University of Nevada Las Vegas - Epilogue Yearbook (Las Vegas, NV)

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Erik Gronborg, Ar 4'03 : r meiw' t ' a 3. - i0 ? f t, , ; 1 g tng u v '-h If we look at the world around us, the primary evidence of most cultures - civilizations in the past has been in the works of art. and I find that the sa could be true today. Unfortunately artists are given a very secondary role in o society; however, I believe that if our artists were given the proper opportuni they could to a verygreat extent help improve our condition. It we generally had a greater response to our visual environment, as only a can teach it, we would not be satisfied with our present world. We can see fro the great examples of the past, such as Italian Renaissance cities, the who concept of how they looked at their city as compared to the way we look at 0 cities. Everyone demands that his place is unique, and what happens to the stre does not matter.

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ducafion I feel that we are making adjustments probably etter than any other segment of the areas in which eople are involved. We are making intensive udies, developing programs, we have changed ethods of teaching, and we have changed meth- ds of administrators. You see, I have served 28 are in public schools as principal, superintendent nd in administrative work before coming to the Uni- rsity. So I have seen all the changes. After 46 years in the field, I wonder how many eople l have helped, how many I have affected ad- ersely e hoping none. The only thing a person an rely on or think about and absolve their con- ience, or whatever it is, is when you get up every orning you say two things to yourself. You remind urself the entire day: Am I sincere in my work, do really want to be of help? The second one is uBe pened minded and remember that my idea may not ways be right, that there are two sides to the story, nd am I willing to listen to the other side, I'm not oing to be stubborn. Yes I do this over and over gain. I've had a good life. Oh, I never made a lot of oney, but I personally had a good life. I just hope I ave it to others. at Geuder, English I'm involved this semester in what is called A-X, which is an ex- perimental program. It is my hope that through the experimental program, which incidentally uses no text at all, the students will be able to write and come out of it with not only the feeling that they've done all right, but with the-confidence that they are doing well and with the ability to demonstrate that they can. I don't think one should teach prescriptive, you know e just say Do it. One should have the understanding that lies behind it, so that when he does something he knows why hels doing it. He is confident in what he's doing and he is accurate in what he's doing. I think traditionally, the image of the teacher carried with it al- most inherent restraints but I think that the barriers, the restraints are being broken down rather gradually. And I think there is an in- creasing emphasis on the human aspect as opposed to the purely academic side. I think the professor should be aware of the indi- vidual goals and purposes of students. And I think that he should be able to take all of these, arrange them tmentally at least, it not on papery, and say, IIAII of these things seem to have this area in common and all students perhaps, need to work with and know about this area. But because each of them is an individual I should structure, I should permit, I should be able to get from them those things that emanate from the common body to the personal body so that each person can come out of it with a common core of un- clerstanding. 59

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Dr. John lrsfeld, English It the question means English so far as it exists as a department of academic endeavor. I don't know. If it means the study oi literature, I think that is humanizing rather than dehumanizing. I think that literature is humanizing in the good sense of the word. The study of literature is valuable on a much more simple-minded level. We are creatures who desire pattern and form. Our very biological make-up as bilateral beings casts us in a formal mode. And we don't find the kind of form. to the extent that we wish it, apparently, in the natural world. This may be one of the explanations for the desire to create a pattern in the sort of model world that literature provides; a world in which the chaos of life as we live it is absent. It is replaced instead by some kind of order that makes meaning where no meaning exists naturally. I think people who don't want to communicate won't, no matter how many English classes they take. And don't be misled; just because someone talks a lot, that doesn't mean he is communicating or even that he has communication on his mind. There are different qualities of communication effect ...-, and intent, too. Some I think desirable. Some I don't. Some things are better not said, it seems to me. Too much honesty, for example, can be brutal, and not good at all. In the best of all possible worlds, I suppose all classes would be pass-fail; perhaps pass-fail and pass with honors. I think that it would work. I think that grades are as big a pain for most teachers as they are for most students. I think the best competition is with oneself, and not with other people. , Vi There is nothing wrong with competing with others, except some people just don't like to do it. I don't think competition in the classroom is bad when students are spurred on by one another; that kind of competition is good. But I'm against the idea of ribbon-awarding and ribbon-counting; you know, 'I got an A. what did you get?' On the first day of class when I'm telling the students how the class is going to be, there are always some who ask, 'How do you grade?' And I never know what to say. Dr. Fred Kirschner, Education ivy I think that it we do an examinatioh of those in the Field of i l Education you would find many who are quite capable of dis- covering and testing out novel expressions in principles and theoretical issues. Even today there are those individuals who look upon others applying facts and data to solve problems tsimple to complexy as being technicians. In essence it is the physician, the busi- ness practioner, the politician and the teacher who have to syn- thesize from what has been given to them by the discipliner. The problem beset professional educators is that they must relate the knowledge or subject matter in its logical form to the learner who operates on an infralogical or psychological basis. It is my opinion that while knowledge generation is necessary and teachers must acquire knowledge the generation and ac- quisition operations are hardly sufficient to promote learning at the levels where knowledge is related to the learner tdejure ed- ucationt.