Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Jan. 19, 1994, edition 1 / Page 2
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2 Wednesday, January 19,1994 Courses With Slack Reputation Don’t Always Lead to 4 Easy A’ BY RUTH BORLAND STAFF WRITER Contraiy to popular belief, there is not a disproportionately large number of ath letes in Geology 11, also known as “Rocks for Jocks.” The class got this nickname because it is rumored, along with classes in other de partments, tobe an exceptionally easy class. “I had an aunt who graduated in De cember,” said Stacie Smith, a freshman from Durham who is taking Geology 11. “She had taken (Geology 11) correspon dence. She had said it was pretty easy. “It’s an introduction course, so of course the material would be easier than an ad vanced geology course.” Timothy Bralower, a professor who teaches Geology 11, said the class got this reputation because it was the easiest of the physical sciences. “Compared to the alternatives, geology concepts are much easier to visualize,” Bralower said. “But most of the students who comment to me tell me it requires more work than most sciences.” Bralower’s syllabus lists 20 to 30 pages of reading for every two to three lectures, with four tests and no papers or projects. He recommends at least 10 hours a week of studying outside of class to get an A. But Smith said she probably would not study quite as much as Bralower suggested. VISITATION FROM PAGE 1 at tonight’s meeting. He said he hoped the voice of the stu dents in the proposed referendum would be strong enough to grab the attention of trustees, who will discuss the visitation issue again at its Jan. 28 meeting. “The BOT decision to rescind the pilot program was essentially a slap in the face of students. The issue is clear cut—at the very least, students ought to be able to decide what their living arrangements should be.” Trustee Annette Wood said she thought the sudden rescinding of the pilot program in November was poorly handled. fyie-Ofie/u'/ty S ackson Hull /2 text to Cobb Dorm). P jtf? iecials good only 38. oom and while f&W through]! applies last! i this weekend to WIN //y fanny packs, back // Ml packs & sweatshirts! / / I Limit one registration per person. I I //JtJSk / Drawing will be held Mon., Jan. 24. m “I don’t expect to have to spend 10 hours a week, but I guess I'll find out on the first exam,” Smith said. Freshman Danielle Horton from Statesville, who also is in Bralower’s class, said, “(Brawlower) said we couldn’t get through it without reading the textbook.” However, she plans to spend no more than five hours a week on geology. Josh Helms, a sophomore geology ma jor from Charlotte, took Geology 11 from another professor and made an A. He ad vises current students to “do the reading.” “Ispentlessthan 10 hours a week study ing,” he said. “I did find it very easy. It is a very easy class, but it’s not a guaranteed A. The lab was more work than I thought it was going to be.” In Sociology 10, another class often rumored to be “easy,” 40 percent of Pro fessor Richard Simpson’s students failed the first exam. Of the final grades, six out of 90 were F’s, and eight were D’s. Simpson said it was less demanding than other sociology courses because the teaching was nonmathematical and be cause the texts were written at a low level. “Depending onhowthecourse is taught, it is sometimes a description of facts more than an analysis of complex relationships, ” Simpson said. “Some of it is easy. But not all of it is, and some of the students experi ence considerable shock when they don’t understand it. “However, I don’t think it took any thing away from the powers of the stu dents," Wood said. But Angela Bryant, one of the two BOT members who voted against rescinding the program, said students and Chancellor Paul Hardin should have had the opportunity to play a more active part in the revisions on the policy. “It was a losing battle for the students because there were so many people against it,” she said. Bryant said she thought it was a little too heavy-handed for the trustees to rescind the whole 24-hour visitation policy. She said morality affected the decision. “People want to put their head in the sand when it comes to sexuality.” UNIVERSITY “Some of the concepts, only a small percentage of the students are able to grasp. ” Another reason that students sometimes have trouble in Sociology 10 is that they frequently skip class. “There is an alarming rate of absentee ism," Simpson said. “Research shows that class attendance has a stronger relation ship to grades than the amount of time spent studying.” Both Simpson and Bralower agreed that one reason the classes were rumored to be easy was because they were introductory courses. Bralower said that introductory geology courses were known as “Rocks for Jocks” in universities across the country. Kara Sheppard, a sophomore from Wendell, said she took Drama 15 last se mester because she had heard it was easy. “My roommate from last year told me it was not a difficult class,” she said. “It was a fair class. It wasn’t extremely easy, and it wasn’t extremely hard.” Sheppard made an A in Drama 15 and spent about 5 l/2hoursperweekon drama, including class time. The professor tried to keep the class at a level where nonmajors could understand it and learn something, Sheppard said. “It’s not that it’s easy, it’s that he doesn’t expect you to memorize entire plays.... He expects you to leam something from every play you read, to keep up in class and to pay attention to what he says.” CONGRESS FROM PAGE 1 Last year, congress cut STV’s budget, making the upgrading that it wanted to do impossible, Jackson said. Also on tonight’s congress agenda are: ■ A consideration to allot SI,OOO to the elections board for the rental of new scan ners to be used for UNC ONE Cards due to the elimination of registration cards. ■ A consideration to allot $ 1,820 to the Students for the Advancement of Race Relations. ■ A resolution prohibiting members of Student Congress from receiving a stipend. ■ A resolution prohibiting the student body president from receiving a stipend. REMEDIAL FROM PAGE 1 classes was that they did not take difficult courses in high school. “The question is whether (students) are taking those challenging courses, and the answer is ‘no,’” Ivy said. “Our students also don’t always think they need to put a lot of time into homework.” David Burleson, principal of Freedom High School in Burke County, said all reports such as the Freshman Performance Report were valuable because they were a reflection of how well the high school was performing. “We shared the (freshman performance) report with the faculty,” Burleson said. “We looked specifically at the number of students needing remediation.” The Freedom High School administra tion looked closely at the 11th- and 12th grade literature classes, and made changes to spend more time focusing on the writing process. The school also examined the results of the end-of-course tests and made adjustments accordingly, he said. Burleson said Freedom High School was slightly above average in comparison to other N.C. high schools. The school is working to add more advanced placement courses to its curriculum and to offer a humanities program aimed at gifted stu dents. “I think the report is one of the first avenues that’s been taken to bridge the gap (between universities and high schools),” Burleson said. Wayne Thrift, principal of Thomasville Senior High School in Davidson County, WEDNESDAY NOON: Campos Y will present “A Show of Hands” in Polk Race. The Women’s Studies Department will present Sande Churchill speaking on “Thinking About Cul tural Difference: AMatterofLogicPatricia Williams and Ludwig Wittgenstein Talk About Dogs” in Dey Hall’s Toy Lounge. 4 p.m. Study Abroad will have an info session on study abroad in Beijing in 12 Caldwell Hall. 5 p.m. The UNC Vegetarian Club offers a free vegetarian meal in Getrard Hall. Spanish House will have Tertulia, its weekly con versation program, at Columbia Street Bakery. 5:30p.m. Communiversity will meet in the BCC. Newman Catholic Student Center will have stu dent night in the Carmichael Ballroom. Asian Students Association will meet in Union 208-209 6p.m. Project Literacy will have sign-up in Union 226. 7 p.m. Habitat for Humanity will meet in 111 Murphey Hall. SNCAE will meet in 10 Peabody Hall. said his school did not make any changes based on the report. “We’re hoping to raise expectations for all students, not just college preparatory students, ” he said. “We’re trying to get the point across to all our students that to be prepared for the work force, they have to have some sort of post-secondary educa tion.” Thrift said his school was remodeling science labs and working to offer more advanced placement courses to students. Thomasville Senior High School also works closely with the University ofNorth Carolina at Greensboro and local commu nity colleges to offer classes for college credit and more AP courses. Anthony Parker, principal ofLumberton Senior High School in Robeson County, said he thought his school was doing a good job of educating students for college level work. “As far as the upper end of our curricu lum, our status compares favorably with any school in the state,” Parker said. Robeson County currently has a low performance status. The state considers a school system to be on low-performing status if it fails to pass 75 percent of state indicators of perfor mance, falls in the bottom 23 percent in statewide performance and has a certain drop-out rate. The system has three years to improve, or the state will take over the system. Robeson County schools went through a rough period five years ago when the county’s five school systems merged into one. Parker said Robeson County would go off the low-performing status this year. Campus Calendar N.C. Hillel will hold a challah/matzah cover making for $lO per cover at Hillel. 7:30 p.m. Rape Action Project will meet in Union 209. The UNC Pre-Vet Club will meet in 204 Peabody Hall. 8:30 p.m. The Carolina Review will meet in Union 208. ITEMS OF INTEREST Campos Y has applications available for 1994-95 officers and co-chairmen. Due Jan. 26. Elections Board has petitions and election forms for students interested in running for any student government offices outside the Elections Board of fice in Union Suite C. The International Center has applications for English conversation partners. Anyone who can meet one hour per week with an international student may apply at the International Center in the Union. The Honors Office will accept applications from freshmen and sophomores for the honors program until Feb. 4. Applications are available outside 300 Steele Building. Sbtiy alar Mppl “J think the universities are raising expectations. We needed to make our courses more demanding. I think we’ve done a good job of that. ” ANTHONY PARKER Lumberton Senior High School principal “I think we’ve got some outstanding programs and some outstanding high schools here,” he said. One key problem high schools now face is that high school students are expected to meet higher standards for college admit tance, Parker said. “The big key is raising expectations, ” he said. “I think the universities are raising expectations. We needed to make our courses more demanding. I think we’ve done a good job of doing that.” The Robeson County school system is taking major steps to better prepare its teachers through staff-development pro grams. Parker also said he thought that although many high schools offered college prepara tory classes, many students did not take advantage of them. “I think in many cases, it’s the fact that the student has not taken the courses of fered, ” he said. “We’re not trying to dodge the responsibility, but I think the vast ma jority of the time, they haven’t taken the most demanding courses at the high school.” Leadership Development will have applications available for the N.C. African-American Students Leadership Conference. The deadline is Friday. University Career Services will be open for stu dents who want to register to have UCS send their resumes to internship employers. Come to 211 Hanes Hall until Jan. 31 to register. Student Health Services is starting anew diabetes support group. Call 966-6562 to enroll. For the Record Tuesday’s editorial 'No More Excuses' left out the bloodmobile that will be held Friday in the Student Union. The Red Cross will sponsor bloodmobiles from noon to 4:30 p.m. Friday in the Union and from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the law school. The DTH regrets the error.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Jan. 19, 1994, edition 1
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