Central Florida Future, Vol. 09 No. 23, March 4, 1977

              Florida
Technological
University
Future
F.T.U.    LIBRARY
ARCHIVES
Vol.9
Friday, March 4, 1977
No. 23
Gambrell: students get
academic money's worth
POETRY IN MOTION. These amateur athletes won't
get any contract offers from the National Football
League on their pass-catching ability, but perhaps
something can be said for style.
By BARRY BRADLEY
Assistant Editor
How good is your college education? Will you
be able to effectively compete with other students from other colleges and universities around
the country? In other words - are FTU students
getting their academic money's worth?
These and other questions have been raised
recently in response to an article in "The
Chronicle of Higher Education" concerning
undergraduate curricula. The article quoted
many university presidents and their views on
recent trends in the qualify of education.
Most officials cited the student unrest in the
60's as leading to an unstructured curricula in
most institutions of higher learning.
"We are turning out highly technical and
highly skilled people who are literally barbarians," said Steven Muller, president of Johns
Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Ernest L. Boyer, chancellor of the State
University of New York said, "The pressure for
diversity in the 1960's probably was a healthy
reaction to the outmoded curricular structure of
many colleges and universities. "However," he
added, "the diversity also produced a negative
overemphasis on individualism that now needs
to be moderated."
The article said many faculty members and
administrators have not used the unstructured
program in a way that provided a well-rounded
education for themselves.
"As a consequence," the report stated, "complaints about the narrowness of students are
widespread."
Lower fees, BOR incentive
favor summer enrollment
Leon Botstein, president of Bard College in
New York said, "It strikes me that the ignorance
among present college students in matters of
politics, economics,history, science, technology,
art and culture is appalling."
The concern over the "narrowness" of
curricula has spurred studies by many colleges
and universities throughout the nation. The institutions are re-evaluating their undergraduate
programs with the intention of putting some of
the structure back into the curricula.
Harvard University is presently studying
proposals from its task force on curricula re-
evaluation. The task force has listed six basic
characteristics of the educated man or woman:
•The ability to think and write clearly.
•An informed acquaintance with the
mathematical and experimental methods of the
physical and biological sciences.
• An awareness of other cultures and other
times.
•Some understanding of, and experience in
thinking about, moral and ethical problems.
•Good manners and high aesthetic and moral
standards.
•Depth in some field of knowledge.
The article pointed out, however, that some
colleges never strayed from the structured approach to education. Still oters, like FTU, did
not have to contend with the unrest of the
1960's, and therefore, never ventured into the
realm of the totally unstructured curricula.
- But what kind of education are FTU students
getting?
(Continued on page 2)
Today's Future
Summertime has always
meant vacation time or just
good-to-get-away-from-school
time, but if you are planning
to wile away the hours
studying and attending
classes, things may actually be
in your favor.
First, the Board of Regents
(BOR) has approved a summer
incentive fee plan, which will
reduce costs per credit hour
for summer sessions by $6.
Beginning with the .1977
summer session, freshmen and
sophomores will pay $9 per
credit hour and juniors and
seniors will pay $10.50.
For students who started
classes during the past fall
quarter, there is. an additional
incentive to enroll this summer. The BOR in 1975 adopted       as      a       graduation
requirement a new rule
requiring all students entering
a state university after Sept, 1,
1976, with less than 90 credit
hours to earn.at least 15 credit
hours during a summer quarter.
The reason for the reduced
fees and new requirements,
according to the BOR is to
"increase summer enrollment
and thereby make year-round
use of expensive university
facilities."
William D. ; Chapman,
university registrar, calls it
"more effective utilization of
the institution."
According to Chapman,
"Consistently, our student
body has been much smaller in
the summer, percentage wise.
Regardless, statistics listed
bv the BOR memo claim that
enrollment in the summer of
1975 was more than 47 per
cent of the 1974 fall
enrollment. It was further
stated that "Florida's large
summer enrollment, in ratio to
other terms, is one of the
highest in the nation."
Chapman said a survey will
be conducted at spring
registration concerning the
number of classes to be offered
this summer. He remarked,
"We're going to query students as to whether they ar$v>
coming this summer so we can
better plan how many sections
to offer."
"If our survey indicates
we'll have more students at the
summer quarter, we will be offering more classes," Chapman concluded.
aw—
Hi
Though summer has not arrived yet,
these students have decided to take advantage    of    some    warm    pre-spring
weather by doffing books for sun and
soap operas.
Leo Goff, FTU's housing
director, first came here on a
whim, a "shot in the dark"
as he tells it, and with the intention of only staying a
year. Now eight years later,
he's resigning, but not
without some regrets. See
page 3.
Look out River Country,
here comes Central Florida's
newest attraction, "Wet *N
Wild." The water sports
amusement park, complete
with a four-story water slide
and Florida's only man-
made wave machine, opens
March 12. See page 10.
The basketball team isn't the
only FTU representative
competing in a collegiate
tournament this weekend.
Five wrestlers have qualified
and will be taking part in
the NCAA Division II
National Wrestling Tournament, and the prospects
look good. See page 14.