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MISSED OUR TEAR-END SALE?
HERE’S A SECOND CHANCE
TWO DAYS ONLY
SATURDAY, SUNDAY
JAN. 22nd, 23rd,
OPEN SUNDAYS 12-5
Tutoring:
The difference
between success
and failure
By TERRI EBERT
Of the Emerald
Trying to negotiate the
University environment can be
trying at times. Outguessing the
professor, on a final, attempting
to take notes as fast as the lec
turer talks, ploughing through a
biology text, or writing a comp
paper is daily routine. Most of us
don’t even think about it. We
have been indoctrinated into the
system since childhood; it’s
ingrained behavior.
But, what is it like to hassle the
system, if you are not trained in
it? How do you make it through a
class if you dropped out of high
school when you were sixteen or
you come from a ghetto school
that only trained you to take your
place in industry and forgot the
study skills.
The various programs under
supportive services are trying to
help students overcome the
obstacles of coping with the
university environment. Each
program is autonomous and
deals with a specific minority or
economically deprived group.
The students are individuals, but
they share similar difficulties in
trying to make it through school.
Each program has turned to
tutors to aid the student’s
adaption to the system. And they
all desperately need tutors.
The tutorial program under
Project Continuation is at
tempting to assist the
economically deprived student in
his transition into the University.
According to Kim Laioll,
tutorial program director for
Project Continuation, “The
University is a survival priority
setting. The project student must
contend with finances, eating,
clothes and discrimination.” Kim
says that the students receive
pressure from the community
because ‘‘being a project student
puts labels on you as well as bad
connotations.
“It’s hard for the student to
survive in class. 'Hie material
and presentation is foreign. The
University is a different view of
life and it’s hard to deal with
people who come from
economically stable
backgrounds, especially
professors.”
Kim says. “Supportive service
people have a street knowledge -
a basic simple communication.
One that is basic no matter how
much we complicate life. And the
University stifles it with jargon
and selective forms of com
munication and writing."
But. it i'j this complex com
munication the student must
learn if he is to survive the
system. Kim feels tutors are the
students biggest assest in trying
to overcome the communication
lack in class. The tutor can
develop the students skill and
qualities “He can help him to
really learn "
Kim wants tutors “who really
care, who can feel with the
student I need a tutor who can
walk in a class and see the other
side, because it means something
to someone else ”
“Tutoring." according to Kim.
"is the opportunity to face
another and yourself It’s the
most intriguing challenge to
confront real feeling, it’s a whole
new learning process. You
become more aware of now, of
the situation. It can change the
lives and concepts of the tutor
drastically by becoming more
aware of themselves and others.
“You can see a whole new trip,
more choices are open to you,
because you are more aware. If
you’re indoctrinated into the
system, it narrows your views.
You never see outside.”
Project Life
Project Life works with a broad
range of students who have
dropped out of high school and
just drifted or worked. They have
not been involved in the school
process for several years, instead
they acquired their high school
diploma by taking an
equivalency test.
According to Joan Polk,
tutorial director for the program,
“The students were tracked out
of the system at an early age,
whereas the average University
student was reinforced and en
couraged by the system to go to
college. They were kept in the
system.
“I am trying to make the tutors
aware that the student is not
someone to be looked upon as
unmotivated, apathetic and
unskilled. Instead, the tutor has
to sit back and look at the skills
he has learned to manipulate and
function in the system. These are
skills students in the program
never learned.”
Joan feels that the most crucial
concept the student must learn is
how to negotiate the University
environment.‘‘The student must
understand the basic ex
pectations of the course and how
to deal with it as well as learning
the various ways of fulfilling
those requirements.
“Tutors spend a lot of time
helping the student in this con
text. They also help the student
with simple things, such as
making an appointment with a
professor to talk about an in
complete. It’s a formidable
confrontation for the student and
they discover that the faculty is
not unapproachable.”
"Tutors are really valuable in
teaching the student to function
in the system because they have
been doing it unconsciously fir so
many years.”
According to Joan. “The tutor
is also an asset in working with
the faculty who are trying to help
the student The professors open
up a variety of options for the
student to fulfill the course
requirements. It works for a lot of
students by providing different
ways to learn and use the
material But. many of the
project students don’t know how
to use any option at all The tutors
are really helpful in teaching the
student how to use these op
tions.”
Joan has watched a lot of
students struggle w ith the system
and learn She says “it takes a
long time to see them gain a
sense of competance. the
possibility of success, self
realization and progress It is a
long hard process It's not a
package mix where all you have
to do is add water, stir and -
instant success.”
Project 75
Project 75 is aiding black
students in their adjustment to
the University.
“Coming to the University is a
big step for the students,” ac
cording to David Rowles, tutorial
director for the project. “The
students have been tracked out of
college. Whole schools in the
Black community have been
tracked toward industry.
“But the biggest shock is
dealing with so many white
people in one place.
“Also, academics often take a
back seat, when you have to
worry so much about the rent!
David says, “98 per cent of the
blacks on campus are working
and going to school and it’s a real
hassle.”
He added, “Blacks are just
students trying to make it. But,
they have difficulty un
derstanding the material; it’s
almost a totally different
language.
“We need tutors who can teach
the student, who know what the
professor is looking for and can
outguess the white teacher by
picking out the high points and
the areas of concentration for the
student. The ideal tutor is
smart enough to almost be a
professor and down to earth as a
student. It takes patience.
“We have had some really
shaky tutors before. We are
looking for qualified tutors who
know their major and don’t have
a superiority complex. And, we
have had problems with the
overhelpful tutor who will take
the students tests and write his
papers. We need someone with
the ability to teach on a one-to
one relationship with someone of
a different background. People
who are people.”
“The lutor also acts as a buf
fer,” according to Greg Weed,
coordinator for the project’s
psychology tutors, “He has to be
a mediator since Blacks get
turned off by real and unreal
things. He has to be able to in
tercede between a professor and
a student who won’t go up and
talk to the professor.”
“Tutoring,” according to
David,” can be a real reward if
you let it be. Getting to know a
black on a one-to-one basis can
get rid of a lot of myths whites
have. The black student can
bring the white closer to reality
blow his dream world apart and
make him see that the world is
not as beautiful as he thought. It
can also lessen the white’s
negative attitudes by relating to
blacks on a personal level.
Native American Program
The Native American Program
is aimed at helping Indian
students, most of whom have
come from reservations, adjust
to the University
"One of the biggest problems
Indians face.” according to John
Wasson tutorial director, “is
getting used to having so many
triple around especially in such
large numbers
The whole universitv
is an