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Show Friday. April 27, 1984 THE HERALD, Provo, Utah, Page II WilSfc The Herald, its readers. syndicated columnists and cartoonists discuss vital issues Opinions - AzJ ftfVH The Herald Comments Education Meeds BmisneBs Worries over the ade- quacy of the educational system have been be a willingness of American businesses to become involved, not fied. but as partners in the Teachers, particularly those in science and mathematics, are leaving the profession for better-payin- g jobs in private industry. Those who might have entered teaching once upon a time are turning their energies elsewhere. Building quality in ed- I ucation puncture it, it seals shut.' high-quali- By ELDER WITT - WASHINGTON School prayer is back before the Supreme Court,, more than two decades after the justices first outlawed it. But this time, the issue is recast and the outcome may be different. The high court agreed April 2 to review the constitutionality of an Alabama law permitting a moment of silent for prayer or meditation at the beginning of each school day. The court's action came less than two weeks after the Senate by an margin rejected a proposed constitutional amend- -' ment to permit organized, recited prayers in the schools the kind the court barred 22 years ago. It also came at a time when te the court itself seems inreas-ingl- y willing to accommodate some forms of religious observances in public settings within the bounds of the Yirst Amend- ment guarantees of religious freedom. In the last year, the court has approved state tax benefits for tuition expenses to parochial and public schools, the practice of opening legislative sessions with prayer, and the inclusion of a Nativity scene in a city's Christmas display. Wallace V. Jaffree, the case testing Alabama's "moment-of-silence- " law, will be argued in the court's next term, which begins Oct. 1. Its outcome will affect similar laws in 22 other states including Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. Even as it agreed to review the moment-of-silelaw, the court reaffirmed its opposition to formal spoken prayer in public schools. Without hearing arguments, the justices affirmed a lower court's decision that a second Alabama law, which permitted teachers to lead willing students in prayer at the beginning of class, was unconstitutional. nt But additional money is not a panacea. There must also be a clear commitment to The school prayer issue has been a contentious one ever since June 25, 1962, when the Supreme Court ruled that public school students could not be required to recite a prayer at the beginning of each school day. The next year, the court held that it was unconstitutional to begin the school day with Bible readings. There state-compos- was only one dissenting vote in both cases. The , moment-of-sile- case nt will be the first school prayer case to be argued before the court since the pair in 1962-6But the court that will hear the new case is quite different from the one that decided the original school prayer cases. Only two justices from that era William J. Brennan Jr. and still sit on Byron R. White the court. Brennan was in the majority in both cases; White did not take part in the first case but voted with the majorg one. ity in the e Alabama's law provides that: "At the commencement of the first class of each day in all public schools, the teacher in charge of the room in which each such class is held may announce that a period of silence not to exceed one minute in duration shall be observed for meditation or voluntary prayer, and during any such period no other activities shall be engaged in." Ishmael Jaffree, an agnostic with three children in Mobile County, Ala., public schools, challenged this law as unconstitutional and the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year agreed with him. Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace appealed that ruling to the Bible-readin- moment-of-silenc- Supreme Court. The Reagan administration urged the court to hear the caes and to declare such laws constitutional. The American Civil Liberties Union and the American Jewish Congress opposed the appeal, arguing that this was not the right case in which to decide this issue. Potomac Potpourri Where's the Hart? CHANGE OF HART: "Where's the beef ?" almost certainly is Walter Mondale's most famous line about Gary Hart. But the former vice president wasn't always so mean to his Democratic presidential opponent. Here's what Mondale said of Hart during a speech at 'a 1979 fund-raise- r: "Gary Hart is one of the most decent and compassionate public servants I have ever known in my life. He is brilliant. "Gary Hart is as thoughtful and perceptive as any member of the Senate. He has special competence and special sensitivity. If we lost Gary Hart, it would change the course of the entire nation." After an enterprising reporter dug up the flowery language, Hart's campaign aids had it reprinted in large type. They gleefully distribute copies to anyone who will read it. . Ill attracting teachers g. School Prayer Back in Court Coapetttrail Qurterly ty and keeping them in the will doubtprofession less cost more money than we are now spend-in- Congressional Quarterly NOISY BUDGET: With five TV cameras whirring, Idaho Sen. Steve Symms walked to a microphone recently to deliver a statement supporting the Grace Commission's report on cutting federal spending. Just as he began, however, a construction worker one floor below began operating an air hammer. Each time Symms started, the hammer did too. Each time he stopped, so did the hammer. "There is just no will in this town to cut spending," Symms concluded. He came to discuss $58 billion in savings and getting the U.S. headed toward "fiscal sanity," and the hammer is "leading us all to insanity," said Symms. The sessions was delayed 10 minutes while aides stopped the construction worker. Getting Congress to make the $58 billion in spending cuts is expected to take a bit longer. . spend. And, too, there must around for a long time. Lately, thanks in part to the report entitled A Nation at Risk, those 'worries have intensi- 'Every time getting Detter results from the money we simply as taxpayers, educational process. Education is not just a matter of social responsibility or corporate citizenship. It is a matter of survival. The social well-beinas well as the country's g, economic pends future, de- on our schools' ability to teach concepts, impart knowl- edge, contribute to values and identify new ho rizons .of personal so men and opportunity women can take productive roles in the economy. Last year the Center for Public Resources, standings about education for work, but with the objective of improving skills and employa-bilit- y of millions of young Americans. based in New York, sur- veyed educators and employers for their views on basic skill de- ficiencies among high school graduates entering the work force. The results indicated a wide perceptual gap between what the educators believe more than 75 Admittedly assessed percent today's graduates as educa- tion's primary goal is not to prepare people for jobs. But preparation for work is certainly one aspect of edu- cation. Businesses throughout ad- equately prepared the country have become involved in the educational process in a variety of ways, including faculty loan and and what employers believe that there are basic skill deficiencies in a majority of job categories. adopt-a-scho- The wide gap indi- ol pro- grams. Employee interest on the local level provides cates that employers and educators need to do a better job communicating with one another. It also suggests the potential for crea- the greatest opportunity to meet the needs of individual schools. But businesses need to take the first steps to allow their employees to help. tive collaboration between businesses and schools with the goal of We eliminating misunder will all benefit from such actions. Last of WWII Giants Hirohito, WASHINGTON When Em- peror Hirohito steps out on the balcony of his palace in downtown Tokyo this Sunday to greet thousands of adoring Japanese on his 83rd birthday, there'll be a CIA agent in the crowd probably armed with binoculars. It's one of the ways the CIA's Life Sciences Division can observe firsthand how the diminutive emperor looks. There have been recent hints that his health is failing. Though he holds no direct political power, Hirohito has been a favorite subject of CIA surveillance for decades. My associate Dale Van Atta, who was recently in Tyo, has had access to some of the secret CIA profiles of the emperor. They reveal that the CIA's remorseless analysts, like the Japanese people, hold this aged, bespectacled little man in awe. "Despite all he has been through since he assumed the throne in 1926," notes the CIA, "Emperor Hirohito projects innocence and sincerity." The CIA describes him as "a shy, retiring man." He and his empress like to watch soap operas on TV and putter in the imperial gardens. "Both the emperor and empress (enjoy pursuing) their personal interests marine biology and botany for the emperor, art for the empress," states another profile, this one stamped "Confidential." In fact, Hirohito is the world's chief authority on jellyfish and related creatures, with 16 books to his credit. According to the CIA, the emperor "is briefed regularly on domestic and foreign affairs." Yet he "plays no part in policy decisions." There have been proposals to make him chief of asking: "Why, then, do winds and water of conflict ... Disturb peace among us?" The warlords went ahead with their plans anyway, and older Americans will remember Hirohito as a villain in propaganda cartoons, with buck teeth and - f:. feaeyeglasses tures that took their place with Adolf Hitler's mustache and Hermann Goering's potbelly. The emperor was able to reverse this image after the war. When the gamble of his generals and admirals turned into humiliating defeat, he first broadcast the news of surrender to his people the first time most of them bad ever heard Coke-bott- state, but "most Japanese would not like to see him take on any more than his present symbolic role." The CIA acknowledges "a few complaints from younger Japanese" about Hirohito, but little audible grumbling about the cost of maintaining the imperial household which now runs to more than $40 million a year. "By and large," states the CIA, "most Japanese still view the emperor with considerable respect and affection." One reason: He "has traveled widely among the people, something a Japanese emperor had never done before." At first, the Japanese had "grave doubts about the image the emperor would project" in the United States. But his reception during his 1975 visit to this country "greatly exceeded even the most optimistic Japanese expectations." The CIA believes the visit contributed "significantly to popular (Japanese) support for continued cooperation with the VS. (and) opening an era of 'good feelings' in U.S.Japanese jack Anderson his voice. relations." Characteristically, Hirohito Then he presented himself expressed his approval of Amer- ica not in words but with a gesture. For years afterward, he wore a Mickey Mouse watch that he picked up in Disneyland. Hirohito is the 124th emperor in Japan's unbroken, imperial line. When he ascended to the throne in 1926, he the "emperor was a "tenno" of heaven." The Japanese considered him a god. 2,644-year-o- ld When le the Japanese warlords sought his approval for the attack on Pearl Harbor, according to one account, Hirohito voiced his apparent disapproval by repoem comciting a posed by his grandfather, extolling universal brotherhood and ' humbly, top hat in hand, to the new shogun of Japan, Gen. Douglas MacArthur. He told MacArthur he accepted full responsibility for the war that he had actually opposed, and said he was ready to be judged by be American general. MacArthur was "moved to the very marrow of my bones" by the Japanese emperor's humility. "He was an emperor by birth, but in that instant I knew I faced the First Gentleman of Japan in his own right," MacAr- thur wrote later. Today, Hirohito remains the and perhaps the unlikeli-e- st only survivor of World War U s leaders. America First Ladies All Different The recent two-da-y symposium at Grand Rapids, Mich., on "Modern First Ladies" could touch off a revival of interest in the contribution the wives of presidents have made to America's history and heritage. This would- - be a positive trend. We know too little about our first ladies of the past. I was impressed especially with that thought while viewing their splendid statued models at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., a few years ago. The Grand Rapids conference focused on 'modern-da- y first ladies. Here are a few glimpses from history of some of the earlier ones: Sarah Polk served as confidential secretary to her husband, President James Polk the first woman to hold the post. Lou Hoover relieved President Herbert Hoover of many of the demands made upon him for public appearances. Eleanor Roosevelt, already n from her writings and radio talks before she became first lady, helped President Franklin D. Roosevelt win four presidential elections. She involved herself in national and world affairs and championed the causes of young people and the underprivileged. After FDR's death she was appointed by President Harry Truman as a delegate to the United well-know- being helpful, gracious and dignified. In her own words, Martha kept "busy as a bee, cheerful as a cricket and steady as a clock." Abigail Adams was the only woman to be the wife of one president and the mother of another (John and John Quincy Adams). Anna Harrison, wife of President William Henry Harrison and grandmother of President Benjamin Harrison, did not live in the White House because of quirks of fate. Illness prevented hsr from accompanying her husband to Washington for his inauguration in 1841. As she was preparing to follow him from their home in North Bend, Ohio, news came of his death after only one month in office. History has it that Dolly Madison, wife of James Madison, the fourth president, was a popular and vivacious White House hostess. And in her velvet and satin gowns and Paris turbans she ruled fashionable society. During the War of 1812 when British raiders burned the White House, Dolly fled with a bag full of state papers and the Stuart portrait of George Washington that otherwise could have been destroyed. Hostesses at the Executive Mansion usually have been the wives of the president; but relatives have assumed this duty for widowed or bachelor chief executives. Three examples: Martha Jefferson died 19 years before her husband became president. Complying with his wife's wish, Thomas never remarried. Two daughters did much of the hostessing during visits to the capitol. Andrew Jackson's wife Rachel had no desire for public life. When "Old Hickory" was elected the seventh president, Rachel said: "For Mr. Jackson's sake, I'm glad; for my own part, I never wished it." Before inauguration the first died of a heart at- lady-ele- LaVerl Christensen JV. Editor Emeritus tack. A niece of mrs. Jackson, Emily Donelson, acted as White House hostess. At age nine, orphaned Harriet Lane chose her uncle James Buchanan to be her guardian. When she had grown to charming womanhood, Buchanan, a bachelor president, chose her to be his official hostess. Although she wanted to be mistress of the White House, Mary Todd Lincoln perhaps was the loneliest figure in it. President Abraham Lincoln was too engrossed in problems of the Civil War for much social life. At war's end, when Mary looked forward to happier times in Lincoln's second term, the president was assassinated before her eyes. Frances Folsom Cleveland Nations. had the honor of being the bride of the only president married in the White House. She was only 22 when she wed bachelor Presi- Martha Washington, first of the first ladies, never lived in the White House. It was not finished until after George Washington had been succeeded as president by John Adams. But she set a high standard for other presidents' wives in I I "If you say, 'Where's the beef?' once more. dent Grover Cleveland. Her beauty and charming manner made her a favorite among Nineteenth Century first ladies. |
