Page 6 THE BATTALION
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8. 1978
Reading, ’riting, and arithmetic?
Three Rs: No longer the basics
United Press International
The three Rs: reading, ‘riting, and
‘rithmetic.
Every push for back-to-basics on
the school scene calls for loyal ac
ceptance of the big three.
But the Rs aren’t one, two, three
on a new list of vital subjects in edu
cation, according to a report from
Texas in the “Bulletin” of the Na
tional Association of Secondary
School Principals.
Reading comes out top; ‘rithme
tic, second; but — hold on — per
sonal hygiene, comes out third.
Writing comes out fourth and biol
ogy ties with spelling for fifth place.
The report from Prof. L. S.
Richardson and Robert L. Car-
ruthers of Texas A & M University is
based on a survey of 209 randomly
selected principals and superinten
dents in Texas.
Richardson and Carruthers specu
lated about “personal hygiene
breaking up the three Rs.
FRIDAY - DEC. 8
‘JESS DEMAINE
& TEXAS SILVER”
SATURDAY - DEC. 9
“GENE WATSON”
1700 Feet From
The Villa Maria
Exchange On
Farm Rd. 2818
"BEST IN LIVE
COUNTRY WESTERN
ENTERTAINMENT"
HOURS
Thurs., Fri. 7:00-12:00
Sat., 8:00-1:00
“We thought when we heard
educators refer to their students as
dirty little kids’ they were using the
expression as a term of endearment
or were making attempts at humor,’
the two said.
“But apparently they were being
a little more practical than that.
They think enough of personal
hygiene to put it ahead of writing.
Richardson and Carruthers said
they launched the survey in an at
tempt to find out what are the basics
referred to in all the talk about back
to basics.
In the survey, the principals and
superintendents were asked:
“If your budget was drastically
reduced and you were told to teach
only the basics, what courses would
you teach?
Rounding out the top 10 were
lifetime sports, six; life science and
American history, seven; state his
tory, eight; civics, nine; earth sci
ence, 10.
All told, the school bosses men
tioned 85 courses.
The “Bulletin report only lists
the top 50 courses cited.
Courses on “health careers came
out 50, right behind French, 49;
painting, 48; and calculus, 47
(named as basic by just 19 percent of
respondents).
Continuing the bottom 10:
analysis was 40; golf and rhythm
games, 45; printing, 44; spelling
bee, 43; plumbing, 42; sex educa
tion, 41.
The survey also found football
isn’t king on the Texas school scene.
At least not as seen by superinten
dents and principals. On the “vital
list, basketball was selected above
any other co-curriculur activity;
track came second. Football
emerged third.
The “eo-curricular activities
didn’t show up until basketball,
picked as 14. Spanish followed, 15;
music (chorus), 16; band, 18; track,
19; geometry, 20, tied with wood-
shop and football.
The order of a subject on the list
was decided by the percentage of
respondents naming it. For exam
ple, reading was number one be
cause 100 percent of participants
named it; arithmetic, two, being
selected by 99 percent of the re
spondents. Number 50 on the list,
health career instruction, was
selected by just 13 percent.
Basketball was considered vital by
74.6 percent; track by 71 percent,
football by 68 percent.
The order of some other subjects
listed and their numbered place on
the list of 50 are:
— Arts and crafts, 25; physics, 26;
calisthenics, auto mechanics tied for
27; team sports, 28; debate tied with
baseball for 29; economics, 30.
— Trigonometry tied with vol
leyball for 31; home and family living
tied with disease prevention and
treatment for 32; metal shop tied
with driver education for 33.
— Number sense, 34; nutrition
and weight control, 35; public
speaking, 36; penmanship, 37; local
history, 38; electrical trades, 39; lit
erature, 40.
RETURN
TO RE-RENT OR,
youR Student Government
Refrigerajtk
ASC
PEC. 4-8;ll-l3 T4 Pl\
Aggie Gifts
& Novelties
for Christmas!
LOUPOT’S BOOKSTORE
NORTHQATE - Across from thm Pcmt Otticm
GIVE SOMEONE
SPECIAL SOMETHING
VERY SPECIAL..
A CESSNA PILOT CENTER
GIFT CERTIFICATE!
845-3051
ATTENTION
GRADUATING SENIORS
IF YOU HAVE ORDERED
A 1979 AGGIELAND, PLEASE
STOP BY THE STUDENT PUBLI
CATIONS OFFICE, ROOM 216
REED MCDONALD, AND PAY A
$2.00 MAILING FEE ALONG
WITH YOUR FORWARDING AD
DRESS SO YOUR AGGIELAND
CAN BE MAILED TO YOU NEXT
FALL WHEN THEY ARRIVE.
There's no greater gift than one that lasts o lifetime and gets better
with age! Thar’s exactly what a gift of flight training will do! You can
buy a handsome Gift Certificate for a $ 1 0 Discovery Flight.. or for
any denomination to cover part — or all — of a Cessna Pilot Center
Private Pilot Course! Or, if your "someone special" is already a
pilot, you can select a Gift Certificate to apply to an advanced
rating! Make it the greatest Christmas of all... see us now!
Cessna^
PHOT CENTER
BRAZOS AVIATION
696-8767
EASTERWOOD AIRPORT
COLLEGE STATION
PLANT
SALE
Saturday, Dec. 9 10-2 pm
FLORICULTURE GREENHOUSE
BY THE FLORICULTURE CLUB
Mrs. M
Um unl(
Ling t()
exas A&l
Lirs of "
Indents m
nown, w '
iducation;
lesides N
je Unive
ut, says 1
loyment i
epartmen
30 jobs of
ecause P 1
nd of the
fare! bet I
Irmstronj
Joyees m
loom 211
lescriptioi
alary and
ordmg, 1
iy title e
ii54444.
ier of opt
;his time
taken a fe\
lowapbo
Press in 1
Battalion photo by Kipp Shackelford
Visions of sugar molecules
Final exams don’t bring down Robert Fierce, a sophomore
pre-medicine major from San Antonio. Robert decked his
room in Dunn Hall with gleaming lights, tinsel and the
Christmas spirit to chase away the dead-week blues.
Back to the basics:
reading the classics
\tu
u.
Uni
NEW ’
me fourtl
popufitioi
me no \
ay over
nost pow
lie. Yet,
world
leeds.
They ar
if special
Internal io
Shey 1
nture,” s
Jm, ove
ions’ wor
“World
lumber 0
United Press International
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Modem educators are font! of talking about
getting back to the basics. Students at historic St. John s College are
already there.
The 350 students who attend classes at St. John s have, since 1937,
received basic education with a capital “B. For the 1978-79 school
year the education will cost $1,650 for tuition, room and board.
The students rear! the great thinkers of civilization and not what
has been written about them — they tackle Euclid to understand
math and Aquinas to comprehend religion, for example.
St. Johnnies, as the students are called, follow the same demanding
curriculum based on more than 100 required “Great Books.” Authors
include Homer, Plato and Copernicus; Chaucer, Beethoven and
Adam Smith; Twain, Shakespeare and Freud.
Even transfer students enter as freshmen at St. John's, where
everyone follows the chronologically structured schedule focusing on
ancient Greeks the first year, the Roman, medieval and Renaissance
periods the second year, the 17th and 18th centuries the third year,
and the 19th and 20th century the last year.
“It’s the hooks that function as the teachers,’ says tutor TliomasJ.
Slakey. “That scheme works if you have good books. ’’
St. John’s tutors — they are called tutors to avoid the competitive
titles distinguishing professors at most colleges — are learners as well
as teachers, often sitting in on courses outside their primary disci
pline that they must teach in a coming semester.
What everyone does most at St. John s is read and talk, hut faculty
and students alike are sensitive to criticism that courses are simply
“bull sessions.”
Grades are kept (mostly for graduate school purposes), but it is
considered bad form for students to ask alxmt them. Students arent
allowed to cut classes and rarely do. Loud stereos are about the
extent of campus disorder and it is simply assumed everyone does his
homework.
Students write a major essay each year and graduate only after
passing an oral exam on their senior essays, a formal ritual complete
with black academic cap and gown.
Despite three nights a week spent in class, social life at the school
appears normal — if somewhat restrained and self-contained.
St. John’s boasts of its National Merit Award winners and above
average scholastic test scores. Nearly 17 percent of its graduates end
up in law school. Others go into medicine, mathematics, computer
science, theology or other professions, attending such graduate
schools as Columbia, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Yale, Virginia and
Edinburgh.
linger,
Lim ag:
ury coi
eloping 1
mr child
Childre
dered in
nderdev
ons, she
Lim, c
idow an
;ed 18 tc
ral Ass
teniber s
iildren.
laldhein
xecutivi
makes
is cow
hild in if
isease.
Sun Theatres
333 University 846-9808
The only movie in town
Double-Feature Every Week
Open 10 a.m.-2 a.m. Mon.-Sat.
12 Noon - 12 Midnight Sun
No one under 18
Escorted Ladies Free
BOOK STORE & 25c PEEP SHOWS
med he
f assista
'as her i
fe Depi
nd Dev<
Young,
3, is tin
ador to
barter’s;
bmmiss
In sep
taders c
»d the l
dll he a
•Dgram:
kildren.
lerdevd
Iren ui
ffluent
each int
To da
lave bei
I06 alre;
wimitti
Is own
of tl
nillion i
'ith plai
Help ;
» projt
ion-gov<
Unit
Lim s;
Wional
Spense:
H
THE FORTUNE COOKIES
1313 S. College, Bryan
822-7661
SUNDAY EVENING BUFFET
(5:30-8:30)
ALL YOU CAN EAT FOR $2.98
OUR EGG ROLLS ARE VERY SPECIAL
and will be served unlimited at this Sunday buffet. Besides thatC
there will be: I
hot and sour soup
wok sliced pork (spicy hot)
beef with broccoli and chestnuts
sweet and sour pork
chicken and shrimp fried rice
If you do not have enough of any of these dishes to eat,[
you will receive one coupon for another Sunday buffet|