Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 1984)
Tuesday, February 21,1984A'he Battalion/Page 3 ' Future looks good for military studies h By KAREN WALLACE Stall Writer Texas A&M University has iel another military-related organization in its midst and he very name, The Military Sludies Institute, reveals its purpose. “We focus on the study of both military history and con temporary defense issues,” laid William Snyder who is [lie interim director, j The institute is just getting tarted and hasn’t done much et, but plans for the future ook bright, Snyder said. I Snyder said the institute will support three programs; lesearch by members of the faculty, on-campus activities |uch as teaching, and service divines such as conferences and seminars. “That would help mem- ers of the community, in a broad sense, to better under- . stand some of the on-going L § m m Stl L defense issues,” he said. Snyder said there are two reasons why the institute would be useful at Texas A&M. There are a number of places in the United States that carry out research on military history and contem porary defense isssues, but they are either on the East or West Coast, he said. There isn’t anything in between and something is needed to fill the void, he said. Also, current defense is sues are of importance to the citizens in Texas, he said. The citizens are not very informed on these issues, he said. “It would be useful if in Texas there were some kind of center to provide expert information on these issues,” he said. “We are trying to provide a focus and support for people who are interested in and concerned with these kinds of topics.” . The institute will be in volved in other projects as well. One is a continuation of a program previously spon sored by the Political Science Department. This program involves organizing confer ences where invited experts speak on topics such as mili tary and defense policies, he said. “We will co-sponsor a con ference in March on Soviet foreign policy,” he said. Also, one project would fund a limited amount of fac ulty research, he said. There would be $7,500 available to faculty members with a $1,500 maximum on each project. Another project, which in volves starting a lecture series on campus, already is under way. Martin Blumenson, edi tor of the Patton Papers, is scheduled to speak April 4 on General George Patton. Longer school days endorsed United Press Internationa^ AUSTIN — An educ** tiwn subcommittee Monday dorsed a long list of p L1 J I ( C school improvements — includ ing full-day kindergarteh’ a one-hour expansion of l ‘ le school day and mandatory Lu ‘ toring for failing students ^~but stopped short of recomnt enc ‘' ing an 11-month school yea r - The subcommittee of H. R° ss Perot’s Select Committed ? n Public Education tailored iU * lst of recommendations to be p re " sented to the full comir» lttee when it begins next m onl ^ drawing final suggestion^ ^ or the Legislature. Among the major revisio ns ,n current policy were a fu^ hour educational schedule f° r kindergarteners and six h ours of academics for older slud£ n f s - No extra-curricular acti*' lties — including competitive sp orts practices — could take plac e ^ e * fore the 6-hour academic pl o yk was completed, the subconi mil ‘ tee recommended. Schools also would be re " a uired to provide two hou rs al te end of each academic ^ a y for mandatory tutoring for fail ing students and for optional “life-enrichment activities.” Subcommittee member Bob Gregg, who also sits on the State Board of Education, objected to the requirement for a 2-hour period for tutoring and other activities. “I’m wondering if we would be performing a cheap baby-sit ting service and if that ought to be a part of public schools,” Gregg said. Despites strong sentiment by some subcommittee members for a 220-day school year — which, allowing for weekends, would permit just one month of vacation time each year — the item failed by a vote of 5-3. “Young people from May to September lose one-third of what they learned during the school year,” argued member Emmett Conrad. “A farmer would never leave his most fer tile land lie fallow for four months when he could plant a crop.” The subcommittee instead recommended an increase in in structional days from the cur rent average of 165 to 185 and asked the Texas Education Agency to study the advantages of a 220-day school year. Other subcommittee recom mendations included: — Allowing students to earn credit for a course by making a grade of 90 or above on a com prehensive test. — Forbidding extracurricu lar activities during the week of semester final examinations. — Requiring annual compe tency tests for students to gauge their progress and their perfor mance in relation to national av erages. Bilingual education stu dents would be tested in both languages. DEFENSIVE ^ DRIVING COURSE Feb. 24 & 25 RAMADA INN Pre-register by phone: 693-8178/846-1904 FEE $20 Ticket Deferral and 10% Insurance Discount ^Statistics students relax to learn ral By CAROL WOLTM AN Reporter Relaxation combined with ilatistics may sound strange, but (Texas A&M statistics profes sor and her husband believe , students will learn more when they' ve |two are put together. r> iDr. Margaret A. Chmielewski iuW if A«un-a-LES-sk.tj, assistant pro- tew Sovietlpor of statistics, and Joseph we senifPW'ielewski, a Bryan coun- vorldl? IM 01 '’ be g an making tapes to UllEp her graduate students re- 0 . , Wand learn statistics. • n , WThe tapes are designed to I it migtilBp both graduates and under- agan i" ffaduates understand statistics nation tip whole and not just as indi- get tifpW ual formulas, Margaret says. n „,u nfW e Chmielewskis say they |am to take the anxiety and II the m ss out 0 f- | earn j n cr and test- Olynipit'ing. nc Hoif®“Anything you can do that is ative or relaxing enhances lining and memory,” Joseph fs. Relaxation, he says, trig- p the right hemisphere of K brain, which is not usually d in logical thinking. When ? light and left halves of the in work together, students make connections between |e concept and many others lore easily, he says. This UpAVy leads to overall uncler iding, which makes learning ondob ihore enjoyable, he says, he Redsiffpie “Superlearning Statistics ould sho' , |N on ” has several parts. j» ju rsl > students must learn to f PnftfeM X ' ^be ChmieJewskis pro- ' 6 vl I BP beginning relaxation tape Beside iii,)] students must listen to 'olitbufoy relaxing becomes easy, ansbaddroen they can begin using one s talks t the nt Joseph and Margaret ChmieJewski 1“ L.C11I uaillg KJl. the 13 statistics lesson tapes. The tapes begin with four seconds of statistics statements followed by four seconds of si lence. This pattern is repeated for 10 to 15 minutes. Students read along as the tape plays. In the second section, stu dents just listen to the statements, which are presented along with background music. for as long as they need. Tf ie Chmielewskis ask that stucJ ents check out one tape at a time an< J fill out a short evaluation ^fter they use a tape. “Students’ feedback is impor tant,” Joseph says. The evalua tions tell the Chmielewskis whether or not the students ar « using the tapes properly. Margaret says she will als° re " cord the lessons on stud ents ’ cassettes if they would lik e to keep the lessons. The les s ons that are available are descripu ve techniques, probability, hypoth esis, analysis of variance, esti mation, correlation, simple lin ear regression, multiple linear regression, experimental de sign, analysis of covariance, count data, nonparametrics an d sample surveys. Students can check out t a pes in 432 Blocker on Mondays an d Fridays from 4-5 p.m., on Tues days and Thursdays frord 2- 3:30 p.m. and on Wednesdays from 2:15 to 2:45 p.m. Students also can call 845-3181 for rnore information. Once you've seen the UioiistvriBalkL^ Your life may never be the same "Mixed Repertoire Tuesday, March 20 Sleeping Beauty' Wednesday, March 21 MSC OPAS ELEVEN Tickets available at Buy your tickets before Rudder Box Office Spring Break 845-1234 The music is specially se lected and specially timed, the Chmielewskis say. Students be come more and more relaxed, and this helps them learn, they say. The Chmielewskis say the tapes should be used to re inforce lecture material. Stu dents can check out the tapes Greyhound’s Spring Break i Go anywhere Greyhound goes. And back. *100 or less. This spring break, if you and your friends are thinking about heading to the slopes or the beaches - or just home tor a visit - Greyhound can take you there for only $100 or less, round-trip. Between now and Go Greyhound And leave the driving to us. March 18,1984,whenyoushowusyour student l.D. card, any round-trip ticket on Greyhound is $100 or less. Anywhere Greyhound goes. So this spring break, give yourself a real break. Take Greyhound anywhere, for $100 or less. For more information call 696-0209 Must present a valid student l.D. card upon purchase. No other discounts apply. Tickets are non-refundable and good tor travel on Greyhound Lines. Inc. only from March 2,1984 through March ta 1984 Schedules subject tochange without notice. £ 1984 Greyhound Lines. Inc.