Page Two ..i' .- ;...,.•:'.....i.: . -,:,.. : :; . • - •.,.:..,.••'.:''.•:.._:'....:...., ,. .0'p...;'N . 11 - .:.9: . :R1::':.......' . ',.:..p . A•0 - •g.:...i.'..:...•' . ...;'..:..'.... : .. ,. ...:'.,.,:..' . Letters Grant Complains I would like to make a few comments about James Rabbitt's letter which appeared in last week's Collegian. First I would like to state plainly that I totally agree with his letter. Unfor tunately, a few of the more specific and possibly libelous passages had to be left out (sorry, Jim). One of the things I would like to comment on is the practice of hiring faculty who, at the very least, are extremely difficult to understand because of a language problem. I am not referring to the difference bet ween proper standard English and the popular vernacular of the student body. The situation I am talking about is those faculty whose native language is not English. I have nothing against foreigners in general, but when a teacher is hired who speaks very broken, almost unintelligible English, something is definitely wrong. I'm not sure why these in structors who speak poor English are kept. I do have very strong suspicions. The whole joke of unintelligible lectures can probably be blamed on the policy described as Publish or Perish. After all, the purpose of the faculty is to publish papers in order to publicize the name of Behrend College, and bring honor and glory to the Pennsylvania State University. The business of teaching students is but a cover in order to bilk the federal government and the taxpayers of the state of Pennsylvania. Aside from getting rid of those who don't put out enough memoranda, research grant requests, progress reports, dissertations and useless paperwork, the Administration's role in this publicity stunt remains unclear. If the Administration had its way, its role in everything would remain unclear (that way they can always blame someone else when things go wrong—if they admit that things have gone wrong) The Administration is not what I set out to discuss; that would , take up an entire page. The topic of this editorial is instructors who speak little English, and what they do speak is unintelligible. In some fields of study, such as math, this is a relatively sur mountable obstacle. In the more verbal fields of study, such a language problem presents an almost unbreachable barrier between students and in structors. Such instructors can, with lractice, be understood, or at east one can recognize the wor ds being spoken. This practice takes time, and by the time wor ds become recognizable three Talent Lives At Behrend by Holly MacTaggart On April 18 the Coffee House held a Student Talent Nite. To say that it was a success and a very impressive show would be an understatement. It was fan tastic! This group of people were both enthusiastic and talented— each in his or her own way. The show had comedy, song, and dance. The members of the cast (in order of appearance) were John Cole, Dave Nestler, Bernadette White, Tony Burns. varying viewpoints weeks of the term have already gone by. Even then it is usually difficult to assign a specific meaning to sentences and lec tures. Students spend lectures whispering among themselves, "What did he-she say? I don't UNDERSTAND!" After one gives up trying to interpret lectures, most of the class time is spent on other worthwhile ac tivities such as sleeping and coloring the drawings in the text book with Hi-liters, or the in dustrious student may do his-her calculus homework. This all sounds very amusing. It is, until a test appears in front of you. Some of the questions are from the reading assignments, and are answered with very little difficulty. But when you get to the questions on the lecture material, it's time to panic. Most seem familiar, but are answered wrong because you misunderstood the lecture, in fact the whole class misunderstood the lecture. If the latter does happen it make no difference if the grades are curved, because there is no other way to grade these courses because the grades are con sistently low. Finally, the students get an noyed at the seemingly futile exercise of coming to class, so they don't. Many times students don't even take the class because of what they had heard about it. After final grades are issued, those who aren't lucky enough to pass the first time either give up on the course or make sure that they get another instructor if they do take the class again. And those who have passed breathe a sigh of relief, "Never Again!" After we have left Behrend and gone off to another College or a job, we might look back and laugh. Perhaps we won't. Grant Edwards, Professional Complainer Too Many Bucks For Me! The Food and Housing Service of Behrend College has been sending bills of approximately 45 dollars to certain residents presently occupying the dor mitories of Behrend College. This, I suppose, is to pay for certain costs that have been incurred in one way or another. If you happen to receive one of these, please request an itemized list of all expenses that necessitate this additional remittance. Please do not pay it until you receive a complete record. This sudden expense has left a few people, including me, baf fled. We therefore .request your assistance in the matter. An itemized list should be available for the asking from Mrs. Mar jorie Taylor at her office in the Dobbins Dining Hall. It is your money at stake. John Monsted, sixth term Steve Long-Tim Lint, Bob Mar mion-Joe Former-Mike Harford, Chris (Paco) Puleo-Ken Fleischer-Randy Hoffman. Each -of these performers deserves a big hand. For those students who feel there is not enough to do on campus, the performers showed how it is possible to take things into your own hands. They showed us that the surest cure to student apathy is other students. 'fftrend Collegian A Student Gripes FALLACIES NOTED AT BEHREND A recent issue of the Collegian (Main Campus newspaper) ran a story entitled, "Life's nothing but one big fallacy." The article described a professor who am biguously discredited a student's answer because it suffered from the fallacy of "composition," whatever that is. There are numerous other fallacies not mentioned in the article which are prevalent here at Behrend College. They are: The Fallacy of the Change Machine. This fallacy states that if you come in to school early for a cup of coffee, you can get change from the change machine. You won't. The Fallacy of Disco states that if you dress like John Travolta, you'll get a girl. You won't. The Fallacy of Summer Term Schedules states that the summer term schedule will come out early enough so that you can decide whether to attend summer term or look for a summer job. It won't. The Fallacy of Summer Term Courses states that you can depend on a course to be offerred during summer term because you'll need it as a prerequisite for a fall term class. It won't. The Fallacy of Parking states that you can get away without a parking sticker by parking in the faculty and staff parking lot. You can't. thrtutt ttolle4iau gip Irma Assattathitt Jody Ka mens Editorial Editor Holly MacTaggart News Editor Phil Goodwin. Peggy Abbott, Rick Allen, Barb Bogdan, Emily Lott, Joe Hohman, Mark Porterfield, Mike Callaghan. Polly Zadernak, Connie Pukanic and Nina Siegel Mailing Address-Behrend College, Station Rood, Erie, Pa. 16563 Office-Reed Union Building Office Hours: 8:00 o.m. 10:50 0.m., Mon. Wed. Fri. Phone: 898-1511 Ext. 238 Opinions expressed by the editors and staff of the Behrend Collegian are not necessarily those of the University Ad ministration, faculty, or the student body. The Fallacy of Foreign Languages states that you will need them to prepare you for your career. You won't: The Fallacy of College Life states that by going to college you will open new doors and tran scend reality. Bull! The Fallacy of Tenure states that the college will keep the teachers who seem to do the best job of looking out for the welfare of the students. They won't. The Fallacy of Mark Eden states that there is hope for the "less endowed." There ain't. The Fallacy of Pre- Registration states that if you pre-register for a term, you will get every course and the time when you want them. You won't. The Fallacy of the Library states that there is one here at Behrend. There ain't. The Fallacy of Book Buy-Back states that you will get an even break on book buy backs. You won't. The F allacy of K-104 states that they don't wear out songs. They do. The Fallacy of the Clocks states that the clocks in all the class rooms are synchronized to the correct time. They're not. The Fallacy of Looks states that guys care about a girl's personality more than her looks. Bull. Tom Miller Member of Laura Sewall Editor-in-Chief Tom Britten Entertainment Editor Photo Editor Grant Edwards Faculty Advisor Michel Small Laura Seman Sports Editor Editorial Policy The editorials appearing in this newspaper are opinions and we invite critism. All letters that are typewritten of 200 words or less and submitted to the newspaper staff may be printed with the exception of those that are repetitious or in poor taste. The staff reserves the right to correct or delete portions of all letters for publication purposes. All letters must be signed, but names will be withheld upon request. Term standing, major, and hometown must be included. Signed columns represent the view of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the Editorial policy of the Behrend Collegian. A Suitcase College? There is no doubt in the minds of many students and faculty members that Behrend is a "suitcase College." Why is this? There seems to be various ac tivities offered during the weekends yet many students choose to either complain that there's nothing to do, or pack up and go home. What can be done to keep the student's interest in sticking around for the weekend? Well since many students might be critical of the student union boards planning activities, the gap between the SUB and other organizations can be tightened if the students would speak out and let the organizations know what they would like to do. Behrend doesn't have -to be a "suitcase college". If people would get involved and make suggestions instead of remaining apathetic. Behrend would be a nice place to spend a weekend, and Erie might not be such a dreary place after all. Phil Goodwin ADADS The Behrend Collegian des perately needs people interested in helping to find advertising. We will be paying a fifteen per cent commission for all ads you might be able to find for The Collegian. Small Goes West Dr. Michel Small, Assistant Professor of English at Behrend College, learned this week that the National Endowment for the Humanities had awarded him a grant of $2,500 to enable him to participate in a summer seminar at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). The topic of the seminar is "Case History and Fiction." Participants will examine, among other things, the relation between nineteenth century fiction, in particular to Bildungsroman, and case history, especially as practiced by Freud. In addition to the work of the seminar, Dr. Small plans to work on a project of his own, an analysis of the relationship between psychoanalytic concepts of cure and Zen Buddhist con cepts of detachment and "enlightenment." This project grew out of a proposal he made together with Dr. lobst and Dr. Quarton to examine Western psychological concepts of identity from a Zen Buddhist point of view_ April 26, 1979
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