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Since 1960 Volume 83, Issue 7
Titan Touchdowns
Go around the world without leaving Fullerton THE HUB, p. 4
Once upon a time, Cal State Fullerton had a football team SPORTS, p. 8
Daily Titan
Tuesday September 12, 2006
The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
Opposite Sex May Be Hard to Learn From New study suggests students are best taught by same-gender professors By Katy French Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
An educational study released last Monday suggests that students learn more from same-sex teachers. The article “The Why Chromosome: how a Teacher’s Gender Affects Boys and Girls” was published in the education journal “Education Next” by Thomas S. Dee, an associate professor in the Department of Economics at Swarthmore College and a faculty research fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research. The study has attracted the attention of educators, some of whom have been skeptical of its findings. Dee’s study was based on research conducted by U.S. Department of Education in 1988. The National Education Longitudinal Survey researched approximately 25,000 eighth-grade students and their teachers nationwide. Based on this data, Dee found noticeable discrepancies in performance between students with gendermatched teachers and nongendermatched teachers. Generally, students performed better with same-sex teachers and, in some cases, performed worse with opposite-sex teachers. “Exactly why gender makes so much of a difference in student learning is difficult to ascertain,” Dee said in the study. “But the [National Education Longitudinal Survey] data offer some suggestive evidence that the opinions of teachers about their students – and of students about their teachers – is shaped in part by gender characteristics.” Patricia Keig, an associate
professor in the department of elementary, bilingual, and reading education at Cal State Fullerton, believes that gender does play a role in the classroom dynamic, but may relate to social roles rather than academic performance. “It seems really unlikely to me that the gender of their K-12 teachers has much of an impact on that [ability to learn]. I think it’s largely cultural messages,” Keig said. According to the study, discrepancies between gender test scores have, in certain subjects, been traditionally present. Historically, from grades K-12, gender gaps have been recognized between sexes and certain subjects. Dee refers to statistics in which girls generally score higher in reading while boys are generally better in math and science. Clearly evident at CSUF, specific subjects are still dominated by certain sexes. Last fall, males accounted for 84 percent of the engineering and computer sciences department and females accounted for 65 percent of the communications department, according to a report in CSUF’s academic senate newsletter the Senate Forum. But some, like Renae Bredin, associate professor and coordinator of the women’s studies program on campus, would argue that testing methods are deficient and are not accurate representations of student’s ability or progress. “Testing is inherently biased. The testing process itself has a gender bias to it. Girls will under-perform on certain kinds of tests [like multiplechoice] and boys will under-perform on certain kinds of tests [like essay questions],” Bredin said. In the study, Dee said that exploring gender effects are important because gender gaps are becoming more SEE STUDY - PAGE 3
The Three Percent
By Ian Hamilton/Daily Titan Asst. News Editor
THe ExTreme Minority - Uche Ollawa, psychology major, makes his way across the quad to the African American Resource Center. The 18-year-old is mindful of the lack of a strong black student presence on campus.
Cal State Fullerton’s Lack of Black
Despite large Hispanic and Asian groups, black students only at 3 percent By Adam Levy Daily Titan News Editor alevy@dailytitan.com
W
hile Cal State Fullerton has been acclaimed as an institution
immersed in diversity and culture, a glaring number sticks out from the university’s official fact sheet — a 3 percent enrollment of black students. The numbers don’t lie. There is a conspicuous lack of black on the university’s ethnic palette. A multitude of factors weigh in to the cultural imbalance that exists about the campus. Students and faculty pointed out
PART TWO of this three part series will detail the relationships black students share with other races and the conflicts they face. the whiteness of Orange County, astronomical tuition fees and the universities’ failure in recruiting potential students from high schools in black communities. “A long time ago, this was a white institution — blacks were nonexistent,” said Wacira Gethaiga,
professor of Afro-Ethnic Studies. The educator detailed the historical foundations of the community CSUF is centered in. “California is not as liberal as people like to think it is, especially Orange County,” Gethaiga said. The Ku Klux Klan “had places in Anaheim for a long time. In the SEE THREE - PAGE 3
New York, Local Deaths Remembered and Honored on Sept. 11 Students recite names to remember those lost in the Trade Center attacks
Firefighters and rescuers celebrated in Santa Ana memorial ceremony By Nancy Mora
By Julianna Crisalli
Daily Titan Staff Writer
Daily Titan Staff Writer
news@dailytitan.com
news@dailytitan.com
An elderly woman approaches the uniformed officer, trembling as she takes his hand to be seated. Firefighters dressed in kilts rehearse in the parking lot, the sound of their pipes filling the air. People walking by stop and take a minute to look at the commotion. A large American flag is slowly unfolded by firefighters, who are careful not to let it touch the ground. In the midst of errands and jury duty in downtown Santa Ana, the Fire Family Annual Monument Memorial was held Monday, Sept. 11. The ceremony was a dual tribute to firefighters who died during the World Trade Center attack and local Orange County firefighters who recently lost their lives. The local firefighters were each represented by a red rose. Their department chief and family member, if they could make it, placed the rose on the memorial
Tears fell down the face of Lauren Vega as she heard her cousin’s name read among the hundreds lost on Sept. 11, 2001. Cal State Fullerton’s Associated Students Inc. organized a day of remembrance on Monday in honor of the five-year anniversary of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. For approximately 45 minutes, the names of those lost in the tragedy were read in the Becker Amphitheatre. There were too many names to finish the list before the end of the event. Vega, a radio-TV-film major, By SUZANNe SULLIVAN/For the Daily Titan didn’t know about the ceremony REMEMBERING HEOROES - Orange County firefighters repeat their “Oath of Office” at the Fire Family until Monday morning. When Annual Monument Memorial honoring those who perished on Sept. 11. she got out of class, she rushed statue. An officer rang a bell above died has made his final call.” her husband’s rose. Her daughter around campus looking for the the statue. After hearing the name of Darold followed behind her and stood at amphitheatre. “The bells represent a final Kleppe, Dawn Kleppe rose quietly, She finally arrived and thought alarm,” said Jim Ellis, Costa Mesa wiping the tears from her face she had missed her cousin’s name, fire chief. “A firefighter who has as she humbly walked to receive SEE FIRE - PAGE 3 but as soon as she sat down,
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The Three Percent
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David LeMange’s name was read. Immediately, she began to cry. “It is still hard, “ Vega said. “I always keep a picture of him in my wallet. It is still very hard after five years.” Vega recently moved to Orange County from New Jersey. This is her first semester at CSUF and the first time she’ll be away from her family on Sept. 11. “We always went to ground zero to leave a rose on this day,” Vega said. “Being away [from my family] feels like I have no where to turn.” Although it is still hard to think about the day she lost her cousin, Vega is glad his memory lives on. LeMange was a Port Authority police officer. He was in New Jersey when he heard the news and he knew he had to help. He pulled several people out of the building, then went in a second time, Vega said. That time, he never came out. “They found his body in February. It was about six or seven blocks away from where the building fell,” Vega said. “His body was wrapped in an SEE CSUF - PAGE 3
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