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Chemawa American
Chemawa American Editorial and Opinion Page
So W hat Took Us So Long?
When's the Chemawa American going to come out? Is the
Chemawa American going to come out? What happened to the
paper?
We did have a paper once, didn't we? How come we
don't have one any more?
A lot of students and alums have been asking this ques
tion, and they deserve an answer.
They also deserve a pap
er, so here we are again. We may look a little strange and
a little ragged, but we are out, and we hope to keep coming
out on schedule from now o n .
What we suffered was a near-fatal case of too much soph
isticated equipment.
The fancy machine that sets our copy
in nice, even, justified columns broke. Then it broke aga
in. And again. And again.
So we are doing the paper the
old-fashioned way.
It may not look quite as pretty, but it
gets done, and that's what counts most.
There should be a point or a moral behind every editor
ial, so here is ours.
The more complicated and fancy you
become, the more you multiply the chances for something to
go wrong. We apologize to our readers for taking so long to
learn this lesson.
T ie Sm ell Mirecle Thet H eppetu Here
A minor miracle happened here during' the first semester.
Nobody fired off a cannon or ran up a flag to celebrate i t ,
but it still happened.
What was this miracle? Some stude
nts finally learned how to read.
Chemawa is not the only school to be troubled with low
reading scores.
Schools all over the country have this
problem.
It might be worse here because many of Chemawa's
students have histories of poor treatment in public sch
ools . But Chemawa is doing something about i t .
Take a look at the first semester.
In September 83% of
the freshman class read below an eighth-grade level, and
one per-cent could read at a ninth-grade level or above.
This clearly shows that most of our students enter high
school without proper reading preparation.
But thanks to the reading lab, one freshman gained a
full five years in reading ability in one semester! Two
others gained more than four years, Ten gained more than
three years.
Twenty-one gained more than two years, and
thirty-two gained more than one year, The average gain for
a semester is four months,
but for Chemawa's freshmenit
And this average in-
was nine months--a full school year,
eludes several students who were enrolled for only nine of
the eighteen weeks.
But
It's a nice gain and we are glad to boast about it.
the real gainers are those students who can now read and
work properly at the high school level. Congratulations to
them and to Mrs. Brixius,
Mrs. Esler
and Mr. John, the
three fine reading teachers who made these gains possible.
Money Troubles
Hit Yearbook
This year the yearbook
will cost more than ever
before. Next year the cost
may go even higher. Many
students wonder
why
the
charge of eight dollars per
book.
Could it be done any
cheaper?
The answer is no. Even
at eight dollars the Stu
dent Council
is going to
lose money on every
book
they sell. With the number
of books Chemawa has order
ed, the publication cost is
just over eight dollars a
copy.
There is one way to keep
the price down.
If more
students
(or alums) would
order books, then the cost
per book would go down, and
the Council could pass the
savings along to the stu
dents.
But
unless more
students order books, the
price will continue to rise
THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN
Member— Oregon Scholas
tic Press, Quill £ Scroll.
Published through
the
school year (except during
vacations) by the joint ef
forts of the journalism,
business
ed and graphic
arts classes.
Official
publication of Chemawa Ind
ian School,
5495 Chugach
St. NE, Salem, OR 97303.
Student Staff:
Gary Carden
Raymond Gunn, John Monaghan
Edna Simpson
Photography:
Mr. Matt
£
Brad Filkins
Typing:
Business Ed
Cluster £ Staff
Advisers:
Mr. John Dashney
M r . Ron Berg
Prin.:
Mr. J.W. Smith
Supt.:
Mr. Ed Lonefight