University of Texas Austin - Cactus Yearbook (Austin, TX)

THEAMERICAN EXPEft/OTCE Gay Hopgood, a sophomore American Experience student, commented about the nature of the class: " // lets you form your own opinion and decide for yourself . Sometimes I am surprised and shocked, but it ' s that shock and surprise that gets the point across. I often didn ' t want to read the material because I didn ' t want to admit that it was probably true. " Without the usual complaints of a course being boring, irrelevant or impersonal, the American Experience consistently received top ratings by students. Not every modern teaching method used shock techniques, but Kraemer believes that this course is one of the best examples in teaching critical thinking, important aspects of American government and history and an awareness to incidents of life. We, the students, have a need for an education which will help us deal with our world of today. Social and psychological implications of our technical revolution are stated by Alvin Tofflcr when he says, " Tomorrow ' s schools must teach not merely data, but ways to manipu- late it. Students must learn how to discard old ideas, how and when to replace- them. They must, in short, learn how to learn. Society will be far better equipped, then, to meet the impact of change. To create such curiosity and awareness is a cardinal task of education. " We, the students, acknowledge the learning of facts as a type of edu- cation, but we also need the intelligence to be emotionally and intellec- tually independent and capable of critical thinking at all levels of our lives. Many professors, such as Kraemer and Philpott, believe our Uni- versity is attempting to meet our needs. Piprr Rouniree For many students. Professor Tom Philpon it a window into the put College of Liberal Am - 1