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TEAGHER EUQTMN ,

Teacher Education: PerseveranCe or Profession- alism, the book written last year by the U.P.E.I. Commit- tee on Teacher Education has been favourably received among the profession. It was commissioned last year by President Baker to con- sider, among other things, "the structure, object- ives, principlesand grad— uate study for teacher ed— ucation" at U.P.E.I. The committee travelled to the various teacher education institutions in Canada, assessed and compared their systems with ours, and eventually came up with a model program for teahcer education at U.P.E.I. The most outstanding feature of Vthe new program is its five year course of study (to replace the present four year plan) which would in- cludetwo semesters of in- ternship within the public school system. The first two years of the program are to lay the academic groundwork for the future teacher, and in the follow- ing years the emphasis is to be placed on the pro- fessional level.

In principle, it seems the Committee's model wowld be adequately suited to the needs of P.E.I. ' However, the present orient— _ation of the deucation fac— ulty leans more towards

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS MEET-

ING

Iwithin the university.

perseverance of their pro- fession. The one year Bachelor of Education pro- nram is more readily endured than the four year Plan sim- ply because it‘is one year instead of four. I am a— fraid that unless people's attitudes are drastically changed, notably thOSe of the teaching staff in the department, the model pro- gram will succeed only in

as far as it adds one more year to the ordeal students must endure to get a B. Ed. at U.P.E.I.

In the introduction to the book one of the Pres— ident's requests to the Committee is stated as a consideration of the rel— ations of the Faculty of Education to other faculties The Committee apparently con— siders this and goes so far as to urge "an upsurge of cooperation" among the other faculties. I will consider the relations among the fa— deities a bit farther. It is commonly conceded among the students, and I expect among the rest of the faculty that the education department is less demand— ing and offers a generally inferior education than that of other departments. It ' is scornfully referred to as a Mickey Mouse course. The education faculty is defensive (perhaps not with- out cause) and unwittingly

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falls prey to the faults of which it is accused.» By now the tacit accusations that it is an inferior department that the students'attitude is one of perseverance rat- her than of professionalism is deserved. To make mat- ters worse, the situation perpetuates itself because defensiveness on the part

of the teaching faculty relays itself (as any' trained teacher knows) to the students. 'One education professor, when asked if he could make his course a little more substantial, replied that his students were mostly freshmen and therefore would be unable

to handle anything meatier than the Grade 9 level course he was teaching.

And, of course any education graduate knows that if you convince the students in the beginning that they can't handle it, well then, they won't be able to.

The education build- ing itself is often called the Little Red Schoolhouse by a number of its students. For the most part, classes are conducted there as they were in high school, allow- ing for little originality or spontaneity from the pontential teachers. Perhap we are to assume they will become professionals the day they are certified.

Even by their own standards, i:g;rthe blackboar defini-

tionof what a good teacher should be and do, the ad— ucation professors are not fulfilling their function. This past term one profes— sor was reluctant to answer a student's questions in class because he feared the stodent was being "flippant". Flippant??? This man obvi— ouslyhas a great deal of respect for the motivation and potentialof his stup dent. From flippant to professional is a change in self—image that may take longer than the four months following graduation for the new teacher.

Several concrete im— provements within the pre— sent nrogram, such as the abolition of one day a week practice teaching, closers liasons with the publicschools and with the provincial Department of Education, less rigid course requirements, etc. are necessary, that.l am sure the faculty is well aware of, even if the”book from the Committee on Teacher Education_is never

'is never opened. BUt, if any

of the Committee's recommend' —ations are to be implement ed,_may I suggest that first the Education faculty toget her spend many soul-searchi ng hours studying at least the title of the book,

' Teacher EducationzPerserv—

ance orgprofessionalism. Yes Professor Edmonds

has a formidable task a— head of him.

Ann Mc Quaid.

On Tuesday 25th January the International Students Association had its first meeting this semester at

9 p.m. in Marion Lounge. The topic for the evening was Australia and the spec ial guests, Professor and Mrs. Evan Douglas gave a talk outlining the life style history, and geography of the continent,Following a film on the major cities of Australia, there was a short discussion on quest —ions which were raised. The next meeting will be scheduled for late Febru r—ary.

SHITFUCK

The object of this DOTvTO-DOT pictogram

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is over-common. You’ll see when you join the ‘°° 3 u o

dots to get your complete picture. If you color ,9 “of "6

it, it’s suitable for framing and you can hang it . 25' .0 , .

in your bedroom next to your favorite Beatle . ’3’ ’5

cards that were last issues DOT-TO-DOT mind- 2. In a.“ 'n'm

fuckers. This one 's got a few trickies that maybe , :0 2.

we should go over so that you don ’t wreck it and 2' 3’ 3“ ‘ ‘6‘

then have to buy another copy and maybe even ‘ 28' . go ‘3‘ 03“

be the last one on your block to have one. Well, 2‘ 2,, o '3“

start at number 1. I guess you all knew that. '°°” 5 37‘ '39! Where the trickies come is when you get to 29 .. 0;“ "' . .40A and find that you can either go to 30 or 30A. an ‘90,: . g.” 3" I (30 both ways at once. That’s right, and do the ' ‘Sc'ua

same at 433 (to 448 and 446) and 35 '(to 36 and o 0 36A) and anywhere else you think you should. . Enough ado, shapren your pencil and get on it!

Sometimes I wonder what I am noinn to do When my youth is over an” av manhood is through

A red-headed girl walked past my street Iasked her in for a cup of tea She smiled and said Illl be right in

but all I want is a glass of gin. By Black—Jack.

Cat quote: The easiest thin

g to do in life is make it

hard on youeelf.

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