I
Enticing campaign,
excellent idea
If you want to create a better product, a good rule of
thumb is to use better ingredients The Chancellor of the
State System of Higher Education has this in mind in his
recent "Campaign for Excellence" — a program to entice
quality Oregon high school students to the state universities
and promote high school preparatory standards.
It is not the function of a university to prepare people for
college. A good foundation in reading, writing, speaking,
listening, mathematics, reasoning, and studying, to name the
skills suggested by the College Board, should be learned in
high school.
Chancellor Bud Davis’ program assumes, and rightly so,
that Oregon high schools are not living up to their task. The
SAT score decline, recently halted for the first time in 19
years, is one sign of a lack of preparedness high school
students have in math and verbal skills — or at least
standardized testing skills.
The "Campaign for Excellence" calls for a program of
50 $1,000 scholarships from the three major state universi
ties and lesser scholarships from the other state system
schools. The scholarships, based entirely on merit, would be
awarded to promising Oregon high school students who are
enticed to out of state schools.
The campaign also calls for new course requirements,
improved teacher training, a return to a stronger general
education in college, and increased communications
between the state system schools and high schools, com
munity colleges and private colleges in the state.
The program has its ulterior motives. The state system
does not have the funds for remedial courses. The ability of
the universities to attract quality faculty, grants, and high
tech company support is directly related to the quality of
students, particularly graduate students, that they can
recruit.
But, the main goal of the campaign is to obtain a better
quality student here — for the student's sake as well as the
system’s. A large percentage of the freshman class drop out
— many because of their lack of preparation for coliege.
Another precentage of students spend the first year or two
learning the skills they need to start their major. What the
University could offer is lost in an anti-intellectual climate of
survival strategies to pass mid-terms.
Let the high schools teach trigonometry, basic writing,
and general science. Higher education systems nationally as
well as in the state are looking into reforming high schools
and teacher preparation programs to do just that.
Let the'community colleges teach the applied trades and
other skills.
Let the colleges get on with research and professional
study with Oregon students who are at Oregon universities
for this purpose
opinion
letters
I
White egos
I am very much disturbed by
Debbie Howlett's article in the
Friday, Oct 15 edition of the
Emerald which states the fact in
bold print: 'Whites average a
score of 925 (SAT scores) while
blacks averaged a score of
694 ”
This is my first term here at
the University and I’m not
accustomed to such open racial
discrimination Granted, it is a
fact that whites score higher
than blacks on the Scholastic
Aptitude Test, but is it
necessary to center the article
around the point difference
between blacks and whites?
Your article, although tastefully
written, was filled with prejudice
and implied white supremacy
As a black student at the
University, I would like to help
close racial gaps on campus
between minorities and white
students Articles like this one
only encourages segregation
and hostile feelings between
blacks and whites
In the future, I suggest you
not focus your articles around
such flagrantly discriminatory
statements that belittle blacks
and inflate the egos of white
students at the University
Ron Blair
freshman, theatre
emerald
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John Mealy
Marian Green
Cort Fernald
Joan Nyland
Marti Pynes
Mike Pipllngei
Paul Danrer
Jonathan Staple
Debbie Howiett
Debtee Howlett
Sandy Johnston*
Pie hard Burr
Sean Meyers
Michel* Males**
David Brown
Darien* Gore
Sally Oiler
victoria KOCh
■lean Ownbey
YOU WANNA (cm\MZ TO M JOWKj DtLO^EAM JAIL RWP7/
II letters
Laughable
Chancellor Bud Davis’ proposal
to raise admission standards at
the state universities to improve
the quality of our education is as
laughable as was Roy
Lieuellen's second tuition
increase designed to offset the
loss of revenue caused by the
decrease in enrollment caused
by the first tuition increase
You’ll remember that the
second tuition increase was fol
lowed by a further decrease in
enrollment Which clearly
demonstrates the negative
correlation (as one goes up the
other goes down) between tui
tion and enrollment.
Back to Bud’s proposal In the
first place, the student has
nothing to do with the quality of
education at any institution. The
locus of quality control lies
instead with those who control
the material being taught
In the second place, the best
way to approach any problem is
to deal with it directly, not to
shift responsiblity elsewhere
Perhaps a five-year program
can be designed for those
students deemed undeserving
under the new plan. 12-hour
terms, instead of 15, could be
taken the first year, easing the
student into college A year of
that second year of algebra, a
year of English, and a year of
reading and study skills could
be designed to teach the
weaker-as-perceived-by-those
in-the-know students these
necessary skills at a
manageable pace, instead of
flashing over the material and
expecting it to be crammed in
somewhere
This five-year program will get
students here and paying tuition
and fees It will also make
available more Graduate
Teaching Fellow positions in
short, it will generate students,
funds, and jobs
Raising admissions standards
and cutting "off the bottom” will
certainly accomplish one thing:
a further decrease in
enrollment Which will certainly
accomplish something else a
further increase in tuition
(remember the correlation?)
Bud Davis' successor should
be a businessman instead of an
education-bureaucrat Because
every businessman knows you
have to tailor your product to
the needs of the consumer
Rod Schaffer
psychology, general science
Immigration
The government, using the
educational system, has been
active in promoting the popula
tion curtailment objective Butin
view of its policy of allowing
(encouraging would better
describe it) enormous immigra
tion into this country the
hypocrisy of its "zero popula
tion" admonitions becomes
quite apparent
One can see how unfair this
policy has been when they
realize that the massive drive
Instigated to reduce American
birthrates began, almost
simultaneously, with Congress
dramatically Increasing the
quotas for legal immigration If
this hadn't occured the popula
tion of America wouldn't be
Increasing at all. It would
actually be decreasing slightly
The decrease would be due to
the fact that America now has
one of the lowest birthrates in
the world it's actually below the
level necessary for
replacement!
At least when immigration
was taking place during the 19th
century there were no policies
to coerce people already here to
stop raising families. Now
government maintains both
economic and social incentives
to encourage movement into
America while trying to dis
courage Americans from raising
families.
Why should Americans give
up the opportunities to raise
families? If we have room for
immigrants and their posterity,
we certainly have enough room
for American children
Mark Pinkston
sanior, aconomlcs
Fascinating
For over a year we've read
Cort Fernald's editorials
Frankly, they're fascinating So
far we’ve learned of his abilities
and agonies as a jogger, his
"eclectic" tastes in music, his
intriguing contradictions, and
his unusual fate to be stalked by
a mystery-woman (obviously a
figure from his shrouded past)
His last column was the first to
prompt a reply Not only was it
self-serving and preachy, like so
much of the Clash's recent mu
sic, but as a vehicle for
changing opinion, endorsing
ideas or encouraging intelligent
discussion, it was so full of
those "fascinating" contradic
tions that it was a waste of
space
We've heard from him before
about other people's "ironic"
tastes in music (last springs
D O.A review), but he has never
before used the term "self
styled social register" in
reference to someone listening
to what music they please The
term obviously can be applied to
him for being insulted that
anyone else should enjoy his
favorite groups How can he
"feel betrayed " at a group’s
spreading appeal when he turns
around and praises them for
being "the almost Inevitable fu
ture of rock music?"
We don't question Cort
Fernald's position as an author
ity on running or punk rock
Certainly he listens to Oingo
Bolngo more than we do How
ever, we question the need to
publish such facile and un
interesting information.
Kurt Lango
education
PaulThrona
poitttcai sctanca