| Show S!t like Thf New School of Thought: Earlier Chicago Tribune Service — Cor an enterprise that spends $308 biltion every year and directly involves 62 million people the paucity of good research in education is astonishing That helps explain u hy the schools have been subjected to waves of reform ideas that have washed over them and eventually ebbed without leaving much of a trace of lasting improvement in student achievement Progressive education reshaped the nation's schools decades ago but its failures renewed interest in basics Look-sareading methods superseded phonics but are losing out again Enthusiasm for “new math" crested and ebbed Two decades of concentration on desegregation dis- Best of all school based management needn t cost more in tax dol- CHICAGO y mantled the racially separated school systems but haven’t produced much equality of achievement Special education was developed to help children who couldn’t learn well in the classroom but dissatisfaction with results is shifting emphasis to lars manEnthusiasm for school-baseagement comes more from wishful thinking and anecdote than from valid research and experience Without a strong knowledgeable group of parents and community leaders it’s easy for a local school council to fall under political or union domination or simply to drift At best what is just a switch in management is only indirectly related to children's ability to learn Even so it looks as if much of the reformist energy good will political capital and caring that education can command will be spent on school-basemanagement efforts in the next few years Meanwhile evidence of the failures of American education keeps accumulating Illiteracy is mounting Millions of men and women are unemployable because they lack basic academic skills Students in other industrialized countries regularly out- d mainstreaming Tracking by ability has been in and out and edging back in favor Now the hot coucept is school-basemanagement The idea is that if a local council of parents and community leaders work with a schools principal and teachers to manage and improve the school they can make good things happen for students The stifling central bureaucracy will be Teachers who know best will be able to run classrooms their way Parents will get more involved in children’s learning Achievement will go up d Trlbunf biptmiba Frida) A 18 30 1888 Pays Off Later On score Americans on academic tests The American share in several vital technological fields has almost vanished Foreign inventors are getting almost half of all American patents Other countries are developing more new drugs About 40 percent of graduate engineering students in the United States are foreigners The shortage of engineers and scientists is expected to reach half a million by 2010 Theie isn't time to waste another decade or two — and another generation of children — on a education reform theory just because it has political or populist appeal or doesn't cost much money or is being pushed by an education half-bake- d guru What could actually make a major direct difference in children's ability to succeed in school is to make good use — finally — of the sound new research on how the brain learns and develops and what helps it to be “smart" and competent Research in neurology and related shows indisputably that the most critical period for learning is w hen the brain is growing and changing most rapidly — the first several years of life Whether a child's brain U malnourished or receives optimal stimulation during these vital years makes a lifelong difference in the level of his intelligence whatever his genetic potential The challenge to education now is to develop programs that would assure all youngsters of getting enriched mental nourishment from birth to age 6 so they can start formal schooling eager and able to succeed their brains optimally developed by appropriate learning opportunities The most promising pattern is for local public school districts to provide outreach programs for parents beginning at a child's birth Visiting teachers help mothers and fathers understand the learning needs of their baby and how to satisfy them A drop-ichildparent center offers mentally stimulating play gives par scit-nce- s n ents opportunities to exchange ideas and talk to education specialists and helps reduce the isolation some par-ent- s of young children feel At age 2 or 2H a youngster would Montessori-typ- e begin a half-da- y school coordinated with a day-car- e center if necessary By 3 or he would be ready for a learning-orienteHead Start program or more advanced Monteasorl By S he would start full-da- y kindergarten where the curriculum has been e ljusted to build os his enriched early experi-eneeBy 8 he should be confident and competent able to succeed in first grade and the rest of his school d s mg Such a pattern works excitingly research programs But it is costly It requires revising some tra- well in ditional ideas about children s “readiness to learn” But it would work And in the long run it would be a lot less expensive than wasting more decades with theories that clearly won’t help much — - if at all The Public Forum Tribune Readers’ Opinions Olympic Diving The opening ceremonies of the summer Olympics were just as I had imagined They were filled with tradition and a strong sense of nationalism However there was one part of the opening ceremonies that was grossly overlooked In between the lighting of the flame and the 1000 taekwondo experts was a magnificent performance by a group of highly dedicated skydivers They exhibited their craft beautifully by forming the five Olympic rings in free fall then landing to make the same formation on the ground Both the local TV news and print reports have overlooked their efforts Credit should be given where credit is due Several devoted skydivers from around the country and in particular local skydivers have spent conto siderable time and orchestrate and execute a spectacular performance There has been abundant time money and effort spent on making the sport of skydiving into an Olympic event Blatantly omitting the skydiving from the summary of the games will in no way help the cause SAMANTHA L DUNN e What We Can’t Tell Freshmen By Timothy S Ilealy Special’ to The Washington Post WASHINGTON — Every year I welcome some 1200 new freshmen to Georgetown University As the years go on despite my efforts to renew each talk I am beginning to sound at least to myself Tike a broken record The basic problem is that I talk from an experience they have not had Many of the things I want to tell them they don’t have ears to one real reason for students’ coming to this or any college: the growth the learning the love that they and the faculty together will work over the next four years That is any university’s great good and until they have worked into It known it and felt it no introduction can do it justice The first is that most of the reasons they had for coming here are either Irrelevant or wrong The beauty of the campus itself its long lawns and old buildings the excitement of this capital city with its monuments and great avenues the beauty of the river and rolling country that surround it — all of these are the baseless fabric of a freshman vision and while they are indeed “such things as dreams are made on” they make for pretty amorphous motivation In like manner the pride and freshmen draw from surviving a tough admissions process is also baseless Colleges make a virtue of necessity and dub themselves highly selective simply because they attract more bottoms than they have d caseats Even the reer plans of the freshmen are not very real They don’t know yet that all serious purposes “alter in fulfillment:" that Ip four years the motivational baggage they brought with them will be repacked beyond recognition Vision achievement plans may all be hindrances From where I stand there is only As I stand on the platform and look at these hundreds of young and bushy-taile- d people bright-eyeas they are I want to tell them another blunt truth: they are in no way a replacement for the seniors the university lost in May May’s graduates indewere a “class" pendent and in the way of all living things different from ail other classes Among them I saw the men and women who had run service groups edited papers headed activities done sports above all shared with each other and the faculty the life and work of the university Classes give imagine share and grow together They are not replaceable by a gaggle of freshmen no matter how promising 1 keep saying to myself “time time time” but no bromide like that will overcrowd the sense of loss Four years from now these men and women too will be a class Even for me four years is a long time off Finally I want to tell them that almost 40 years in higher education has taught me that there is only one lesson the best of them will share as Rev Timothy Heaiy is president of Georgetown University hear much-discusse- d self-startin- g they graduate They will of course go through the innards of the university and pick up lots of lore "extreme and scattering bright” even though most of it will be neither brought to unity nor ready for use They will in addition grow in assurance tested time and time again until they are almost proof against any demand on mind or performance They will also take on real ballast called a major one subject to serve as a measuring rod inside their heads to prevent them from ever again mistaking ignorance for knowledge But the best of them (how much I long to say most of them) will all learn one lesson that while it draws on learning is not only of the mind They will learn that in the university as in any other human enterprise you only get what you give It is a painful lesson a hard one for the young to learn and a tough one even for the old Whether you state it with the “Unless the grain of Scriptures wheat falling into the ground die itself alone remains” or in a more colloquial idiom “there ain’t no free lunch” it is stall the great lesson their gathering of themselves and their measuring against the faculty will teach them So I settle for much the same welcome for all my efforts to tart it up The problem is not so much a lack of nerve on my part as a lack of ears on theirs I would love to give a welcoming talk to returning seniors That one would be a very different talk but it would not be needed As seniors in full possession of this old house they would be able to give the speech themselves taxes They are not unfortunately analyzing the reasons why the per capita income Is so low If a family of four earns a $36000 income per year the per capita income is $9000 If a family of six earns the same amount it drops to $6000 a year Since Utah has the highest proportion of children under 16 and since most children of that age require educational services the low per capita income is a statement of Utah's educational needs Utah’s low per capita income reveals another disturbing fact This state ranks 49th in school expenditures as a percent of per capita in- come (218 percent) Bad Reporting Concerning your story “Utahns Tell of Horrors of Gilbert Stranded U S Efforts" 18) can only imagMr Farnsworth and his family experienced when strand- Travelers Attack (Tribune Sept ine the terror Per Capita Facts Utah is a state where statistical evidence can be an anomaly For instance the question of per capita income surfaces often in the discussion of tax reduction The (tax limitation ) initiative proponents use low per capita income as a reason for lower Therefore Utah spends a smaller portion of an aiready low per capita dollar on education This is certainly not an indication of "fat" but factually supports the contention that Utah’s education system is quite lean Tax initiative supporters have arrived at a very different conclusion DENNIS HEMOND Orem 1 ed in Cancun It must be extremely frightening to be stranded in a foreign country during a fierce hurricane such as Gilbert It is quite disturbing however that your reporter thought it newsworthy to highlight Mr Farns- - worth’s understandably emotional criticism of the U S consulate's actions or Jack thereof without getting more information from other (and dare I suggest even official) sources It may well be that our government did less than it should or could have to help these unfortunate people but we do not really know what w ent on It seems to me that communication and "inoperable" basic services would be more the result of the fierce hurricane than "lack of organization” It must take at least several days to get the story straight in a natural disaster like this and 1 think a reporter and his editor should work harder to get a more objective story Resorting to America-bashinis however popular an irresponsible way out SARAH C KLINGENSTEIN Park City g Forum Rules Public Forum letters must be submitted exclusively to The Tribune and bear writer’s full name signature and address Names must be printed on political letters but may be withheld for good reason on others Writers are limited to one letter every 10 days Preference will be given to short typewritten (double spaced) letters permitting use of the w riier’s true name All letters are subject to condensation Mail to the Public Forum The Salt Lake Tribune PO Box $67 Salt Lake City Utah 84 1 1 0 OF JULIETTE’S Gowns Robes Bra’s Panties and Cami’s up to 50 off Great savings! S&L Stink Is Bipartisan Scandal By Jerry Knight Washington Post Writer WASHINGTON —The first economic crisis of the 41st presidency is beginning to unfold Neither George Bush nor Michael Dukakis has said a word about it yet but by inauguration day one of them is going to have to learn how to pronounce FSLIC It's FIZZ-LICGeorge Just ask your son Neil The Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corp is picking up the pieces of Silverado Savings and Loan a Colorado association that put Neil Bush on its board Neil jumped ship shortly before Silverado sank but he ought to be able to tell you what went wrong George Of course maybe his term on the a board was like your role in the scandal Maybe he slept through the meetings and doesn't know why FSLIC is going to have to pay millions for mistakes the directors should have known about Mike you should be able to get a good fill on the issue from Bob Strauss or Jim Wright Mr Democrat's son Richard Strauss was several fathoms deeper into underwater S&Ls than that son of Bush over his head in multimillion-doila- r pools of loans that are being bailed out by FSLIC and investigated by S&L regIran-Contr- I I ulators If family conflicts prevent Mraussi National Economic Com-mixMo- from explaining how to keep Uie tiuditet deficit from blowing up liei'au-- e of the S&L scandals ask Ill'll- - Speaker Jim Wright nr rinv Cnelho A a Deninrratn x r Rep Coelho took rides on an airplane owned by an association that is taking FSLIC for a ride And House Speaker Wright could make his contribution to the Democrats by making public his testimony to the House Ethics Committee over efforts to get favors for Texas associations fund-raise- Jerry Knight covers financial news for The Washington Post Connections like those make it difficult for the Democrats to make much political hay in the S&L field despite abundant opportunity to blame it on eight years of bungled deregulation by the Reagan administration Before the Democrats can ask "Where was George?" (and point out that he was head of the regulatory task force during this disaster) the Republicans unleash a chorus of “Jim Wright Jim Wright Freddie St Germain” The House Banking Committee chairman a Rhode Island Democrat put his name on the legislation that unleashed the S&Ls and has to take some of the blame for what went wrong The bipartisan nature of the savings and loan stink is clearly pointed out by Ed Gray who was chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board — the father of FSLIC — during the early years of the Reagan administration Gray has been telling the Moose Ethics Committee ahoul how Wright tried to get favors for Texas real estate syndicator Craig Hall and how Wright tried to get rid of Joe Selby the respected chief regulator at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas Gray is telling readers of magazine in the October issue about how David Stockman and the Office of Management and Budget refused to hire the examiners needed to police the deregulated industry Stockman and his associate director Constance Horner didn’t understand the difference between regulation and examination Gray says They built a freeway to deregulation raised the speed limit and then refused to hire any traffic cops Gray says that he asked for 750 examiners and that Horner offered 39 "She clearly didn't seem to understand that thrift losses might have to be paid by the taxpayers down the road" Gray says Well we re down the road and there’s a growing consensus that the taxpayers are going to get stuck for the biggest government bailout in history bigger than Chrysler Lockheed ard New York City combined How much it’s going to cost depends on how cynical you are or how srared You 11 hear numbers ranging from the $31 billion estimate of F11LBB Chairman M Danny Wall — the Reagan administration's desig ualed scapegoat — to the more than $ 00 billion number whispered in the halls of the Federal Reserve Board the la- -t line of defense if all others fad 1 Great Selection — Great Savings Cottonwood Mall -Fashion Place Mall ZCMI Center -University Mall Ogden City Mall A I 1 4T Jtr- rs cm |
