The Michigan Daily-Tuesday, June 16, 1981-Page 11
LEARNING SEMINAR A 'UNIQUE' EXPERIENCE
Seminar draws educators
By JENNIFER MILLER
Daily staff writer
Graduate students and faculty members from
psychology and education fields are being provided
with a unique "think tank" in the form of an inten-
sive, month-long seminar on learning and motivation
in the classroom.
Ann Marie DeBritto, an education and psychology
graduate student, said the seminar has been a
rewarding experience for her that "just hit the nail on
the head perfectly."
THIRTY GRAD students and faculty members
from across the country have assembled for the
Summer Institute on Learning and Motivation in the
Classroom, co-sponsored by the University School of
Education.
Discussion and study group time revolves around
the speaker of the day, whose lecture is open to the
public.
Scott Paris, a professor of education and
psychology and an organizer of the Institute, said the
seminar "is a rare opportunity for students." The In-
stitute's goal is to "make bridges between
psychology and educational practice. Hopefully, it
will generate some new approaches and ideas,"
Paris said.
STUDENTS ARE offered an "intensive interac-
tion" with the istinguished speakers, Paris said.
This aspect of th' seminar seems to be the most
rewarding for students.
DeBritton said that the Institute "is more per-
sonalized" than most conferences or seminars. "You
feel less threatened," De Britto said.
Another graduate student, Jan Jacobs, agreed.
"The idea is that people get to know each other very
well-there is a social contact," she said. The student
and faculty group has dinner with the day's speaker,
and sometimes they talk until late at night, Paris
said.
A FEW OF the topics covered in the seminar are
student motivation and attitudes, cognitive theories
of reading, writing and arithmetic, and social policies
involved in education. The discussions will focus on
the current issues in education and psychology, Paris
said.
The Institute's concept is a first for Michigan,
Paris said. A book on the lectures will be published
next year.
Co-sponsors of the intensive seminar are the Bush
Program in Child Development and Social Policy,
Chicago-Michigan Center for Cognitive Science, the
Rackham Graduate School, and, the Combined
Program in Education and Psychology.
Twin City twister
A tornado looms over the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, where two men were killed and more than 70 people injured by the
violent storm Sunday. An aerial survey of the widespread damage showed there was only one twister, not three as
previously reported by the weather service.
Amtrak service to be continued
Court:
prisoners
'lack of
comfort'
is legal
From AP and UPI
WASHINGTON - Convicts have no
right to "comfortable prisons," the
Supreme Court ruled yesterday,
declaring that overcrowded state in-
stitutions may keep two inmates in a
cell designed for one.
The 8-1 decision - a landmark inter-
pretation of the Constitution's ban on
"cruel and unusual punishment" -
reversed an order that Ohio stop
"double-ceiling" inmates at its
Lucasville state prison.
"THE CONSTITUTION does not
mandate comfortable prisons, and
prisons which house persons convicted
of serious crimes .cannot be free of
discomfort," Justice Lewis Powell
wrote for the majority. "These con-
siderations properly are weighed by the
legislature and prison administration
rather than a court."
Standing alone - and vehement - in
dissent, Justice Thurgood Marshall ac-
cused his fellow justices of glossing
over Lucasville's problems and
declared the prison "is overcrowded,
unhealthful and dangerous."
THE MAJORITY opinion em-
phasized the case was the first in which
the high court defined the limits the
Constitution imposes on state prison
conditions.
However, in a concurring opinion
written by Justice William Brennan, he
warned the ruling should not be "con-
strued as a retreat from careful judicial
scrutiny of prison conditions."
Justice Marshall voiced the fear
that federal judges would read exactly
- ' siucha retreat into Powell's opinion.
(Continued from Page 3)
AFTER THE $735 million recom-
mendation passes the Senate, Morgan
said, it will be routed to the conference
committee along with the House
recommendation. The two proposals
then will be considered until a com-
promise is reached, possibly within a
month, Morgan said.
The House has also approved a $735
million appropriation for Amtrak, but it
has added $82 million in relief from in-
terest payments on debts owed the
government, Morgan said, adding that
she predicts the Senate will agree to the
relief of payments.
Clark Charnetski, chairman of the
Michigan Association of Railroad
Passengers said that because of the
committee action, the Amtrak system
of major train lines is not in immediate
danger of elimination any longer, but
the future of the commuter trains is still
in doubt.
THE SENATE recommendation
requires the commuter lines to be
profitable, while the House recommen-
dation mandates Amtrak be respon-
sible for the continuance of commuter
lines now in existence, Charnetski said.
The administration has agreed to the
$735 million figure for Amtrak, accor-
ding to administration aides. Amtrak
had initially asked for $835 million, so
the total budget will be reduced, which
is what the administration desired in
the first place, said Amtrak
spokeswoman Marciniak.
"The goal of Amtrak is to become in-
dependent of the federal dollar," said
Marciniak, "and we are determined to
meet that goal." Amtrak should be in-
dependent of subsidized operating costs
by 1985, which is ahead of initial ad-
ministration estimates, she said.
CANNON, IN his arguments for fur-
ther funding, stressed the need for a
national railroad rather than a single
strip down the East Coast, Morgan
said. ' n -
If the Senate does agree to drop the
requirement that Amtrak pay interest
on the debt owed the government, the
figure of $735 million plus $82 million to
pay the interest will be given Amtrak
each of the next three years, according
to Morgan.
Morgan said she was optimistic about
passage of the bill and the future of Am-
trak. There will probably be no cuts in
service under the proposed budget that
would not have been made anyway, she
said.
RECENT COST-saving measures
adopted by Amtrak include a reduction
of the Washington staff by one-fourth, a
hike in the-charge for meals served on
the train, and a charge for several ser-
vices now offered for free, said Char-
netski.
Marciniak said one way to reduce
costs in the future is diversification.
Stations could be developed into com:
'merciat -enterprises. - . .