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Show 2 The Magna Times West Valley News, Thursday, September 9, 1993 OPINION ' Back to school from Richard W. Wiley U.S. Secretary of Education As your children get ready to head back to school and you count up the cost of new sneakers, jeans, and book bags, you may be wondering if there is anything more you can do to get your children ready for the school year ahead. Youre exhausted from the shopping, a little tired of the summer, and deep down youre looking forward to school starting again. Anything else? Well, yes. I talk to parents all across the country and find that most of you are wor- ried, frustrated, and sometimes just barely coping. The question I am always asked is, How do I know whether my child is learning what he or she needs to learn? Its a question full of anxiety and doubt about the real fear that your children may not be getting the leg up in life they will need to get ahead. I hear you. For me, the essence of education comes down to values, standards, perfor- mance, and maybe what to do about television. So how do we education? Setre-inve- nt ting challenging national education standards is important and well get that done. It is also important to raise the quality of teaching and get a fix on how we can help the majority of kids who dont ,g directlyfour-yeol-leg- e jump start their careers. Well make progress on those, too. But, ultimately, the improvement of our childrens education is also a willingness to slow down the pace of our lives to help our children grow. Education starts with values. Most of us who have made a go of it in life have gotten ahead because we had a mom, a dad, a grandparent, or a guardian who let us know where they stood about our sticking to our studies. Perhaps we didnt like it then. -- STAHLE Advertising Manager Layout GARY BLODGETT Editor KENT GOBLE Feature Writer DEANNA JONES Arts Entertainment Editor Production Manager & LINSCHOTEN Staff Writer SHARON STACEY T. CASE Staff Writer RENEE Contributing Writer DALE SIMONS Sports Columnist DANA JONES Layout Published each Thursday Subscription $15 per year $18 per year out of state Second class postage paid at Magna, Utah 84044 Postmaster: Send change of address to: Magna Times 8980 W. 2700 So. Magna, UT 84044 (801) or FAX 250-565- 6 (801) 250-568- 5 with ed by the Clinton administration, the burden of caring for most of the countrys elderly will still rest squarely on the shoulders of American Barusch said. As a country, we tend to see family care as offering a families, according to a Manager - matter how the U.S. health care system is retoolNo BONNIE STAHLE Editor three years to make certain the information is current and correct. This is available by calling the Social Securi- Since more than one person may share the same name, increasingly, Social Security numbers are being used as a means of identification for filing information in banks, medical records, employee files, and credit records. Someone with access to your social security number (SSN) accBS toaen-sitiv- e information. "'BedfifceTdTthis, yoUtoky want to start limiting how often you give out your SSN. For instance: at Administration ty Incorrect information may indicate that someone is fraudulently using your SSN. If your employer, cdlqge, university, or club uses your nr as an identification number on identification SSN cards, ask them to reconsider this policy. The use of SSNs is covered under the Privacy Act of 1974 which requires all Dont print it on your checks, business cards, address labels, or any other identifying information. Dont carry your social security card in your wallet. Ask merchants not to write your SSN on checks and explain that this could lead to bank fraud. Request a copy of your Social Security file every federal, state, and local government agencies to provide a disclosure form when asking for your SSN. Arthritis self-hel-p course Elderly getting lost in U.S. health care reform to be held Publisher Sports c high-inco- low-inco- Magna, Utah 84044 Office pBSBElOTc Be picky about who gets your social security number 325-58- 0 HOWARD FBORttED one-thir- 8980 West 2700 South J. - 03SC0K3FSSS Ml but we know now that the A schoolteacher at my values process worked, and childrens school had a fondstill works. If a parent or a ness for quoting Proverbs. family member places value Her favorite was, A wise son on integrity, a commitment loves correction. My to excellence, and studying children were dutiful, to be hard, children come to school sure, but not impressed by prepared to learn. Its that this passing wisdom. I am simple. Parents create the certain that your son or frame; teachers help kids fill daughter will feel likewise. ' But we are in trouble as a nain the picture. d of all Here, it is important to tion when point out what may not be so eighth graders tell us they obvious these values can have never discussed their be stressed to children by homework with a parent. Here is my best advice if anybody. A parent doesnt need a Ph.D. to make learna parent or parents will spend ing a priority in the home. If one hour with their children you havent made it in life each night on their this coming year, schoolwork the way you expected, quite this nation. we make will sure transform can still that you A schools and should does. child Teachers good your education can do that. All explain to you the practical those stories about children ways you can help your from rough or poor children to learn. Thats their neighborhoods who succeed job. But you have to set aside because a parent insisted that the time every day place on the they crac' the books make a value, as it were convincing and telling point process of learning. drive, determination, and Finally, a word about that focus still comes from the friendly monster, television. Children love Barney, and family. Some folks say that setting thats great. And Beavis and high standards is unfair. I Butthead is here to stay if the students, of that I am sure. But by Dennis Hinkamp dont Consumer Information Writer teachers, and parents work wouldnt it be refreshing if Utah State University together to reach the higher parents got some help from standard. Children who get television producers and exIs privacy a consumer of smart because rule ecutives? Some smart, get proright? Junk mail and telethey study and take tough portion about violence and a courses to meet high stanwillingness to ask a basic gut marketing calls are condards. If you get beyond the question: Is this good for sidered an invasion of ditto sheets to helping kids or will this just sell the privacy by consumers whod children read novels, create product? ' rather be left alone. levBeaidcs junfomaibandjank magi xela the e$rtsuspeqtj-you:- l rtoripsr$apkle .be on your own whenitcomes -- calls -- that oome into:. your problems, and get into the of sdence,they will to TV. The same little remote home, there are other issues learn more and score higher control button that can turn of privacy that may lead to on tougher tests. It doesnt on your TV can also turn it fraud. Social Security numbers really matter whether they off. Try it, then sit back. You come from or may not always win the batwere originally issued to backgrounds. tle for the remote control, but employees as a way for the Setting standards, then, that may be where you have government to keep track of means encouraging your to start to make the process Social Security programs and child to take the tougher of learning important again. benefits. You usually were to our the kids back teacher. issued a card when you course, tougher Getting Be careful not to dumb school ultimately is more started your first job. In redown your child ... and dont a for than shopping trip you cent years, however, they let the school system do it, or for me. Its a commitment have become the identificaeither. to the possibility that our tion number of choice and are So how do you raise perforchildren can really have betnow required for all mance and give children a ter lives if we all make the efdependents one year of age sense that they can do better? fort ... together and now. and older. MAGNA TIMES USPS IF letter to a parent An open Jk m v University of Utah professor. Instead of a true continuum of care for all the overriding health care reform goal the country could well find itself with a system in which nursing home care is available to the very rich or provided for the destitute; families will provide care for the rest, says Amanda Smith Barusch, an associate professor in the Graduate School of Social Work at the U of U. She has researched and written extensively about health care for the elderly. A preference for family care was evident in President Clintons initial health care proposal in which he said long-tercare benefits are to be phased in, beginning m home-base- community-base- and care, d d and humane the approach (for elderly) in contrast to the expensharp sive and sterile at best nursing home. As a result, families may be asked, encouraged, even required by government to cost-effecti- ve bear ever increasing burdens, Barusch said, adding that pressures on the health care nt industry might further restrict access to nursing home care and prohibit expansion of government support services. A pilot study recently conducted at the U of U reveals that there is often a heavy price paid by families caring for the elderly at home. Members of 42 families with 62 children were interviewed about living with a grandparent. All lived in three- - Have a voice in your community and the actions of its leaders! Write a letter to the editor and make your feelings and ideas knownl generation households, and 32 lived with an elder with Alzheimers Disease. The study showed that the psychological levy on children living with a grand- suffering from Alzheimers included loss of parental attention, fear of ag- parent ing, exposure to physical andor verbal abuse, loss of personal space, more behavioral problems, and slightly higher risk of using alcohol. Barusch Said one of several revealing results of the study was that all but a few of the caretaker parents, when asked to assess the effect on their children of having an Alzheimers sufferer in the home, mentioned only that the children were not helpful enough in taking care of the grandparent. They did not mention any emotional cost to the children. The parents were so overwhelmed with taking care of the elderly that they lost focus on their own children, Barusch said. Thats just another indication of how monumental an effort it is to take care of an ailing elder. A key part of the reform, Barusch advised, is an at titude adjustment regarding nursing homes. We have to get over this phobia about nursing homes, she said. We fear them because they are only associated with dying or care of the very frail, and as a result we medicalize them, driving up the cost of care and further stigmatizing them. One alternative could be assisted living centers, homes where frail old people can live and be supported where help is not driven by medical needs, which is typical in nursing homes, she noted. well-establish- homes, ed Barusch explained. In the long run there is no strong rationale for policies or programs that inap- propriately encourage or require families to provide care, she said. We need to create Self-Hel- designed to help people with arthritis take an active role in coping with the stress, pain, and depression a system that recognizes that the family does not always emerge as the superior provider. often associated with the disease. The class will meet once a week for six weeks hflginning Tuesday, September 14. The sessions wUl be held from 9 p.m. at Western Rehabilitation Institute, 8074 South 1300 7-- East. The But mandating family responsibility is not only impractical, it is inconsistent with Americans preference for keeping government out of their cure for arthritis is not available, but there is help. The Arthritis Foundation, Utah Chapter is offering an p Arthritis Course A six-we- ek course sional services provided the health care syste Topics include exercii medication relaxati techniques, nutrition, depr sion, coping with fatigue, a relationshi in 1979 at I Developed Stanford Arthritis Clinic, course is taught by a team Arthritis Foundation-trai- n leaders. A $15 materials fe charged, $10 for Arthri Foundation membei Scholarships are availabl doctor-patie- nt 1 Pre-registrati- on necessary. For more infi mation and to register, c 486-499-3. |