Ed students take over classrooms
By LARRY CALUSTER
Of the Emerald
“It’s a nice place to teach, but do
I want to live there?" That’s the
question a group of University
education students asked them
selves last week in Condon, Ore.
In a unique project, 15 secon
dary education students spent five
days at Condon High School,
about 100 miles southwest of
Pendleton. In Condon, the stu
dents literally took over the high
school to bring their brand of
teaching to the Condon students.
As partial fulfillment for a teach
ing certificate in Oregon, students
in Teaching Strategies 314 learn
to prepare lesson plans. In the
past, students have presented
these lessons to fellow class
mates.
This may be good practice for
some, but facing one’s contem
poraries doesn’t compare with
standing in front of a room full of
real live high school students.
In an attempt to make the class
more meaningful, education Pro
fessor Ray Hull modeled the Con
don trip after learning of a similar
program in Utah. This was the first
time any such program has been
tried in Oregon. Oregon College of
Gancer-causing
chemicals gain
open hearings
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
Labor Department, anticipating a
barrage of industry protests, today
defended its sweeping plan to
regulate all potential cancer
causing chemicals found at
American job sites.
The department opened an ex
pected two months of public hear
ings on the controversial rule by
conceoing it has been too slow
and haphazard in trying to protect
an estimated 1 million workers po
tentially exposed to carcinogens
on the job.
“In the past we have reacted
with rule-making initiatives as new
reports of scientific study are
made public,” the lead-off wit
ness, a spokesman for the Labor
Department’s Occupational
Safety and Health Administration,
said in prepared testimony.
“The process has been slow, it
has been interrupted and it has
been inconsistent," added Grover
Wrenn, director of OSHA's health
standards program, which de
veloped the proposal.
So far, OSHA has issued regu
lations limiting worker exposure to
less than two dozen of the 1,500 to
2,000 chemicals identified as
known or suspected cancer
causing agents.
Among the chemicals already
regulated are asbestos, vinyl
chloride, arsenic, benzene and
the pesticide DBCP.
The proposal establishes for
the first time a systematic proce
dure for quickly identifying, clas
sifying and regulating cancer
causing agents that pose a threat
to workers’ health.
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One hell of a positive experience’
education ana Oregon State Uni
versity both have expressed in
terest in the program’s outcome.
After being given the okay by
state authorities, Hull wanted to
choose a school away from the
Willamette Valley. Although most
of Oregon’s high schools lie out
side the Willamette Valley cor
ridor, these schools are rarely in
volved in experimental programs
with state universities.
After a year of planning, the trip
was arranged. Following a five
hour drive via Redmond, Willow
dale, Antelope and Fossil, the
University entourage entered
Condon.
The home of the Condon “Blue
Devils” was built in 1965 and ap
pears modern in every respect.
The 110 students don’t exactly
overcrowd the 11 classrooms, nor
do they overwhelm the 13 faculty
members. Classes range from
two to 30 people and average only
10 to 15 students each.
For three days, all classes were
conducted by University students.
An attempt was made to have stu
dents teaching in their areas of
expertise. Above all, the would-be
teachers tried to be innovative.
A freshman science class had a
presentation on whales. A jour
nalism class reported on its view
of a “murder” committed when
one teacher shot the other with a
blank from a starting pistol. No
one slept through that class.
The three-day respite from the
classroom was well used by the
actual Condon faculty. Their time
was spent attending workshops
with University education staff and
graduate students. They covered
new and better teaching methods
and ways to increase school
community communication.
When the students weren’t
teaching, they tasted Condon
nightlife. “Condon does have so
cial gambling laws allowing black
jack and other card games in
these nightspots,” one student
says. “But if disco fever should
strike, the nearest fix is in Port
land, three hours away.”
If the student teachers involved
had a good time, then in the eyes
of Principal Armm Freeman, the
program was a success.
“As a small school adminis
trator, I want to cancel the myth
that small schools are a dead end
place to teach,” he explains. "I
firmly believe that the good school
and relaxed, small-town atmos
phere more than cancels out the
negative side of small-town social
life. Having once worked in large
schools, I’d never go back.”
Freeman laments the lack of job
applicants, both in quantity and
quality.
“We just don’t get well-qualified
college graduates to apply for jobs
here,” Freeman says.
Last year there were just three
applicants for a grade school posi
tion. Of those, one took another
job and the second declined it
when offered, so they had no
choice but to give the job to the
third applicant.
Nearly all student teachers cal
led the experience a good one.
Would anyone now be applying to
a small school on the basis of this
experience? No one could say for
sure, but if participant Lad Sal
ness reflects the other University
students’feelings, the future could
hold promise for the small
schools.
“Now at least we have some
thing to base our choice of schools
on. Up until now, we only consi
dered large schools. Condon was
one hell of a positive experience
and positive experiences can do
nothing but help open prospective
teachers’ eyes toward small
schools,” he says.
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