**rs Franca« Sohoan-Naaapapar Ro
Unt v « r « t t y o f Oregon L ib ra ry
tugeno, Oregon 97-103
Schools teach children to hate to read, expert says
D r.
F itzh u g h
Dodson,
prominent rlinlral payrholo
gist and author of the beat
seller “How to Parent", was
interviewed by the Observer
thia week while he vara
tioned on the Oregon ('oast
with his family.
Dodson is
no stranger to Oregon since
it was while he was pas
toring at Palatine Presby
te ria n
Church
th a t
he
chunged careers in
mid
stream and began his study
of psychology.
Dr.
Dodson
has
been
recognized as one of the
three
leading child
care
authorities in the United
States.
His book llo w to
Parent has sold over 1/2
million copies and has been
translated into eight Ian
guages.
He is also the
author of the chapter on
Parenthood in the college
text Life and Health. He is
also the author of D r. Mod
son's
W hii
Hang
Super
Economy Parent
Survival
Kit. His most recent book.
How to Father, waa released
last spring and ia the first
book to rover all of the
stages of development from
birth to age 21 from the
point of view of the father.
D r. Dodson has in the
course of his career taught
pre school and each of the 12
grades, aa well aa college and
gradual«* school, which places
him in an unuaually good
position to speak on edura
tion.
He is the founder of
the internationally famous I,a
Primera Pre School Center.
Portland Observer:
aren't
the
Why
schools teaching
students to read?
Dr. Modsom For a very
simple reason. 1 would like
you to contrast the way in
which children learn to apeak
and
the
way
in
which
children learn to read.
If
you take children and ob­
serve them in a nursery in a
hospital just after birth,
those children, who obviously
do not know how to speak
the English language, will
between the ages of birth
and three learn to speak the
English language. There are
perhaps a few autistic chil­
dren who will not learn to
speak because of emotional
difficulties.
Huy by and
large we can safely say that
almost 100 percent of chil­
dren will learn to speak the
English language.
One of
the reasons they will learn to
speak the English language
is because nobody teaches
them; therefore, they have
nobody who teaches them
and louses up the teaching
process.
However, those
same children who learn to
speak the English language,
without much trouble, when
it comes to learning to read,
many of those children, de-
not learn to read or will
learn to read badly.
Why?
One of the reasons is that
the people who teach them to
read in school will louse up
the job. That is unfortunate
because the teachers are not
paid to louse up the job.
And they really do not want
to louse up the job, when
they become teachers of
reading in the first grade.
Their purpose is not to
prevent children from read
¡ng. but to teach them.
However, many teachers are
mistakenly taught that they
should teach children to read
by the look and say method,
or I would prefer to say the
look and guess method. And
this pretty effectively messes
up the process.
Dr. Gene
('hall of Harvard has sum-
marized ten years of solid
research on teaching children
to read, and she found that
of the
various
phonics
methods, there was not one
method superior to any of
the others, but all of the
phonics methods were far
superior to the look and say
methods.
She summed up
her results by pointing out
that the English language
was a code and the phonics is
by far the best way of
cracking that code. Yet, in
spite of her results, many
schools do not begin by
teaching the phonics method,
or they dilute and explain to
parenta, who unfortunately
do not know how inaccurate
these words are, that they're
really teaching the best mix
ture of both phonics and look
and say. Thia is equivalent
in my opinion to a gas staion
attendant telling you that
he's really going to do the
best for your car by a 50%
mixture of gasoline
and
molasses.
In my opinion it is a real
tragedy, and a needless
tragedy, that after having
loused up the teaching of
reading in the first grade, we
then spend an enormous
amount of money with read­
ing specialists and remedial
classes to try to repair what
we messed up in the first
place. This is roughly the
same as if you made a
naturally right handed child
w rite le ft handed for a
year, then when he is clumsy
and badly uncoordinated,
go back and try to repair the
damage by shifting hands
and allowing him to use his
right hand, which he should
have been using in the first
place. That's basically why
children don't learn to read.
Rudolph Flesch
pointed
this out many years ago in
his book Why Johnny Can't
Read,
but the education
establishment, undetered by
masses of scientific evidence,
plows steadily on in the
wrong direction.
Observer: How successful
do you think the schools are
T H E IN D E P E N D E N T O R E G O N IA N
August is County Fair month all over Oregoi.
(Please turn to pg. 3, col. 41
Paint m a n u fa ctu re r locates in A lb in a
A new m anu facturin g -
retail business has moved
into Albina.
Although a
manufacturer and distributor
of p aints. Pacific P a in t
Corporation offers for retail
sale all types of paints and
painting accessories.
Owner John Gee has b«*en
in the paint business since
19-17
Originally a paint
sal- «rrr.rn and ns ner of a
retail nutlet, he had the
opportunity to obtain the
northwest distributorship for
Seal Cole paints 13 years
ago. A fte r going to the main
plant in Ohm to learn the
basics of paint manufacture,
he opened his factory in
Southeast Portland.
(iee moved the plant to
N. Vancouver Avenue and
Fremont last January, first
purchasing the building for
I hi manufacturing plant and
later obtaining the old ser
v ic e station building on that
corner to use as his retail
store.
John Gee. owner of Pacific Paint Corporation, mixes paint
to customer's specifications.
Pacific Paint Corporation
o ffers q u a lity paints at
reasonable prices, but to
appeal to the gambling in­
stinct of his many customers.
Gee has revived an old
idea
the wheel of fortune.
As a s,M*nal Saturday event,
the customer is allowed a
(Please turn to pg. 6, col. 4)
re c eives
honor
Linda Gay,
5617 N.E.
11th. was recently presented
with Allstate Insurance Com
pany's highest em ployee
honor,
the
Good
Hands
Award.
Ms. Gay is a claims repre­
s e n ta tiv e from A lls ta te 's
Portland office at 12323 S.W
66th Avenue. She was given
the award because she is an
outstanding worker who has
shown great concern for
custom ers and promotes
goodwill for Allstate, said
Ken Stoner, Seattle regional
associate vice president.
She is one of nine from
Oregon, Washington, Alaska.
Idaho and Hawaii to receive
the Good Hands Award this
year.
Apprenticeship and Training
for Oregon, said “Not only is
Ms Molden the first woman
to be placed in the trade
here, but she is the first
Black woman in the nation to
be joining the ranks of the
International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers ((HEW )
as an inside electrical ap­
prentice.”
He added. "It's only fitting
A T D
.
Account
The Telephone Deposit transfers excess money
from checking to your Benj Franklin savings account
where it can earn 5'/«% interest until you need it
Insured for safety Telephone transfers work
both ways
for deposits or withdrawals
For more information on the
T /D Account, call 24H 1362
llenj.O Franklin
» * < ,,„ « ■ « , « * n
Moma Ottica. Franklin Bldg , Portland, Oregon 87204
Robert M Haien. Pree • 2« Ottica» • Phone 248-1234
that the ljilm r Department
should note this landmark
coincident to Secretary of
ljib o r Peter J. Brennan's
tribute to America's women
w o rke rs d u rin g Women's
Week.
Members of the
M etro Electrical Joint Ap­
prenticeship and
Training
Committ«*«* at Portland and
the National Electrical Con
tractors Association ran look
with pride on their dedicated
efforts to eliminate sex dis
crimination in employment
and to open new oppor
tunities for women in the
work force."
Sorenson said, too, that
"Compliance with laws which
prohibit
discrimination
in
employment on the basis of
sex, race, religion, color and
national origin entails more
than enforcement measures.
It
requires
understanding
and a willingness on the part
of employers and workers.
And Ms. Molden's placement
is indicative of dedicated
efforts on the part of the
M e tro
E le c tric a l
JA TC ,
whose members are made up
of representatives from labor
and management."
Dan Faddis, Director of
Training for the M etro Com
mittee. echoed Sorensen's
high regard for the Com
mittee, citing “fantastic co­
operation on the part of
committee members."
He reported that minority
participation in the program
now stands at about 10
percent.
He added. "The
Committee will continue in
its efforts to place minority
(Please turn to pg. 5, col. 5) •
T h e U n it e d M in o r it y
Workers (U M W ) have filed a
suit in federal court against
John D.
Todd of Todd
Building Company, a Rose­
burg. Oregon corporation.
The suit charges that Todd
has broken a contract he
entered into with the United
Minority Workers in Sep­
tember of ’, 9 ”.
After lengthy negotiations
with the United M inority
Workers and a 10 day notice
to comply by the Federal
General Services Administra­
tion (GSA) which is funding
the building. Todd signed an
agreement with U M W to use
minority employees for at
least 20 percent of the man
hours on the construction
job.
The agreement was
approved by GSA and be­
came a part of Todd's af­
firmative action agreement
with the government.
Another stipulation of the
contract
was that
Todd
would seek minority em­
ployees through U M W and
inform U M W regularly re­
garding
minority
employ
ment.
In November of 1973, Todd
was served with a show
cause order by GSA re­
quiring him to demonstrate
why he was not fulfilling his
affirmative action require
ments. Since that time, ac­
cording
to
Nate
Proby,
director of U M W , Todd's
r eco r d s
have
r e fle c te d
m i.
nority hiring but in 15 trips
to Eugene. Proby has not
found the reported numbers
of minorities to be working.
Government regulations, he
explains, require GSA to
give the contractor three
weeks warning before an
on-the-job audit, and this
gives the contractor time to
put minorities to work who
are
later
terminated
or
"quit".
In its last report, Todd
Construction Company re­
ported 10,316 man hours,
including 1.599 minority man
hours. O f these. 226 hours
were performed by Blacks in
carpentry and labor, ac­
cording to the report.
Proby also charged that
not only has Todd failed to
hire an acceptable number of
minorities, but he has not
re p o rte d his a ffirm a tiv e
action efforts W , U M W . Jug.
has
he
sought
minority
w orkers
through
UMW .
Proby received one request
for a plumber, and last week
The Canadian government has promised to investigate the
received his first equal op­
portunity report. The job is arrest of a U.S. Army deserter at the border in Blaine.
Washington. Witnesses said Ronald Anderson was removed
now 45 percent completed.
Aside from the contract from Canadian soil by American officials after he had
with U M W , Todd has the successfully crossed the border.
usual federal requirements
An American oil company has discovered oil about 200
that he actively seek out and
employ minority workers on miles off the coast of South Vietnam. About eight companies
are drilling in the Vietnam area.
all phases of the job.
The suit asks that Todd be
French Jewish leaders have asked the French government
required to cease racial dis­
crim in a tio n and to hire to take artion against what they call the greatest wave of
minorities in sufficient num­ anti semitism in that country since World W ar II.
bers to come into compliance
with the contract, and seeks
$50.000 in damages.
As public schools across the country are preparing to
reopen, the National Committee for Citizens in Education
alerted parents to a new Federal law that gives them and
their children important new protections for their right of
privacy.
ancient burial grounds but of
Part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of
recent burials as well. One
young man recently saw a
1974 isigned by President Ford on August 21st), the new law
dress at an artifact sale that
states that in any public school receiving Federal funds,
he had seen a women buried
parents must be allowed to see their children's school records
and must be given the opportunity to challenge erroneous or
in three years ago.
irrelevant information. Further, the law says that school
P etro g lyp h s
from
the
administrators cannot release school records to outside
Columbia River are showing
parties without parental consent.
up in possession of indivi­
duals and of the Corps of
The income gap between Blacky and whites grew larger in
Engineers.
A IM has been
the years from 1969 to 1973 according to a new study by the
informed that the Corps is
U.S. Census Bureau. In 1969 the median income for Blacks
preparing to sell four petro­
was 61 percent of the white family average, but by 1973 had
glyphs to Skidmore. Owens
dropped to 58 percent.
and M errill for one of their
Between 1965 and 1969. the Black average family income
buildings. A IM claims pos
rose by 32 percent in actual buying power after inflation was
session of these petroglyphs
taken into account. Between 1969 and 1973 income after
for the Indian tribes and
inflation decreased .2 percent for Black families but increased
intends to recover them and
6.1 percent for white families.
return them to the reser­
The World
The Nation
AIM attacks local problem
Electrical W o rke rs get w om an member
Charlye Molden recently
became the first woman in
the Northwest to be placed
in the electrical trades by
the Metro Electrical Joint
Apprenticeship and Training
Committee at Portland, Ore
gon the U .8. Department of
Labor reported.
Carl
E. Sorensen,
the
Labor Department's state
supervisor for the Bureau of
U M W s u e s c o n tr a c to r
CHRIS HUNT
H unt
le a d s
S c o u ts
New district executive for
the "Big Thunder” district of
the Columbia Pacific Council,
Boy Scouts of America, is
Chris Hunt, formerly dis
trict executive in the Chief
Seattle Council.
Hunt's appointment is to a
district which reaches from
Northeast Portland to St.
Helens.
He and his wife
have purrhas«*d a home at
9461 N. Calhoun in the St.
Johns area and will move
there in September.
Mrs.
Hunt is currently completing
work on a master's degree in
Library Science at the Uni
versity of Washington. She
is also a violinist and was
concertmaster of the Wash
ington State University Or
chestra. Hunt was chairman
of the board of the Thalia
Symphony, a Seattle com
munity orchestra, while the
couple lived in Seattle.
Current concern of the
new district executive is in
(Please turn to pg. 4, col. 6)
"He is at best a ‘latent
racist'," Glenna Page, state
director of the American
Indian Movement, said of
Portland's Police Chief Bruce
Baker.
Mrs. Page and a
group from A IM visited with
Chief Raker to discuss the
harassment of Indian people
in Portland.
According to
Mrs. Page it is common for
Indians to be intimidated,
insulted, searched and re­
ferred to as "drunks". The
group came away from the
meeting feeling that not
much had been accomplished.
Their offers to assist with
training police officers about
Indian culture and problems
specific to them were not
accepted and Chief Baker
seemed to feel that "we have
always done it this way.”
T he
A m erican
In d ian
Movement was founded on
July 28, 1968 in Minneapolis
to unify twenty separate
Indian organizations in that
city. The first project was
police “ride alongs". which
resulted in a decrease of
police brutality toward In ­
dians.
The A IM chapter in O re­
gon, like all others, is auto­
nomous
and
independent.
Polices are made by the local
chapters,
which
d ic tate
priorities to the national
officers, who in turn devise
strategies to meet those
priorities.
A IM has become involv«*d
in every issue that effects
the lives of Indian people.
The most widely
known
action was at Wounded Kne»
where people from over 75
tribes gathered to support
the demands of the Oglala
Sioux that their treaty be
honored.
Locally, A IM
seeks to
unify the various groups of
Indians - urban, suburban,
reservations, etc. - to see
that the needs of all are met
and to provide a united
front.
One of the local problems
now receiving attention is
the theft of Indian artifacts
and belongings, many of
which have been in families
for centuries.
There have
been several robberies of
homes on the Um atilla Reser
vation where irreplaceable
articles have been stolen.
Another problem is grave
robbery
--
not only of
vation.
A IM intends to ask Indians
(Please turn to pg. 2, col. 5)
Fair brings health a n d fun
The first annual People's
Health Awareness F air of
the Model Cities community
is about to begin.
Many
concerned citizen s re p r e ­
senting a number of com
m unity based groups are
working long and hard to
make this important event a
great success.
Among the
groups on the planning com­
mittee are the People’s Free
Health Clinic. Health Help
Center, Albina Health Care
Center, Multi-Service Center
Health Services, Model Cities
Health Working Committee,
Maternal and Infant Care
(M & I) Project, M etro
Urban Center Y M C A . Cas­
cade Community
College,
Albina A rt Center, and in­
terested individuals who are
concerned about the health
needs of our community.
Held on Saturday. Sep­
tember 7th, on the St.
Andrews Parish playground
(N .E . 9th off Alberta), the
Health Awareness Fair will
be festive as well as educa
tional anti informational. To
help people become aware of
good health needs, there will
be Films with discussion,
literature, nutrition informa
tion,
exhibits,
demonstra
tions, samples and lists of
community
resources
and
programs.
I t will be an opportunity
(Please turn to pg. 6, col. 6)
Blacks are major contenders in several races for seats in
Congress this November. Among those considered to have a
good chance of election are:
Harold Ford of Memphis, now a Democratic state senator,
is running in a district about 42 percent Black. He is at
tempting
to
unseat
Republican
Representative
Dan
Kuykendall.
Norman Hodges of Los Angeles. A Republican, Hodges is
running in the 31st District against Democratic Repre
sentative Charles H. Wilson.
Mathew Perry, an attorney from Columbia, South Carolina,
who won a decisive victory in the Democratic victory, faces
Republican incumbent Floyd Spence.
The State
The Black Heritage Committee of the American Revolution
Bicentennial Commission of Oregon will be having pictures
and other historical materials relating to Black Oregonians
and the Black Experience on exhibit at the Salem State Fair
through Saturday, August 31st. The fair will be open from
10 a.m. to 10 p.m. each night.
The Salem School District faces a teacher's strike next
week after ten months of negotiations over salary increases
and fringe benefits have broken down. The School Board
states it will not accept binding arbitration and is seeking
temporary teachers to open the schools.