| Show Ed Education c chief home school partners In the face of mounting criticism of Ameri American an schools the U. U S S. S Commissioner Comm Com missioner of Education has struck back saying We in education pretty well mirror society's problems problem and values II Dr T T. T H H. H Bell in a wide-ranging wide interview with Scripps League Newspapers Newspapers Newspapers News News- papers said The education system isn't working as well as we want it to Neither is s the economic system A And d there are those thos who say th the government government government gov gov- isn't functioning too well either So its it's up to more than just the schools Bell who heads the U U. U S S. Office of Education which has an annual budget of 7 billion continued A childs child's learning is affected by many environmental factors factor outside the school I see the breakdown of the family as a serious problem We have data that indicates that literally millions millions millions mil mil- lions of t teenagers are alcoholics One out of five five teenagers teenager smokes pot quite steadily at the present time A million new children are touched by divorce every year So the the-r theres there's s 's lack of stability here no school can compensate for failure in n the home The Commissioner who is noted for speaking out strongly in supports support of greater emphasis on basic learning skills said that given these factors plus the inordinate amount of television television television tele tele- vision watched by youngsters he is not at all surprised by the problems we are having with youth The minimum that the school ought to expect from the home is for the child to come to school well clothed in reasonably good health with a healthy personality a decent outlook on life and a willingness and readiness readiness readiness read read- iness to learn said Bell But all too often that's not happening We Wedo Wedo Wedo do have our problems in the schools but education is a partnership situation and all learning doesn't take place in the school And the preconditions for learning are pretty bad in many situations Obviously there are other serious problems affecting U. U S. S education eg e.g. teacher strikes a retreat from basic learning skills and of course the continuing busing to name a few We believe however that Dr Bell is correct in saying that the most serious problem of all allis allis is the general decline of American society which is ac accurately mirrored unfortunately in the lives of our youth |
