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KICKING THE HABIT con't

legitimate, but to bring out the best in him in the face of a series of chall— enges. Competition can and does lead to the actuali- zation of one's potential. To don or not to don our lecturing robes. Although the author has not discus- sed the problem of lectu— ring vs. no lecturing in his recent article, his views on the Subject are too well known to be spar- ed a brief consideration. Also one cannot but feel at least Some admiration for a man who can practice what he preaches even tho— ugh what he preaches might be quite wrong. There is fairly strong temptation to respond to a position that maintains that lectu- res are almost useleSs and a waste of time for both professors and students. First, the empirical evi- dence - respect for facts. The evidence comes from an interesting little book by Don Bligh entitled "What's the Use of Lectures" (Pen- guin Books, 1972). Don't let the title mislead any- one into reading it - the book does pg; question the use of lectures. It deals with, in the words of the author, two questions - 1. What lectures can be "used for and 2. how they should be used. It is con- cluded that they can be used to teach information including the framework of the subject, but an expos- itory approach is unsuit- able to stimulate thought or change attitudes. Sugg-

estions are made in the

'THE

light of psychological and experimental evidence, on ways of organizing inform: ation, teaching a single ideafi use of feedback tec— hniques, etc. Also lectur- es were not found to be the single most effective method for teaching infor- mation, nor the most popu- lar method with the studh ents.

Even though lectures ca- nnot compete with audio - visual methods nor do they add much by way of wisdom, I do believe (and it is only a belief, not a hypo- thesis) that the give and take of a live teacher is an important dimension in University education. Lec~ tures simply provide the

most economical measure of providing this give and take (although I grant th- at most of the time there is more of simply giving - a weakness that must be corrected as far as class- room conditions will perh mit). Even the boredom of some lectures — (and I ha- ve had my share of them both aS‘a giver and taker) 18 not to be misconstrued as having no value at all. Excitement and enjoyment' help but are not necessary conditions of learning. And paradoxical as it may sound, it is true (i.e. there is empirical eviden- ce — behavioural and neuro— physiological) that bored- om 1s a high arousal or drive condition. With a little bit of luck, there— fore,boredom with classes

the position adopted by the author. They could al-

NED '

STATE

For Crimes against individuals

Thett -— Taxation, confiscation of drugs, books, weapons, etc.

Repression — censorship; liquor laws

.

Kidnapping —— compulsory indoctrination of children in state schools Nuisance — licensing, drug raids, vice raids, etc. Fraud —- Social security, insurance, public education, foreign aid,

and various other social experiments.

Aliases: Uncle Sam, Public Servant or Interest, Welfare State, Big

Brother, Big Government.

Description: weight —- getting heavier all the time

eyes - they’re everywhere

Caution: subject is heavily armed and dangerous.

so derive from an alterna— te position such as the present one.

can give birth to an Eins-

tien! 1

Allis well that ends well. The Cregier five point pl— an came as somewhat of an anti—climax — what starts with a bang ends in a whil sper. Let me recapitulate these five proposals. 1. there be ungraded courses (we already have provision for auditing), evaluation be student-centered (it always is), unstructured, non-competitive (doesn't make sense), and continuo— us (fine). 2. for students who expressly request for- mal graded evaluation, ex- aminations be given by ex- ternal examiners (hurrah, I like that because I have been through it myself). 3. use of standardized ac- hievement tests given by such organizations as ETS SACU (structured or unstr— uctured standardization?) 4. reccommendations and evaluations drafted with student consultation. 5.Gr— ades to be treated as con- fidential and released wi- th the student's approval. The only modification I, would like to propose is to make suggestion number 1 (ungraded courses) opti— onal and number 2 (formal exams) the general rule. All five points made a gr— eat deal od sense in spite of all that preceeded it! What was all that diatribe about anyway”(full of sou— nd and fury, signifying ' nothing), when these sugg~ estions do not strictly follow as conclusions from It is far better to make an attempt to change the attitudes of students and professors towards exams & grades than to give up the trust and responsibility that society has placed in the hands of its teachers by saying : 'student' - te- ach thyselfll 7

Meeting the needs of tod- ay's students may well co— nsist in making demands. As John Gardner has obser— ved in his excellent book on "Excellence" (1961) - "And woe to the society that loses the gift for such evocation! When an institution, organization or nation loses its capac- ity to evoke high indiVid- ual performance, it's gre- at days are over."

Back to metaphor. Our ed—

ucational baby certainly

,needs a good clean wash &,

maybe the little devil ne- eds to mend some of its . manners too. But better a reformed devil than a lem- ming—like suicidal march to the formal deep blue sea. _ From structure to chaos (nonstructure) is a law

‘ of thermodynamics not of

human dynamics. Examine thyself!!!