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Campus Comments
THE BATTALION
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 19, 1975
Testing system weak
‘Second coming’ vigil continues
By SANDY RUSSO
Campus Editor
Testing has got to be changed.
Any system that can perpetuate a
series of memorization and “out-
v guessing the prof’ has got to have
: something wrong.
Most students during “quiz
Kv Weeks’’ walk around with eyes
■ glazed, hands trembling, looking
<; more like hyperactive tarantulas
. than students. Quiz weeks are those
times in the semester when stu-
> , dents swear profs unite with the
Single goal of so exhausting the stu-
dents with endless quizzes that
,> vl they’ll all go home leaving the cam-
V jjqs to researchers,
ti For some unknown reason, stu-
dents tend to leave all studying to
qhe time. At that point studying be-
comes little more than memoriza-
tton of those things that a student
V v^# esses ^ rom his notes a
from his notes are impor-
, ' : Unfortunately for some, memori-
• i j,.2ation is a short proposition and
.'r when it comes time to take a GRE
V -(Graduate Records Exam) the scores
j look like IQs.
•j£. - If there were some other way to
Xmotivate students to learn it would
jaaake a lot more sense to use it.
< : i "A Somewhere in the depths of every
/'•L fctudent’s sub-conscience there lurks
the phrase “learning can be fun.”
Si,I SLOUCH
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Taking tests is anything but fun.
The student is pitted against the
prof, his fellow students and his own
abilities of scaring himself to death.
Time pressure, pencils breaking
and pens running out of ink plague
every student.
The answer then lies in a way to
make the student satisfied and the
college satisfied because testing is
the only way to determine a grade.
Hail almighty grade, a label tried
and true for the ivory tower of
graduate school and the dollar fac
tory of big business.
Learning should therefore be
motivated by something more than
a grade. Learning should be moti
vated by sheer desire to know some
thing about what a student is getting
himself into for life.
Testing defeats education to a
great extent because people don’t
learn to pass tests, they just plain
memorize facts to barf-up at the ap
propriate time and place.
Maybe there’s some truth in the
adage, “Experience is the best
teacher.”
Perhaps instead of testing all the
time, each graduating senior must
spend one semester out in the “real
world’’ proving that he indeed
learned his stuff, before earning the
diploma.
That’s called on the job testing.
Then the student can really prove
that he has integrated those things
he has learned into a meaningful
education.
If he didn’t, he can come back to
school, re-learn his education, and
instead of being released from his
first job, he’ll be able to re-test until
he gets it right.
Another alternative is weekly
tests like in elementary school. Re
member how well those spelling
words got learned because they
were tested every week?
If weekly testing caught on here,
trying to memorize such a volume of
material would be unneeded, a stu
dent would have more test grades to
work with and since the students
would be more motivated (more
tests more motivation) a greater
amount of knowledge would be re
tained.
Associated Press
GRANNIS, Ark. — Officials say
they have exhausted all legal av
enues to force 25 persons to aban
don a 50-day-old vigil for the second
coming of Christ and the end of the
world.
Juvenile Court Judge J. B.
Stevenson said Tuesday that health
officials have completed an inspec
tion of the small brick house where
the vigil is headquartered and found
no violations of law.
“The prosecuting attorney says
there’s nothing left for us to do,”
Stevenson said. “We re just going to
sit tight and see what happens, and
hope this doesn’t get any more out
of hand. ”
The vigil began in late September
when one member of the group re
portedly had a revelation from God
that Jesus would come to them, that
the world would be destroyed, and
that they would be saved if, they
stayed together in isolation.
Members of the vigil quit their
jobs, took their children out of
school and moved in together in the
house on the outskirts of this town of
177.
“The dry weather is what is saving
them,” Stevenson said. “If we get a
little rain, that overworked septic
tank is going to back up on them.
Then we can step in and do some
thing.”
Stevenson said the county nurse
examined the inside of the house
and “found everything to be up to
standard.”
The judge said he was particularly
concerned about four children
under the age of 18 who are in the
house. He said one of the children is
an infant, one is 2, and the other two
are ages 16-18.
“I specifically told the nurse to
check each of the children, and she
said they were OK — not even a
cold among them,” Stevenson said.
In late October, Stevenson or
dered the sheriff to remove six other
children from the house against the
wishes of their parents.
He said the court could take cus
tody of the children because of a
state law that requires children
under age 16 to attend school until
they have completed the eighth
grade.
Stevenson said the six children
are doing well in school and have
adjusted well to their foster parents.
“We don’t know what else to do,
Stevenson said. “I’m told that the
fHerl DoruT LOOK AT n£)
LIKE THAT! I'M (MOT
MAKINO THIS UP* J
V
people stand together in a (u
holding hands and praying f«
hours at a time. I’m all for pn
but that sounds like an entity
test to me.”
Since the legal efforts to eaj
vigil have failed so far, Stas
said he has tried to reason wil
vigil members on religiousgro®
“I passed along messages toj
to read the 24th chaptei
Matthew,” the judge said. Mato
24 warns of false prophets aaj
Jesus “is coming at an hourjw
not expect.”
Steven said he has received"
mail from as far away as Brazil'
cause of his involvement in the
“The letters say I’m in
with their religious freedoms,’
said. “All I’m trying to do is see
those kids.”
1 KIUOJ A GIRL ip
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