Colby Magazine: From the Hill

	Still Life with Broun Director of National Museum helps dedicate Lunder Wing

	The Deeds of Didier Oak Human Rights Fellow warrants total commitment

	Lovejoy Winner William Raspberry Calls for Less Negativism in News

	Colby Math Professor Inspires Raspberry

	Committee on Race Prompts Debate

	Graduation Credit Requirement Raised

Admirers of William Raspberry traveled from Massachusetts and New Hampshire to meet the man behind the pen and to hear his address at the 47th Lovejoy Convocation. One fan who didn't have to travel far, though, was Thomas Berger, the Carter Professor of Mathematics.

After Raspberry's speech Berger asked a question about the role that bylines play in the tenor of stories. Intrigued by a possible cause-and-effect relationship he had never pondered, Raspberry replied, "There may be a column in that."

If so, it would be the second Raspberry column that Berger inspired. In 1989, when Berger was working for the National Science Foundation to reform math education and when George Bush was promising that U.S. students would be "first in the world" in math achievement by 2000, Raspberry published a series of columns questioning the content and direction of American math instruction. As is his custom, he invited discussion and turned his syndicated soap box into a semi-public forum.

Four-fifths of a follow-up column consisted of quotes from a letter Berger wrote in reply. In it Berger complained that graduates of American schools and colleges ordinarily have seen little or no "real" math: "they have just learned to compute."

"In the beginning we make great progress. But as we approach our human limitations of skill, each little bit of improvement takes much more drill and practice. By fifth grade [a lot of people] know: 1) they are worthless human beings; 2) they will never be able to do math, and 3) they hate math.

"We need to lead kids to think, lead them to question results and answers, lead them to solve interesting problems and stop lecturing at them and testing them with rote tests," Berger said.

After Raspberry's "I'll-have-to-get-back-to-you-on-that" reply to Berger's question about bylines in November, at least a few people are watching the op-ed pages, hoping for a sequel.

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