The Texas Standard, Volume 26, Number 1, January-February 1952 Page: 5
26 p. : ill. ; 29 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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TEXAS STANDARD
Graduate Schools and
Teacher Training
By S. E. WARREN,
Acting Dean, The Graduate School, Texas Southern University, Houston
«_
"Graduate Schools Should Make
Men—Not Break Them."
College and university teachers
make the college or university pro-
gram. They themselves were "pro-
duced" in or by some graduate pro-
gram. The success they have in pro-
ducing products of great intellectual,
social, and moral worth at various
Graduate Schools depends upon the
kind of departmental programs they
develop, the needs and aims of the
students drawn and directed, the
vigor and value of their research
and teaching, and the cooperation
they get from administrators, legis-
lators, and citizens in providing
equipment and supplies for research
and instruction, and the increasing
incentives and rewards they are giv-
en for consecrated work often be-
yond the line of duty.
Whenever any significant changes
in the expansion or curtailment of
such college and university programs
become necessary, the faculties must
play the active part in reshaping aca-
demic standards, offerings, require-
ments, degrees—once the outer lim-
its have been set by legislators and/
or governing boards and the basic
philosophy and the governing poli-
cies have been restated by its ad-
ministrative head.
Are teachers born or made? What
part does formal training at the col-
lege and at the graduate or profes-
sional level play? What factors con-
tribute to the development of an ef-
fective teaching personality? Do the
informal and formal arrangements
to which prospective teachers are
exposed tend to produce good, bad,
or indifferent eollege teachers?
This paper cannot review much
of the literature on such far-reach-
ing questions but will summarize
one study and offer a few observa-
tions.
One recent study of college teach-
ing was made by Dean Richard J.
Russell of Louisiana State Univer-
sity and reported to the Graduate
Council of the Land Grant College
Association meeting in Washington,
D. C., on November 14, 1950.
He described briefly the finest
teachers and the worst teachers. Of
the former he said: "The finest
teachers convince their students that
they know their subject. They pre-
sent it well and conduct classes in
a strict and orderly manner. They
are friendly, impartial, helpful and
human. They are not lax, nor are
they regarded as "easy" by students.
Their tests are rigorous enough to
insure a feeling of true achievement
on the part of students making high
grades, and they are regarded as fair
and representative of work done in
the course." Of the latter he said:
"On the other hand, the worst teach-
ers are impatient, sarcastic, unrea-
sonable, and intolerant. Some are
overbearing and exhibit little or no
interest in students. Their courses
are presented poorly and graded un-
fairly."
Even though Dean Russell seems
to believe that in some regards
"teachers must be born and not
made," he found two essential in-
gredients: (1) a "suitable person-
ality" and (2) a "sound training in
the subject field." Although he
sought to find out by questionnaires
the number of individuals regarded
as good teachers and to compare
their backgrounds with a hope of
finding out why they became suc-
cessful, he warned against "arising
early to go into the marshes for the
purpose of bagging one's own de-
coys."
He asked students to list the best-
taught and the second best-taught
courses they took as undergraduates
and the best-taught course they took
as graduate students. From their re-
plies 65 persons were cited 10 or
more times—and he regarded these
65 as successful teachers. To them
he sent questionnaires asking such
questions as:
1. How many years did you serve
as a teaching fellow, teaching assist-
ant, etc.? (the mode being 0 (22
cases), the median slightly over 1,
and the mean about 2 years).
2. How many years experience
have you had at teaching at a pre-
college level, (the range being 0-20;
the median slightly under 1 and the
mean under 3).
3. How many years of teaching
experience in colleges or universi-
ties since your first appointment as
an instructor? (the range being 1-
39; the mode being four cases of 8,
23, and 30 years; the median being
16.5; and the mean being 23).
4. How many semester hours did
you take in Education courses as
students? (The answers 1-6 (6
cases) 7-12 (1 case); 13-24 (0 case);
25-48 (15 cases), and over 48 (41
cases), the mode being 0 (19 cases) >
the median 9 and the mean 18.)
5. How many semester hours of
work did you take on your subject-
matter field? the answers revealing
0 (1 case); 1-6 (0 cases); 25-48 (15
cases); and over 48 (41 cases), the
mode being 60, the median 59 and
the mean 60.
6. What foreign languages have
you read during the last four years?
The replies of 55 indicating 0 (14
cases); French (34 cases); German
(33 cases); Spanish (13 cases); Ital-
ian and Russian ( cases), and An-
cient Greek, Modern Greek, Latin,
Dutch, Swedish, and Portuguese (1
case).
• Continued on Pag* SO
TEXAS STANDARD
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Peace, Hazel Harvey. The Texas Standard, Volume 26, Number 1, January-February 1952, periodical, January 1952; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth193766/m1/5/: accessed May 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Prairie View A&M University.