Editor’s Note: For now over 75 years, The Baylor Line has been publishing vivid storytelling from across the Baylor Family. I don’t think our archives full of deep, inspirational features should live solely on shelves, so we are bringing them back to life in BL Classics. Instead of our usual long-form article, this Classic from the May-June 1958 issue of The Baylor Line tells a story in pictures of a time when night classes in Baylor’s Evening Division was a novel idea. rather than words.
The night school student at Baylor is more likely to be a man than a woman. His age is around 34 or 35. During the day he holds a responsible job as a company man or a military man. He is usually a junior or a senior, and his grades are B’s and C’s.
This composite picture, however, is somewhat misleading. There are also many women enrolled in evening classes, and during the spring quarter just past, 250 students of the 700 enrolled were regular day students who chose a night class.
A few years ago this average night school student’s age was 42, but he is growing younger. Last quarter 121 new students enrolled for the first time. Most of these had done no college work before, although they were 21 years of age or older. They must meet regular admission requirements: an accredited high school education or its equivalent as measured by the General Education Development Test, given by the Baylor Testing Center.
Evening Division students include a long roster of veterans and military personnel from James Connally Air Force Base and the 12th Air Force. Also well-represented are employees of firms which sponsor adult education. Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, for example, pays up to $300 a year for courses approved by the company. The employee must repay the company if he makes an F in the course—and you may be sure that there is very little of this kind of nonsense. That is not the recommended way to impress one’s boss.
The Air Force pays 50 per cent of the tuition for its personnel for approved courses. William Cameron Company pays 100 per cent of employees’ tuition.
These students generally make better grades than their younger colleagues of the daylight hours. They understand the need for further education in their particular field. They have been working hard all day, and it is a real effort for them to sit in class and concentrate from two to four additional hours. They are serious.
It is possible to get a B.B.A. degree by attending classes only at night. It is also possible to complete minors in several fields, and to complete majors in English and psychology, for the B.A. degree. George Lassetter, who began his studies in 1949, completed all of his work in night classes, receiving the B.B.A. degree in 1954. In addition, he has completed work on a master’s degree which he will receive in August or next fall. During the day he works for the Veterans Administration.
C. L. “Chuck” Hinkle, manager of Waco radio station KWTX, also completed all of his work for a degree in night classes following his return from military service in the Pacific in the Korean Conflict.
During the spring quarter, the Evening Division offered 79 courses, including graduate courses, in 18 major fields. Every member of the Baylor faculty teaches a night class whenever called upon, usually once a year. Classes are held in every building on the campus. In the summer classes move to air conditioned buildings, with the exception of photography which by necessity must remain in the frame journalism building where the photographic laboratories are located.
Tuition for evening classes is the same as that of day classes: $10 per quarter hour or $50 for the usual 5-quarter-hour course. When Baylor goes on the semester system next fall the cost will be $16.50 per semester hour or $49.50 for a 3-semester-hour course.
Two periods are scheduled each evening; 65 per cent of students have classes from 5:30 to 7:35, while 45 per cent enroll from 7:35 to 9:30.
Beginning in September under the semester system, classes will be offered in three periods: 5:30, 7:00, and 8:30. Each class will last one hour and 15 minutes, meeting twice a week.
Although there were some night courses offered by various departments prior to 1949, the Evening Division with a definite schedule came into being in that year. It was organized by Dr. Monroe Carroll, former dean who is now provost, and by Dr. A. S. Lang, dean of the School of Business. The following year Dr. Edwin Moore served as director.
In September 1952, Arch Hunt was appointed director and a separate Evening Division was organized. Mr. Hunt, who is also director of Baylor’s Placement Center, is a former Kansas newspaper editor. He moved into education as a profession in 1947 after serving in the Navy during World War II. Frances Morgan recently joined the Evening Division staff as assistant to Mr. Hunt. A former Baylor student, she had been with Braniff International Airways for the past five years and was supervisor of hostesses when she left to return to Baylor.
John Guemple, graduate student in history, is night assistant on the Evening Division staff, working from 5 to 9 p.m. He is a graduate of William Jewell College.
It is more than a possibility that within a few years—when the “war babies” arrive to overcrowd facilities of colleges and universities throughout America—that evening courses will be routine for all students.
