Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1977-1989 | View Entire Issue (April 19, 1978)
Skill Olympics draws student craftspersons This weekend the College was host to over 400 Oregon high school students who were com peting in the eighth annual Vocational Industrial Clubs of America (VICA) event and lea dership conference. For the College this is.the second year in in a row that they have helped put on these skill Olympics in., cooperation with VlCA. VICA is a national organiza tion designed to develop leader ship and citizenship while de veloping the practical skills that are required by much of todays work force. The skill competitive events are excellent displays of a stu dent's skills in a particular in dustrial trades ranging from arch itectural drafting to bricklaying and any kind of machine or electrical trades in between. There were 26 separate events to be judged in the two-day compe tition. Local businesses provided the expert judging needed in this kind of competition. Busi nesses also provided valuable materials, supplies and prizes in the form of scholarships and grants. Many people from the staff at the College generously donated their time to talk with the students and help judge events. President of the Oregon VICA Jerry Jones, opened the confer ence last Friday afternoon intro ducing the two welcoming spea kers, State VICA Director Ralph Little and College President Dr John Hakanson. Little made a special point of congratulating the College on the "very good job" they did in helping to set up the conference. In a short opening comment Hakanson stressed the important role that community college could play in the lives of many of the students who may best be able to continue their skill edu cation at a community college. The college president also point- out how important it is for stu dents preparing for college to "learn how to learn." Speaking at the awards cere mony were State Superintendent of Public Instruction Verne Dun can and College Dean of In struction, Dr. Ronald Kaiser. Both speakers lavished praise on the achievements of the young people and Duncan particularly emphasized how rewarding it was to see kids living up to their po tential. Local winners and their events were: Architectural Drafting,Jeff Aunt, West Linn H.S.; Small Engines, Jim Larson, Area Voca tional School; Welding, Oxy- acetelyne, Larry France, O.S. Skill Center; and Carpentry, Scott Herigston, Canby H.S. Photo by Lorraine Stratton aimbent Duncan visits Skill Olympics ¡tate Superintendent race offers contrast, conflicts M McCaffrey [Pie Print Ibis May the voters of Ore? Ewill have a chance to vote [Superintendent of Public In- Iction. The Superintendent te chief executive officer re- ■jible for interpreting and ■mistering Board of Educa- ■ policies and rules, which lithe force of law. Running [the position are incumbent lie Duncan, Oregon Institute technology, history professor ■state senator (two time ma lty leader) Fred Heard, and |.Hood Community College |ojy professor Ruth McFar- fl. If no candidate receives [percent of the vote then the r candidates receiving the It votes will run in another ■partisan election in Novem- llist Saturday, State Superin- Bentof Public Instruction, in dent Verne Duncan was at [College to participate as a [it speaker for the V.I.C.A. ■Olympics. ■Regarding the state high [tel competency program, fcan said that he saw little ■With teaching a class With ■ta of passing the compet- fc test in mind. He pointed ■ that the important thing to ■'Sis that at a singular point I'® a particular student had ■lo.lity to meet the minimum ''cments necessary to justi- I’high school diploma. Dun-. Bylined, however, to be re- ■ ;ble for how long the std- ■!sable to retain that know- P1 The superintendent a- Bthat there is a need for April 19,1978 some more uniformity in state wide standards of competency but he stressed that local school control must be preserved. It is also considered important to make sure that students aren't cheated by schools that teach to the minimum passing level thus turning the system around from one that rewards maximum ef- > fort to one that rewards only minimum efforts. The educator says that he envisions a better state wide teacher training program and an educational system better equip ped to help students pass mini mum competency requirements and detect earlier the learning problems so many young stud ents are afflicted with. He plans to do this by setting up a system of check points built into the system where the student would be tested to measure his pro gress in school. Switching to another subject, Superintendent Duncan felt that Senator Heard's Urban Educa tion unit is completely unneces sary as the ODE is already set up to handle the problems brought up by Heard. Pointing to the fine job that the Director of Compensatory Education, Jerry Fuller is doing, Duncan claimed that one-fourth of Fuller's time is spent working in Portland schools. Since a citizens group this week had come out with a report showing that 32 percent of the 7,415 black students in Portland are bussed to school while only 2 percent of the white students are bussed and since this group has called for improved racial understanding especially in the preparation of predominately white schools for black children. Duncan was asked for some thoughts on Urban busing and the problems it presents in Port land. The director responded by pointing to the Beaverton-Oswe go busing program as a model system any program would be proud of. Duncan said he felt that the city high school open door policy has lent itself to vol untary forms of integration as students seek to pursue their in terests in schools that are parti cularly strong in a certain field. He cited Jefferson High School as a model of this program, Jef ferson having an outstanding per forming arts program. Duncan also talked of the need to stabalize school fund ing and while he admits that de spite all the steps taken to pre vent it, a 1976 tax payer rebell ion is possible in Oregon again and it could force more schools to close. The Oregon tax levy system is a system that superin tendents will have to live with, but Duncan feels that a better public awareness along with mil lions of dollars in school funds going to offset property taxes will be enough encouragement to voters to vote in future levies. Before he had to leave for the day Duncan made a point of showing how important the state's community college sys tem was to Portland in obtaining huge new German industrial plants in the Northwest sec tion of town. The superinten dent said that because the states community college system could virtually guarantee the skilled labor that the industry requires, Portland had a big advantage over many of its competitors when bidding for the industry. As he was leaving Duncan was asked about what kind of Superintendent his opponents would make. Duncan said that he would be very interested to see either of his opponents in his office because neither of them has served in an adminis trative capacity, anywhere, be agreement among the candidates and much criticism of Duncan's administration. All candidates stress the importance of main taining the system of local school control and all agree that the basic school support should be raised from thé present 40 percent to 50 percent in an attempt to help stabilize school financing. It should be kept in mind that this election of Sup erintendent of Public Instruction is the first election since before the 1976 taxpayer rebellion which voted down so "many school levies and forced the clo sure of some Oregon schools. Ruth McFarland has called for the reform of what she calls the "three T.s". The T's to be reformed are textbooks which a recent Oregon State University study showed were often too dif ficult for the grade level they are aimed at; Teachers, McFarland advocates a more rigorous train ing program for teachers point ing to the fact that at the fifth grade level a teacher need only have had one course -in how to teach reading to be qualified for the Oregon public school system; testing, the third of McFarlands threeT's has become one of the big issues of this campaign. fore. This would be a handicap that Duncan feels they would not be able to overcome. They would lack the ability to make the proper day to day decisions that have to be made daily at the ODE. While all three candidates have agreed on some of the issues and problems facing the school systems there has been much dis Specifically, McFarland and Senator Heard have both attack ed the new Oregon minimum competency requirements for graduation from high school. Both candidates have charged that the program has been mis handled and that the Oregon Department of Education has failed to take a leadership role in putting the idea across in public schools. Page 3
