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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2018
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
Founded in 1873
JIM VAN NOSTRAND
Editor
JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM
Business Manager
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Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
Oregon’s graduation rate is abysmal
W
hat is it about Oregon that
makes high school gradua-
tion so difficult?
“While Oregon students perform rea-
sonably well academically, they gradu-
ate at far lower rates than their academic
performance would otherwise indicate,”
said a report from the governor’s Chief
Education Office.
Truly, our abysmal graduation rate is
a conundrum.
We know what boosts student
achievement — having an excellent
teacher in every classroom.
We know what encourages students
to attend school — having supportive
family; making positive relationships
with peers, connecting with teachers and
other role models who believe in them,
and finding something through school
that becomes their passion.
We have loads of data — from the
state Department of Education, Chief
Education Office, Chalkboard Project,
national research and individual school
districts — about dropout strategies and
how to keep students engaged in school.
Yet our high school graduation rate
remains among the nation’s worst,
despite rising 2 percentage points — to
77 percent — in data released last week
by the Education Department.
The state Legislature is so concerned
that Senate President Peter Courtney
and House Speaker Tina Kotek
launched a joint Senate-House commit-
tee on student success. Sometime after
the 2018 Legislature adjourns in March,
those 14 lawmakers will travel the state,
listening to Oregonians and looking for
what isn’t working in our schools, as
well as what is.
The Daily Astorian
Friends and family packed the Brick House at Astoria High School’s 2017 graduation.
CLATSOP COUNTY GRADUATION RATES
Of 412 students in Clatsop County’s Class of 2017, 283 earned their diploma in four years,
according to state figures, including 63.3 percent in Astoria, 76.2 percent in Warrenton,
66.7 percent in Seaside, 90.6 percent in Knappa and 75 percent in Jewell.
As they seek answers to Oregon’s
dropout dilemma, here are two issues
for legislators to consider.
First, the Legislature butts in too
much.
Bureaucracy flows downhill. Each
time Oregon adopts a new school reg-
ulation or law, it increases the adminis-
trative burden, which means less time
for working with school principals,
who then have less time for effectively
coaching teachers, and on and on.
Whenever the Legislature adds a
mandate, it should have the guts — and
the insight — to cancel outdated, inef-
fective mandates. That should be a cen-
tral function of the Legislature and
of the state administration, especially
because a new mandate might be needed
in response to our second issue: Is it too
easy to become a teacher?
Teaching is among the most noble of
human endeavors, even though its pay
is mediocre compared with its impor-
tance to society. Teaching is simul-
taneously rewarding and difficult.
Classroom-management skills are as
essential as subject knowledge, but col-
leges put far greater emphasis on aca-
demic knowledge.
Student teaching typically is among
the last courses that prospective teachers
undertake. Rarely do they experience a
full year in the classroom, so they can
learn how to start, maintain and con-
clude an academic year.
Requiring one year of student teach-
ing undoubtedly would deter some pro-
spective educators. But it would bet-
ter prepare the rest, helping stanch the
high turnover among Oregon’s fledgling
educators.
If Oregon is to help every student
graduate, Oregon must have a great
teacher in every classroom and a great
principal in every building.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Kindness and concern
from a complete stranger
A
s a child, once I found myself looking up
at a piercing blue sky, and smelling the
heavy scent of gasoline dripping on me. As
my mind came crowding back into its little
body, I went to lift my minibike off of me, but
incredible pain in my left arm prevented me
from doing so.
The 80cc Honda was too heavy to lift off
with one arm, nor could I just pull myself out
from under it. I called for help. No one came.
Finally, I worked out a solution. I unlatched
the seat, which fortunately was hinged away
from me, and brought my free leg up under it,
and pushed the bike off with my foot.
I walked a sandy dirt road to the near-
est house, a farm laborer’s dwelling, and
knocked. A Mexican woman answered the
door. I tried to explain to her that I’d bro-
ken my wrist, but she didn’t speak English.
So I held up my left arm, with my right hand,
which made plain to her that my wrist was
completely broken.
She was suddenly full of kindness and con-
cern and rushed me to the main farm house. I
was then driven to the hospital.
This is what I know about Mexican
immigrants.
MICHAEL A. “SASHA” MILLER
Astoria
Indivisible is a nationwide
inclusive group
D
riving back from Astoria to Cannon
Beach from the recent Indivisible Sum-
mit, I found myself smiling. There were many
reasons I felt such joy. The number one?
Remembering one year ago I was one of the
broken millions, devastated and unsure how
to move forward. I felt the country I loved
was doomed to be vandalized by a crazy man
and his cronies.
Attending the meeting of a group that did
not exist a year ago showed the commitment
of thousands of people, just like me. There are
now 6,000 groups across the country. What
has been created replaced fear, and returned
the strengths of the America of “we.”
As a member of Indivisible for the last
year, I know what sets us apart from the
Trump base. It is identifying what we are for,
and commitment to take action for achievable
goals guaranteeing our democracy is alive and
well. Take a peek at just two examples:
We are for woman’s right to choose; the
Trump base — no choice.
We are for Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals (DACA) and immigration policies
that support refugees; Trump base — no and
restrict, use racist tactics, and limit people by
country and color.
Pundits say groups like Indivisible have to
be for something, not just be against Trump.
Indivisible is for insuring every citizen under-
stands we are a nationwide inclusive group
committed to being for integrity, equity and
detailed objectives, solutions, and getting out
the vote for our democracy.
LOLLY CHAMPION
Cannon Beach
Disgusted by
wheel cover comment
egarding the Jan. 19 article in The Daily
Astorian, “For Trump voters on the North
Coast, few cracks after an unsteady first year,”
I found the comment about the wheel cover
on the Jeep belonging to the chairman of the
county’s Republican Central Committee dis-
gusting: “The wheel cover on back says,
‘Help save America, have your liberal spayed
or neutered.’”
I feel the owner of the Jeep is now a bully,
like his president. I wonder how many of his
neighbors he will have spayed and neutered?
DIANE FINUCANE
Astoria
R
LETTERS WELCOME
Letters should be exclusive to The
Daily Astorian.
Letters should be fewer than 250
words and must include the writer’s
name, address and phone number. You
will be contacted to confirm authorship.
All letters are subject to editing for
space, grammar, and, on occasion, fac-
tual accuracy. Only two letters per writer
are allowed each month.
Letters written in response to other
letter writers should address the issue
at hand and, rather than mentioning the
What we won’t hear
in State of the Union
egarding the upcoming State of the Union
Address, I’m certain of a few things we
won’t hear:
We have the best economy since the great
recession (thanks to Obama).
Unemployment is at its lowest rate ever
(thanks to Obama).
Race-based hate crimes are up 7.6 percent,
9 percent for Jewish people, and a high of 91
percent in the Muslim community; the best
ever, thanks to me.
Attacks on freedom of the press … it’s
fake news ( I created the truth; well, me and
God).
Global warming: Show me the science. I
took Biology 101, I know my stuff. The fla-
mingos are doing just great at Mar-a-Lago,
thanks.
My immigration policy: If you’re rich,
white and blond, you’re in. I say it again, I’m
not a racist. I’m not a racist … how many
times must I say it? I’m not a racist. All are
welcome in my s--- house, I mean White
House.
Guns and my GNP. Go buy a gun. Support
my NRA, gun sales are sluggish.
R
I am the best friend to so many; Duterte of
the Philippines, Erdoğan of Turkey, Putin, and
my sparring partner, Little Rocket Man — got
to love ’em. Who needs the Brits, anyway?
I like my moral compass. I can tell bold-
faced lies, ignore the truth, fool those evangel-
icals, and still sleep like a baby. I will buy my
way into heaven. Never liked camels anyway
(Matthew 19:24).
Need I say more? Silence = complicity.
PAUL FLUES II
Astoria
Kudos to Noel Thomas
picked up my Jan. 19 copy of The Daily
Astorian, and in the Weekend Break sec-
tion I noted the article “Artist’s sketchbook:
Facing homelessness in Astoria” (Jan. 19) by
Noel Thomas. I recognized Thomas’ excel-
lent art and then realized he has also written
I
writer by name, should refer to the head-
line and date the letter was published.
Discourse should be civil and people
should be referred to in a respectful
manner. Letters in poor taste will not be
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Send via email to editor@dailyas-
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97103.
the article.
The point is this: What a credit to our com-
munity Thomas is. Not only is he an excel-
lent artist, not only do we find him regularly
commingling with all of us area neighbors,
but Noel has come to documenting our life in
the 20th and 21st century in the North Coast
region.
Like the wonderful rough photos I see of
Astoria and the regional coast from the 1900s
and the 1920s, Noel’s important and excel-
lent art will remain, and always tell part of our
story of life here.
And, Thomas not only captures attractive
ships, or beautiful buildings in his work, but,
he thoughtfully took the time to pay attention
to our homeless residents, and show that this,
too, is a real and notable part of life in this
area at this time.
HARRY GRASS
Astoria