THE COLLEGE NEWS Page Five Sponsor Schoolteaching Symposium Panel Discussion FeaturesV ariety Friday, November 10, 1967. McBride Praises Computer Work Of Techniques Following a symposium on newly- developed teaching techniques held Satur- day morning November 4, in the Goodhart ‘ guditorium, Bryn Mawr students gathered in the Common Room for a panel dis- cussion featuring former graduates of the College who have gone into the field of education. Moderated by Isota Tucker Epes, class of 1940 and Headmistress of Shipley School, “ the panel consisted of Mrs. Elizabeth Mon- roe Boggs, class of 1935; Mrs. Martha Fuller Chatterjee, °58; and Mrs. Dorothy Bruchholz Goodman, ’46, All three have * developed new methods in some field of elementary education, Mrs, Boggs, a Bryn Mawr European Fellow with a Ph.D, in physical chemis- try, has worked with retarded children. A’ -founder of the National Association for Retarded Children, Inc., she is presently serving by presidential appointment on the Joint Commission of Mental Health. -\ Although during her college years Mrs. Boggs had expected to organize secondary school education for intelligent students, she later became interested in those on the opposite end of the mental scale. Working with the retarded, she believes, is one of the most challenging fields in education today because more and more research is being done and because the teacher here, more than anywhere else, must guard against the temptation to succumb to hopelessness and to’ blame the child for his lack of progress. The teacher must have infinite patience and be able to survive the frustrations of his job. There- fore not everyone is qualified. A program called Student Work Experience and Train- ing gives undergraduate and graduate students a chance to work temporarily in the field to see if they, are suited for it. Mrs. Chatterjee has combined an in- terest in education with a love of drama and international affairs in her work asan English teacher at the United Nations School, She teaches children of forty dif- photo by Bill Harris Mrs. Thacher introduces the first event at the symposium. The panelists were ferent nationalities with vastly different cultural backgrounds and says that her job is a very rewarding one, demanding a great personal commitment, flexibility, and a willingness to experiment. She stresses the need for an active intellec- tual interest in the subject and the teacher’s ability to communicate it. In her class- room, she tries to use drama to encourage her students ‘‘to feel the life of the written word.” Mrs. Chatterjee is interested also in the use of drama in teaching children from disadvantaged areas. She told of competitive street-corner dramatics for teenage gangs, one of which performed so well that it was taken to repeat the per- formance at Expo ’67 in Canada this summer, Mrs. Goodman did graduate work in Russian and Balkan studies and took her Ph.D, at the University of London. After several stints as a history professor at ‘all graduates of Bryn Mawr and the kids were from Germantown Friends. American and Howard Universities, which she found dissatisfying because of a lower level of intellectual curiosity and stimu- lation than she had known at Bryn Mawr and Oxford, she founded the International Bilingual Primary School in Washington, D.C, two years ago. The school’s function is to prepare its students for admission to universities here and abroad and is seeking to impose the rigorous demands of the major national systems onto an international system with multilingual instruction. The school, which started out with three students, now has ninety-three children of thirty nationali- ties, and nineteen teachers, only one of whom is American. Teaching is conducted part in English, and part in French or Spanish. The children, who speak- their second language all day, develop a great proficiency in it. Sue Averbach The school teaching symposium culmin- ated ina luncheon at Rhoads and a speech by Miss McBride. Her topic was the use of the computer in education. The great advantage of the computer is that it can give individualized attention to every student. The computer makes it possible to change mass education into a one-to-one tutorial system. This kind of teaching, tailored to the needs of each student, is possible be- cause the computer is not an unchange- able’ textbook. Rather the computer responds to the student -- teaches ata rate at which he can learn, goes over things he has problems with, does not labor things he picks up quickly. The student and the computer are essentially talking to each other all the time. Miss McBride said that the ‘‘computer will make a greater difference in educa- tion than any other technological inven- tion.’? The only thing computers have not yet been successfully programmed todois to correct essay questions. Computers not only can teach standard subjects better than a teacher with 30 or 40 pupils can, it can teach new subjects or combinations of subjects. The computer can set up a simulated circumstance for the child to face. For instance, a situa~- tion can be devised -to teach the child history, economics, decision-making pro- cesses and empathy. The computer tells the child that he is the king of a feudal manor. Me has only a certain amount of grain for the winter to divide among all his people, Suddenly a neighbor is des- perately in need of food because he is being beseiged. What does the child king do? . The computer can be of great help in teaching children from disadvantaged areas who have what Miss McBride termed ‘personality problems with their teach- ers.’”? Learning from a machine by-passes conflicts that might otherwise arise if the student is black and the teacher is white. Kit Bakke Psychiatric Services ... Undergrad Pres. Answers Queries (Continued from page 2) and spilling over with children). and the psychiatrists, West House performs a valuable service. However, some students have On Organizations Dues, Spending Some are unable to cope with their new freedom; these are given help in time-organization. Some are slow readers; for them, West House offers a six-week reading- improvement course, which em- phasizes depth more than speed. Sophomores have a special set of problems, too. In the second year, the newness of college has worn off. A second-year student is not yet in her major field and may still be tangled up in require - ments. It is at this level that West _ House gets the most ‘‘Did-I-really - come-to-the-right-place?’’ .cases. The counselor helps the student to decide whether this is a valid question or is simply a tempor- ary depression. Juniors have a relatively trou- ple-free year. Their position is new enough to be interesting but not so strange as to create prob- lems. Their cases, which are less frequent than those of the other three classes, tend to be not aca~- demic but social. For them, the counselors recommend extra-cur- ricular activities and opportuni- ties for meeting people. On the senior level, there is again the problem of coping with change. What is in the future? is the general question, and the counselor must help the student weigh the rewards of alter- natives. Mrs. Rachel Cox, Director of West House feets that the Stu- dent Counselling Service is effi- not purport to solve serious prob- lems, but only to make difficult- problems too involved for the Stu- dent Counselling Service to deal with. For these girls, Bryn Mawr offers a psychiatric service lo- cated in the infirmary. Three consulting psychiatrists come to the campus for six hours a week. Students see the psy- chiatrists for forty-five minute sessions, anywhere from one to fifteen times. The doctors try to hold only five or six interviews, because of the time press. (About ten percent of the campus has at one time sought out psychia- tric aid, and the figure is steadily Climbing.) If, however, a girl clearly requires more intensive therapy, the consulting psychia- trist recommends an outside doc- tor. Outside care presents fresh dif- ‘ficulties. The student is respon- sible for financing the extra ther- apy herself; parents are the log- ical source of funds but are not always sympathetic towards psy- chiatry for their child. Here the school’s responsibility stops; as in other things, Bryn Mawr can help a girl only so far. Maggie Crosby “The Role of Students in International Affairs Cur- riculum Development.’’ Nov. 17, Airlie Confer- ence Center, Warrenton, Va. Interested . students | should contact Mr. Kennedy | of the political science de- partment. Since the beginning of October Undergrad has been working on a revision of finances and reconsid- ering the stingy way we have been spending money. There have been two open meetings with NEWS coverage; and reports ofhall reps, minutes, and budgets in the dorms; not to ‘mention a campus poll reaching 2/3 of the campug. In this article I am answering those who complain that they do not know where their fhoney is going and how additional money would be used; but I feel in a rather frustrated fashion that if by now -you don’t know it’s kind of. your own fault. First of all, the dues raise is not meant to be the least amount that will cover present expenses. It is true that with rising costs and with each organization using all of its funds (and sometimes more), we need a $2.00 raise anyway. However, we are sug- gesting that we almost double the dues. At the moment each stu- dent pays $14.00 per year. $25.00 would solve many of our prob- lems, and in the hall polls 85% of the campus supported this change. There are many reasons justify- ing a raise. First the concrete pleas of the Big Six, some of whom resort to selling cookies (5¢ apiece - what a rook) to try to make ends meet, They need more money to continue with their present projects, and, above all, ‘to expand. Arts Council wants the money for speakers, more Hallo- ween-type parties, more Art Shows, a small (but good) concert (folk singer? jazz?) and money for groups that come begging (the New Chamber Music Orchestra). Curriculum Committee needs extra money even this year to pay for the duty work of self- scheduled exams, and they want to plan a seminar but have no money for publicity. League spends over $300.00 every year for the col- lege station wagon for tutoring in Philadelphia, and often the station wagon is unavailable. They need a car. Dance Club and Sailing Club beg AA’ for more funds’ so that Dance Club won’t have to charge admission and so individual membership fees in Sailing Club will be less than $50.00. Alliance, too, wants money, to sponsor con- ferences on campus (Black Arts?), for BMC registration in other con- ferences (note: not traveling ex- penses, etc.), for good NAME speakers, and - especially impor- tant in an election year - publicity and transportation costs to get students involved in local politics. Those are the Big Six’s demands but there are others too. Little clubs need money to start (de- bate), existing clubs sometimes need more money for a particular project (Exchange Committee), and sometimes they sponge off their counterparts in neighboring schools (eg. Haverford). Under- grad needs money for new pro- jects (eg. a one volume Fresh- man Handbook, constitutions, Aca- demic and Library regulations, Student Director, and picture book for all students). And most of all - SOCIAL CHAIRMAN: Sure, we want more things going on on campus and with other schools; but at the mo- ment, there is money left for only one big mixer. Not only that, but we impose on Haverford’s funds to an embarrassing extent. We haven’t money for a formal dance, or for entertainment after con- certs (or for concerts), or for limited activities such as picnics at Batten, not to mention Valley Forge, bridge, chess, tennis, and stretch tournament-mixers. Does this sound like a list of’ petty demands? I hope not; it’s all part of a conspifacy to fight apathy and generally support what community spirit does exist on the.zampus. How can we feel much besides academic and dorm ties if our whole extracurricular pro- (Continued on page a