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Show ?J)c Salt akf tribune Saturday Morning Section January 7, 1984 Page 10 A Utahs Corrections Crisis Cries Anew for Remedy The impartial study is a longstanding device for delaying difficult decisions. Used repeatedly, it can kill a proposal outright or postpone its implementation so long that the original facts and figures upon which a given suggestion was based are no longer relevant. In that case, another study is in order. Thats the way it is with the bla- tantly obvious needs of Utahs troubled corrections system. William C. Vickrey, the innovative Division of Corrections director, said it bluntly in urging the Legislature to address several perennial crisis" matters: Were probably the most studied division on the face of the earth at this time and we cant afford another one. It is not as if the Legislature has done nothing in the past to alleviate corrections problems. It has done quite a bit. But never enough. Corrections seemed to be at or near the end of the priority ladder and the help given was on the cheap. But there were studies upon studies upon studies of various phases of corrections. Some were virtually ig- nored and others were implemented in part and all seem to have been forgotten or are now outdated. But the need for more space to house a still growing prison population hasnt faded. It returns each session to haunt legislators who didn't do enough the time before. And it's back again. Its the same with the state's Adult Probation and Parole Department. Its staff has been working under unusually heavy caseloads for so long that the current 145 parolees to 1 probation officer ratio no longer shocks anyone. It is only when the overload results in highly publicized failure and a parolee kills or rapes that anyone takes notice. But such incidents are soon forgotten. This 'ear, when more popular causes are going all out to secure more funding, corrections probably stands no chance of making up for past slights. But legislators should keep in mind that needs not met today come back tomorrow with interest due. Unless drastic changes are made in the criminal codes so that fewer offenders must be confined, the pressing need for more prison space will multiply as the states fast-in-creasi- population passes through the most criminal-pron- e years. The trend, however, is not running toward leniency but in the opposite toward greater incarceration and lawmakers historically reluctant to vote additional corrections funds are also the authors of the new laws. Borrowing a device popular with get tough legislators, we suggest that every time a criminal statute is made more stern, a mandatory provision be made for financing the added judicial and corrections burdens it dir-ect- prison-pa- cking imposes. Sen. Garn Errs Nationwide, most comments by public officials on the Rev. Jesse Jacksons achievement in Syria struck an appropriate chord. Then there was Sen. Jake Garns sour note. President Ronald Reagan, who originally wasnt all that crazy about the Rev. Jackson's mission, led the praise for release in Damascus of Navy airman Robert 0. Goodman Jr. But Sen. Garn caused needless wincing by soiling his welcome of Lt. Goodmans freedom with graceless accusations and an apparent racial slur. self-appoint- Conceding he was as happy as anyone else about Lt. Goodmans rescue, Sen. Garn nonetheless added: "but the methods that were used the absolute blatant nature of the stink. Beyond politics involved a told he Lake Salt that, City radio I to ask have the question, reporter: Would Mr. Jackson have been over there if Lt. Goodman weren't a black? Sometimes you have to call a spade a spade. Just dreadful. Conceivably, Sen. Garn did not know that spade has been used far too long in this country as a degrading, dehumanizing reference to black people. But his subsequent refusal to apologize for the awful juxtaposition of his phrasing, when the possible misinterpretation was explained to him, is deeply disappointing. President Reagan chose not to characterize any political gain which might accrue to the Rev. Jackson a declared nominee for the Demo- cratic Partys presidential ticket from this successful episode of private citizen diplomacy. Under the circumstances, Sen. Garn could have ignored that aspect, too. Certainly there was nothing stench-lik- e about the Rev. Jacksons motives, actions or accomplishment. Hauling in the racial identities of Jesse Jackson and Lt. Goodman was simply beside the point. Sen. Garn has become one of Utahs more effective representatives in the nations capital. On this occasion he sadly let the state down. Farm Financing It isn't exclusively public education. Other Utah interests are also designated for substantial spending increases in Gov. Scott M. Mathe-son- s proposed, record high $2.4 billion, fiscal 1985 state budget. Agriculture is one. Lost amid sound and fury accompanying the governor's requested tax increases to fund Utahs public and higher education needs was a significant reemphasis on help for the farm component of Utah's economy. Gov. Matheson tried himself to remedy that oversight during an address Thursday. Speaking to members of the Farmers Union, assembled for their annual convention in Salt Lake City, the governor obUtah-Idah- o served that, if his 85 budget proposals are legislatively approved, Utah will begin a drastic shift in agriculture from state regulation to assistance. A timely attempt. As the governor explained, until just a few years ago, 95 percent of the money state government spends on matters was devoted to What the industry actualregulation. ly requires now, however, is more aid farm-relate- d for From 1975 to 1980. U.S. Department of Commerce figures disclose, farm income in Utah grew only 4.5 percent. In almost every other category, from mining to manufacturing, retail trade to construction and transportation, the five year growth ranged between 11.5 and 18.5 percent. Even in agricultural services. Utah income increased 16 percent from 75 to 80. Gov. Matheson proposes enhancing the state's involvement in marketing Utah farm products, conservation and development of farm lands, technical planning and research directly beneficial to crop and livestock income. Some of the higher taxes he advocates would allow the necessary financing. Not all the heavier assessment the governor recommends on gas and oil extracted in Utah is bound for public education. At least $2.5 million from that revenue source would be devoted to the revamped agriculture program. Because, in Gov. Mathe-son'- s words, We need to take money from resources and put it into renewable resources. Steadily, Utah has moved beyond its rural beginnings. Non-farenter98.8 for prises currently account percent of the states personal income. But at over $100 million a year, agriculture still makes a significant contribution to the state economy. Efforts to preserve that, including revised, even slightly more costly, state government participation, make good sense, as both a practical and fair-minde- d policy. mp&.i' its really simple, Edna. The phone company will maintain even thing outside the house . . . you pay for anything inside!" Carl T. Rowan Reagan Makes Disaster Look Successful after that truck roared into the Marine Field Enterprises com- pound and killed a lot of nice, patriotic kids. How could a vacation-boun- d president go WASHINGTON For months I've asked myself why Ronald Reagan is so great a salesman that he could peddle dioxyn Everybody wrong attacking terrorism. hates terrrorism. Reagan was brilliant poBeach, Mo. litically when he said: We must not delude into believing that terrorism will ourselves Recently Ive vanish on the happy day that our forces (in asked myself why it Beirut) will come home. is that Jimmy Carter Well, who on earth ever said, or remotely presided over an Iranian hostage crisis suggested, that terrorism would vanish if the Marines were pulled out of Lebanon? What where he was utterly sane but the people have said for months is that this powerless, is an area long known to be full of violence hostages all got out and terror, and that if you stick Marines into alive, and Carter sufLebanon under the phony pretense that they fered defeat and huMr. Rowan s when they really are are miliation as a "wimp"; but Reagan walks arrogantly and combatants you are going to find some very unnecessarily into a situation in Beirut in violent, terrifying people attacking those which more than 240 American boys have Marines. lost their lives, yet he remains in the eyes of Today's message to Mr. Reagan is if he e comes to an acceptance of reality and pulls millions of Americans the macho, the Marines out that no, the terrorists will saddle president. There is a lesson here for all of us: If you not vanish, but they will no longer have tarexcel in oratory, TV displays of personality, American human beings as sitting-duc- k who are Americans where gets they are flimflammery, bulldozery and related arts, no discernible reason corresponding to for almost with can you get away anything. U.S. national interest. Those needless deaths of our Marines in any thinks the average American Reagan Lebanon illustrate that even when sinking wont figure that out. into guilt up to his neck, Reagan is absoluteBut who pays for this bloody mess-u- p in ly great at setting up a straw man or two Lebanon? that he can knock down with a cliche. I agree with the president's opposition to Example: Americans ask why after so many foolish tragedies for so many families a Pentagon commission's demands for nudoes Reagan insist stubbornly on leaving merous courts-martia- l. Reagan said that "local commanders on the ground, men who those Marines in Lebanon. have already suffered quite enough, should The straw man this time is the terrorism" that he and Caspar Weinberger and not be punished for not fully comprehending the nature of todays terrorist threat. George Shultz and his military advisers alThe field commanders are culpable to a legedly didnt know existed, or didnt comprehend, or could not protect against, until degree, but they are not the villains of this door-to-do- in Times peace-keeper- high-in-th- School Merit-Pa- y By David L. Evans Special to the Los Angeles Times We all have blind spots, but very seldom are most of us blind to the same spot. I am therefore surprised that in the debate over merit pay for teachers, no one has mentioned the merit-pa- y system that already exists in our schools and colleges. Either side of the current debate could draw on certain aspects of this system. The proponents of merit pay could cite the system for its ability to motivate otherwise unmotivated students, for its ability to generate widespread community support for the school and for its ability to draw the best performance from faculty members. On the other hand, the opponents of merit pay could point out how merit pay can create a pressure to succeed so intense as to turn a benign system into a pernicious one. More specifically, they could show how this pressure can cause teachers to manipulate the rules to get the most talented students under their wings, while students with lesser talents are left to less qualified teachers or ignored altogether. They could go on to show that blacks are hurt most by this pressure. The system to which I refer is athletic coaching. Its application is most visible, and perhaps most troubling, in basketball and football coaching in schools or colleges that adopt the philosophy of Vince Lombardi Winning isn't everything, its the only thing. Those who win have handsome salaries and high community esteem. Those who lose are dumped. Period. One must admit that the master teachers" who survive this brutal merit-pasystem can boast of some awesome achievements. They win against formidable odds; they win with students from backgrounds in which academic achievement, skills, motivation. personal discipline and basic nutrition are considerably below average. This kind of success is very costly, however; it is achieved at great sacrifice to all participants. The premium on success can drive other-wis- e honorable people to compromise their integrity. They know that their worth is measured not in the building of youthful character but in the building of a winning team. Of course, the real losers in this merit-pasystem gone awry are the students. Those who are black and poor are most often victimized, emerging from their education" with trophies and not much else. A recent news story called attention to a cruel example: a young black man in the Midwest who was "graduated" from high death-dealin- Reagan held back release of the commission's findings until he could launch what has been described as a preemptive strike" against it in the media. With a pose of gallantry, Mr. Reagan said: If there is to be blame, it properly rests here this office and with the president." true. But Mr. Reagan did not say, So I resign!" Or, Ill be on the South Lawn of the White House for 30 lashes at 8 a.m. New Years Day. He said he was on his way to a vacation in California. But the most important thing he said, without saying it directly, is: The blame rests here, and it's easy for me to pose as hero, because no one can do anything to me.' Congress would never impeach me for this disaster. And by the time Americans go to s the polls next November, boys dying in Beirut will barely be a memory. So I can't lose in this lurch into heroism. I no longer underestimate this president. He has an incredible ability to blunder and then convince Americans that it was all in the name of patriotism, or national security, or something like that. He has this extraordinary capacity for getting families sons killed for the worst of reasons and then getting a parent of those sons on TV to say, My boy was a great American." Some guy, this Reagan! 240-plu- (Copyright) Evans is a senior admissions officer at Harvard. Obviously, not all aspects of an athletic y program would fit a similar aca- merit-pa- demic program, but interesting comparisons can be made. In an academic merit-pa- y system, would high SAT scores and Ivy League acceptances be analogous to basketball victories? Is society ready to give outstanding English and history teachers the powers and rewards normally conferred on successful coaches? Is it ready to fire teachers whose students don't win admittance to Harvard or Stanford? What about those who teach the less able students? Will they be viewed in the same light as intramural or junior-varsitathletic coaches? From these brief considerations, one can see that without vigilance an ideal such as the ancient mens sana in corpore sano" (which is supposed to govern all athletics in our schools and colleges) can be perverted, misused, grow to monstrous proportions and consume those whom it was intended to benefit. So, too, can a merit-pa- y system for teachers that is instituted with the noble objective of offering a just reward for a job well done" but becomes ensnared in a briar patch of favoritism, unclear definitions of success and board y unique power, including power to mete out physical punishment for athletes' infractions or shortcomings. Indeed, students are encouraged to relinquish their basic civil liberties to the coach, along with their good judgment relating to studies. And all with the approval of the school administration and the community provided the result is a winning team. The merit-pa- y system described here is most ignominious in basketball. That sport produces a handful of glamorous .superstars whose million-dolla- r salaries draw legions of other unsophisticated youngsters into a quicksand from which few escape. In fact, the chance that a student can use the sport to advance himself from high school to college and then to professional ball is one in 13,000. There is nothing meritorious about "merit pay" when it is the young people who will have to pay for it at such a high price. y y 4 1 in So Plan Gone Awry school, spent four years in college on a basketball scholarship and, when his eligibility to play was exhausted, learned that he could read at only the second-grad- e level. Fortunately, he had the good sense and rare courage to bridle his ego, admit his ignorance and enter a private elementary school, where he worked his way through the eighth grade in one year. In an atmosphere in which success is exalted, a winning coach often exercises David in Lebanon. The people's outrage ought to be directed not at some miserable colonel in Beirut who was and is still helpless to fashion ways to defend his men, but at the commander in chief, the secretaries of state and defense, the men really responsible g for this folly. tragedy |