Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Oct. 10, 1977, edition 1 / Page 6
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6 The Daily Tar Heel Monday. October 10. 1977 Smith talks on grades, degrees and goals C I: A successful basketball coach discusses the value of college education l earning is a reciprocal relationship. In the process, one person teaches, and another learns. But the teacher also learns; he learns how to be a better teacher what is necessary to make someone learn as well as the value of what is taught. Dean Smith, one of the most successful basketball coaches in the nat ion, is in the unique position of being the confidant of numerous students: the basketball players who spend four years at Carolina receiving an education and smoothing the rough parts of their basketball skills. And, because of this experience as he enters his 1 7th season at Carolina, he says that despite what many people believe, a college education should be one of the most important objectives for a young person. "As long as society demands a degree for so many job opportunities, a young person would serve himself well to make sure he had that degree," Smith says. "It is very obvious that certain knowledge must be acquired that probably can't be acquired through on-the-job training. "Educators have spent a lot of time talking about grades. And, ideally, you are there to seek knowledge and gain knowledge and not worry about whether you have an A or a B or a C," he says. "A university should not reflect Greg Porter Editor Bfn Cornelius. Managing Editor Ed Rankin, Associate Editor Lou Bilionis, Associate Editor Laura Scism, University Editor Elliott Potter, dry Editor Chuck Alston, State and National Editor Sara Bui. lard. Features Editor Chip Ensslin, Arts Editor Gene Upchurch. Sports Editor Allen Jlrnigan, Photography Editor Transit agreement a credit to administration's concern After six long months of negotiation, the University and the Town of Chapel Hill finally have reached an agreement for funding the mass-transit system, and the agreement is one which students can look to with pride. The wrench complicating the negotiations was a concern with night service, with the University reluctant to enter into a bindingendorsement of the town's shared-ride taxi service, which has yet to prove its value as a substitute for evening bus service. John L. Temple, UNC vice chancellor for business and finance, had refused to sign an earlier transportation proposal because it did not contain a provision for some fixed-route night bus service. Although the agreement he signed ten days ago does not provide for such services, it does leave the University the opportunity to cut back on its funding of the transportation system if night taxis fail to justify their worth. Temple's insistence on a viable evening transportation is a credit to his and the University's concern for student needs. They have recognized that some sort of night service is a necessity for students and have made it clear that Chapel H ill's night taxis must be further evaluated before evening buses are altogether scrapped. An average of about 52 persons per evening use night taxis now, according to Chapel Hill Transportation Director Bob Godding, and the University thinks that an average of 100 persons per evening would make the taxi system worthwhile. The University has given the taxis until Oct. 3 1 to reach this level, in effect granting the town the benefit of the doubt until then. If ridership does not increase by the end of the month, the service will be modified, with some combination of fixed-route night buses and taxis the most likely alternative. While the agreement signed by Town Manager Kurt J . Jenne and Temple is at best a tentative pact, with the future of public mass-transit in Chapel Hill still hazy, the picture is, nevertheless, a great deal clearer than ever before. Perhaps more important to some students, though, is the fact that the administration has taken its time with cautious steps to assure that the entire University community will enjoy adequate and quality transportation. The Daily News: Tony Gunn, assistant editor; Mark Andrews, Mike Coyne, Meredith Crews, Shelley Droescher, Bruce Ellis. Betsy Flagler, Grant Hamill, Lou Harncd, Stephen Harris, Kathy Hart, Nancy Hartis.Chip Highsmith. Keith Hollar.Stcve Hucltel.Jaci Hughes, Jay Jennings, George Jeter, Ramona Jones, Will Jones, Julie Knight, Eddie Marks, Amy McRary, Elizabeth Mcssick, Beverly Mills, Beth Parsons, Chip Pearsall, Bcrnie Ransbottom, Evelyn Sahr, George Shadroui, Vanessa Siddle. Barry Smith, David Stacks, Mclinda Stovall. Robert Thomason, Howard Troxlcr, Mike Wade, Martha Waggoner, David Walters, and Ed Williams. News Desk: Rcid Tuvim, assistant managing editor. Copy chief: Keith Hollar. Copy editors: Richard Barron, Amy Colgan, Dinila James, Carol Lee, Michele Mecke, Lisa Nieman, Dan Nobles, Melanie Sill. Mclinda Stovall. Melanie Topp and Larry Tupler Spoils: Lee Pace, assistant editor; Fvan Appel, Dede Biles, Bill Fields, Skip Foreman, Tod Hughes, Dave McNeill, Pete Mitchell, David Poole, Ken Roberts, Rick Scoppe, Frank Snyder. Will Wilson and Isabel Worthy. Features: Jeff Brady. Zap Brueckner. David Craft, Debbie Moose, Dan Nobles, Lynn Willilord, Peter Hapke, Tim Smith, Etta Lee, Kimberly McGuire and Ken Roberts. Arts and Entertainment: Melanie Modlin. assistant editor; Hank Baker. Becky Burcham, Pat Green. Marianne Hansen, Libby Lewis and Valerie Van Arsdale. Graphic Arts: Artists: Dan Brady, Alien Edwards, Cliff Marley, Jocelyn Pettibone, Lee Poole and John Tomlinson. Photographers: Fred Barbour, Joseph Thomas, Michael Sneed and Sam Fulwood. Business: Verna Taylor, business manager. Claire Bagley, assistant business manager. Mike Neville, David Squires and Howard Troxler. Circulation manaver: Bill Baglcv. Advertising: Dan Collins, manager; Carol Bedsolc. assistant sales manager; Steve Crowcll. classifieds manager; Julie Coston. Neal Kimball. Cynthia Lesley, Anne Sheml and Melanie Stokes. Ad layout: Evelyn Sahr. Composition Editors: Frank Moore and Nancy Oliver Composition and Makeup: UNC Printing Dcpt Robert Jusinkicwic, supervisor; Roheil Slrcetcr, Geanie McMillan, Judy Dunn, C arolyn fcuhn. David Paikcr, Joni Peters. Steve Oakenbush and Duke Sullivan society but lead society. But, in many cases, it can't help but reflect some parts ' of society. Along those lines is the grade problem that too many people are interested in. I know I was interested in grades when I was coming along." The No. I priority for a college student should be to learn rather than to be concerned with grades only. Smith IN QUOTES By GENE UPCHURCH says. However, a lack of incentive often causes a student to do less than he is capable of doing. "We've found that true in pass-fail courses," he says. "1 think people who take a course pass-fail have a tendency not to spend the time on it as if it were their regular graded course." A college degree is more important to some students than to others. Smith says, particularly disadvantaged students. "The degree is the one thing they can hold on to," he says. "They don't have a rich daddy who owns a company in town which he can go back to. The degree is more of an equalizer than 3br lath 85th year of editorial freedom Tar Heel anything else I can think of." 1 n basketball, an athlete is told always to work as hard as he can, but Smith says this should apply to academic work also, both for the athlete in college and regular students. "Something that bothers me a great deal, is the young man or a young woman who's paying a tuition to go to college, and on a day when they have three hours of class, doesn't hit one of those hours of class. I think that's one of the biggest wastes of time to be enrolled in a class and not attend it. Because when you think of a 24-hour day, what's three hours? That's a far better use of your time than sitting in front of a book in the same course because you're supposed to be getting some input from the lecturer. Some people come to college and seldom go to class. What are they doing with their time? Maybe they should be out on some on-the-job training. But it's hard to get a job, conversely, if you don't have your degree." Basketball players do better work during the season because their lives are more organized, Smith says. "They know there is only so much time, and practice time takes up the so called goof-off time. And they do travel, and they have to make up that time," Smith says. Express views on drop policy at Tuesday hearing By BILL MOSS Is four weeks an adequate length of time for a student to judge if a course serves his or her educational needs? I don't think so. Often, neither course schedules nor personal schedules have settled down enough by the fourth week of class for a student to intelligently decide if a course will be an educationally beneficial experience. However, the Faculty Council's Educational Policy Committee will report to the Faculty Council on Oct. 21 that the present four-week drop policy should be continued. The committee's report cites that there are only two educationally valid reasons to drop a course after the drop-add period. The first is the case of "drops initiated because the course was judged not to serve the educational needs of the student," and the second., "when, in rare cases, because of extreme circumstances which render the student incapable of completing the course requirements." The report goes on to say that "The committee did not find persuasive the argument for an extension of the drop period beyond four weeks in order that a student might better assess the probability of receiving a desired grade." The importance of extending the drop period is not to give a student more time to assess the probability of receiving a desired grade but to give the student enough time and information concerning the course so that an intelligent decision can be made. The report also shows that post-drop-add drops have fallen by one half with the new policy; the implied conclusion is that the difference is that last year the drops were educationally valid, and that the year before about one half of all drops were not educationally valid. This is almost certainly not the case. It would be interesting to know how many students were forced to complete course work that did not serve his or her letters to the editor Deep To the editor; This past Thursday (Oct. 6) I finally got to see a show at Deep Jonah, with no thanks to you. I found the place all by myself. And I'm glad 1 did. That night, Scott Ainslie played for an hour-and-a-half: fiddling, plucking, strumming and singing mountain songs and ballads (even some folk songs from Ireland). Scott is one of the very few entertainers, and 1 mean that in the true sense of the word, that I have seen in this area. I felt bad for him because there were just a handful of people down in Deep Jonah. Deep Jonah is sponsored by the Carolina Union for students, but it seems that this musical cafe is a well-kept secret by the DTH. Why was there no write-up or preview? (the four-line note in Campus Calendar and the one-inch ad on the next page said practically nothing). Since the paper is funded by our student fees, why doesn't it plug all student activities? Wasn't anyone assigned to review the concert? It is insulting and shameful that you shirked these responsibilities. Deep Jonah is standing on feeble legs, and you are pulling the rug from under it. Worthwhile student activities like this should get full cooperation with and coverage by the student newspaper. And even more so for Deep Jonah. Every Tuesday night, students are invited to do t 1k-ir own performing, singing, joking, whatever. Half the students do not even know where Deep Jonah is! (Its name is a slight tipoff that it"s in the basement of the I'nion). Deep Jonah can grow intoan exciting and vital channel of campus and community talent and expression and it deserves Dean Smith "I'm excited when one of them comes in and says 'I really like this course.' That generally doesn't happen until educational needs. The committee's report also cites the fact that a "majority of faculty responses indicated that the faculty favored the retention of the four-week policy." This support of the four-week policy by the faculty is not borne out by a random survey of 70 general faculty members taken last spring by Student Government. The faculty members were asked, "Would you object to extending the drop period to six weeks?" The result was that 53 percent did not object, only 35 percent did object and the remaining 12 percent was neutral. It seems clear to me that four weeks is not enough time for students to intelligently Jonah talent encouragement from all the students and our paper. Dear editor, pitch in and do your share. Mark Adams 549 Craige Extend drop period To the editor: As UNC students we support an extension of the drop period to eight instead of four weeks. Four weeks does not allow a student enough time to orient himself to his course load. Most importantly, in the majority, if not all classes, no written assignment or test has been scheduled and graded before the four weeks have ended. Therefore, a student can not determine the difficulty of the course. We urge students to voice their opinion on this matter by attending the public hearing to be held at 8 p.m. Tuesday in 100 Hamilton Hall. We also urge the Faculty Council to realize that as students we pay to attend this University and should be taken into consideration when the final decision is made. Signed by 10 Whitehead residents To the editor: In the beginning, when the purpose of a university was to serve the students needs, the concern was for the student not the faculty. Now the faculty "experiments" with student privileges. How about letting the students experiment with the faculty's privileges, such as tenure? More and more 1 r' r -w P 1- ' OFFENSE JHII jrm they're juniors and seniors. Still I think that's something to learn. I've always heard that a great step toward maturity is to do something you don't want to do and do it well. So, if they did that through a required course as a freshman, and. maybe disliked the course intensely but really worked hard and did it well, I think there's a feeling of satisfaction and self-esteem that can come from that." Smith says he used to brag about players who were on the Dean's List, but looking back on that now, he says he was wrong. "In basketball, we say do the best you possibly can with your ability. What I should brag on is the guy who should be a C student and becomes a B-minus student versus a guy who is a dean's list student, a 3.2, and should be a 4.0. That's why I try not to bring this out because I'd rather compliment the one that's exceeding his ability from his background. We should compliment the one who exceeds his prediction rather than the one who doesn't." Every student, whether a star athlete or an average student, should be treated the same. Smith says, and none should be treated with any favoritism. "It's not any different for an athlete than for any other student," he says. "I want our basketball players to be a part of the student b"Hv pet awav from the decide if their courses fulfill their educational needs, that students are strongly in favor of extending the drop period, and that the general faculty is not opposed to a modest extension of the drop period. But how long should the drop period be? That is the question that Student Government is attempting to answer as it prepares a formal recommendation to the Faculty Council. To come up with the most equitable time period possible and to discuss the effects of the shortened drop period on students here, the Campus Governing Council will hold an open hearing Tuesday night in Hamilton 100 beginning at 8. deserves better coverage hear about what is good for the faculty, not about helping the student. I ask the faculty to approach the problem from the students' viewpoint; what good is half a privilege, a token right? Shouldn't a student have the right to drop a course if he feels it is not to his benefit to remain in the course? Of course this is true to a point in time and the position of this point is the issue at hand. I feel that this point is more than four weeks into the semester. The University must also feel that it takes more than four weeks to form a judgment of a course, or why don't they do course and professor evaluations after the fourth week? ies, reduce the drop period to four weeks, then two weeks, then none at all, but somewhere it has to stop because there is a law against cruel and unusual punishment. As a final note, I thought that we, the students, paid the largest part of the faculty's wages. Ed Inman Apt. 27, Hollard Dr. Turn on the juice To the editor: In light of all the letters concerning the facts and myths about marijuana use, we would like to plug one of the more current trends in getting turned on. Marijuana is passe. If you place an electrode near the hypothalamus, turning on is as easy as a flick of a switch. Without drugs, you can have no more problems with motivation, no more messing with munchics or cottonmouth, no more restless sleeping and you guessed it athletic dorm idea, meet other students and take part in student activities. When you look back on your college experience, you must ask yourself was the classroom themost beneficial? Many times the general maturity that comes from just being in a college community for four years can be helpful." Smith has seen many students pass through Carolina and has had the chance to know many of them closely, sharing and trying to understand their problems. He has seen some become highly successful basketball players and students; he has seen others fail. Just as they learned during their time in college, he too has learned something from their experiences. There is something in athletics, Smith says. "Maybe through the discipline. . .you've cried together and laughed together. There's more camaraderie. "I think each student has to make his own relationship as a creature on this earth and decide what he can do to be a part of the help, the cure of the world and not its problem. And as soon as he can ask that kind of question, we're in good shape.' Gene Lpchurch, a senior journalism major from Durham, N.C., is sports editor for the Daily Tar Heel. I strongly encourage anyone interested in the drop period or anyone who has been affected by the shortened drop period to come to the meeting and make heard your views. If we are unable to persuade the Faculty Council on Oct. 21 that the present drop policy is too short, then it will be a long time before we get another chance at extending the drop period. Bill Moss, a senior American Studies major from Youngsville, N.C., is student body president. no more frustration with getting it on. With the proper influences on your pituitary gland, you can rid yourself of all those nasty reactions to fear and stress such as paranoia. What more can we say? Why bother with turning to drugs or even getting juiced when its much more convenient to turn on the juice? (Special AC DC kits available for two-way types.) Mike VanHecke Ken Johnson 308 '2 Ransom St. What about Rameses? To the editor: Recently, we have been hearing outcries concerning the zoology student who proposes to catch a few squirrels once and mark them temporarily in the interest of science. Why has there not been one murmur about the indignities that Rameses, the team mascot, is forced to endure repeatedly in the interest of school spirit? Stephen Kosciesza 635 Craige The Daily Tar Heel welcomes contributions and letters to the editor. Letters must be signed, typed on a 60 space line, double-spaced and must be accompanied by a return address. Letters chosen for publication are subject to editing.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Oct. 10, 1977, edition 1
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