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Show Page 2-The Citizen Thursday, June 26, 1980 Guest Editorial A II ll Hi'fi. (iiinii Mi Kav As one Congressman who has spent some time as an educator, stories of unusual progress with students are always interesting. in-teresting. Recently a report from the eastern newspaper, "The Washington Post" and a subsequent report on CBS's "60 Minutes" drew some attention and is worthy of review. It seems there's a small private school on Chicago's westside where traditional modern education, for economic reasons, had to be set aside in favor of teacher imagination. Marva Collins, teacher at Westside Preparatory School, is working what CBS called "miracles" on youngsters who are often disadvantaged with diagnosed psychiatric problems or learning disabilities. In spite of these handicaps, teacher Collins never introduces her children to the "childish" books, as she calls them. "We never deal with 'See the big red ball. See the ball roll down the hill.' They (her students) don't even realize such junk exists." According to the Washington Post, "She starts her 4 year old with fables which they find inherently interesting. Four and 5 year olds are enjoying such. . . fare as fables of Aesop, Da Vinci and Sophocles. They all memorize one poem and write one composition each week and they have to read at least one book every two weeks." Says the teacher, ". . . we worry more about getting it right than about getting it written." Concerning financial assistance and more sophisticated teaching methods, "If you gave us $20,000 worth of audiovisual equipment we'd leave it on the sidewalk." she says. She accomplishes her miracles with the aid of one teaching assistant, chalk, eraser and practically no money. Her most important tools are library books. One of her typical students, Erica McKoy, came to the school at age six unable to read and unlikely to learn the skill. Four years later, now a fourth grader, the student is reading beyond high school graduate levels with math skills not far behind. She began her study of Latin in the third grade with the rest of her classmates. Their reading list includes Chaucer, Dostoevski, Flaubert, Goethe, Dante and Plutarch. The teacher claims there is no secret to her success, but the newspaper reports there is one difference from the traditional classroom setting: her constant attention to building her students, self-esteem. "Speak up, darling; you're brilliant," she'll tell a reticent pupil. "If you let someone else steal your thunder, you'll always be just a little raindrop." In Utah we have a tradition for both innovation and high academic achievement. There is no question that we have teachers with skills equal to Marva Collins and our students are consistently among the best in the nation in academic testing. It's really no wonder that Utahns reach a higher level of education than their fellow citizens in the rest of the nation. In spite of all this, it's refreshing to hear a story once in awhile of real accomplishment ac-complishment in the face of adversity, like that at Westside Preparatory School in Chicago. yl y Diy cf 61 TO Utah Abl To Finance Recession's Unemployment In contrast to many other states, Utah should be able to meet unemployment benefit demands in the period ahead without federal assistance, providing the recession is no more severe than the one experienced in 1974-75. This was the conclusion of Utah Foundation, the private research organization, in a study of Utah's ability to finance unemployment compensation costs. The report indicates that Utah's unemployment reserve fund, which was reduced by the 1974-75 recession, has been built back up to $66.2 million, or 1.6 of total wages, by the end of the 1979 calendar year. In addition, current revenue from unemployment taxes collected in 1980 will be equal to an estimated 1.0 of total wages. Thus, funds available to meet unemployment unem-ployment benefit costs should exceed 2.6 of total wages. Benefit payments in Utah during 1975, the peak unemployment year during the 1974-75 recession, amounted to 1.71 of total wages. From this, it would appear that present resources should be adequate to meet unemployment benefit costs without endangering the integrity of Utah's unemployment insurance system. Foundation analysts indicate, however, that the unemployment insurance programs in many of the other states are not in as good shape as Utah's to meet the challenge of a new recession. As of May, 1980, fifteen states had outstanding debts totaling more than $4.3 billion. Most of these debts represented amounts borrowed from the federal government during the last recession to meet unemployment benefit claims. In addition, a number of other states have only minimal reserves and are vulnerable if the recession should prove to be long and severe. The foundation report points out that Utah revised its unemployment insurance program to allow financing to keep pace with inflation. This has strengthened the program, helped build back the reserves after the last recession, and even allowed for a reduction in Utah unemployment tax rates this year. Foundation officials also note that Utah historically has had sound administration and good legislation to protect the program against excessive fraud and abuse. This was further improved by legislation enacted in 1979 which tightened Utah law against certain questionable practices. Such moves against fraud and abuse in the program benefit not only the employers who must pay the bill, but also the workers who legitimately depend on unemployment benefits during periods of unemployment. ' In Utah, qualified workers may receive unemployment benefits equal to approximately ap-proximately 50 of the average amount earned during the high quarter of the previous base year. Beginning July 6, 1980, this amount will be subject to an overall maximum of $150 per week. The length of time that these benefits may be received ordinarily varies from a minimum of 10 weeks to a maximum of 36 weeks, depending upon the claimants previous work history. During periods of high unemployment, however, the duration period may be extended by various state and federal programs. In one period during 1975, for example, a total of 65 weeks in unemployment benefits could be paid to unemployed workers under certain circumstances. Democrat Budget Criticized Rep. Gunn McKay recently voted in favor of the controversial "balanced" federal budget for fiscal year 1981, helping to pass the $613.7 billion spending bill. Despite strong Republican opposition and a general concession that the budget will be in deficit by late summer, the House passed it 205 to 195. In concluding actions on the first concurrent budget resolution, the House set its target figures for the coming fiscal year balancing the federal budget, at least on paper, for the first time in 12 years. But the budget was called a sham by Republicans. And..' it will probably be as much as $15 billion . in the red by late summer, according to Carter administration ad-ministration and congressional experts, due to the country's deepening recession. In criticism of the measure, Rep. Bob Bauman (R-MD) said a vote for the bill would condone a budget that does not seek to solve the economic problems faced by the nation. "It (the economy) is a situation that demands. . .massive tax cuts," said Bauman, "yet this particular budget ratifies about $95 or $100 billion in new taxes when what we need are tax cuts to stimulate growth in this country. "I strongly urge that we vote down this pending motion," Bauman concluded, "that we refuse to ratify the failure of Carter economics, we refuse to ratify unemployment and inflation and high f - interest rates. That is what we are voting on today, and we ought to reject this budget and the Carter policies." Adding to this criticism, Rep. Jack Kemp (R-NY) said, "The budget charade is over." There sure is a lot of bad news around today. It seems there's nothing of importance being published in the newspapers or aired on TV and radio that's good. The sensational, the bizarre, the ugly, these seem to be the trade words for the media, and a lot of people are rebelling. They're turning off the tube and canceling their subscriptions, sub-scriptions, yes, the only news, it seems, is bad news. A few years ago that was the theme of one of our high government officials, and it created quite a stir in the news media. One enterprising independent station in Arizona decided it would only broadcast good news. The TV broadcaster would come on the air and give a capsule of the usual bad news and the rest of the program was devoted to "good" things that were happening. The station's ratings went down dramatically. The station manager and the news director, along with most of the news staff, were fired. When questioned, the new director said, "We made a big mistake. We thought news was good or bad. What it really is, is unusual. It's what's out of the ordinary that makes news. There's no such thing as good or bad news, there's only reports of unusual happenings. Fortunately, the bad we see on TV and in the newspapers is unusual enough that it's different from the norm." He went on to say, "I hope I never see the day when "good" is unusual. Recently Leonard Read, founder and president of the Foundation for Economic Education, wrote an essay on good news. He came to the same conclusion as the Arizona news director news is bad because it's unusual. "The good news," said Read, "concerns the private ownership and control of scarce and valuable resources and the voluntary exchange of goods and services in open competition, with government limited to keeping the peace and invoking a common justice." For those still looking for some good news, take a look at this. In 1979 over 197 million Americans weren't arrested. Eighty-nine million didn't file for divorce, and 115 million U.S. citizens maintained their affiliation with some religious group. Over four million teachers and professors did not strike or participate in unruly demonstrations. That's good news, and this may be the first time you've heard about it. in the 1830's, when the U.S. was a budding and prospering nation, French statesman and political writer, Alexis de Tocqueville came to America and made this often quoted statement: "I sought for the greatness and genius of America in fertile fields and boundless forests; it was not there. I sought for it in her free schools and her institutions of learning; it was not there. I sought for it in her matchless Constitution and democratic congress; it was not there. "Not until I went to the churches of America and found them aflame with righteousness did I understand the greatness and genius of America. America is great because America is good. When America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." Perhaps all the bad news is a good sign. - -T - - - i r --urnr ------ ,-r- Serving North Utah County r 66 VV. Main, American Fork, Utah 84003 The Citizen is published every Thursday by Newtah, Inc., which also publishes the Lehi Free Press and the North Utah County Shopping Guide. Together, the three publications reach 90 percent of the homes in North Utah County, including in-cluding Lindon, Pleasant Grove, American Fork, Cedar Hills, Highland, Alpine, Lehi, Cedar Fort and Fairfield. The publications saturate the area, but also, with prize-winning contents and modern layout, they command excellent ex-cellent readership. Weeklies in general have more thorough readership than daily newspapers. A recent survey by the Newspaper Advertising Bureau revealed that while 85 percent of the daily newspaper subscribers read at least half of the daily newspaper, 88 percent of the weekly newspaper subscribers read every page of their weekly newspaper. And locally, four to five times as many people do their grocery shopping out of the Newtah publications as from any other publication, according to an independent survey by two BYU professors. Subscription Rates: $7.50 one year$14.00 two years. Classified Advertising Rates: $3 for first 15 words, 5 cents a word thereafter (runs in all 3 publications). Display Advertising Rates: As low as 80 cents per column inch for a single publication on contract ($1.75 for all three publications). A quarter page ad (on contract), for example, would cost about $45 for one publication, about $90 for all three publications, going to nearly 10,000 homes. The Citizen is sent out by mail. Second class postage is paid at American Fork Post Office (U.S.P.S. No. 018-580). OUR STAFF WOULD BE PLEASED TO SERVE YOU Ex. EditorPublisher Ken Harvey 756-7669 CORRESPONDENTS: Ast. EditorPublisher Brett Bezzant 756-7669 John Roberts (Sports) 756-3666 American Fork Editor Jean Gordon 756-7669 Ann Shields 756-2705 Lehi Editor Betty Fowler 768-9696 Gay Neves 756-2843 Bookkeeper Pat Hansen 756-7660 Edna Loveridge 768-3442 Advertising Manager Jesse Spafford 756-7669 Julian Mercer 768-3995 Production Manager Mont Call 756-7660 Sharon Morrey 756-3035 Circulation Manager Doreen Sharpe 756-7669 Sandy Allen 756-2980 Head Typographer Gail Brown 756-7660 Shelly Wagstaff 768-3912 Society Editor Kristen Shelley 756-7669 Sharon Frei 225 0170 HayleyWihongi 756-3413 Postmaster: Send address changes to 66 W. Main, American Fork, Utah 84003 F Wp: Fly Shell Rabon 50 Wettable Powder Especially effective as a spray in dairy barns, poultry houses, swine pens and other animal buildings. Spray on cows to control horn flies, lice and Lone Star ticks. Spray campgrounds, picnic areas and backyards. MM or Life Contro FEED LARVACIDE Leslie "R" Rabon Fly Control A meal form with Rabon that may be fed free choice. Leslie Block saves time and labor. Cycle I y & ?Si. 'lea mm ' SPRAY or PAINT ON Ravap A RAVAF I Emulsifiable insecticide that controls horn flies, lice and Lone Star ticks on beef cattle. RAVAP gives you fast knockdown plus residual control of flies and maggots. Mixes easily with water Use on all fly breeding and resting places. Mauri n Golden Malrin Liquid emulsifiable Controls flies up to 8-weeks and longer. When mixed covers from 500 to 1000 sq. ft. of surface. Pyrenone Dairy Aerosol For Use in Milk Rooms Kills and Repels House Flies, Mosquitoes and Gnats Also provides rapid control of wasps and flying moths. Pfizer Dust Bags Mount it. Load it. Leave it. Less costly than spraying, dipping or an oiler. Reuseable bag serves up to 50 head of cattle. Available with cover and rope or refills. I imitnH cnnrlw ni J ! o Kl. J INTERMOIJNTAIN FARFJ FRS STnUPrQ American Forfc Draper Logan Prtca Rhwrton 756-9604 571-0125 752-5541 637-0652 254-3501 Cedar City Ephralm Ogden Prom Rootavalt 586-6312 283-4529 394-2756 373-7680 722-2542 Delta Loa -Payion RtehfleKI SaHna 664-2110 836-2884 465-2239 896-6461 529-3931 Idaho SL George Tremonton 673-3631 257-5419 Salt Lake City Sprinkler Irrigation Preaton 972-3009 529-7481 (208) 852-0661 Spanish Fork Soda Spring 798-7418 (208) 547-3056 |