Oregon daily emerald., October 13, 1982, Section A, Image 1

A
Brewers
blast
Cardinals
Page 7B
Oregon daily
emerald
Wednesday, October 13, 1982
f
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 84. Number 28
-1
Proposal tightens admissions rules
By Debbie Howlett
Of the Emerald
Concern about high drop
out rates and apparent inabili
ty to handle college level work
among students entering state
colleges and universities has
led to a proposal to increase
admissions standards for state
institutions, according to of
ficials at the University and
within the state system of
higher education.
And while nearly all of the
officials and representatives
agree students need to be
better prepared to enter col
lege, they don't all agree about
how that goal should be ac
complished
One of the first things Bud
Davis discovered after assum
ing the duties of chancellor is a
"generally good response" to
efforts at raising the quality of
education in Oregon and the
development of a ''college
prep" program in the state's
high schools, says Clarethei
Kahananui, acting vice chan
cellor for academic affairs
The proposal to increase
admissions standard^ at state
institutions would effectively
do both, Kahananui says The
proposal, which has been
modified several times, would
implement basic course level
requirements which high
school students would have to
meet to be accepted into
Oregon colleges and universi
ties Kahananui says she ex
pects the proposal to be
adopted by the State Board of
Higher Education at its
November meeting
The requirements, with an
implementation date' targeted
at fall term 1985, include four
years of English, three years of
math, two of science, three of
social science and two years
of 'other college prep," which
could include study of a for
eign language
‘There’s some
back-to-baslcs
involved.’
The requirements, she says,
will better prepare students for
college and so fewer will leave
school because they can t
handle the course load
"The whole point is not to
lose 25 percent of the entering
students who are not
prepared," Kahananui says
"They're coming to us with
one hand tied behind their
back."
Math, according to Kahan
anui. is the biggest problem
with entering students She
points out only one-half of the
«omen entering college and
two-thirds of the men have ta
ken second year algebra
The proposal to increase
admissions standards has
gained the acceptance of
University officials too
"I'm very much in favor of
(the admission require
ments)," says Richard Hill.
University provost "I think as
that's implemented, we ll see
some significant improvement
to the degree to which
students are prepared to come
to the University
"That's great We re finally
sufficiently sure of ourselves. I
suppose, to take a position of
telling students what they will
really require to derive the
benifits that are available," he
says
I suppose there’s some
back to the basics involved I
am not a back-to-the-basics
person," Hill says, "but cer
tainly if you don t have the
language and mathematical
skills required, you're just not
going to make it in a college
"We re getting pretty good
students these days," he says
"I drjn't think you’re going to
see revolutionary im
provement, but you're going to
cut off the bottom
Hill expresses concern the
proposal might limit access
somewhat
"However, if you’re con
cerned about the student who
has the capacity to profit from
a college education, that
simply hasn’t demonstrated
that capacity in high school,
there are other avenues for
that student,” he says "If you
maintain access and destroy
quality, who would want (an
education).”
Perhaps the strongest
questioning of the proposal
has come fr6m the Oregon
Student Lobby
The OSL is questioning
some possible outcomes of
increasing admission stan
dards Bob Watrus, director of
the OSL. says major concerns
‘It’s not
intended as
a barrier.’
discussed at the last board
meeting included decreasing
access to minorities and deci
sions "placing the burden (of
deciding about college) on 13
and 14 year olds ”
The announcement of
increased requirements in
New Mexico, Davis answers,
resulted in an increase in min
ority student test scores and
an increase in minority student
enrollment. “It did not appear
to have a negative impact,"
Davis says
"It's not intended as a
barrier to keep people out, it is
a road map," Davis says.
“We re not trying to get rid of
students, we want to keep ac
cess.”
And Kahananui says one of
the goals is to have students
decide on the type of cur
riculum they desire early in
their high school careers
"That's one of the objec
tives — to get (high school
freshmen) to start making a
decision and to start planning
early, at the rig ft time in their
lives,” Kahananui says
Davis says the proposal will
also have built in flexibility”
for "late bloomers,” people
who don't decide until later to
pursue a college education
and unusual cases.
The proposal to increase the
standards boils down to the
need to increase quality and
decrease the number of
students who don’t make it
through their first year Of
school, most administrators
agree.
Hill says he thinks there is a
problem with the quality of
higher education in Oregon,
“but I don't think it stems from
the admission of unqualified
students.
"The cost of admission for a
student that really is not
prepared to come to college is
borne by that student,” Hill
says. "The attrition rate for
such students is very high The
real cost of admitting un
qualified students is the cost of
exposing that student to
painful failure.”
Panel lashes at mixing food, politics
One of every
four Americans
goes hungry daily
By David Brown
Ot Emerald
One out of every four Americans goes
to bed hungry or nutritionally deficient,
according to a speaker at a symposium
observing World Food Day on Tuesday
"Food is being used as a political
weapon," said Manuel Pacheco, director
of the University’s High School
Equivalency Program "Consequently
we find ourselves supporting oppressive
or fascist regimes throughout the world
in foreign aid. military aid, and that aid is
not going for food
"We can't cure hunger or bring up
nutrition without also taking care of
housing, hygiene, medical attention,
employment they all go together," he
said
Pacheco pointed to corporations as
the criminals, citing profiteering as their
main incentive They concentrate capi
tal, running farmers out of business and
creating unemployment, he said.
"To keep supply down and profits
high, (corporations) feed animals, cat
tle," Pacheco said. United States cattle
are fed enough grain each year to feed
the populations of China and India, he
added.
The symposium featured a panel com
nioiu uy war* rynes
Manuel Pacheco listens to Mica Gonzales as she tells of her owns land in Mexico. Gonzales was part of a symposium
trouble getting government aid once they discovered she still commemorating World Hunger Day Tuesday.
posed of Pacheco; Congressman Jim
Weaver; Mica Gonzales, a Mexican
American; and Emily Johnson, president
of the American Federation of State,
County and Municipal Employees and of
the American Federation of Teachers.
The event’s four-speaker pannel gave
opening addresses, then fielded ques
tions, predominantly directed to Weaver,
from an audience concerned about food,
the economy and politics.
"I was reading the budget earlier this
year, proposed by the president. . . it
struck me that they cut $775 million form
child nutrition, and then increased $765
million to nerve gas," he said.
"We must start weaning ourselves
away from the oil/chemical agriculture
because it’s not going to be with us for
many more decades,” he said.
Weaver added the United States is
selling grain overseas at a loss, dictating
a market price that damages the export
abilities of Third World nations.
Weaver has introduced an organic
farming bill in the House of Representa
tives.
Gonzales told of how she lost her U S.
aid when officials discovered she still
owned land in Mexico. She tried to sell
the property with no sucess, she said.
Her son and daughter have been provid
ing her with a meager subsistence.