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Ahlquist, Irving (audio interview #5 of 5)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the first of five interviews conducted in Ahlquist's office in the CSULB History Department. The audio quality of the interview is good. 1/12/1981
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- 2021-08-31
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- Campus
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- SUBJECT BIO - Irving Ahlquist was among the first professors at South Los Angeles Orange County State College when it opened in 1949 on its apartment house campus. Even after he retired from teaching, he continued supervising student teachers. In these five interviews, Ahlquist discusses his observations of and participation in struggles to organize the curriculum and faculty on the campus and to include both administrators and faculty in campus governance. He was among those who developed and implemented the history curriculum and the training of secondary school teachers. He also had a reputation for teaching excellent and was in demand as a speaker in the local community. These interviews were conducted as part of a project to document the history of California State University, Long Beach. TOPICS - family background; childhood; education; and decision to go to college and major in history;family background; education; graduate school; WWII and military service; marriage; doctoral studies and research; teaching; Iowa State Teachers College; and P; Victor Peterson;
- File: uhiahlquist501.mp3 <p> Audio Segments and Topics:<p> (0:15 - 11:29)... Brief introduction. Long Beach State began primarily as a teacher training school. All of the state colleges were under the control of the California Department of Education. At first, student teachers were supervised by professors from the Education Department. Later, however, the system was changed and professors from the disciplines in which secondary teachers taught supervised them. Ahlquist was concerned about the quality of history instruction in high schools and wanted to encourage his students to become excellent teachers and encourage their students to love history. Kenneth Applegate was hired to coordinate the social science teacher education program on campus. (11:29 - 15:08)... Speaks about the History Department's involvement in the beginning of the teacher education program. Gene Ascher brings History Education Project to Long Beach State and Ahlquist becomes very active in the creation of a history teacher education program. He then begins to describe the program. (15:08 - 26:41)... Teacher supervision was an time consuming program. Those professors who supervised student teachers were required to make a minimum amount of 6 classroom visits to observe and make suggestions to the student teachers. While Ahlquist was involved in the program, he always worked to improve it. (26:41 - 29:01)... Another component of the teacher education program is an international education program with student teachers in England. In this program supervisors meet with students 3 times a week. Ahlquist has observed that students from England are better trained in geography than those trained in the US, but are not as knowledge in the social sciences. (29:01 - 31:54)... When the campus' student teaching program expanded, administrators in Long Beach Unified School District became concerned that a large proportion of their classes were being taught by student teachers. Ahlquist was a leader in reaching out to other nearby school district to find additional students teacher placement sites. (31:54 - 36:42)... Ahlquist coordinated many of his student teaching assignments by talking on the telephone to vice principals; he found that they usually knew which of the faculty members on their campuses would make good master teachers. Student teachers were discouraged from teaching at the schools where they graduated. One reason for this was that their former teachers may not believe they had grown up enough to be teachers. Another reason was that they might have brothers or sisters enrolled in the school. (36:42 - 44:20)... Placing and supervising student teachers presents many problems. Some of the master teachers in high schools do not allow student teachers to be flexible in their teaching styles. Most teachers, however, are willing to allow student teachers some freedom because they can often learn new skills by watching the student teachers. In cases where Ahlquist has removed student teachers from assignments, the cause of the removal is it is usually a conflict with the master teacher. (44:20 - 45:41).... The presidents that followed P. Victor Peterson were good administrators. Ahlquist worked with Carl McIntosh in developing his presidential inauguration festivities and found him to be a rather cold person. End of tape
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