April 8, 1987
Teachers Receive Sensitivity Training
By Michele Hart
Some teachers are ill-prepared
to deal with students with special
problems or needs, according to Patricia
Stohle Fontaine, a fourth- and fifth-grade
teacher at Marshall Elementary School,
Harrisburg, and a Penn State Harrisburg
alumnus.
To avoid having more teachers
like those described by Fontaine, all
Capital College elementary education
majors are required to complete a
semester-long sensitivity training course
in order to graduate.
"You get teachers who haven't
thought about these things," said Dr.
Duane R. Smith, assistant education
professor. "Our purpose is to force them
(the students) into thinking about things
they wouldn't normally think of."
Students involved in the course
begin by studying the physical and
mental growth of children, and then
move on to examine physical, ethnic,
and emotional differences in children.
"We look at kids who have
emotional problems and how they fit
Business Survey Responses
By Kathleen Riley-King
Of the twelve responses received, all agreed that more open forums would
be beneficial and that faculty members should attend the forums. All of the
respondents said that they would be willing to attend additional forums. The
respondents felt that the forums should be held at various times of the day and
evening "so all would have a chance to attend."
Two respondents attended the February 4 forum, one attended the February
2 forum, and two attended the March 19 forum. Those who did not attend any of
the forums cited not knowing about them, not enough advance notice, conflict
with classes, and conflict with work schedules as reasons for not attending. Several
students pointed out that night students should be offered forums as well
Comments and questions for the division included:
* "Could apathy be a response to a 'who cares about the
consumer' attitude on the college's part?"
* "All the new transfer students should have an individual [advising]
session prior to pre-registration of classes. The student and the advisor
should go over the transfer of credits."
* "Why are part-time students treated like second-class students by both
faculty and students? For most of us, this is our only option. We are not
taking an easy out!"
* "Would appreciate a smiling, helpful admin. support staff."
* "If a teacher can't speak my language. he shouldn't teach in it."
* "If you say you care, then hire some teachers who care more for their
students than their egos."
* "I am very disappointed in the quality of the education at this school.
A graduate should be proud of their alma mater, and the education you get
here doesn't deserve that sentiment."
* "Most of the faculty have no actual experience. We need people with
practical experience to help prepare us for the business world."
* ". . . Dr. Blumberg has the tendency to avoid the question and glaze
things over."
*
. . Dr. Blumberg is an avoider and doesn't do anything about
problems."
*"Sometimes I wonder why we express our opinions. These problems
have been brought to the B.A. division before and nothing has been done.
Are these forums really going to help? All we can do is try. Also,
professors seem to be so concerned with publications that they aren't
concerned with the students. Their first priority should be the students.
We pay them!!"
* "[We are] in desperate need of a quiet place to study (library quiet area
is not quiet and CUB bldg. 'Quiet Room' gets pre-empted for aerobics)."
Thanks for your responses!
into groups and make transitions into
new classes," Smith said.
Smith also said the course
involves a "heavy" load of work. The
students complete exercises, watch
movies, participate in discussions, and
read research materials and textbook
selections that talk about subjects from
handicapped children to prejudice.
"We deal with concepts that we
think they need to be aware of," he said,
including reaching out to students,
interpersonal effectiveness, and self
actualization.
"There is such a thing as a self
fulfilling prophecy that goes both ways
in that what a student is told will
eventually be how he feels," Smith
explained. Avoiding negative self
actualizations is. important for young
children, he said.
The exercises the course
participants must complete include
blind-folded trust walks, reading with
special glasses'to replicate dyslexia, and
spending a full day in a wheelchair.
"It (the wheelchair exercise)
makes them look at a person in a
Capital Times
wheelchair in a different way," Smith
said. "We don't try to make people
completely different, just sensitive to the
way other people are."
During the course of the
semester, the students go into public
schools for four weeks two different
times. One of those field experiences has
to be in an urban school, Smith
explained, so the student teachers can be
exposed to a variety of ethnic back
grounds.
"We want them to see what
those ethnic differences are," he said.
According to Smith "those
students who do well in the course do
well in the field."
"When people leave they aren't
perfect, but at least we think they've
seen some things," he said.
Fontaine, who said she knows
first-hand what discrimination is, feels
the sensitivity training is very important
for prospective teachers.
"It gives you the insight of
how that person feels," she said.
Knowing how a child feels is of
paramount importance, she said, "be-
student-
Business Students:
Walk in and
Be Advised
By Kathleen Riley-King
Go into E 355, turn right, and go to the end of
the hall, last door on the right.
What's there? The new Business Advising
Center, supervised by Beth Jones, coordinator of
undergraduate Business programs.
At the advising center, you will find academic
advising assistants, Monica Zimmerman and Valerie
Henkel.
According to Jones, the new advising center was
established in November 1986 to provide students with an
additional resource for academic advising.
Henkel and Zimmerman can aid with registration
and can answer students' questions about program
requirements. Both can also approve schedules of classes.
Another goal for the advising center is outreach,
says Jones. Business students with less than a 2.0 grade
point average will be identified. The center will contact
these students and offer them assistance in completing
their programs.
Jones says that each student is still assigned a
faculty advisor and that the advising center is to be used as
a supplement to--not a replacement for--the advisor.
During spring pre-registration and registration
weeks, Henkel and Zimmerman assisted approximately
sixty to seventy students per week, says Jones. But during
other weeks, about thirty-five students per week have been
seeking assistance.
Although the advising center is set up on a walk
in basis, a student desiring to make an appointment may
do so. In fact, since evening hours ate limited, Jones says
that evening students may want to make appointments.
Fumnl
Tues. 11 a.m.-8 p.m
Wed. 8 a.m.-5 p.m
Thurs. 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Fri. 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
cause those children come to you the
teacher with dreams; even if they are
little, small dreams."
Fontaine tried a sensitivity
experiment of her own with her students
by dividing them into groups of white
shirted and blue-shirted children. She
then told one group they were inferior to
the other.
That experience of discrimi
nation "really hit home to my students,"
she said.
Fontaine added that her training
at Capital College made her aware of
how environment affects growth and
education
"It really helped me to un
derstand children and be accepting of
their differences."
The ideal of sensitivity training
is not a new one to the elementary
education program. Smith said the
course has always been in existence in
one form or another, although it has
been reorganized a few times.
"But the whole concept of
sensitivity training for teachers has
always been here," he said.
8 a.m.-7 p.m
948-6152
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