University of Wisconsin Oshkosh - Quiver Yearbook (Oshkosh, WI)

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What Makes a Good Teacher ? To some students Watson Parker is an evil conservative who would prefer cleanliness and good sense to flashes of the most brilliant genius. He makes students in his classes work hard, and at first turns his more hip pupils off by wearing a bow tie and a crew cut in this day of unbuttoned shirts and long hair. In many ways he looks like a teacher from the dark ages, or at least the 1950’s, who will bore you with long lists of facts and a monotone voice. The facts are that he is conservative, he believes that “the most important thing in teaching is to get the students to master the substance and details of the subject before the y begin to theorize about it, and he is one of the best instructors on campus. His lectures are always filled with fire and wit, and though he often upsets students with his unabashed philosophy on life in general, a good portion of the time lie actually manages to teach something. The secret of his success seems to be a hard headed realism. He asks a lot from his students, and he believes that “teaching is like raising cabbages. Some of your vegetables just aren’t ever going to sprout, and a teacher has to learn to live with the fact that he can’t teach everything to everybody that finds his way into his classroom.” His art is one of gardening. He nurtures students that are learning, and gives them a chance to work on their own, but if the nurturing fails, he doesn’t act as if the world (either his or theirs) has ended. A typical semester in Parker’s class can include up to ten required one page papers, five or six classroom lectures, reading in eight to ten books, and a lot of discussion. The pace is hectic and a few students drop out along the way, but those who finish normally have the satisfied feeling of a- • omplishment. His lecturing style in courses like the ‘Trans-Mississippi West’ or his sophomore surveys of American history is flamboyant and entertaining. Usually the lecture material is not taken from the textbook, but deals instead with a subject that Parker feels competent enough in to handle with an extra dash of flair. He never tries to fool the students into believing that he knows something that he knows nothing about, and he always makes an effort to be pleasant, “and to suffer fools gladly.” Possibly the best thing to be learned from Parker is that good instructors cannot be stereotyped. Inevitably a good teacher has a personality that sets him apart from his fellows and makes him stand out. His demanding style may upset some students in his classes, but for the majority he is exciting and effective. Some of the best advice about teaching that he ever got, he likes to confide with a wry chuckle, came from the battle-scarred principal of a public school in the Bronx, advice which he tends to apply more metaphorically than literally. “Watson,’ said this old beldame, ‘never turn your back on the little bastards.” Wisconsin The Fall issue will be on sale in mid-October. Single issue .... 75 Annual Student Subscription Rate 4 issues .... $2.00 27

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THE WATERS The waters have come clear to the soul; I have sunk into the abyss of deep waters. Like the currants clustered upon the vines I have taken my nourishment from the leaves and the roots of the earth. Song O song of my love during the night! Eyes dark like the pebbles on the bottom of the sea! Can you not hear the waves running like elephants, Gray and huge, as they crash on rocks of the shore? The waters have come clear to the soul; I have sunk into the abyss of deep waters. Like the currants clustered upon the vines I have taken my nourishment from the leaves and the roots of the earth. Thomas Davis MEMORY a memory of rain in a night when the wind filled and spread the sky a rain upon us and thru us, on sounds little known as feet of deer, a rain falling between us, upon two voices almost heard above the wind. by Ethel Davis 26 Business falling ... s Advertise in I The New Quiver Call for information: 424-1152

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Isn’t it time for UW-0 to hire an Ombudsman?