing
about teaching to Malino is in
teraction with students. She en
joys getting to know people from
different backgrounds, and see
ing students unfold and develop
their own thoughts and political
ideas. Malino sees history as an
important source in finding one's
identity as an American. The
study of non-traditional histories,
such as women and other minori
ty groups, "enables people to
make political decisions," Malino
says. She also strives to help the
student develop basic com
munication skills of writing and
logical analysis.
When asked "What do grades
mean to you," Malino replied, "A
big headache." After further
thought, she added, "I like the
amount of work in news and
advertisement in exchange for
air time. "This change has pro
vided WQFS with interested
workers" stated Blanchard.
Students interested in careers
such as management, marketing,
advertising, and communications
can all benefit from the experien
tial learning at WQFS.
Radio experience opens up
many job opportunities. Last
May Blanchard was hired by
WGLD, a television broadcast
station in Greensboro, whom he
still works for. "It supported me
throughout the summer and gave
me ideas for a commercial radio
station." Luckily for WQFS, he
was able to coerce the chief
engineer to come work for WQFS
"All the equipment at WGLD is
brand new and state of the art so
was a lot of fun to work with," he
November 20, 1985
process ol analyzing someone's
work and explaining to them how
to take it further. And it is a lear
ning exercise for me." It disturbs
her to see students look only at
the grades, and not at her exten
sive comments. She is happy to
work with students who want to
improve and rewrite
assignments.
Malino's class procedure is a
combination of lecture/discus
sion. When she first began
teaching, it was purely lecture
style, and she realized that what
the students were reading at
home were the same things she
was teaching in class. So in order
to engage her students, she began
discussing the material read by
students. She also uses many
audio-visual aids.
Malino grades mainly on class
participation and written work.
Improvement of written work is
taken into account, this work be
ing in the form of papers and
essay-exams. Occasionally,
students participate in oral ex
ams.
Jim McNab received his M.A.
Honors in French and German at
the University of Edinburg in
Scotland, and his M.S. in French
and PhD in French with a Ger
man minor from Duke Universi
ty. After teaching at the Universi
ty of Nice and two high schools in
France, then Virginia Tech,
McNab came to teach at Guilford
in 1978.
The most important aspect of
teaching to McNab is to provide
equal opportunities to a diverse
group of students. "Education is
the one thing that eliminates
social, class, and economic bar
riers," says McNab.
Grades, according to McNab.
are the measure of how students
do as perceived by standards set
bv Guilford He is not too happ\.
CONT. PG 10
said while typing the week's
schedule into the station's com
puter.
WQFS, which was founded in
1968, has grown considerably in
the past six years. In 1979 it had
10 watts while today it's wattage
is up to 1900, with still an option to
boost it further. "We are for
tunate in that respect" Blan
chard said. Last spring, because
of his work with WQFS, Blan
chard was invited to attend the
Inter Collegiate Broadcast
System Convention. He worked
with college students from all
over the nation and picked up
many valuable pointers for the
station. "It was very motivating
to work with 1800 college students
CONT. PG 8