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.
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