Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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We are confident that we will have a column from Quentin next week, as we have his number, e-mail, and address. Ha, ha. Wednesday, July 8,1998 is? Serving tbe Carolina Com tmiUKIAl Rosalind Harvey Kiki McCormick, Marcus Amaker, Future teach t A A jt no Detter m The good news is that, for once, we are ne quality c, discussing education woes of a state other _i_ than our own. The HHKmiSu bad news is that our fJSCshould h aspiring teachers goodfuture would probably per form as poorly as those in Massachusetts cm the same qualifying test. Much hullabaloo has been made over the situation in Massachusetts, where about 60 percent of applicants for teaching jobs failed basic literacy and subject tests meant to weed out those who are unfit to teach. Much of the blame is being assigned to college education departments, most of which, according to chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Education John Silber in the New York Times, "have standards so low that they repel the highly qualified students who are desperately needed in our schools." Ihis is certainly true at UbC, where the minimum GPA for acceptance into the Master of Teaching program is a measly 2.5. It's a good bet that students who perform so poorly in college will do little to improve the state of education in South Carolina. The mistakes of Massachusetts' would-be teachers, including egre gious spelling ana grammar errors, have been broadcast widely. Naturally, we wondered how the future teachers at USC would compare. To make an unscientific assessment of the literacy of the teachers * Seizing the Carolina Comi The Gamecock is the student newspaper of The University Fnday during the fall and spring semesters and eight times dum exam periods. Opinions expressed in The Gamecock are those of Carolina. The Board of Student Publications and Communications i Media is the newspaper's parent organization. The Gamecock Rosalind Harvey Editor in Chief Amy McCormk Klkl HAcCormlck Viewpoints Editor Rebecca Whlti Jennifer Stanley News Editor Sarah Garlbaki Marcus Amaker Features Editors Jmher Stanley Bryan Johnston Sports Editor Student Media EHen Parsons Director of Carolyn Griffin Student Media ^ CfoBn Lao Phlppa Advertising Manager ^ Sherry F. Holmes Classified Ad Manager Vi mccoi I munity since 1908 BOARD , Editor in Chief Viewpoints Editor lers of S.C. an others rrnHH|H] produced at USC, we f teaching acoessed discu8eion xrinus'sc Foups held am??6 classes on the iifiHHH Education elp recruit Department's web' teachers site. We recognize that the folks who wrote the words "revaluate," "thier" and "kindergartenters" may have simply slipped. But some mistakes could only reflect a lack of understanding of the English language. One person included both the imagmaiy wuiu mieigraw; aiiu the phrase "great idea's for teaching" in the same post. Another wrote of "student's speaches," apparently in reference to some "students' speeches." Yet another complained that her practicum teachers didn't "implicate a multicultural curriculum." The worst, though, was the education student who ended a sentence, "and you was very understanding towards." It would seem that the best and brightest are not attracted to the teaching profession. There are two things that we at USC can do to address this problem. First, the education department must raise its standards. Good students will not be attracted to a department that does not offer challenges. Second, good students must, in the meantime, put aside their pride and embrace the teaching profession despite the boredom of education nlriff*-"- Ai uomn pninf, fKio fljrolo of poor teachers making poor students has to be broken. Let the cycle stop with you. of South Carolina and is published Monday, Wednesday and ig the summer with the exception of university holidays and the editors or author and not those of Jha University of South s the publisher of The Gamecock. The Department of Student ?MIB.imi.Wltl All numbers area code 803 tk Photo Editor Gamecock ? OrWine Editor Editor Viewpoints 777-7726 I Copy Editors News 777-7726 Etc. 777-3913 Sports 777-7182 On-line 777-2833 i Business Manager Student Media Creative Director Advertising 777-1184 Classifieds 777-1184 Faculty Advisor Fgx 777-6482 Office -77-3888 EWPO] _^Jietojecod^^ i I _ Floridian I ?- B e i n born an ardM. Gregg ?ngli?h)' yy a Columnist unawar of th intense rivalry that exists betwee USC and Clemson. To me, Clemso was just a school that made thei football players wear really weeni uniforms (come on, orange on orang on orange on orange). Since I've bee here however, several of mv fello1 graduate students have let me knoi about the greatness of Clemson. decided that the only way to find 01 the truth about our neighbor to tt north was to visit Clemson for myse and see what all the fuss is abou Here then are my findings from na trip. Day One: Before leaving ft Clemson, I decided to do a litti research about the school. Everyboc knows that it started out as an a] male military school, but few kno the reasoning behind its creation, seems that the school was founded: roaiilt nf tV?o Croat SVim Defrocking Scandal of 1888 becaui they needed a depository for the ci prits. This puts Clemson in the san company as Australia, except for tJ fact that I can understand peop [NTS experience g from Australia. This became evident d as I drove and got close to the school, n I stopped for a 60-cent soda at a Hot it Spot where I was given $2.36 change n from $10. When I pointed out this >f discrepancy, the clerk scratched his i (edited out by the Coalition for e Family Values), spit out some big k black chunk of something from his 1 mourn, proDaDiy a lootn, ana men lt handed me an extra 35 cents. On a hunch, I asked him where s he went to school. "Sure enough fo e went upjonder to Clempsn. e Gradeated with hnrs sure as shhe n replied. I then made a quick stop at a n bookstore where I managed to wranir gle a copy of the Webster's Clemson/English dictionary. Now I 6 was ready, so I headed out and " reachClemson at dnsk * Serious consideration was given t to checking out the nightlife, as I was ^ tempted by the posters around Le Clemson announcing their third jj- annual cow-tipping contest (a seemt ingly big deal since the posters listed y the names of the cows to participate). Day Two: There were big hap)r penings going on as I pulled up to the |e school. I had just started walking i? ornnnrl when a hurlv man crashed U- into me, knocking us both down. w He had a harried expression on It his face and after helping me up, he is informed me that there was a crisis ;p as he had run out of crayons for his se students. Tor art class?" I inquired, d- to which he responded; "We have an ae art class? No, this is for advanced le finance." Then he ran off leaving me ile a bit bewildered. W t ^ IT ^ "We want to he recognized as u social fraternity, but we want to be left alone." Martin Streett, Zeta Beta Tau Page 3 _ A college press EXCHANGE is Clemson Next, I decided to find and explore the "world famous" engineering school that Clemson has. But when I reached the building, it had been condemned for structural defects. tm li? T i 4-u J : riiimiy, i weui uj uie auiuissiuus office, where I picked up a form. Now Fve seen short forms before, but this had only one question: "Does the applicant have a pulse?" A very interesting day indeed, which" I ended at the Clemson drunk tank, otherwise known as the campus bar, Edgar's. Unfortunately, I could not get anything to eat or drink because I was afraid to touch anything in the bar under penalty of having to bathe in 111 1 r ii. iormaiaenyae ior a monm. Day Three: My last day on campus started with a prison bus pulling student what was going on. He answered, "Oh, they're bringing the football team over for summer school." Hearing about this, I decided to go check out where the Clemson football team plays their games. This is in a stadium called Death Valley, nomod for fVio cnwtatnrs' chunrps nf reaching a working bathroom before their bladders explode. It also has the unusual feature of a grassy knoll at one end of the stadium, designed especially for drunk students to take pot shots at opposing teams, after they pass a primer class in Dallas. After finishing at the stadium, there was still much more to explore but I felt it necessary to get bade good old USC.