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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.
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