Newspaper Page Text
Page 4
February 26, 1985/The Maroon Tiger/Section A
CHARACTERS, cont’d.
Robinson Mallard
Andrew Robinson plays Jack Mallard, the assis
tant district attorney who cross-examined Wayne
Williams during the trial. Mallard currently is an as
sistant district attorney for Cobb County.
Jones Walker
James Earl Jones plays the fictional police Maj.
Jake Walker, a composite character believed to ,£e
based on former Atlanta Public Safety Commis
sioner Lee P. Brown and several other ranking po
lice officials. '
Paul Benjamin and Rudy Dee
Fay and Homer Williams
Ruby Dee and Paul Benjamin play Fay and Homer
Williams, Wayne's parents. The retired school
teachers still live on Penelope Street NW and con
tinue to maintain their only child is innocent of the
murders.
Educators:
B.A. Degree
Losing Value
Group Urges Basie Skills For Minimum Curriculum
WASHINGTON—College
curriculum has been so watered
down that “almost anything
goes” and the bachelor’s degree
has lost its intrinsic value, a panel
of prominent educators have
said.
"The curriculum hasgiven way
to a marketplace philosophy: It is
a supermarket where students
are shoppers and professors are
merchants of learning. Fads and
fashions... enter where wisdom
and experience should prevail,”
the Association of American
Colleges said.
The educators blamed
professors who place a higher
premium on research and their
own advancement than on
teaching.
“Teaching comes first,” they
declared in the report titled
"Integrity in the College
Curriculum.”
“This message must be
forcefully delivered by academic
leaders responsible for un
dergraduate education to the
research universities that have
awarded the Ph.D. degree to
generation after generation of
potential professors
professionally unprepared to
teach,” and AAC report said.
“As for what passes as a college
curriculum, almost anything
goes,” the report said. “We have
reached a point at which we are
more confident about the length
of a college education than its
content and purpose."
The report capped a three-
year study by an 18-member task
force chaired by Mark H. Curtis,
the association president. The
association’s 560 institutional
members include half the
nation's major research and
doctoral-grainting institutions. It
was formed 70 years ago to
promote liberal learning.
The panel urged colleges to
adopt “a minimum required
curriculum of nine basic intellec
tual, aesthetic and philosophic
experiences.” It described the
nine basic skills as:
The ability to think abstractly
and perform critical analysis. Too
often, universities tolerate in
tellectual sloth, the panel said.
Literacy in writing, reading,
speaking and listening.
Understanding numerical
data.
Historical consciousness.
Being “intellectually at ease
with science.”
Values, or "the capacity to
make informed and responsible
moral choice.”
Appreciation of the arts.
International and mul
ticultural experiences.
Study in depth. The senior
thesis, a yearlong essay of similar
projects give students "the joy of
mastery" and the realization that
“they cannot know everything.”
The report comes on the heels
of two other major college
critiques released last fall: the
National Institute of Education’s
“Involvement in Learning” and
the new Secretary of Education
William Bennett’s “To Reclaim a
Legacy."
Both decried the tendency for
college students to take narrow,
vocational courses. The NIE
report urged that all un
dergraduates take at least two
full years of liberal arts courses,
even if they need an extra year to
get their professional credential.
The spotlight has turned to
higher education after a volley of
reports pinpointing weaknesses
in elementary and secondary
schools. College graduates'
scores on tests such as the
Graduate Record Exams also fell
in the 1970s although this at
tracted less note than high
school students’ sagging
Scholastic Aptitude Test scores.
The AAC report said an "un
easy” public wants to know why
colleges have "turned loose on
the elementary and secondary
schools thousands of graduates
unqualified to teach,” and why
accreditation agencies have
been unsuccessful in arresting
the debasement of bac
calaureate education.”
Copies of the report are
available for $3 each, prepaid,
from the Association of
American Colleges, Box BDP,
1818 R Street, N.W., Washington
20009.
(Parents Day, from pg. 1)
cial obligations. Perdue
emphasized the student's finan
cial responsibility by ad
monishing students who did not
attend two workshops designed
to aid students in obtaining
funds. Finally Perdue denied that
the Business Office is insensitive
to students citing instances
where he has called pastors and
relatives of students to request
their financial assitance.
Dr. Phillip L. Redrick, vice-
president for Academic Affairs,
followed Perdue, emphasizing
the importance of academics at
Morehouse. Redrick stated that
his main goal is to attract and
maintain a quality faculty. He
emphasized that he tries to
impress upon teachers high
standards and individual
research in their respective
fields. “We care about your
sons,” said Redrick explaining
the open door policy and per
sonal interaction with the
students by the administration.
Raymon E. Crawford, vice-
president for Student Affairs,
who described his dual role as a
counselor and an enforcer of
college rules and regulations.
Crawford told parents of the new
campus weight room and new
programs to teach students the
dangers of drugs and alcohol. He
remarked that he was "just as
close as a telephone call.”
Registrar Nellie H. Powell
described the Registrar’s office
as a “service oriented office"
concerned with planning and
conducting post-and pre
registration. She explained her
duty as to maintain the confiden
tiality of student records as
required by federal law. Ms.
Powell cited the Family
Educational Prophesy Act which
states that one's parents can
check student records if the
student is claimed on their
income tax, but in such cases, the
student can be informed of the
consultation. During a later
question and answer session, Ms.
Powell attributed late grades to
technical problems resulting
from her oversight.
Director of Financial Aid, Ms.
Margaret Carr, informed the
assembly that her office serves
to coordinate campus based aid
with other sources. She reported
that there has been a delay in the
receipt of the tentative alloca
tion of federal funds, and parents
and students will be notified.
Other Parents Day speakers
included Dr. Charles N. Hawk III,
Director of Alumni Affairs;
Dramaturge-in-Residence;
Lamar Alford and Benjamin P.
McLaurin, Director of Career
Planning and Placement.
Crawford: As close as a
telephone call.