University of Iowa - Hawkeye Yearbook (Iowa City, IA)

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information on drugs. We're not moralizing. We're not saying you should or shouldn't. The information we give them is truthful and reliable. We have an optional section on another night for those who want to discuss the other aspects of drugs of abuse - their legality and their morality. .. If the interest in the class holds up, Gebhart continued, then we'll know that this is one of the ways to discuss drugs. When people know more about drugs, they're bound to be a little more rational about them, and not just accept hearsay from their friends. We'd like to offer the course to all 20,000 students on campus, but we just don'thave the room. Members of the Department of Pharmacology fac- ulty are pleased with the new course and the students response. Dr. Iohn P. Long, professor and head of pharmacol- ogy, said,' I know of only one other university in the nation - the University of Chicago - now of- fering an undergraduate course on drug use and abuse. We are very pleased to see the interest on this campus. I think it is extremely important for non- health-related people to learn about drugs. Teachers, counselors, journalists, all need to have a working knowledge of drugs and their effects. Dr. Michael Brody, professor of pharmacology and adviser to the graduate student group, thinks the course is a tremendous undertaking. It fills a void in the offerings of this University, in providing a general course on what drugs are, and how they are used. People everyday take sedatives or stimulants, put salves on their skin, take many non-prescriptive drugs. They should know what they're doing. S2 i33:5 5-wg, fri-'is'ttR',ffvgftm. . I 'll it 'n A 9? ,gl It Drugs Course 207

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grad students are more deeply involved . . . onder why profs ignore you? Criticism arises often because the graduate college seems to rank highest in the priorities of University faculty and administration, often to the exclusion of undergraduates. This is in part a valid criticism, according to Dean D. C. Spriestersbach, who heads the college. We haven't willed our program, but responded to society's needs, he noted. But I can't say criticism of priorities isn't without foundation. Many professors prefer to work with graduate stu- dents because the grads seem more deeply involved in their subject and present a professional challenge to the profs. With research such an important part of the lives of many professors, and since it is within their graduate classes that this research can be con- ducted, this is the situation many prefer. Dean Spreistersbach, however, stressed that many profes- sors prefer to teach at the undergraduate level be- cause they find it a stimulating test of their know- ledge. Since education may he in for many changes, he ex- pressed great doubt that the present set-up for gradu- ate school will continue, and predicted that we will see substantial changes, as the results of a system in which higher degrees are being required. There are many fields now in which a bachelor's degree is not sufficient to enter the field, and this will probably continue to be the case, he said. So graduate col- leges will become more important for training while undergraduates will be involved in more general education. Dean Spreistersbacb remarked that some people favor separation of graduate schools into indvidual institutions apart from undergraduate colleges. He believes this would be a mistake, since both colleges can benefit from eachUher. Undergraduates provide learning and teaching experience for graduate stu- dents and at the same time benefit from the stimulus provided to the faculty by graduates. This stimulus helps keep faculty members researching and studying in their fields rather than relying on what could be- come outdated information. They are all inseparable: emphasis and balance should not favor either. The right balance of grads and undergrads under some faculty members could be the most exciting experience for all. The marri- age of graduates and undergraduates, properly handled, provides the best environment for exciting teaching on all levels, he continued. While all of these changes are being considered for the future, the Graduate College is not ignoring the criticism it is receiving now, but is examining such things as the concept of teaching assistants. You can relate T.A.'s to medical students, Spriestersbach noted. How would-you train a doc- tor if you never let him see a patient until he got his degree? It is one of our obligations to train these peo- ple before they leave the school. Everyone has had practice teachers in high school, and they don't argue with the idea of practice teachers. The problem, he explained, is that once T.A.'s are given positions they are not supervised fur- ther: this is the concept that is missing. Spreisters- bach believes T.A.'s should be directed by a super- vising teacher who will give them evaluations, advice and counseling. We must interact with Them, he stressed. Generally, higher education basn't been willing to give this kind of supervision, but we are now moving to do things about it. S2 Irv- if f -V M 51117.32 Graduate College 209