uesday, April 24,1990 The Battalion Pages u in 404 i. in 30I ).m. Cal ] in 305 on. Call intsand Oaihy at lor next reinfoi- arrison, ifling C. tieiltie atrie at yterian. ncesat ilorma- i meet- ).m. - ion call slip is ire run . Ilyou Ls lie’ f what If "thejuf- 7, iriatou ance,"l( ing, detf' • Quality of undergraduate education lecaseol blicanxi- l govert ite coir utionso! llegal in- crimes of eeingl for tie I die® al deal- E, eng- id out- ent,thf »om t® a nkf ned s» easl' deckel . Lari' Bani botbali ere ai eranl r the rocker > Alan theset fall s e)« rbleio D®' ercen' - con- efliaifl timo ^nhe 1 m thf _ n she -ockei _stm- thai coin' H yone -OK,' > tban =ntf- ( ■t it’s Continued from page 1) graduating) sometimes have diffi culty receiving help from faculty members. However, Jeff Gibbs, a freshman biology major from Carrollton, be lieves help is available outside lass.“If you have a question, you can ind somebody who will be able to answer it,” Gibbs said. “I mean, there are people out there who do care. “I’ve gone to a lot of mentors and a lot of my profs and counselors just to get help, without knowing very much about what to do. You get stuck in a dead end, so you go to somebody who’s older and already been through it and ask them for help.” Albert Boggess, an associate pro fessor of mathematics at A&M and head undergraduate adviser for the math department, said most profes sors keep office hours, but students are reluctant to seek out professors after class. Possible reasons for this are students’ fears of appearing in adequate and the age difference be tween professors and students, he said. CLASS SIZE The tremendous growth of A&M during the past few decades has af fected almost every aspect of Uni versity life. The campus continues to grow, new constuction projects abound and finding a parking space is not getting any easier. And with more than 40,000 stu dents enrolled at A&M, class sizes are understandably larger than they once were. Boggess said large classes have hindered effective instruction. “If you go back just say 15 or 20 years, the class sizes were maybe a lalf or a third that (the present) size,” Boggess said. “So I think the quality of instructor!, at least in calcu lus classes, has slipped as a result.” State Sen. Kent Caperton, D- Bryan, said there is no easy solution to problems caused by the rapid growth of A&M and other state schools. “It’s a mixed blessing,” Caperton said. “We’re glad that people want to improve, but it does put strains on the higher education system. "So a real issue, a tough issue, is how you respond to that. Does a state school continue to raise its en trance requirements as a method of controlling enrollment, or do you have a more open enrollment poli cy?” A&M’s answer to that question was to toughen entrance require ments in 1988. But Dr. Clinton Phil lips, associate provost' ‘and dean of faculties at A&M, said the number of students at A&M should have been brought under control sooner. “In past years, until fairly re cently, there was a real reluctance on the part of the Board of Regents to allow us to control admissions, to manage admissions, to put it another way, to control the size of this institu tion,” Phillips said. “Personally, I would have liked it if we hadn’t got ten much larger than 25,000 stu dents, but the fact of the matter is that we have.” Considering the size of A&M, the relationship between faculty mem bers and students is good, Phillips said. Many professors and administra tors point out that classes are rela tively small at A&M when compared to other large universities, and oth ers say institutions the size of A&M are practically forced to have large classes. FUNDING Inadequate funding is another problem affecting undergraduate education at A&M. Like other state universities in Texas, A&M is depen dent on state funds to pay for every thing from new buildings to faculty salaries. A&M President William Mobley said Texas’ struggling economy forced legislators to decrease fund ing for higher education during the 1980s. Meanwhile, A&M officials have been working to find other sources of revenues, such as private endow ments. Dr. Larry Hickman, a professor of philosophy at A&M, said funding is a crucial component of education. Keeping faculty salaries compet itive and having enough money to develop new courses are keys to pro viding students with a good educa tion and ensuring that faculty mem bers remain at A&M, he said, adding that A&M is losing some talented faculty members this year. Others have similar concerns. “Professors have very shallow roots in the community,” one faculty member said. Professors are much more dedicated to their disciplines than the university at which they work, he said, and therefore will move to another university if they get a good offer. Until recently Texas was among the 10 states with the highest faculty salaries at public universities. Since Texas slipped from the top 10, legis lators, administrators and professors across the state are becoming more concerned about keeping Texas’ sal aries competitive ana retaining top flight faculty members. State Rep. Richard Smith, R- Bryan, said the situation is not as bad as some believe. “I’m not sure we have any major problems,” Smith said. “I think that higher education is in pretty good shape in Texas.” CLASSROOM COMMUNICATIONS A complaint often voiced by stu dents is their professors or teaching assistants cannot communicate effec- Although foreign faculty mem bers often are criticized for inade quate speaking skills, several faculty members and students said some na tive English-speakers have problems communicating as well. Dabney said some professors are knowledgeable but have difficulty communicating their knowledge to students. “Some of them, from my experi ence, have kind of a problem teach ing it,” Dabney said. “I mean, they know it themselves, but they just have a problem getting it across.” Dr. E. Dean Gage, acting provost and vice president for academic af fairs, said the Classroom Commu nications Enhancement Program, which will become operative at A&M in the fall, will give students a chance to speak out if their professor or tea ching assistant does not commu nicate well. STUDENTS In some cases, the barriers to an effective education can be the stu dents themselves: They might not be serious about getting an education, “I believe that there is a higher percentage of students today who are not equipped to deal with life’s hard knocks,” Milford said. “I have more students today by far who do not successfully complete my course than I had 15 or 20 years ago. Most of those who don’t complete it fail because they quit.” Gage said some students receive a poor education before they come to college and often lack the study skills to do well in a university environ ment, but he added that students en tering A&M last year recieved better scores on the Texas Academic Skills Program (TASP) test than students entering other public universities in Texas. He said A&M is working with public schools in Texas to increase the quality of public school educa tion in Texas. EFFORTS TO IMPROVE If anyone gets the impression these issues are being ignored by A&M officials, there are a number of programs, plans, committees and panels to convince them otherwise. Battalion File Photo A professor says large classes, a result of increased A&M enrollment, may hinder teaching. lively with students. Some faculty members and administrators, how ever, say this may be an excuse on the part of students. “I think it’s a problem,” Milford said. “But I honestly believe it’s more often an excuse than a problem.” He said many students do not make an effort to understand for eign professors or teaching assis tants. Instructors who make a sin cere effort to work with students can often overcome any problem they have with English, he said. Boggess said some professors and teaching assistants have problems communicating, but they often can they could lack the necessary skills to pursue a college degree or they might have a difficult time adjusting to college life. One faculty member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said many students do not really want to learn. “Idealistically, most professors come in thinking, ‘Gee, I’m here to teach, and people want to learn,’ ” the professor said. “And then you get this feeling that, no, they don’t really want to learn. “If you try to do something other than a multiple choice exam at this “I If you try to do something other than a multiple choice exam at this school with freshman or sophomores, screaming and yelling occurs.” — A&M professor be understood if students make an effort to do so. He said the math ematics department screens teaching assistants to be sure they can com municate effectively. “We have a program here at the beginning of each academic year ... where we sit in an audience and let a TA (teaching assistant) present cal culus problems to us, and we judge their performance,” he said. “And if there’s anyone who we feel cannot adequately explain calculus prob lems, we let them go at that point.” Phillips said there always will be some professors and teaching assis tants at A&M who cannot commu nicate well, but he added that A&M compares favouably to other univer sities in this regard. school with freshman or sopho mores, screaming and yelling oc curs.” The faculty member said many students receive a poor education prior to attending college “I think that’s one of the major problems that all professors feel that we’re working against, is the lack of instruction of students before they get into college,” the professor said. “I can’t understand how some of them get in here. “If you can’t divide three by four and get 75 percent, that’s pretty bad. But I’ve had three people come to my office, and they can’t do that.” Milford said today’s students are not as committed to learning as stu dents were at one time. Some of these are: • Multiple Missions Task Force: This group is examining the many goals and responsiblities of A&M. Among other things, it seeks to de termine whether A&M is balancing its teaching mission with require ments such as research and service. • Regents’ Committee on Aca demic Campuses: This committee, which has formed an advisory panel of students, faculty members, par ents and former students, is examin ing many issues related to under graduate education at A&M. Regent Douglas DeCluitt, chairman of the committee, said the committee is at tempting to foster a dialogue among those who are involved with or af fected by undergraduate education at A&M. • Student Advising and Counsel ing Committee: Examining the ef fectiveness of academic advising and counseling at A&M is the purpose of this committee. It is expected to come up with recommendations concerning advising and counseling byjune 15. • Classroom Communications En hancement Program- This program, which will begin in the fall, provides students the opportunity to express concerns about their instructors’ communications abilities early in each semester. Upon being ap- K reached by a student, department eads will have seven class da’ vestigate a complaint. lays to in- • Center for Teaching Excellence: By providing support for A&M prp- fessors, this organization encourages effective teaching and helps faculty members improve their teaching skills. BOTTOMS UP! at DoubleDave’s We serve 70 Import Beers $-150 SELECTED BOTTLED BEERS EVERY NIGHT V Pixxaworlcsy CRTS CV- dltci cj^iejmez MEETING •APRIL 24th 8:30 p.m. at Rudder • Rm. 302 Activities include: