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THE BATTALION
Monday, May 21, 1951
First In A Series
What Are Basic Division Purposes, Accomplishments, Faults
T ODAY The Battalion presents the first in a series of articles de
signed to give its readers an insight into the purposes, activities,
problems and accomplishments of the Basic Division during’ its initial
year of operation at A&M.
Today’s installment, written at the request of The Battalion by John
R. Bertrand, dean of the Basic Division, presents some of his views
as to what has and will be done, and explains the objective of his Div
ision.
Later installments will present and discuss results of a ques
tionnaire distributed to Basic Division students and cadet officers.
Comments and suggestions made by various members of the col
lege staff will also be presented.
Eesearch, writing, and presentation of this series was accomplish
ed with a twofold purpose ift mind:
• To provide Battalion readers, particularly A&M students, with
a report on Basic Division progress.
® And to benefit A&M College through an objective “look” at
the work of one of its major departments by presenting both the ac
complishments and the shortcomings of all phases of the program, as
we have been able to,determine them.
Battalion staffmen working on this survey series have received
excellent co-operation from all members of the Basic Division staff.
Particularly do we appreciate the efforts of Dean Bertrand to provide
us with any and all information we desired and for devoting valuable
time to the preparation of this first article.—The Editor.
By JOHN R. BERTRAND
Dean of the Basic Division
I N LESS than two weeks the first academic year of opera
tion for the Basic Division will be over. During this year
freshman students and upperclass cadet officers assigned to
work with them, the student body as a whole, the college
faculty and staff, the military counselors, the Basic Division
counselors and others have contributed to the progress that
has been made.
On many counts, the Basic Division has fallen short of
its goals. On others, it has found that changed objectives have
been desirable. On still other counts, strides have been made
toward better meeting the needs of entering students.
At the present time the Basic Division is engaged in an
intensive self-evaluation of its program and of its professional
personnel. By looking back at some of its failures and accom
plishments this year, by an analysis of the work of the mem
bers of its staff, by seeking critical analyses from various
persons who have closely observed the program of the Basic
Division, we feel that it will be possible to improve its pro
gram during the coming years.
Evaluation Program Begun
This program of self-evaluation began at the end of the
Fall semester when all freshmen were asked to fill out a
schedule that was designed to point out the strong points
and the weaknesses of Freshman Orientation 101. Students
were instructed not to sign their names to the schedules with
the hope that they would be completely frank in their ap
praisal. (They were!)
On April 25th, the second step was taken in the evalua
tion process when all junior and senior cadet officers assigned
to work with freshman students this year met for over an
hour to make contributions to this overall evaluation program.
Again an unsigned schedule was used in order that similar
points could be given consideration by all cadet officers, but
in addition, a general question asking for suggestions about
the Basic Division program made it possible for the person
filling out the schedule to emphasize the points which he
considered to be most important.
On May 3, all Basic Division students who had Basic
classes that day, were asked to give their reactions to various
aspects of the Basic Division program and to the professional
counseling staff, to the military counselors assigned to the
Basic Division and to the cadet officers assigned to the
Eighth Regiment. Each of the approximate 380 Basic Divis
ion students who were contacted also was asked to give his
suggestion for the overall improvement of the Basic Division
progrom.
Counselors, Courses Rated
During the week following May 7, students who had
had two or more conferences with a Basic Division counselor,
The Battalion
Lawrence Sullivan Ross, Founder of Aggie Traditions
"Soldier, Statesman, Knightly Gentleman”
The Battalion, official newspaper of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of
Texas, is published by students five times a week during the regular school year.
During the summer terms. The Battalion is published four times a week, and during
examination and vacation periods, twice a week. Days of publication are Monday
through Friday for the regular school year, Tuesday through Friday during the summer
terms, and Tuesday and Thursday during vacation and examination periods. Subscrip
tion rates $6.00 per year or $.60 per month. Advertising rates furnished on request.
during the year were asked to rate him and make suggestions
to him about the way that he could improve his work with
students. Schedule forms were used on May 3 and during tne
week of May 7 to guide the students sufficiently to permit
each student to consider comparable points in addition to a
general question designed to obtain suggestions for improve
ment. These schedules were again not signed by the students
who furnished the information.
Each student taking one of the various Basic Division
second semester courses has either already had or will have
this week the opportunity to evaluate the course he has been
taking and to make suggestions about improving it.
At the request of and in cooperation with the head of
one of the departments which comes in contact with a size
able number of freshman students, both cadet officers and
freshman students were given the opportunity to make sug
gestions about specific academic courses at the same time
that they evaluated the Basic Division program and person
nel. These evaluation sheets have been passed on to the heads
of the respective subject matter departments and will un
doubtedly be of much assistance to the teachers concerned.
Battalion Given Information
After the Basic Division staff had started its self-evalua
tion, it was learned that The Battalion staff was also interest
ed in an objective evaluation of and report on the Basic
Division. In order to assist The Battalion in getting a cross-
section view of the reactions to the entire Basic Division
program, all completed schedules ofher than those on spec
ific academic courses have been made available to the Battal
ion staff. In addition, a numerical tabulation of totals for
each of the evaluation efforts has been furnished to The
Battalion.
The basic Division professional staff is now engaged in
an interpretation of the results of each approach to an object
ive evaluation. This interpretation has not been available to
The Battalion since it is not finished at the present time. It
is also better in any objective evaluation that impartial per
sons make interpretations to others who are interested. It is
in this connection that members of the Basic Division staff
are extremely pleased that The Battalion has made additional
investigations both with cadet officers and with freshmen
students.
No member of the Basic Division staff has seen the
series of articles on the Basic Division which has been pre
pared by The Battalion and from others, because in this way
it will be able to improve this new program that has every
right, as well as a great need, to be successful. While con
gratulations will make all the staff feel good, the real con
tribution to the building of a sound program will be from con
structive criticisms.
year, but I do not wish to dwell on that point. It does seem already has, the complete cooperation of the staff, students,
desirable, however, to mention seven areas which those of former students, and_ other friends of tne A&M College of
us on the Basic Division staff nnw know will receive differ- Texas. All of us working together aie pushing boldly toward
ent emphasis next year
aesiraoie, nowever, to mention seven areas wmcn muse ui lormer smuenws, a,uu College of
us on the Basic Division staff now know will receive differ- Texas. All of us working together are pushing boldly toward
rwii- r,Tv,T-,Viocn’c iroov ^ new educational achievement here at A&iVl.
® Less leniency will be shown to the student who makes
poor grades because of poor attitude in class and poor attitude
toward regular attendance of class.
« A more concentrated effort will be made to get qual
itative reports from class room teachers and in soliciting their
aid in an early identification of students who are in need of
personal or academic assistance.
® An in-service training program for academic advis
ers, originally planned for his first year of operation, will get
underway.
• A Basic curriculum will be available to students who
have not decided upon their degree objective. (This has been
publicized to prospective students and an estimated twenty
per cent of the accepted applicants for September have in
dicated their desire for this curriculum during their first
semester here.)
® There will be a shift in emphasis from the group
guidance program of the various Basic courses toward more
individual conferences and counseling. This quite likely may
mean making these Basic courses optional for the student
during his second semester. This will mean more individual
testing for students who have not been helped with the new
group tests.
® The battery of tests given at the beginning of New
Students’ Week will be changed in order that the needs of
entering students can be more nearly met.
• Systematic and regular conferences will be held with
the junior and senior cadet officers in order that the Basic
Division staff and the cadet officers may have a common un
derstanding of their mutual problems.
New Educational Achievement
I want to close this report by quoting the ending state
ment of a talk which was made on September 7, 1950 to cadet
officers assigned to work with freshman students this year.
“Many decisions are yet to be made. Many mistakes have
been made and are yet to be made by the Basic Division staff.
The thought which I hope all of us will keep in mind is that
this is a challenging educational experiment which has every
right to succeed. All of us must . . . continue . . . this
experiment with an open mind, ready to make changes in the
program when experience justifies the soundness of these
changes. The Basic Division staff expects, and knows that it
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CLAYTON L. SELPH, DAVE COSLETT Co-Editors
John Whitmore, Dean Reed Managing Editors
Andy Anderson, Bob Hughson Campus Editors
Fred Walker Sports Editor
Joel Austin City Editor
Vivian Castleberry Women’s Editor
Today’s Issue
Dean Reed Managing Editor
Fred Walker Sports News Editor
Allen Pengelly City News Editor
T. M. Fontaine, Carter Phillips —Editorialists
Allen Pengelly— Assistant City Editor
Leon McClellan, Jack Fontaine, Ed Holder, Bryan Spencer, Bob Venable, Dale
Walston, Bee Landrum, Frank Davis, Phil Snyder, Art Giese, Cristy Orth,
James Fuller, Leo Wallace, W. H. Dickens, Fig Newton, Joe Price, Pete
Hermann, Wesley Mason, B. F. Roland, Ivan Yantis, Sid Ragsdale, Bill
Aaberg, Ide Trotter, John Hildebrand, Chuck Neighbors, Bob Selleck, Bill
Streich, Curtis Edwards, Howard Heard —Staff Writers
Jimmy Ashlock, Joe Blanchette, Ray Holbrook, Joe Hollis,
Pat LeBlanc f Sports Staff Writers
Sam Molinary, Bob Alderdice Staff Photographers
Sid Abernathy Page Make-up
Dick Kelly — Club Publicity Co-ordinator
Joe Gray — —Photo Engraving Shop Manager
Tom Fontaine, Johnny Lancaster, Charles McCullough, R. R. Peeples,
R. D. Witter Photo Engravers
Acnrey Frederick. — Advertising Manager
Bussell Hagens, Bob Haynie— Advertising Representatives
Program Valuable Here
In order that there can be a common departure point for
all readers of this series of articles, The Battalion has asked
that frame of reference be stated for the program that has
been carried on in the Basic Division. A&M is the first higher
institution in Texas to establish the plan which we kntiw as
the Basic Division.
A plan such as that embodied by the Basic Division would
have little reason for existence in an institution which was
concerned solely with the students’ intellectual development.
It has much reason and justification in a school such as A&M
where we regard the student as a complete individual and not
merely as an intellect.
We are very much concerned with his scholastic progress,
but we are also concerned with his total development. The
testing movement has made possible quantitative evidence
of individual differences in scholastic ability achievements,
vocational interests and personality traits.
It has pointed out the existence of many types of apti
tudes and abilities, only one of which is scholastic ability.
In the light of known individual differences, it is necessary
that the student be studied individually and as completely as
is possible. Such a study involves an accumulation of infor
mation covering a student’s background, abilities, interests,
achievements, personal characteristics, physical condition,
study habits, living and study conditions, social development,
and other numerous points.
Planned Program of Guidance
In the Basic Division our objective is to give the first
year college student sufficient supervision to aid him in the
transition from high school to college study and to help him
adjust to college life.'
We want to make available to every student assigned to
the Basic Division the benefits of a planned program of edu
cational and vocational guidance, administered by profession
ally trained personnel, so that he may make an intelligent
choice of course of study and related school activities.
We want to furnish the student who has not decided upon
a course of study an opportunity to gain some insight into
the educational requirements of the various curricula. We are
§triving to furnish aid to the student who is in need of assist
ance in the development of general study skills or in specific
subject areas.
Our goal, insofar as the degree granting schools are con
cerned, is to supply the various schools of the college with a
selected group of students qualified to pursue the training
necessary for professional competency and mature citizen-
shi P*
Division Is ‘Means to End’
It should be kept in mind by everyone that the Basic
Division is a service division—a means to an end, and not an
end in itself. It is a means to end of better serving the
needs of students and society. It is a means to the end of bet
ter prepared students for the vario«s schools and the de
partments within those schools. It is a means for aiding the
students to decide upon the fields for which they are best
fitted—best fitted by aptitude, by preparation, by opportun
ity, and by interest.
Constantly in the forefront of all must be the thought
that the Basic Division cannot separate itself from the in
terests and the staffs of the subject matter departments of
the college and that it cannot and should not supplant the
work of the real core of any college—the class-room teacher.
Changes of Emphasis
It is my feeling that much progress has been made this
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