# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1944_S509
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

508 Report of Board for Higher Education

V. INSTRUCTION

A. General Observations

Classes of Practically every teacher at the institutions were visite

The purpose of these visits was to secure an insight into
1. The teaching personality of the instructor;

2. The general atmosphere surrounding participation by the cl

3. The instructional procedures,

subject matter.

Obviously the professional ability of a teacher cannot be deter;

mined by a single visit. However, the over-all view obtained | by

class visits, when supplemented by other sources of information, :
considered to be valid. . ‘

Our observations are as follows:

organization, and content of th

1. At almost every institution exceptionally excellent instructiol
was observed in one or more classes. Synod may be proud ‘6

the considerable number of unusually able and inspiring ‘pro
fessors. . ,

2. With few exceptions, the instructors Are thoroughly familiar?
with the subject matter content of their courses.

3. When one considers the over-all situation, it must be admitte
that there is more than a modicum of mediocre instructi
At times instruction was found to be surprisingly poor. “

The following deficiencies were observed so frequently that atte
tion should be called to them. .

In the High School Division

1. There was apparent a lack of clearly defined objectives on the
* part of the teacher. About one half of the syllabuses submitt
by the instructors of the Preparatory colleges do not list either:
long-range goals or specify aims. of their courses. Presumab
this is not due to an oversight, but rather to an unfamiliarity:
with them, ; .
2. Too often there was evident a lack of balance between th
memory type and the problem-solving type of.activity. Th ef
was too much of the hammering-in Process, too little reasoning;

required. .
3. There was too little help from the instructors in building mean
ingful backgrounds as aids to ‘the learning process.
4.

In considerably more than half of the classes visited, the givi
of new assignments took Place at the end of the period. T
objectives of the new assignment were not clearly set forth
the students. There was no direction for the method of study
5. It was all too obvious that in many instances the student wa:

not expected to go beyond the limits of his own textbook.