Temple University - Templar Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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 Finding the Answers by Steven Davidson Many liberal arts students find themselves taking courses that seem to mean nothing to them ami lead them nowhere. They do not usually know why they chose thcii major; perhaps they once had an interesting teacher in die field, or their mothers told them English teachers lead nice lives. Neither can they tell you what use they will make of their education, nor muster up the courage or honest) to admit they've made a mistake, and after graduation will go into Dad's business as they should have done straight from high school. Because of the irrelevance of their curriculum to their lives, the liberal arts students drift listlessly through their courses complaining about the professors, the work, and the grades. They learn almost nothing, and reach a point where they no longer care about their ignorance. In contrast to these aimlessly drifting students are a few in each discipline who are dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. They knew they would enter their chosen field, because they know where they are going. The subject they are studying thrills them, and they want to learn more. They do not look on their courses as drudgery, but as answers to questions they have asked. And they seek answers to other questions outside the classroom, by research in the library, the community, or the laboratory. The following article by a chemistry Senior doing independent research portrays the dedication that characterizes these students. It’s hard to believe that this idealistic devotion to an idea can exist side by side with the prevalent intellectual apathy; but It's here. —Editor's note Yeah Dave, after Psych I'm going home and take a nap. I didn't get much sleep last night studying for that Thermo exam. Oh damn! I just remembered I have to finish that prep of the hydroxamic acid this afternoon. The acid emoride decomposes after a day of storage even in the freezer.” That’s research in a nutshell; when you’re tired you stay and work; when you need to study, you stay and work; when you want to go out, you stay and work. Why? Because vou committed yourself to something and despite the bother and aggravation you stay, work on, and see your project through. Not only do I feel committed but I enjoy it. I'or me, and most others I know doing independent research, that’s more important. The intellectual experience of pursuing knowledge on your own terms is invaluable. Working next to grad students and learning techniques is just a part of research. Working on your own project, meeting the problems as they arise, the real dismay when the compound you have turns out to have the wrong structure and ten weeks of work go down the drain; it’s all real and it all hurts, hut then sometimes .... sometimes it works out. after months of work your project results are good, your compound is made, or your structure is proven, or your data fits tin theoretical curve. Then comes the great moment, the paper. Between your professor, several grad students, and yourself, the paper somehow gets written and sent off. hopefully to be accepted and published. Then you are immortal, for as long as your publication is in print or available.

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Business is Business. by Faye Shapiro For most Temple graduates, Speakman Hall will be remembert'd solely as “that nice-looking gray building ”— one of the few aesthetically appealing structures on campus. To a certain group, however, Speakman will always lx the place where thev spent their junior and senior school lives, in the Schoof of Business. The business student stands apart from the mainstream of the university. There are few long-hairs though the trend today is to have long hair, veterans make up a sizable portion of the classes, and the boy-girl ratio is overwhelming. Most classes have less than lour females. The business student is often accused of being materialistic, particularly by those in Liberal Arts fields. They are probably right. Business students too often take courses merely because they know that the employment work! wants them to. Many students are in school just to get their diploma and then a job. Senior year is visiting-time at the Career Services Office, eyeing and being eyed by companies, and worrying about where and when and whether one will work. The basic business curriculum differs from that of Liberal Arts, since there is little elective choice hv the student, other than selection of his major. Moreover, though the Business School is not a training center, numerous courses, particularly those in accounting, tend to be vocational rather than educational; and the accounting graduate leaves Temple as a skilled practitioner. commanding a comparatively high salary for a recent college graduate. But there arc also courses where providing general knowledge is the objective, and any later employment benefits in the business world are secondary. The outside business world is not that outside, either. Part of the reason that Speakman is eye-catching is the generous contributions of major corporations. Reliefs and artwork on the walls, a spacious lounge, and other imaginative artistry in architecture make the building a place business students are proud to call home . Slinking silently through Speakman's corridors are those mysterious young men in long-sleeved white shirts and black ties—police trainees. Probably one of the reasons that their classes are in Speakman Hall is that they won’t he harassed there, because most business students couldn’t care less about police presence on campus. Business students are even more apathetic than the typically apathetic Temple student, and especially so when it comes to Temple’s Student Senate and its actions. Overwhelmed by the more politically concerned Liberal Arts majors, the business student feels like an outsider in a seriate that is viewed as representing them ’, not “us ”. In one senate election there was only one candidate running from the Business School, so they just handed him the post. When the motion to oust President Anderson was made in the Student Senate, the Business senators neither voted for nor against it—they had left the meeting. But the business student is changing. Although his primary concern still is getting a job. ne’s now interested in getting that job with a firm that contributes to tin-public good. He’s becoming increasingly concerned about vital issues, from pollution to polities, lb- may even refuse to work for some companies because of their involvement in the Vietnam War. To the business graduate, Speakman Hall will always he the Speakman of old. the site of his undergrad hustles. hassles, and hang-ups. But the times, and the stereotypes. they are a’ changin’’. n

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The Problem by Arlynn Rubenstein Grobman My first chance to really teach a group of kids entirely on my own. I was a guest teacher, “sub , for a class of 30 third graders. I got to the school at ten o’clock and went to my room. One of the school’s unoccupied teachers was in the room instructing a reading lesson with a small group, the others were working beautifully and independently at their seats. I was introduced to the class, ana the teacher left. Immediately, utter chaos erupted in the room. Kids were talking, walking, fighting continuously, disrupting others in the class and me. My lesson not only flopped; it never got started. I reprimanded one boy and he picked himself up and left the room. He wandered up and down the hallway and I couldn't coax him into the room. I called the office. 'Someone will lx up as soon as they are free. Twenty minutes later, eternity to me. a counselor came upstairs. The child calmly walked back into the room and order was restored. Tne counselor left. Chaos erupted again. Is this tTie way it's sup| oscd to be? What happened to my classroom management procedures? The chaos in the room was absolutely frightening, frustrating, confusing. horrible. By twelve o’clock I was exhausted, confused and in tears. I left the school! I kept thinking about my years in school and my training. Was I prepared to meet kids face-to-face on my own? I didn't know what to do at the time I was confronted with the problem, and what’s worse 1 couldn't recall being taught methods to deal with problems in the classroom. I obviously wasn't prepared and I didn't know what to do. l atrr, in my senior year, during Student Teaching I learned what to do to gain control and respect. This wasn't learned in a lecture situation on campus but in a classroom observing a teacher work with a group of kids. I know now that my attitude had a lot to do with the kids’ reaction to me. I was scared and they knew it! The College of Education attempts to prepare students for a career in teaching. Upon graduation you are considered a professional, are given a classroom of 20 to 35 impressionable individuals and are expected to perform in a job about which you actually know nothing. When the sophomore year at the University is completed students are asked to choose a major field. At this point, education majors are swamped with a barrage of meaningless courses. Teaching social studies or science to a group of seven, eight or nine-year-olds is hardly learned in a classroom on campus in a lecture situation. Subject matter for such content areas can be easily learned from teachers' guides or from teachers in the field. Courses of this nature teach us nothing about the individual. Thirteen weeks need not be wasted writing units or experiments. Students in education get only one true exposure to the school system. Student teaching in the senior year is an excellent and realistic experience for someone planning to go into this profession. Many students find themselves in contact with children for the first time, and it can be frightening and awesome. Having to prepare lessons, meeting the children and teaching various groups at different levels of instruction is vital preparation for a teacher. Why can’t this be done at an earlier stage in the teacher s education? Education majors should be given continuous opportunity to deal with children and to instruct them. Teaching methods are fine on campus but learning how to apply them and how to deal with the individual child can only be done in a classroom situation where children as well as teachers can be observed. u