Volume 1, Number 2 (April 17, 1972)

Bl.OOMINGTDN- NORMA l

15C

Man is Descended from Guerrillas

Vol. 1, No. 2 NORMAL, ILLINOIS April 17, 1972

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by Ken Parl<er

Hard core assholism is spreading. While the Nixons sional sequence. Perhaps that explains why � of the

canand Avnews of the world le ave little douht what that questions on the first test in the sequence is �
mean �t the centers of great power, no community , no mat­
true/false item which states that the professional se­
ter how i so l a ted , is safe from the crippling effects of r-5Yquence is alJette
stem than the one it replaced . �
the d i s ease . At ISU an epidemic has broken out, and , if
the professional s equence is to be believ ed, the C ollege The student is taug ht to respond with TRUE to that
of hJuca tion has a tenninal case. And just what, the
uninitiated may ask, is that? statement before he ever gets involved enough in the

system to make any meaningful evaluation of his own.

But that is more or less the point,after all. It isn't

In short, the professional sequence is tbe newly the students' considered opinion that counts. The only
created mechanized and prog rammed learning process all
-opinion that matters1s the one the test-maker holds and

he isn't asking for an arg ument , j ust ag reement.

l '1i1 secundarv te acher candidates are reci u ired to com pl ete In the underground it is understood that anything
t;ej"nce Leing, certified to teach in Illinois. The se­
�the people d on't ontrol has the potent ial of being used
d<ie;i,·e has replaced the previously separate courses:
Secondary Lducation, Educational Psychology, S econdary against them. And Dr. Pierce, whether he knows it or
c;l-!\\h1l !\eadin;:, 1\merican Public Education and ,u l timately ,
thei'1:1 l,;s'.)flhv o{ Education. There is no option to not, is demonstrating how effectively that principle can
se­
Le applied in the university community. There is a dis­
.1:1cnce. · f1ne aoes tliroun_h it or he doesn't receive a turbing cynicism at work in all of this and Dr. Pierce is
t cac<1inc: certificate on the recomDendation of this uni­
not alone in expressing it.

vcrs it v . While there arc no courses or teachers as such SURVEILLANCE
in t'ic, nrofessior.al sec111ence, there are ''!'1ackar:es". A
"J?Dda11E!" is a unit of study built by the professional
staff, who use video-tape or slides and audio-tape to At the grand opening ceremonies of the PS last fall

:;resent lessons formerly includeu in the individual in Capen Auditorium I was present as Dr. Charles Hicklin,

�:011rses. The tanes are s tored in a hif;hly sophisticated with an o verhead projector il l uminating the words, DON'T
TRY TO BEAT Tl-IE SYSTHI, admonis h ed his audience of sev­
�(not to mention o s tly ) computer brain. The student is
then called upon to plug into the computer and, with the eral hundred teacher candidates. He advised against any

aid of l1is Professional Sequence Guide -- a handhook of nefarious schemes and then, as if his warning lacked

instructions an<l requirements, demonstrate his mastery teeth, point ed out to the assembled ISU stud ents that

of the data throur:h various worksheets and test s . �ihile the professional sequence had a built in surveillance

the mechanics of the system are complex and involved, the system and any attempt to beat it would be futile.

intent is clearly simplistic. �orking toward what ther The sorrow of the whole scene was that not on e stud ent
s aid � word . They j ust sat there.
ca l l "individualized instructional lessons for pre - se1 .. pro t ests . No walk outs. No
vice s econd ary teachers", the "educators of the educa­

tors" have es tablished what they consider to be the No. 2 PENCILS

model in teacher education and are now busily engaged in Recently , in a private conversation with Dr. Leo
Eastman , Ch airman of the Department of Education, I asked
its production.
if he did not agree with me that it was insulting to the
Each student works at his own pace through the se ­ intelligence of college stud en ts to ask some of the mun­

quentially numbered lessons, suc ce s s fu l ly completing a dane questio ns included in professional sequence tests.
tes t at the end of each lesson befor e moving on to the As a specif ic I cited a tru e or false item from the first
next. In this manner the student earns merits for each test in the sequence-; The st�temen t , which is correctly
complet ed task until he reaches the reciuired number of marked TRUE g oes to the e ffect : "We use number two pen­
merits whereupon he is moved on to student t eaching and cils when taking a test." Dr. Eastman's response was .
finally to certification . Old Cub Sc ou ts will be for­ that while I and others might find that sort of question

given at this point if they are reminded of Wolves, iinsu ting to the intelligence of the students, the fact
Bears, and Lions.
is that , even after learninr: and testing, there will be
RE-CYCLING students who show up for the next tes t armed with a ball­
point pen rather than a number two p encil . If we are to
If a There are no failure s aingithveen'nuroniftessbiyonsaclorsineqg ue80nc%e. believe students are as incapabl e and irresponsible as

student cannot master these examples suggest, then, by what magic -- in or out

or better on a multiple choice, true/ false test then he of any sequence -- will such <lolts ev er become qualified
is "re -cycled " until he can. There are no grades of any
teac hers ?
sort. There are only those who complete the sequence with
STUDENTS AS FILE CABINETS
the required number of merits and those who do not. Those
The ed uca tional philosophy out o f which the profes­
wh o complete the cycl e are certified while those who do sional sequence was born has best been defined as the
not are forever lost in the somewher� world of the un­ "file cabinet" theory of learning . Under.the terms of
cycled. And that has the potential of g rowin g to a sig ­ this theory , the student c�nes into the ed ucational en­
nificant number as more and more students are dropping vironment with an empty head, or file cabinet . The
teacher,who is in possess ion of knowledpe , then commences
out of education, giv ing the pro fessional sequence as
to store information in the kids' heads much as he would
their reason.
f ile papers in a previously empty' drawer. Then, to make
But while student criticism is moun ting , the pro­ certain that the data has been properly s tored, the
teacher tests for feedback and �rades for accuracy of
fes sional s equencers are retreating to last ditch de­
recall. It's all very simpl e : One, two, three. I nput,
fenses like "economic necessity" and victim analysis.
storage, retrieval. Very simple. And very outdated.
Unable or unwi lling to meet rising student criticism of
John Dewey smashed that concept of ed uca t ion at the
the sequence, some of the professionals in the Department turn of the c entury and not one s i g nific ant voice in the
fiel d tod ay advances such an outmoded, inaccurate , and
of Education are presumin g to answer students with the plainly unen l igh tened view of the learn i ng process.
Nevertheles s , that is the prevailing philosophy in the
specious argument that they complain only because they ISU Collepe of Education.

haven't ad j usted themselves to the new system. Dr. •:2

Walter Pierce, one of the founding father s, recently

embraced this peculiar logic in a discussio n with a
disenchanted student who subsequen tly dropped out of

education. As Dr. Pierce explained it, many students

are essentially lazy and lookinr, for an easy ride and

that's why some of them think they dislike the profes-

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