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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 12, 1996)
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Now accepting AggieBucks.™ Thursday Page September 12,1 I Texas teachers spend more) time beyond the classroom AUSTIN (AP) — Teachers are bending under the weight of 56- hour work weeks and should have their days restructured so they only spend half their time in the classroom, the Texas State Teachers Association says. The teacher group, releasing a survey on Texas educators’ work day, said the rest of their work week should be spent on expand ed professional responsibilities. “Teachers need time to devel op effective lessons, talk to stu dents and listen to them, to confer with parents much more fre quently, to study professional journals, to interact with col leagues, and to watch outstanding teacher demonstrations,” said TSTA President Richard Kouri. The group surveyed 1,000 ran domly selected teachers, drawing 811 responses. The survey, which has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points, said the aver age teacher is spending 55.82 hours per week doing “just the essentials” of the job. That includes 7.91 hours a day at school; 2.12 hours each evening, and 3.76 hours each weekend, on school work; less than an hour a week calling par ents; and just over an hour weekly in faculty meetings. Sixty-two percent of those sur veyed said paperwork require ments are growing compared with three years ago. Sixty-four percent said they spent more time on school work beyond the regular school day. ‘The critical shortage of time to plan, reflect, collaborate with other educators, conduct research and maintain a person al life represents the most chal lenging problem in schools today,” Kouri said. “It is the chief reason cited by teachers as cause for leaving the profession altogether.” The time crunch will have “disastrous conse quences” on efforts to reform Texas schools, he said. “If teachers are spending 56 hours a week just doing their job, it logically follows I that time to be active participants in restruc- i turing schools just isn’t i available,”Kouri said “The losers are the citizens of this state and the children we teach.” Barbara Williams of the Texas Association of School Boards said she recognizes that teachers “do work hard and have a hard job." But she questioned how the recommendation for teachers spending less time in the class room would work. “Who would then be han dling the instruction? Would they be certified? There’s a shortage of teachers in some areas already.” Williams said. “For us, the bottom line would be what’s best for the students.” As for hiring more certified teachers, Williams added, “Where does the money come from? The districts are already tight for money.” TSTA spokeswoman Annette Cootes said the recommenda tion is a long-range goal. finding ways to relieve teai in the classroom to allow such activities as teacherti ing. “They would have to certified teachers, that’s forsi; Cootes said. “But there couli :ci nee hire a ontinue gister, W Wedne: ought n Da\ Fe ivestigati r unlawl a again: Bryan-( ficials in to whei ' “It [time] is the chief reason cited by teachers as cause for leaving the profession altogether.” it none {: "The i : Richard Kouri TSTA President ot pest ira ini hn But some schools already are tutoring. There could be people assisting in the classrolcti They could have more aidesic the paperwork.” Among other recommei tions by the association are: — Increased availability technology, including, at a mum, a computer on. teacher’s desk and a telephoi every' classroom. — Increased efforts byct munity, social and governm tal agencies to help with pi lems that affect students’ to learn. The group said with change society, teachers now have ir responsibility for addressing things as health and safetyna of low-income children. — More authority by teact to control learning time, based student needs, rather than “trapped in a system thatisdri' by the schedule.” Baylor faculty disputes standards >AVI! isume is Little ometim a sus irand ju: LRPDhc and is res as to Davis, arch 191 gravated on th ed, Da\ :ars or life Davis c irents hoi it days larges of ice violat b Delai r er the ca: The fugi a $150, id by a his pa avis Sr. ei iposed pi 1 abi id )UNK ontinuec close up. We are aking sun and the D erpetrator Members claim stricter religious attempts will hurt school’s Baptist-affiliated reputation state Ir bey... or cl TABC Sgi WACO (AP) — A number of Baylor University faculty members are accusing newly installed President Robert Sloan of weeding out those who don’t meet his strict religious standards, the Texas Journal of The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. They say professors have been denied tenure, lecturers fired and job candidates run off for not being sufficiently devout, the newspaper said. Critics say Sloan’s attempts to create a conser vative religious atmosphere threaten to damage the Baptist-affiliated university’s reputation and stifle intellectual freedom. ‘The new president has an interest in having an ever-stronger Christian evangelical religious fervor on campus,” Michael Bishop, chairman of Baylor’s journalism department, said. “He wants to select faculty members who come out of a narrow Baptist tradition that he’s comfortable with, but that is foreign to the his toric tradition of Baylor. ... I believe that religious credentials under Robert Sloan have surpassed in importance academic qualifications.” Sloan, 47, says nothing has changed in the year since he took the helm. “Baylor for 151 years has been committed to its Christian heritage,” he says. “I have the same commitment that every one of my predecessors has had.” Baylor, the largest Baptist university in the nation, is legally free to choose its faculty based on religious criteria and always has done so, giv ing preference first to Baptists, then to other Christian denominations except Mormons. In recent decades, however, many church- affiliated universities have grown more secular, partly to cultivate their academic reputations. Baylor has been no exception. When Sloan — the first Baptist minister to head the school in 34 years — allowed the school to hold its first-ever dance in April, it widely was viewed as a sign that Baylor was falling even an universal lordship of the crucified and rist 1 va sn ’t Jesus Christ.” be Dixie C ction in o tatelaw. “They (th .o protect t f‘M they an more in line with secular universities. “Is there a wolf in sheep’s clothing? Is that a diversion? I think it is,” said Lanelle McNamara, a Baylor alumna and former professor who now practices law in Waco. There already is talk in academic circles tbit ^ ( | Baylor is becoming more “BC,” or “biblicallycm v rect,” says Glenn Linden, a Southern Methodist University history professor and former presi dent of the American Association of Universit) Professors in Texas. Baylor Alumni Association President Lyndon Olson is concerned the turmoil will detract fr fund-raising. The controversy, he says, “has a life of own now. And I don’t know what the reality is this point.” Sloan’s predecessor, Herbert Reynolds, had* reputation as a critic of fundamentalists art defender of academic and religious freedom, Now Baylor’s chancellor, Reynolds declined# comment on the turmoil. But he emphasized^ has “high regard for our faculty and staff here.’ Sloan proposed changing the wording of facol ty-recruitment advertisements to emphasis Baylor’s preference for hiring Baptists Christians. He defended the move as an effort to be moi honest with job candidates. But many faculty members saw a shift togi' 1 religious qualifications priority in hiring otf academic credentials. The Faculty Senate issued a statement demning the new wording, saying it could havc^ . „ chilling effect on recruitment and “dramatical reduce the academic quality of the faculty.” Sloan canceled the ads, but in a letter to prospective faculty members, he spends pages emphasizing Baylor’s Christian prioritif ®Pjywith and his belief that “Baylor University can remai true to its heritage only by recruiting, hiring aa e( iical sc developing faculty members ... who sincertl c eives her espouse and seek to express their academical* not like professional identities through the particular of the Christian faith — i.e., commitment to bey have b :e are do in ompliance tre ill survive i The spi ray,” he sa The Dixi lid, has nc t wee is co 'e said no acause the :ss the sah Penalties tations to 1 He said 'verity of vi gon ramif “We ha 1 malty cha unething t If we ha r a case, t ake a case This [vi more ii Though ( state mains wb th comply am not uiAtt m h<n ait qotvi “Be&i, “Wine & SfUnit WE BEWEfWGES to’t partic at much b< mk it’s lou; "The 32-c 1 ^8 deal, half.” TeSage se 1( ionts will mking the tc hers. 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