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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 14, 1962)
Educators Face ame Problems t Ail Levels By EARL H. ADAMS Mai! Tribune City Editor (Last in A Series) Educators dealing with students from the elemen tary through the college .graduate level are facing much the same problems .concerning curricula, teach ers and facilities. Arthur S. F 1 e m m i n g, 'president o the University of Oregon, said "the univer sity will face serious prob lems of accommodating its curriculum to the complex nature of our society. This will mean not simply con tinuing review year by' year, but the securing of adequately trained slsf. the development of new facilities, of new teach ing methods and so forth." James H. Jensen, presi dent of Oregon Slate uni versity, noled three major problems confronting high er education today. They are: Mounting Enrollments 1. "Mounting student en rollments make obtaining and holding an adequate faculty an increasing prob-, lem. Faculty members in evitably must handle larger numbers of students. At the same time, the demands of a critical age make quality instruction increasingly im portant. "This dilemma is being faced, but is not -being solved. It can be solved in part by providing more money for more faculty, but the supply of competent scholars will be proportion ately less and less as enroll ments grow. It is being solved in part by the use of television teaching. "It may be solved in part by relieving faculty mem bers of clerical and other duties not strictly teaching so that they can teach more students. But ihese partial measures will not be enough. "The problem of faculty and teaching in a time of inescapable mass education needs to be better defined and studied. Unit of Education 2. "The individual stu dent will always be the unit of education. He must be taught, he must learn, or no education is occuring. f low can we prevent the in dividual student from be ing lost in the mass? "The current interest in honors work, independent study, and various kinds of flexibility in curriculum and teaching indicate ways in which this problem is receiving attention. 3. "The detuand for fac ulty has two aspects: the need for more vacuity, for more and more undergradu ates and the concurrent need for more faculty for the expanding graduate en rollments. "With Ihe need for more and more specialists, grad uate programs must be ex tended and gradnalc facili ties strengthened and en larged. Provisions of con tinuing financial support for graduate work is ines capable. Money will not be the sole solution, but it will be the first step. Division of Faculty "The division of faculty responsibility between un dergraduate and graduate teaching, the provision of additional and modern j equipment for graduate re search, and tiic articula tion of graduate, profes sional and undergraduate education will be contin uing problems." Enough qualified teachers is a problem facing almost all educators, including those of Jackson county. It is a problem on both ele mentary and secondary levels. Stanley C. Jolie. superin tendent at Ashland, and Ernest R. James, supcrin- ELE CHARLES crary w DEMOCRAT " STATS REPRESENTATIVE ABLE EXPERIENCED CAPABLE P i. p-ii i , Cm'v Jerry jc'r G--' . 3'G t. lendent at Phoenix, both mention the problem of ob taining enough well-qualified instructors to teach in a broadening curricula. Other districts in the coun ty face the same problem. Making Adjuitments Making adjustments to keep abreast of new innova tions is among problems in some districts. Many of these adjustments can not be made without increasing to some extent, budgets, and increasing budgets is a ma jor problem in all school districts. Jobe noted that another problem is the effect of automation on the "below average" student. "How shall we educate him and for what kind of jobs?" Jobe asked. James pointed out that one problem is how lo maintain the "very impor tant, very basic present subjects, and still find time to teach a foreign language, creative arts and composi tion" on the elementary Problems Stand Out Two problems stand out i n secondary education James said. They are, (1) provide a deeper and broad er knowledge of technical subjects for those prepar ing for college, yet main tain a balanced background in liberal arts; and (2) pro vide a good background for vocational training, as the student whose high school education is terminal can find a skilled job in society. James said that educators must "determine which of the new methods and new approaches (to teaching) to adopt, and find teachers who can teach these meth ods:" Elliot Becken, assistant superintendent of Medford public schools, said: "The solution to the problems of education will never be ful ly resolved until individuals begin to realize that educa tion is as significant as any other aspect of national de fense and of space explora tion, - Gain Acquiescence "if we can gain acquies cence on the part of most lhat education is significant ly important in comparison wjlh these other two areas, then we will find ihe sup port that is going to be es sential. There is no oppor tunity of retrenching in ed ucation. The future calls for an improved program in every respect." Many of (he problems facing educators today may be solved in the near fu ture; but for each one that is solved, another will be come obvious. The process of change, research, ex perimentation, and applica tion in the educational field will never end. Flemming, who was sec retary of health, education and welfare under the Ei senhower administration said: "The years ahead (for ed ucation) may be trying ones, but they will also be among ihe most exciting this na tion has ever experienced." Nebraska registered a turn-1 out of 71.5 per cent of the number of persons of voting age in the I960 presidential election, compared with the' national average of 64.3 perj Will. ROOF SPECIAL 20 OFF on APPLIED ROOF Approximately 12,000 iq. U. whoicsafers over stock first line composition shingles. Call now won't last long. GENE SCHMELZER 535-1324 ft 1 i 1 t av . -'I-' A , H mil i-.t it Km Com , HHiv, Attend, Cna Which do you prefer... DANISH MODERN? WESTERN? MAPLE? : ; ; Take Your Pick From These Beautiful Tw indivitW fi ,rf, Jjl- M AMAAAf4 Sof h 4 inch om te and tuck. fom Mt fj .mC-'-' :2t W fll J, AMlAiW" , 5 Pc. 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