Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 1966)
OREGON DAILY EMERALD Opinions expressed on the editorial page are those of the Emerald and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the ASUO or the University. Opinions expressed in signed columns are those of the writer. CHUCK BEGGS, Editor LOUIE ABRAMSON Business Manager MAXINE ELLIOTT News Editor BOB CARL Managing Editor PHIL SEMAS Associate Editor WILBUR BISHOP. JR. Advertising Manager ALLEN BAILEY Associate Editor >*a|te 6 University of Oregon. Eugene. Thursday. January 13. 19bb Computers Aren’t All Bad Mention computer scheduling of classes on this campus and there are immediately cries of •'They’re trying to dehumanize scheduling!” and "Students will lose all their chance of getting the professor they v ant!” Ever since Berkeley made the IBM c ard a symbol of the reduction of students ij mere automatons in the multiversity, anything that puts students ‘‘at the mercy” of a computer is bad, bad. bad. But a closer examination of the question \ .ill show that computer scheduling may be i mch fairer to the student than the present system. Last year the Registrar's Office experi mented with a computer-read sheet that vould be used to eliminate almost all cards from students’ registration packets. It worked. With some revisions it will prob ably be used to register students here start ing in the fall of 1967. But that’s not computer scheduling Stu dents would still sign up for classes the same way. They would still stand in long v.nes. They would still find that getting in ) ight at the first of their priority hour won’t assure them of a place in the class they want because many departments don’t observe the alphabetical priority hours. The Registrar’s Office is talking about ex tending the use of that computer to sched ule students' classes. This would mean that students would fill out a list of the courses and sections they want. (They could also mark in work time.) These lists would be 1 un through a computer and it would sched ule classes. The computer would be pro grammed to give as many students as pos sible their first-choice section. Of course, not everybody will be able to get their first choice. And that’s the rub. It has been claimed that computer sched t ling would take away a student’s ‘fighting chance” to get the classes of his choice But is this “survival of the fittest" system the 1 est way to schedule classes? Sure, some students manage to get all the sections they want. But others don't get any. And most get only some. This applies mainly to lower division classes. Most upper division classes are offered in only one section. And most freshman and sophomores find that the best lower division sections go only to the swift and the strong. And even the swift may lose out unless they make an ad vance study on how many of their sections observe priority hours. Some say that computers will reduce stu dents' efforts to get the sections they want to a "one-sided battle with a computer.” But computers, being emotionless, are fairer and more impartial than people. The people here who know about computers say the computer should be able to give more stu dents more of their first choices. To make sure they’ll test it either this spring or next fall, checking students’ first choices against the courses they get by computer and by the present system. The avowed goal of the people trying to solve the registration mess is to give the most students their first choice of sections. If that test shows that computers will meet this goal better than the present system, then students shouldn’t let idealistic opposi tion to anything computerized stand in the wav of their best interests. Federal Mosser? Those nasty old politicians are at it again. According to Collegiate Press Service a House subcommittee is looking into the academic reward system that gives big grants for research and mediocre salaries for teaching in the nation’s colleges. One of the solutions they propose is to recog nize undergraduate teaching excellence by Presidential award. We can give them a tip. garnered from this University’s unfortunate experience with the State Legislature’s Mosser plan to reward good teaching: don’t ask college professors for approval. Letters to the Editor iiuiiiiimiiiiiiit!niiitMiinaimiiimiwr Ski Difference Emerald Editor I would like to take this op portunity to clear up an often misunderstood relationship be tween the University Ski team and the Ski Quacks. These are two separate programs. The Ski Quacks is the ski club on cam pus, catering mostly to the re creational skier. The club of fers meetings with ski films, transportation to ski areas, over night ski trips at reduce'd rates, help and advise to the novice skier, and perhaps most impor tant, an opportunity to get to gether with fellow skiers for mutual enjoyment on the slopes. The ski team is for the com petitive skier or the advanced skier who would like a chance to become a competitor in t h e sport. It gives its members an op Oregon Daily Emerald Rande Wilmarth, Sports Editor Xomi Borenstein, Assistant Managing Editor Larry Lange, Assistant News Editor Dave Butler, Feature Editor Shota Ushio, Photo Editor Steve Dimeo, Entertainment Editor Editorial Board: Chuck Beggs, Bob Carl, Maxine Elliott, Phil Sernas, Allen Bailey, Pair. Bladine, Karen Winn, CliiT Kaufman, Gene Sokol ski, Nomi Boreustein. portunity to compete against other college teams on the west coast. It offers a program of workouts and training off the slopes as well as on the slopes. Any person with an interest in skiing would feel right at home with the Ski Quacks Ski Club. Any person, men or wom en, with a competitive spirit for skiing is welcome to try out for the University Ski team. Tore Steen Coach, Ski Team Faculty Advisor, Ski Quacks « « e Beach Boys Emerald Editor: A small item on the back page of Monday's Emerald noted that the Beach Boys would be appearing in concert at McAr thur Court in March. Students may have passed quickly over this item without realizing its significance in view of the past policies of the Student Union Board. The appearance of the Beach Boys will mark the first appearance of an outstanding rock and roll attraction at the University in at least four years and perhaps longer. Those of us who have strong ly encouraged concerts or dan ces with nationally known rock and roll or rhythm and blues artists are greatly heartened by the expansion of the SU Board’s entertainment program. In past discussions, the SU Board has turned down requests by various individuals and rock and roll groups because "such entertainment was not in line with the University attitudes.” It is certainly time that back ward opinions were changed and the Beach Boys concert can only be considered a step in the right direction. It should be pointed out here that I offer no criticism of the talent that has been brought to the University in the past three years. The SU Board has brought in Henry Mancini; the late Nat King Cole; Peter, Paul, and Mary; Louis Armstrong; the Smothers Brothers, and the Ford Caravan of Stars among others. This is an outstanding group of performers and stu dents and faculty should be appreciative of this caliber of talent. The SU Board has, how ever, failed to realize that a majority of the students enjoy rock and roll and rhythm and blues music. Those in favor of rock con certs have never advocated sub stitution of rock and roll con certs for the forementioned pro (Continued on page 7) Cameron’s Comment Mt sez* Hr* M Expert on F$ee»€rrt POUCW KCMilT he WOOCl TOP THE QC^EZKiM€Wr / «<■ Situation Reassuring At Tongue Point Officials involved in President Johnson's War on Poverty are pre paring themselves for a barrage of criticism that is expected to emanate from Congress this year. The President’s economic demands to support the war in Viet Nam appear certain to influence appropriations for domestic ex penditures, especially those expenditures designed to contribute to Mr. Johnson’s Great Society. The Job Corps will not be spared by the critics, especially those Republicans who have been gathering incriminating evidence against the poverty program almost since its inception While the Job Corps has been considered one of the most successful of the poverty fights, recent items in the national press reflect the skep ticism that is mounting over this program I found, however, in a visit last week to the University's Job Corps Center at Tongue Point, some reassuring developments in the program Some remarkable changes have been made since the center opened up a year ago. NO TRAINEES UNHAPPY I could find no trainees that were really unhappy with the place. They enjoy deeply the opportunity that has been given them Many skeptics predicted that large numbers of youths wouldn't return to the Centers following their Christmas vacations at home. Hut thjs proved untrue, at least at Tongue Point Of 320 boys who went home, only five failed to return, and one of the five got him self a job. The blame for the confusion, the charges of waste and the various “incidents” at centers around the country must be laid, I feel, at the feet of the program’s administrators, the bureaucrats at the federal level. For political reasons, the Job Corps took on too much of a “crash program” atmosphere. 300 IN TWO WEEKS The Tongue Point Center last summer received over 300 new trainees in less than two weeks—far more than the staff was equipped to handle. As a result, chaos reigned. The same was true of other centers across the country. As a result of the tensions, plus poor screening of candidates for the Corps, violence broke out at some of the centers which drew heavy attention in the press. Since the influx of trainees was slowed down last summer things at Tongue Point seemed to have improved greatly. The vocational program is being well-run; Ernest Lareau, voca tional training director, says that employers are demanding skilled trainees as fast as the center can produce them. RECREATION IMPROVED Recreation facilities have been improved. The boys live in group units and are allowed to make many of their own rules and try their own peers for discipline cases. My greatest impression after visiting Tongue Point was that most of these young people don’t want to go hack home—back to poverty, divorced parents and, in the case of Negro boys racial mistreatment. The trainees have found an opportunity to avoid a lifetime o£ strife and dependence on government welfare. They have been gi\en a chance to compete for gainful, decent employment in their society, a chance which could very well be their last. Many of the trainees are very bright and want to learn, but they have never had much of a chance. CRASH PROGRAM Many critics of the program have attacked the .Job Corps for waste, overstaffing and excess expenditures. Of course, any crash program is going to involve some waste through sheer confusion. And stafl levels are high now—Tongue Point has 460 stall (Continued on pai/e 7)
