University of Nebraska Omaha - Tomahawk / Gateway Yearbook (Omaha, NE)

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bootstrappers today than in the past. He cited bootstrap involvement in campus activities as evidence. With bootstrappers currently on the Student Senate and others making contributions to student publications and university committees, Utiey feels perhaps boots are making a stronger effort to be identified Vk'ith the totality of the student body. UtIey cited a changeover of leadership at the Pen and Sword Society and the younger age of incoming bootstrappers as being possible reasons. He also noted more and more boots are coming to UNO for two years rather than six months and this gives them time to mix and mingle. They are constantly establishing more rapport with the regular student body, he added. George G. Thompson, assistant dean of CCS, said business is the undisputed area of major concentration for the boots currently attending UNO classes. Law enforcement and correction, history, political science and psychology follow in descending order. Urban studies, philoso- phy and music harbor only one boot- strapper each this semester. The entire concept of the bootstrap program has changed over the last two years. Originally the program was a six- month degree program, Russell ex- plained. Active-duty military students are re- quired to take at least 15 hours, and a man on the six-month program must take 18 hours of upper division classroom work a semester. We try to watch this very closely, said Russell, while ad- mitting some get by with 13 hours. We are trying to give them a sound, basic and quality education, he added. Electives taken by boots must be at the upper division 300-400 level. Russell said he tries to dissuade boots from taking courses such as driver's education and first aid which fall into the upper category. Boots are professional stu- dents, and we expect them to attempt more academically challenging courses, he explained. About three-fourths of the CCS stu- dents graduating with the Bachelor of General Studies (BGS) degree are boot- strappers. Russell emphasized that this degree is not exclusively for boot- strappers as is generally rumored. Any adult can qualify for the BGS degree, he said. Qualifications for the degree include: missing a regular opportunity to go to college, leaving home and being self- supporting, or having made a significant contribution on your own. Determin- ation of a person's qualifications to pur- sue the BGS degree is left to the dis- cretion of CCS, Russell said. Once a boot qualifies for the BGS program, he can receive credit for pre- vious training or education. The granting of credit for military work, service and academic work is described as a hell of a fruitful concept by Thompson. Enlisted men enrolling under the bootstrap pro- gram get 12 hours credit for military service. This includes 4 hours physical education and 8 hours lower division ROTC credit. Does the military service training equal that taught in physical education and ROTC classes at UNO? I'm not trying to tell you they get the same thing, Thompson said, but basically the training is similar. The commissioned officer entering CCS is given 30 hours credit for his military experience. He gets the same 12 hours credit as the enlisted man, that is, advanced ROTC credit totalling 12 hours, 3 hours of military leadership and exer- cise of command credit and 3 hours of speech credit. It takes a minimum of three to six months to become an officer, and it's a program that makes the under- graduate college program look like a picnic, Thompson said. To qualify for his 30 hours an active duty serviceman must have seen duty for a minimum of one year. Military Programs Director Russell said, One of the basic parts of our degree program is to give lower-level Boots spend many hours studying in the library. These two students ponder over notes from class. 21

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From military assignment to academic refinement . . BOOTS BEING STEREOTYPED as a curve- breaking, grade-happy, profession- al student is nothing new to him. Oftentimes he's looked on as a foreign element by his civilian classmates. They see him as being degree- oriented, at the top of the grading curve and a dominant element in every class. To some he's a military-minded, professional student who always sits in the front row, spends his weekends studying and carries a portable library in his attache case. But in reality, he doesn't tote a loaded M-l, enjoy the agony of battle or de- liberately set out to put the civilian student down. He's a person over 21 re-entering the academic atmosphere and he's determined to earn a college degree. Under several varying programs, 801 military students now attend UNO. For the sa ke of simplicity, the College of Continuing Studies classifies them all as bootstrappers. The title is given to military personnel pursuing a college de- gree at a later age — to someone pulling himself up by his bootstraps. There is something about a boot the civilian student can readily identify. Eager and quiet, some would say shy, he may not contribute to campus activities, but he often makes his presence felt in classroom discussions. He has a career, has traveled the 48 contiguous states and gone the foreign route, too. He has a uniform at home in the closet, and is employed by the military, but that's of only nominal importance now. He's in marketing, accounting, psy- chology, political science, history and law enforcement. He's a determined student aggressively progressing along the final route toward a college degree. He's con- sidered special. He's a bootstrapper. He carries 15-18 hours a semester to his civilian classmates' 12-15. He spends his out-of-class hours in the library. He spends weekends at home with his family rather than twist and shout with the Marquee Review at the fall prom. According to Franklin J. Russell, Jr., director of UNO military programs, boots are very determined academically because they must complete their degree in a specified amount of time — from six months to two years. Asked about the attrition rate in the bootstrap program, Russell tabbed the percentage of boots successfully completing their academic pursuits as very good. He added, how- ever, there is no 100 percent guarantee, and a small number flunk. Russell said a serviceman is disgraced if he goes back to his military peers without a diploma, because he was given leave to obtain one. College of Continuing Studies (CCS) Dean William T. Utiey sees improved student response to the bootstrap pro- gram. With the exception of a few persons, I have the feeling that there is a much more favorable attitude toward

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Student Senator Jim Anderson (left) exemplifies the increased campus participation of bootstrappers. credit by examination. This is done largely witii the assistance of the College Level Exam Program (CLEP) tests. The CLEP tests are administered at UNO to civilians, but bootstrappers must take them while serving in the military before coming to school. Tests administered at UNO are graded by the university; CLEP tests administered by the military are scored by the service at Madison, Wise. Russell claimed both scoring methods are equally difficult. CLEP tests contain both objective and essay questions, according to CCS offi- cials. Tests are scored on a percentile basis with each participating school deter- mining the guidelines of a passing grade. Results indicate how the student scored as compared to selected college freshmen or sophomores. Some schools require a student seeking to test out of courses to equal the scores on a sophomore level. Other schools require only a score equalling the proficiency of a freshman. UNO falls into the latter category. Another method used to judge the student's proficiency is the American Council on Education manual. It equivo- cates certain military and correspondence courses with civilian courses. The manual currently used by CCS is the 1968 revised edition of the original guidebook of the 1950s. It is impossible for a student to get credit for a military course not listed in the guidebook, and this is often the case with courses offered by the Air Force Non-Commissioned Officers Academy, added Russell. The average service school can offer a student a potential of 100 hours, ac- cording to Thompson, but only 65 of these will be good at UNO. We chose the 65 that will fit best into his program, Thompson said. Most of the credits are awarded via elementary CLEP tests in areas such as social studies, humanities and natural sciences. Some bootstrappers reportedly receive academic credit now for military-oriented courses taken over 25 years ago. A Nebraska native who enrolled at UNO this fall as a bootstrapper says he received several hours of credit for navigation and meteorology courses he took in the mili- tary in 1942. I don't think we're giving any credit out of line, said Russell, especially in the granting of credit for military experiences. it is possible for a boot to apply for admission into the university military program with up to 200 hours, of which only 65 will be usable. Some credit may be too easily given, and sometimes not enough credit may be given, said Rus- sell. Most boots, however, do not quali- fy for the maximum of 65 hours; some have just 30 hours. Thompson sees the granting of credit as a recognition of experience people have acquired outside the classroom and the conversion of this experience into degree credit. He said this idea is pre- dicated upon the central concept of a degree being an indication of what an individual knows. He praised the American Council on Education (ACE) for recognizing the value of military training. According to CCS officials, the BGS degree requires the successful completion of 125 semester hours of credit. At least 30 of the 125 credits must be earned in courses at the junior-senior level. A mini- mum of 24 of the last 30 hours must be earned in residence at UNO. At least 9 of these credits must be from upper division courses in the primary area of concentra- tion. An average grade of C or above must be earned in all courses taken at UNO. How does Dean Utley justify the granting of academic credit for military service? Philosophically, I believe the important thing in an individual is his intellectual growth and development which is measured by what he knows and not by the process by which he acquired it. It's not how you acquire knowledge but that you have it that's important. He added he is sure many people in the field of continuing education believe this. Utley, former political science de- partment chairman, emphasized that CCS doesn't have any real mechanics for determining how many credits will be granted. All granting of credit is based on the recommendations of the ACE. The caliber of people who make up the ACE are just as concerned about quality work as our faculty and administration, Utley said. We are on just as solid ground as there is anywhere. Granting credit is not an arbitrary thing. 22