# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1944_S519
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

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518 " Report of Board for Higher Education

many students have academic difficulties in Spite of good intelligen:
because they do not have the ability to read English. In Part, :

lag in silent reading ability results from a great amount of handling
of unfamiliar languages—five years of Latin, five to six years .of
German, four years of Greek. Students become habituated “td
reading by single words; they fail to develop sufficient phrase ‘span:
An emphatic attack on this problem is necessary. :

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9. Specific measures should be taken to ‘increase student’s initia?
tive and responsibility. a

10. A system of faculty advisers for students might be establishec 3
' at all schools. Properly conducted, this will be of immense value in‘?

diagnosis of poor achievement and motivation for increased and better
directed efforts,

11. Learning could be motivated by more prizes, honors, and the;
tying-in of campus privileges with scholarship.

12. Much greater attendance of faculty members at Associati
Meetings should be encouraged. Our faculties need the stimulus of:
contacts with fellow teachers of their major subject fields. Member.’
ship in state and nation-wide organizations should be held by many:
more professors. Institutional or synodical treasuries could well a!
ford to pay the annual dues. Copies of the journals which usually:
accompany memberships could eventually go to. the school library.
Travel expenses to the meetings might largely be paid likewise fro
school or synodical funds. A specific budget and a plan of rotating “
the attendance among the men could readily be worked out. Ug

13. A system of sabbatical leaves should be instituted. The pro:
fessors of our institutions, Particularly of the teachers’ colleges an
the seminaries need more time for Study than they get while they :
are working. In professional life men do, not remain static.” Thi
moment intellectual progress ceases, retrogression sets in. Summe ?
vacations do ‘not provide sufficiently long periods of relief from thé
continuous interruption of campus ‘duty. In numerous instances es:
sential administrative or synodical work is performed by professors
during the summer vacation, and thus scant opportunity is provided
for scholarly advancement, Unless the men ‘read and study, they do
get out of date and will become of less and less value to the scho
to the student, and. thus: to Synod. Hence,:such leaves are not
charitable gifts, but good investments for Synod itself, |
good reason exists for a periodic breathing spell-of: extended duration:
Freedom from the constant association ‘with adolescent intellects
required to adjust one’s point of view. It'seerns not too much ° an
expenditure for Synod to grant a leave of absence with full nay. for
at least one semester, or for an entire year with. half pay, to eve
professor after he has served ten years. For the immediate future ity
appears feasible to permit 10 per cent of each faculty annually

be.on leave for purposes of directed travel or. advanced study .or
scholarly production. ;

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