Unique Soph Honors Program
At Oregon Nears Second Birthday
by Joe Gardner
Emerald New* Editor
At the end of this term sopho
more honors will be able to light
two candles on its birthday cake.
The program in general education
for students of superior ability is
now completing its second year at
the University of Oregon.
While honors programs are not
new to American colleges and uni
versities (nor even to Oregon),
sophomore honors is a unique edu
cational experiment, according to
Hoyt Trowbridge, professor of
English and chairman of the
sophomore honors committee. Oth
er honors programs are on the
junior and senior level for study
in a student’s major, while sopho
more honors is a lower-division
program in general education.
Open only to the upper 20 per
cent of each entering freshman
class, the program is designed to
provide a profitable and stimulat
ing general education for the
more able student. It fills that
part of the student’s schedule
normally devoted to the fulfill
ment of group requirements—four
courses in the first two years for
a total of 39 term hours.
High School Record Used
Eligibility for honors courses is
measured by high school records
and scholastic aptitude tests taken
,at the time of admission to the
University. The program is also
open to students who have comple
ted more than 15 but less than 3
term hours at the University with
a minimum grade point average of
2.75.
Honors are awarded on the j
basis of comprehensive examina
tions in four subjects. The exams,
offered fall and spring, must be
taken before the end of the stu
dent’s second year. Students norm
ally prepare for the exams through
special honors courses, but may
also do so through other lower di
vision courses in the same field
or by independent study. Full
college credit in the correspond
ing honors course is granted for
each exam passed regardless of
method of preparation.
Sophomore honors courses are
offered in five fields. To complete
the program the student must
take the courses in literature, his
tory and social science, while a
choice is allowed between biolog
ical and physical science. The so
cial science course, the study of
society, is being offered this year
for the first time.
Courses Are Broad
The courses are broad, interde
partmental and planned as an in
tegrated whole with many cross
references and interconnections
among them. Physical science, for
instance, embraces elements of
physics, chemistry, geology,
astronomy and mathematics, while
the study of society includes the
fields of political science, sociol
ogy and economics.
The classes are purposely kept
small, about 25 students to a sec
tion. This allows for a “give-and
take between teacher and student,
and informal and intimate rela
tionships,” as Trowbridge has put
it.
Some of Oregon’s best teachers
are to be found in the sophomore
honors program. E. G. Moll, pro
fessor of English, and F. M. Com
bellaek, associate professor of
classical languages, teach two of
the literature sections, while E. S.
Wengert, head of the department
of political science, teaches a so
cial science section.
Instruction an Innovation
One of the major innovations in
the program is the method of in
struction. V. F. Snow, instructor
in history, who teaches one of the
history sections, finds the program
more interesting for the teacher.
“But it takes more work to pre
pare for the course,” he added.
Factual knowledge ir. the course
can be gained from the text, but
the student is also responsible for
outsido reading of cultural and
philosophical matter which can be
fitted into their proper historical
context, Snow said. Thus in study
ing about capitalism, the students
read Adam Smith, and in studying
communism they read Karl Marx.
Snow limits actual lecture in his
classes, preferring to conduct the
class in discussions interlaced with
his own knowledge on a certain
subject. Debates and panel discus
sions are used in the class so that
the pros and cons of a certain
topic can be aired.
Not Technical
F. E. Dart, assistant professor
of physics, who instructs the sec
tion in physical science, does not
teach his course on a technical
level. “We are not trying to train
students to be scientists in this
section," he said, pointing out that
the class is composed mainly of
students from other than scientific
fields who are interested in a gen
eral knowledge of the subject.
Physics majors will take the more
complicated and technical upper
division courses, he stated.
“We aren't dealing with formu
las and methods of scientific inves
tigation in this course so much as
Exams May 18
Comprehensive examinations
fcr sophomore honors candidates
will be given beginning May 18.
All exams will be given in Fenton
S.
Reading lists for the exams
have been distributed to students
in sophomore honors courses.
Others wishing to take the exams
may pick up the lists in the office
of the department of English in
Friendly hall.
Schedule of the exams is as fol
lows: history. May 18; study of
society. May 20; physical science
and biological science, May 25,
and literature. May 27. Each of
the exams will last two hours
with half an hour additional time
being allowed if needed.
the ideas behind these formulas
and methods," Dart declared. "The
emphasis is on ideas and how they
came to be developed in the field
of physical science.”
Discussion Encouraged
Dart uses both lecture and dis
cussion in his sophomore honors
class, often raising some provoca
tive question to start an argument
among the students. In these ar
guments, Dart often supports the
illogical side and lets students
prove him wrong. Once discussion
is ended, he goes back over the
argument to point out what types
of evidence are valid in dealing
with scientific facts.
In the physical science labora
tory sessions the student is al
lowed to do his own exploring with
no set lab manual to follow, Dart
continued. Lab classes are as small
as ten, and with two instructors—
Dart and a graduate assistant—
there is an even better opportun
ity for an interplay of ideas than
in the classroom, according to
Dart.
The entire sophomore honors
program is designed for the excep
tional student, often neglected in
the classroom where the average
student sets the pace of instruc
tion. Student reaction to the plan
is generally favorable.
Students Comment
Marcia Mauney,' freshman in
liberal arts, said she felt the
courses were “definitely more
stimulating.” One advantage to
the program, according to Miss
Mauney, is that professors and
students get to know one another
better in the smaller classes.
“Sophomore honors courses
make the student think more and
give him a chance to work on his
own initiative,” I.es Bergeron,
i
.sophomore in pre-med, said.
Bob Maier, sophomore In busi
ness, saiii he thought thut the level
of instruction was much higher
in sophomore honors sections than
in other University courses. "Dis
cussion forces the student to make
his own analysis of the subject
matter and introduces a wealth of
material the student would other
wise be unaware of.” he added.
Committee Supervises
Each course in the program is
supervised by a committee of rep
resentatives from each depart
ment included in that field. In ad
dition to working out plans for
the course, this group draws tip
and grades the comprehensive
exams and is responsible for the
awarding of honors. The individual
honors instructors prepare their
own course tests, however, and de
termine the term grade of stu
dents in their courses. The general
sophomore honors committee,
which Trowbridge heads, is made
up of the chairmen of these sub
committees.
The plan. Is promoted on the
high school level by administra
tion "figures such as Ray Hawk
and Mrs. Golda Wickham, associ
ate directors of student affairs,
who speak to high school groups
throughout the year. Trowbridge,
however, would like to see this
method supplemented by corres
pondence with high school princi
pals in the state. At the University,
promotion is handled by dormitory
counselors. living organization
scholastic chairmen and faculty
advisers, working under Trow
bridge’s committee.
The program is an outgrctwth of
study by the committee on cur
ricular revision, which presented
its report to the faculty in No
vember, 1950. Included in the re
Supreme Court Ruling
May Delay Building
(Continued from Pane One)
would bo started by July.
Circuit Justice Walter L. Toose j
upheld the contention of the don- (
tal association that the dental
port was the proposed sophomore
honors program. After faculty ap
proval had been secured in the
spring of 1951, the sophomores
honors committee began working
out details that would put the plan
in action. The program was intro
duced in the fall of 1952.
i
Only 50 Expected
It was planned to make the pro
gram available to the upper one
fifth of the entering freshman
class, which would have meant;
some 200 to 250 students. Of this
number, only 50 or 80 were ex
pected to elect the program. Vet
at the end of the 1952 fall term ;
registration, nearly twice that
number over 100 had signed up.
for sophomore honors courses, and
additional sections had to be pro
vided in both history and litera
ture.
This yeur. with two classes par
ticipating in the program, some'
200 Oregon freshmen and sopho
mores are enrolled in sophomore
honors courses. Of this number.
75 are sophomore holdovers from
last year, and 125 are freshman
new to the program this year.
Three new instructors, whose as
signments are partly In sophomore
honors, were added to the Univer
sity faculty this fall.
A success? Trowbridge can't
answer that question until the re
•.ii! ns from the spring comprehen
sive exams have been learned. He
i will say. though, that he is pleased
with the response to the program
in its first two years, a response
: evidenced by the high percentage
j • >f eligible students who elect the
' honors courses.
school Is a separate unci distinct
department of the state's higher
educational system Hnd should be
administered directly by the state
board arid not the University.
Judge Toom, in his opinion,
pointed out that "the only im
portant part played by the Uni
versity of Oregon in connection
with the dental school is furnish
ing a name, as it furnished a
name to the medical school. Ex
cept Indirectly, the University It
self has nothing to do with the
conferring of degrees, as that is
left to the State Board of Higher
Education, upon the recommenda
tion of the dental school faculty.
The State Board of Higher Edu
cation and not the University of
Oregon appoints the dean of the
dental school and Its entire facul
ty.
"From the dear wording of the
statute, it is apparent that the
dental school is a separate and
distinct department of the system
of higher education and not a sub
sidiary or subdivision of the Uni
versity of Oregon," the opinion
concluded.
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