VMI Cadet. April 10, 1981

              Virginia's Last Independent College Newspaper
VOLUME LXXI Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia, April 10,1981 NUMBER 23
The QuaUty Of Education At VMI
Mr. Greet
byJohiiHirtz
VMI, built on the three pillars
of academic excellence,
physical prowess, and military
bearing, has been highly
respected for most of its 141
year history. Recently,
however, questions have arisen
concerning the strength of
academic standards at the In-stitute.
This year's fourth class,
one of the most statistically pro-mising
classes in recent years,
turned in surprisingly low
grade point averages for the
first semester. Also, an abnor-mally
high percentage of upper
classmen seem to be struggling
academically during the 1980-81
term. This has prompted the
VMI Cbdet to question
members of the faculty concer-ing
the present academic stan-dards
of the Institute. We have
Col. Lancaster Maj. Duncan Col. Weing Col. Knapp
discovered widely varying
views of the VMI education
among faculty members in dif-ferent
curri(^ums. All those
questioned, however, to some
degree expressed a realization
of certain problems facing VMI
as well as other colleges across
the nation.
Mr. T. Y. Greet, an English
professor here for 17 years, ex-pressed
dissatisfaction with the
role of the faculty in policy
making at VMI. "One of the
most useful methods of enhanc-ing
the intellectual and
academic atmosphere would be
to provide the general faculty
meaningful opportunities to
participate in tl^ shaping of the
Institute policy." He went on to
add that lack of such oppor-tunities
has contributed to what
he perceives as poor faculty
morale in the liberal arts cur-riculums.
A number of other
professors seemed to concur
with this view.
However, by far the most
common explanation of poor
student perfognances is the
decreasing quality of secondary
education nationwide. Most of
the faculty members interview-ed
cited falling SAT scores na-tionwide
as evidence that the
quality of the entering college
student has dropped. Some pro-fessors.
notably^Col. Knapp, did
not particularly agree that a
lower SAT score means a lower
student potential, but all
acknowledged that present high
school study habits are inade-quate.
Col. Knapp and Col. Sculley
were extremely enthusiastic
about both the quality of the
engineering curricula and the
dedication of engineering pro-fessors.
Both men felt that in an
ever more difficult field of
study, VMI has done very well
in preparing students. Col.
Sculley felt that those who fail
in the Civil Engineering cir-riculum
more often do so
because they are not willing to
work, not b^ause of a lack of
ability or a deficient program.
In the foreign language
department, Col. Lancaster ex-pressed
some dismay at the
preparation of high school
graduates for college level
work. "Of course when we have
to spend a large amount of time
teaching our students basic
English, we neglect language
studies." Col. Weing felt that
the increased availability of col-
Col. Sculley
has resulted in many more poor
quality students attending in-stitutes
of higher learning,
thereby lowering the standards
for everyone.
Maj. Duncan seemed to feel
that the quality of education in
America may have fallen, but
that VMI has not been forced to
lower its standards nearly as
much as other schools have. He
added that the cadet life can
often improve one's study
habits. Other professors agreed
with this view, saying that once
a cadet develops a drive to
study, he usually does well.
FURTHER COMMENTS
T. Y. Greet (Professor in
Eng. Dept. for 17 years)
"When I came here I didn't
continued on page 7
The Black Faculty Issue Placement Program
by Chris Caplice
VMI is the only state-supported
college in Virginia,
that doesn't have blacks on the
faculty or admiinistration staff.
Why is this? After further
thought a more pressing ques-tion
arises. Is there a need for
blacks or a member of any
other minorities to hold posi-tions
on the VMI faculty.
To, ^this j quj^tion of
neQd, twajiriews
his 1 ^ _
are th^^ersifj^ ^fmopg^ the
faculty, the**flewt'-'m a role
model for black cadets to follow
and seek help for black-related
problems, and cultural
awareness for the whole Corps.
He summed up his views on
cultural awareness by stating,
"To know anything about
yourself, you must know about
others, we (blacks) are the
others." The Administration
more or less echoes the black
cadet's views, though on a
much more subdued level. The
Dean of Faculty, General
James Morgan would be, in his
own words, "very happy to
have (blacks on the faculty)."
Colonel Allan Carlsson,
Registrar, believes that blacks
on the faculty is a good idea,
especially as a role model. Lt.
Gen. Irby refused to issue any
statements saying that he
would decline comments until
after this reporter discussed the
issue with Brig. Gen. Morgan.
One may then ask, why, if
both parties desire the same ob-jective,
that the objective can-not
be reached. The reason
comes down to priorities. While
the Administration may desire
to have blacks on the faculty,
their priorities in hiring are not
based on racial goals but rather
on the qualifications of the ap-plicants.
Race has no role.
The process by which VMI
hires new faculty members is
decided by each separate
department in response to that
department's personal needs.
If, for instance, a department
wished to hire a professor for a
specific course, their selection
would be focused on those
qualified for the position in
question. Then, by advertising
nationally and in the state
through respective professional
journals and chronicles and in
graduate schools for students
with the disciplines, the depart-ment
will be able to
select the person most qualified
for that specific position. Goals
are not taken into considera-tion.
This trend leaves VMI
without black faculty and no ap-parent
time in the near future
that will bring J[)lack faculty to
the Institute.
VMI's placement program is
being greatly expanded, thanks
to the efforts of LTC.
Royce Jones, the Director of
Cadet Affairs. The placement
plan is directed towards both
cadets and alumni; a main
point stressed by Jones is that
one shouldn't wait until the last
minute before he starts con-sidering
employment oppor-tunities.
There are several programs
aimed at cadets, including
seminars and manuals. For the
Rats, there is the study seminar
held each fall and for all of the
classes there is the Career Fair.
The purpose of it is to get in-dividuals
to start thinking about
the future. This will allow the
Rats and Thirds to get an idea
of what their selected field and
other career choices are about
while they still have the option
to switch majors if they are
disenchanted with their present
choice. The second and first
classmen get an opportunity to
(continued on page 8)
Wilson Recieves Stipend
by Robert Hooper
Maj. Paul C. Wilson, pro-fessor
of English, has recently
received a Summer stipend
from The National Endowment
for the Humanities. This grant
will allow him to spend approx-imately
two months this sum-mer
working on a book dealing
with the invention and innova- >
tion of the sewing machine. This
book, as of yet untitled, will deal
not only with the technological
difficulties of the invention but
also will look at the economic
and socialistic problems. Maj.
Wilson, who has spent the past 3
years researching this book,
hopes to put the finishing
touches on the book this sum-mer.