Experience, 23 October 1987 — Page 1

Vol. 27, No. 9 Friday, October 23 1987 Pittsburg, CA.

Nursing for all cultures LMC’s Nursing Association is hosting a “Brown Bag Seminar” at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday in room 487. The seminar will be on the cultural aspects associated with illness. Perception, diet, family roles and expression of pain are some of the topics concerning illness that will be discussed Tuesday. For information about the seminar, contact LMC’s nursing department 439-2181 ext: 3286.

Supreme Court Justice to speak at LMC

Justice

California Supreme Court Justice Stanley part of a series concerning the strengths and Mosk will speak at 7 p.m. Wednesday in room limitations of the U.S. Constitution. 119 at LMC. The lecture-discussion series is

Judge Mosk will explore

U.S. Constitution legacy By DEBBIE DELZER nions, appeared before the U.S. Staff Writer Supreme Court in the Arizona

California Supreme Court Justice Stanley Mosk, called “one of the finest Constitutional lawyers in the United States” by the late Sen. Sam Ervin, will speak at LMC at 7 p.m. Wednesday in room 119. This will be the second of a series of lectures concerning the strengths and limitations of the national Constitution. “It’s going to be a special night,” said Dave Medlinsky. “Stanley Mosk is the first Supreme Court justice to ever visit LMC. It’s quite an historic occasion.” Mosk was admitted to the California Bar in 1935. For 16 years he was a judge of the Superior Court in Los Angeles. In 1958 Mosk was elected attorney general of California with more than a million-vote margin, the largest majority of any contest in America that year. As attorney general he issued approximately 2,000 written opi-

vs. California water case, and argued other landmark matters before the state Supreme Court. After serving as attorney general for six years, he then served as a member of the Anglo-American Mission to study court procedures in the United States and England. In 1964 Mosk recieved confirmation as one of California’s seven Supreme Court justices. “As a judge he is regarded as highly intellegent and very fair,” said Medlinsky. “He has spent his entire life directly or indirectly dealing with Constitutional issues. He is probably the most qualified speaker we could get to talk on this theme.” Mosk was confirmed for a new term with 4,500,000 votes in 1986. He is the author of numerous court opinions, and has contributed to law journals. Medlinsky, along with instructors Don Kaiper and Carmen Rodriquez, organized the series of lectures. They sent out personalized let-

“It’s going to be a special night... Stanley Mosk is the first Supreme Court Justice to ever visit LMC. It’s quite a historic occasion.”

—Dave Medlinsky Campus entertainment coordinator ters to people who they wanted to speak on the Constitution. “Mosk was one of several who responded. I was suprised and I was nervous talking to him (Mosk) on the phone.”

Community colleges told to update coursework

By ANTHONY C. FERRANTE and MICHAEL MORAN Staff Writers Thousands of courses offered by California’s community colleges will be revised as part of a state-ordered program designed to improve academic credibility. Len Price, chairman of the LMC committee overseeing the changes, said the state’s plan is to have two years at a community college be equivalent to two years at a state university. “We’re on a par with them now,” Price said, “but nave never really been perceived that way.” Under the revisions, an emphasis will

be placed on writing essays, learning to think critically, and additional outside class work. If courses don’t provide these elements, they may not be acceptable as college transfer classes, Price said. The consensus of state officials is that community college students have varying educational backgrounds, making it impossible to teach courses at a “college level.” As a result, they said that an associate degree from a California community college is losing its credibility. This request from the state will result in a complete rewriting of all outlines in LMC’s course catalog. Dick Livingston, dean of humanistic

studies, doesn’t think the revision will harm the school. In fact, he said, it is long overdue. “I have a course outline for Journalism 10 (that) I wrote in 1974 and it hasn’t changed since,” he said. The college established a Curriculum Committee to decide how the courses could best be rewritten. The committee will also help decide which classes count towards a student’s degree. “In the long run it will be a lot easier for a student to tell what is going on in a class,” Price said. Student rep committee member Rosalind Steward said LMC is “playing catch up.” “This needs to happen in order for

LMC to grow and move on,” she said. The committee consists of eight faculty members, a student rep, a classified worker, a college manager, and a registar. It has been working long hours to meet the state’s Oct. 15 deadline for an outline how LMC will be defining its courses. The committee’s meetings have lasted as long as six hours and the outside work is tune consuming, Livingston said. Faculty members will have turned in a new course outline for every class offered by the end of the spring semester. The effects on students won’t be too great, said Livingstoh, other than to make classes more challenging. “Very few students complain to me

that their classes are too hard,” he said. “They say they are not hard enough.” Committee member, Peter Garcia, said the only possible negative effect could be that the state may now fund courses at different rates. A certain workload for a class could mean more or less money. This means if a course offers more homework, class work and writing assignments, it would have a greater chance of getting more funds than a class requiring less work. “The project will have more meaning as the state makes it clear on how they plan to use the information,” Garcia said.

New evening classes prompt teacher concern over campus decision-making

By KARIN McELHENEY and DAVID ALLEN SIMERLEY Staff Writers The Academic Senate has sent a letter to President Chet Case asking for clarification on the role of faculty in decisionmaking on campus. The letter was prompted by a management decision to add 5:30 p.m. classes, changing a teachmg schedule that had been in place at LMC since 1974. The early evening classes were added this semester to help alleviate crowding at the college due to higher enrollments, Case said.. Some senate members said, however, that this change was made without adequate input from faculty. Case will address the issue in public at the Clusterpersons meeting 3 p.m. Monday in Room

114. The Academic Senate is a group of teachers who meet monthly to discuss professional academic issues. Instructor Len Price, senate president, said the issue of class times was only one instance of what some teachers see as a growing trend by management to leave faculty out of decision-making. “If there is going to be a change, we would like to know about it,” Price said. “That has always been policy in the past.” Case countered, however, that the teachers who head the various departments were involved in the decision when it was made last semester. As for letter, Case said, he’s “glad to get it.” “I see it as an invitation to resume a necessary conversation in policy formulation and decision-malang,” he said. Case said that the campus’s

original governance model, which is still in place, depends on input from faculty. “But in the last four or five years the input side has lost clarity and effectiveness,” he said. Because teachers are so busy, they don’t have the “time and energy” for effective participation in campus governance, Case said. The new classes start at 5:30 p.m. The new schedule enables students to take two classes per night, with the second class sterling at 7 p.m. “...If a student can’t get here for 6 o’clock classes, how can they be here for 5:30 classes,” said Estelle Davi, a counselor at LMC, who questions if the new schedule win work. At the Monday senate meeting which prompted the teachers’ letter, Davi also protested the presence of the campus press. Davi complained about

reporter Karin McElheney being present, saying teachers need a time when they can discuss issues in private. McElheney refused to leave, however, and was backed up by Price, who had earlier told the reporter she could attend. According to an legal opinion by Attorney General John Van De Karnp,, local academic senates fall under the California open meeting laws. As such, they must be open to the public and the press. “It’s absolutely our right to cover those meetings,” said Debbie Delzer, editor of the Experience. “Covering public meetings is not only necessary for the campus newspaper, but it’s an essential part of a journalist’s training. “And we intend to cover every important public meeting on this campus.”

Forum discusses U.S. trade gap

By MARIA MOLINA Staff Writer The trade gap is becoming an important issue with Americans because their jobs and communities are affected by it. That was the consensus of participants at last Friday’s National Issues Forum. Faculty as well as a few faculty alumni and students attended the forum to discuss the problem of the “Trade Gap: Regaining the Competitive Edge.” A film was shown, then groups formed and discussions held for two nours. Each group outlined the problems: in one industry after another, American manufacturers are slipping. Entire product areas that used to be dominated by American industry are now challenged by foreign producers. Many foreign goods are not only cheaper than similar goods made in America, they are widely regarded as better quality products. According to the film made by the Domestic Policy Association for the National Issues Forums, the slippage in America’s competitive position has been underway since the early 1970s. One contribiiting factor cited has been the ag-

gressive trade policies of other industrial

nations such as Japan.

Two hours later, people were reassembled in the cafeteria and the heads of each group told of what solutions they came up

with.

Ed Rocks, science teacher, said his group felt that the trade war problems had to be dealt with at a global level — it is not just the United States problem. They didn’t want to give the government any more responsibility. Rocks quoted a member of his group who said, “I don’t want to give any more responsibility to the people who deliver my mail.” Rocks said that the group most favored promoting education for future generations teaching the children of today so they can solve it tomorrow. Barbara Mahler, computer science teacher, said her group also didn’t want to teave the problem up to the government. She said if the government were to approach it, they would have to do international research, as well as researching individual needs and enlisting corporate research. In the end, nothing would get done, .the group said. Linaa CoUins, a humanities instructor at

LMC, said her group believed government should adjust their priorities to deal with the trade gap. Government should give industries incentive to reinvest and modernize, and should use big businesses to gap the trade deficent and protect smaller companies from being bought out. Collins added that education is most imPprtant and that is where the government should invest. The primary years is where it would make a difference. She said that they should have programs for high school students in economics and business. Peter Garcia, a humanities teacher, said his group felt that protectionism was not a good idea. Instead, they were in favor of free enterprise for such countries as Japan. The U.S. could take a few pointers from the Japanese as far as teamwork, respect, and support for one another. Ongoing comments throughout his group were the fact that U.S. techniques needed to be addressed and humanized, and consumers need social responsibility as far as the standard of living is evaluated. His closing comment was that, “We did not resolve the issue, but came to a new understanding of the problem.”

Learning in style

Instructor Kate Brooks passes out learning evaluation tests as part of a new program called Project Learn. This is a study to help teachers determine the learning styles of

their students.

Faculty evaluates teaching methods

By GAYLE OWEN Staff Writer Are you a visual-verbal or auditory learner? Perhaps a visual-nonverbal learner? Or visual-tactile-kinesthetic

learner?

This may sound like a foreign language, but those are the four categories of learning all students fit in to. A small group of LMC instructors are using these four categories as part of a new program called Project Learn. This is a study designed to help teachers by determining the learning styles of

their students.

Kate Brooks, an astronomy and humanities instructor at LMC for 14 years, is the major force behind this project. “My motivation to doing this is to explore ways of improving my own teaching,” said Brooks. “And, hopefully, to interest other faculty members in ..understanding

porate that understanding.” Visual-verbal students learn best by reading and lectures or discussions, said Brooks. Auditory students learn best by hearing subjects explained, or by talking it over. Visual-nonverbal students learn best by seeing diagrams or illustrations, or by picturing problems in their mind. Visual-tactile-kinesthetic students learn by using their hands or writing out material. Brooks said educators have found that students with learning disabilities are strong in one way of learning, but weak in another. When students fail to grasp something, it mean the material was presented in an area in which the student is weak, Brooks said. This is the fourth semester Brooks has been giving the learning styles study in her astronomy classes. Then she compared last year’s students to tins year’s.

students better iand to incor- (See Learning styles, page 4)