Feature
‘Over 21 ’ group works hard
GED students set individual educational goals
by Carolyn Clinkingbeard
Reporting II Class
They
laughingly
call
themselves th^“over 21 group,”
but they are very serious about
obtaining their GED, General
Educational Development Cer
tificate. Buster Dutton, 66,
Janice McAllister, 46, Alice
Lawson, 44 and Ha Thi Eaglin,
39, are students in Jim Meiser’s
GED Preparation class.
Each one had different cir
cumstances which prevented the
completion of high school, but
now they all feel the need to com
plete their educational goals.
Buster Dutton left school after
eighth grade graduation. “There
was no junior high then,” Dutton
said. “My step-dad couldn’t get a
job, so I went to work picking up
logs in Astoria two weeks before
my graduation. I was working on
graduation day, but I had com
pleted my studies so they let me
graduate.”
Dutton has lived mostly in
Oregon. “1 worked all my life on
the river...on tugboats, except
when I was in the army,” he said.
He retired last August after
working 20 years for Knappton
Corp. After receiving his GED he
plans to “tour the U.S. and
Canada on my motorcycle, but
not all at once,” he said. Will his
wife go with go with him? “No,
my wife is younger and she’ll
keep on working,” Dutton said.
“She’ll help pay the bills.”
Alice Lawson’s problem is
dyslexia. She is now receiving
special help with her reading
ability.
“I have the comprehension but
when I read it comes out dif
ferent,” she said. She plans also
to enroll in the displaced
7
¥
Classified Ads are
available to both
students and staff
free of charge. Forms
may be picked up at
the Student Activities
Office or Trailer B.
Or call ext. 309
(657-8400). Deadline,
Tuesday 2pm prior to
publication.
“When I came to school
here, it's like a teacher open
ed a door... like putting light
in a tunnel"
Ha Thi Eaglin grew up in a
village in Vietnam. She came
here in 1973. She recalls her
childhood as difficult years. She
had seven brothers and sisters
but said she felt like their
mother. “The day after they
were born they were mine,”
Eaglin said. “I fed them,
diapered them....you name
it...I did it.” Her mother owned
a small grocery store and spent
all of her time there.
Ealin said when she was 14
she decided to get a job and pay
someone to take care of the
children. Soon she moved to the
city, opened a wholesale grocery
business, and returned home
only once a month, to pay the
bills. “I couldn’t read or write
but I could talk good and they ,
the customers, didn’t know,”
Eaglin said. “I figured faster
than they could on paper.”
Buster Dutton
r
homemaker class. “They teach
you how to dress, to write a
resume, and conduct an inter
view,” Lawson said. “How to
put your best foot forward.”
Lawson is married, and
doesn’t have to work right now.
“But if anything happens I want
to be able to go out and look for
a job,” she explained.
Janice McAllister attended a
California high school until she
was a sophomore. “I was an avid
reader but math was a problem,”
she said. She related that her
teacher told her she was stupid.
He said she should get married.
“So I took his advice,”
McAllister said. “I left school
and got married. Now, 30 years
later, I’m back.”
She and her husband used to
own a restaurant, but when he
died she had to sell it because
she couldn’t do the paper work.
She will also take the displaced
homemaker class. “It’s to put
you back in the world...to
organize your marketable
skills... to utilize things at your
disposal,” McAllister said.
Janice McAllister
By the time she was 16 Eaglin
could support the whole family
and her mother quit working in
the store. At 17 she bought
them a house with eight
bedrooms and four baths. She
hired a chauffeur, a cook and a
housekeeper. She also employed
four in her business.
“It’s not like here,” Eaglin
said. “Over there, if you’re
smart and have the energy, you
can really make it. I wanted to
open a restaurant here but there
is too much red tape.”
Eaglin has a low opinion of
Vietnamese men. She said it’s
always the women who work in
the fields. “The men go to war
but they can’t work hard like
the women,” she said. “All
they can do is make babies.”
She said it will take two more
years, “but I’m not going to let
that hold me back.” She plans
to go on to college. She hasn’t
yet decided on her major but
said she is interested in counsel
ing “because I like to help peo
ple.”
She said most American
children don’t seem to ap
preciate their opportunity to
learn.
“I never had a chance to go to
school in my country,” Eaglin
said. “When I come to school
here, it’s like a teacher opened a
door...like putting light in a tun
nel. When I can write really well
I’m going to write an article
about this school.”
The party begins.
j
f-
After 5 drinks.
fl
I I
V
7 drinks in all.
il
II
•l;
.0*
The mote you drink, the more coordination you lose.
That's a fact, plain and simple.
Its also a fact that 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine and
1 'A ounces of spirits all have the same alcohol content. And
consumed in excess, all can affect you. Still, people drink too
much and then go out and expect to handle a car.
When you drink too much, you can't handle a car..
You can't even handle a pen. .
A public service message from WillcRpgeiS Institute
F®bruary 1®, 1937
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