Battalion Editorials
Page 2
THE BATTALION
THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 1953
Will Faculty Realize
Value of Student Rating?
YESTERDAY A&M students were given a
privilege not allowed at many other col
leges and universities.
They had the opportunity to rate in
structors and professors—the men who had
put marks in grade books rating the students.
Rating was on such points as prepara
tion for class meetings, ability to interest
students, attitude toward students, and per
sonal appearance.
Contrary to what many students may
have believed, professors with a low rating
in several categories will not be fired or over
looked at promotion time—as long as their
work is satisfactory.
The rating sheets were designed to help
instructors better methods of teaching and
to find how students rated them to other
members of the faculty.
We hope everyone realized the value of
this privilege and did not abuse it by trying
to “get even” with a prof who was more de
manding of students than others. When re
sults are released to the faculty after the be
ginning of next semester we also ask that
faculty members will take the criticism
seriously.
A low rating in one category does not
mean a prof should become discouraged or
revengeful any more than the student who
“Be always displeased at what
thou art, if thou desire to attain to
what thou art not; for ivhere thou
hast pleased thyself there thou
abidest.”—Quarles.
More Car Space
Shows Cooperation
FAVORABLE RESULTS through negotia-
* tion were shown yesterday between the
Student Senate and the administration.
Once again the need of a powerful and
awake student government made itself no
ticeable when the students on the committee
were surprised that lack of money was not
the key factor preventing the construction of
parking lots. Once the need of the lots was
explained to college authorities, the commit
tee said they were surprised to see the quick
ness with which their requests were granted.
This fair decision and judgment by the
administration in the early part of the year,
and the intelligent requests made by the
senate show that students and administra
tion can-cooperate for the betterment of the
college.
The effectiveness of sound argument and
comprehensive solutions will be defended
through the centuries. It’s good to see it
here now at A&M.
“Duties in general give more
trouble the longer they remain un
discharged."—Theodore Parker.
graded him. We urge all faculty members to
watch for fields of improvement and work
on weak points indicated in the rating.
After all, no one likes to be unpopular,
especially with the people who provide his
source of income. And it is an accepted fact
that students who like and respect their
teacher learn more. But besides being a
swell guy, the teacher must interest and
teach his students or the time of both has
been wasted.
“No man was ever so ?nuch de
ceived by another, as by hwnself.”
—Greville.
Truman’s Requests
Prove Sound
DRESIDENT TRUMAN expressed the hopes
* of all Americans when he asked yester
day that the Soviet Union become “more
realistic and less implacable and recede from
the cold war they began.”
He also presented President-elect Eisen
hower a bouquet of praises which everyone
hopes the incoming Texan will be able to
keep. v
Truman believes, and he should know,
having authorized the use of the world’s
first atomic bomb, that another war would
extinguish many millions of lives quickly,
“demolish the great cities of the world,
wipe out the cultural achievement of the
past—and destroy the very structure of a
civilization that has been slowly and pain
fully built up through hundreds of genera
tions.”
The President also presented advice to
the Soviet’s head, Premier Stalin. He said:
“There is something I would say to Stalin:
You claim belief in Lenin’s prophecy that
one stage in the development of Communist
society would be war between your world
and ours. But Lenin was a pre-atomic man,
who viewed society and history with pre-
atomic eyes. Something profound has hap
pened since he wrote. War has changed its
shape and its dimension. It cannot now be
a stage in the development of anything save
ruin for your regime and your homeland.”
Truman charged that the United States
should continue to keep its lead in armament,
especially the atomic weapons, strengthen
the armed forces, and enlarge capacity, for
this, he says, is the only way we know now to
avert war.
Presenting his views on the nation in
his last speech as President, Truman has giv
en good advice for all.
If the American people can remain firm
in their belief that only through being
strong themselves will they prevent war, and
give the incoming President their full sup
port, perhaps then Premier Stalin will ac
knowledge Truman’s suggestion and quit
producing for war. Only through this can
peace return to earth.
Facuity Responsible
For Students Cheating
The Battalion
Lawrence Sullivan Ross, Founder of Aggie Traditions
“Soldier, Statesman, Knightly Gentleman”
From The Educational Forum:
Scholastic cheating, in short, is
a reflection of the notable empha
sis put on one phase of education,
the vigor of competition between
teacher and student.
A principal reason for cheating
becomes apparent. Many teachers
pose as taskmasters, as policemen,
as members of a gestapo. They
assign certain tasks, like employ
ers or foremen, on the basis of
production rather than understand
ing. Students must carry out as
signments in ways that satisfy, re
gardless of understanding, or suf
fer the consequences.
If they fail in this, they may
have to go home, they may incur
the wrath of parents, they may
fail to meet an empirical standard
which is set as a screen around
their chosen careers, they may get
put off the football team, they
may miss an honor society, a
medal, or a scholarship, or they
may pull down their fraternity
averages and have to clean out the
basement.
Students Rated Wrong
The remarkable setup for cheat
ing deserves a lot of advertising so
that many people will see it.
Teachers assign work and have
unlimited authority in seeing that
it is done to theft- personal satis
factions. The students are rated
not on their understanding but
on the completion of assigned
work, else they suffer any of a
long list of possible penalties, all
on the basis of whether or not
the teachers are pleased.
Turn back the pages momentar-
Burchard to Attend
News Editors Meet
Donald D. Burchard, head of the
journalism department, will attend
the News Editors Seminar in Aus
tin Jan. 12, 13, and 14 as guest ob
server from A&M.
The seminar, composed of 25
representatives from Texas news
papers, will meet for informal
round table discussions on news
writing. Leaders for the discus
sions will be chosen from those at
tending.
A get-acquainted dinner has
been planned for Sunday night for
those arriving before the opening
session of the seminar Monday.
ily to Charlie Dickens’ brilliantly
bitter reviews of exactly this
method of education. Have we
. done anything but refine it ? There
will be a chorus of “ayes” to this,
of course. Part of them will be
justified, for all education is by
no means as pictui’ed above.
Yet the principle to which Dick
ens objected is still followed by
many teachers and not a few par
ents and outsiders. The teachers,
who should be aiding development
instead acts only as a fort of
foreman with one of the worlds
most unrestricted powers to de
mand that he be pleased.
More Blame With Officials
Students, instead of demanding
of themselves and haying demand
ed of them that their efforts be
devoted to intellectual development
and useful training, too often have
the salesmen’s task of pleasing a
set of rather narrdw and fairly
easily interpreted. taskmasters.
It is time that this, the principal
backbround- of cheating, -was ex
posed. More blame lies with the
teachers, principals, deans, and
pfesidents, and less with the stu
dents, than is popularly supposed.
FRANKLY SPEAKING
Profs 9 Ratings
Differ Because
Of Marital Status
By FRANK N. MANITZAS
Battalion Co-Editor
T HE ADMINISTRATION threw us a sneaky punch yester-,
day. For weeks we’ve dreamed and waited for the time
when faculty ratings again would come around, and what
happens? We had no class at 9 a. m. yesterday.
It was especially discouraging for there were a few
things we wanted to say about certain instructors. Because
we feel cheated, we think it’s only fair we speak our peace
here.
In rating a prof one should give consideration to the
fact that he’s probably married. Undoubtedly this hurt his
dominant ego since after 5 p. m. he is again just a husband
and no longer the peninsula of graduation for so many.
There are others, perhaps more fortunate. It is these—
the bachelors—who we feel deserve the critical rating.
Many of them complain consistently because they have
no faculty club here, no adequate faculty housing, no forceful
faculty organization, no pay raise in sight. But only to them
selves. They are not content like the married instructor. They
still want to kick up their heels and see the school offer a
consistently strong program in all subjects. But they only
think this, and never speak.
9
Every now and then, many of the married professors crawl out of
their humble abodes and sometimes climb the three flights of stairs
in the YMCA to visit the bachelors and see the free life. *
One found, to his regret, that the floors are not capable of holding
more than the alloted number, for the floor broke through.
Although he saw that the main lounge and adjacent lounges of
the ‘Y’ were in good condition, the professor could not help but noticed
on his way down, that adequate maintenance had been neglected in
these housing quarters.
Needless to say, he returned quickly to his home, happy to he
there once again. He told us: “I prefer my wife, to the ‘Y’ tower
dungeon.”
We rated him a plus, 100, and a diploma.
Dr. Hill Co-authors
History Article
Dr. John Hugh Hill, of the his
tory department, and his wife Dr.
Laurita L. Hill are co-authofs of
an article recently published in the
“American Historical Review.”
Title of the article is “The Con
vention of Alexius Comnenus and
Raymond of Saint Gilles.” The
magazine is published quarterly by
the American Historical Associa
tion.
The article is a continuation of
a previous study written by Dr.
Hill in ‘Speculum’, a journal pub
lished by the Mediaeval Academy
of America. The earlier article,
“Raymond of Saint Gilles in Ur
ban’s Plan of Greek and Latin
Friendship,”'printed in April 1951.
Dr. Hill gathered information
for these articles in Austin during
the school year of 1951-52. At this
time he was visiting associate pro
fessor of history at the University
of Texas. This article is his first
collaboration with his wife.
But the unfortunate bachelor.
What should we rate him?. Surely
his intelligence is not above par.
If it was, he would sue for better
quarters. He must not have integ
rity, or he would not pay the price
for living under such conditions.
He must not be observant, for he
Video Grad Course
Planned for 1954
A graduate course in. television
will probably be offered Septem
ber, 1954, said Prof. M. C. Hughes,
head of electrical engineering de
partment.
Equipment to be used for this
course was donated by Westing-
house Electric Corporation. This
equipment was used for making
Stratovision experiments. It was
found one plane at 30,000 feet
could serve an area that would
usually require 11 video stations.
“A few more pieces of equip
ment and a lot of labor for set
ting up the equipment will be ne
cessary before the graduate course
can be organized,” said Walter
T. Matzen of the electrical en
gineering department.
Approximately 19 students have
signed to take E. E. 446, the un
dergraduate television course,
Hughes said.
would have seen the whole in the
floor where his professor friend
fell through, and not taken the
quick trip down himself.
For the bachelor prof—a double
F plus and a minus zero.
Perhaps this rating will encour*
age him to join his Classroom
Teachers Association, and dig hi:l
spurs into his officers sides to set
that better conditions can be es
tablished. Only through this will
he be able to see new friends in
his quarters again.
Maybe next year, we can rate*
this professor who lives in the ‘Y 1
differently.
Charles Todd Dies
Jan, 4 iq France
Charles Carroll Todd Jr. of Col
lege Station died of a heart attack
in Paris, France, Jan. 4. He was
graduated from A&M in 1920 with
a BS degree in civil engineering.
He is survived by his wife, his
mother, Mrs. C. C. Todd Sr., an
aunt, Mrs. J. B. Bagley of Col
lege Station; and two unedes, Guy
Bittle of Bryan and Tom Bittlo of
Dallas.
College to Build
Two New Labs
Plans and specifications have
been released for construction of
two laboratories on the campus ac
cording to Arch C. Baker, A&M
system architect.
One lab is to be shared by the
plant physiology and the forest
service departments. The other lab
is to be shared by the floriculture
and landscape architecture depart-^
ments.
These buildings will be erected
on each side of the present lab lo-^
cated across the street from thm
horse barm on Lamar St. In addi
tion to the labs, the college will
erect three greenhouses in con
nection with the floriculture and
landscape architecture lab, and
two greenhouses in connection
with the plant physiology and For
est Service lab.
Merkle Will Conduct
Plant Science Colloquim
Dr. John Merkle will conduct a
meeting of the Plant Science Col
loquim tomorrow night at 7:30 in
Room 2-D of the MSC.
Historical considerations of
plant distribution is the topic of
discussion. t
P O G O
The Battalion, official newspaper of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, is published
by students four times a week, during the regular school year. During the summer terms, and examina-
tidn, and vacation periods. The Battalion is published twice a week. Days of publications are Tuesday
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cation periods and the summer terms. Subscription rates $6.00 per year or $.50 per month. Advertising
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as under the Act of Congress of
March 3, 1870.
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News contributions may be made by telephone (4-5444 or 4-7604) or at the editorial office room, 202
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Room 209 Goodwin Hall.
FRANK N. MANITZAS, JOEL AUSTIN
Ed Holder
Harri Baker
Peggy Maddox
Co-Editors
Sports Editor
City Editor
Women’s News Editor
Jerry Bennett
Joe Hipp
Jerry Estes
Today’s Issue
News Editor
Assistant News Editor
Sports News Editor
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Facing Facts
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Jerry Bennett, Bob Hendry, Joe Hipp, Chuck
Neighbors, Bob Selleck News Editors
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Vernon Anderson, Bob Boriskie, William Buckley,
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Livingsten, Clay McFarland, Dick Moore, Ro
land Reynolds, John Moody, Bob Palmer, Bill
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