Page 4 Portland Obaerver, June 17, 1982
EDITORIAL/OPINION
oise: Over the top
The achievement o f Boise's eighth grade class
in making better than average scores in language
arts cannot be overemphasized. Not only has the
eighth grade class gone over the 50 per cent
mark but the entire school has gone into the
mid-range. No longer is Boise at the bottom of
the district.
Boise’s achievement refutes many o f the ru
mors that have been kicking around the district
for so long. Boise— the d istrict’s blackest and
poorest school—has hit average. Blanchard was
thoroughly convinced—and fostered the idea—
that black children could not learn in a majority
black school and that poor children could not
learn unless integrated with high income chil
dren. Boise has proven that theory wrong by
surpassing several “ all white’ ’ middle income
schools.
Boise made its progress with little help from
the school district. Under threat of a closure for
at least 10 years, Boise’s dingy building has re
ceived no “ renova tion.” W hile surrounding
schools were nearly rebuilt, Boise had a coat of
paint. We once asked why there were six stories
in the school newspaper about painting the lava
tories: the answer is that this was the first “ reno
vation” Boise had seen for at least ten years.
The neglect o f the building is a symbol o f the
neglect o f the children and the community.
Boise’ s “ fundam ental magnet program ,”
which began as a straw to grasp to keep the
school alive, never received district support.
There was never the e ffo rt to bring white stu
dents into Boise that there was for Jefferson.
There was never the publicity that was given to
Lincoln, Cleveland and other magnet programs.
Boise was an embarassment. There was never
the moral support or the words o f encourage
ment. Boise was not important.
Boi* vas always a club over the community.
When .e Board lost the struggle over the racist
Newman plan, Blanchard said that something
must be done about Boise. When the Commu
nity C oa litio n for School Integration sought
“ equity” Blanchard reminded the community
that something needed to be done about Boise.
When, in response to a Black United Front boy
cott threat, the Board began work on its “ com
prehensive desegregation plan,” Boise was the
problem to be eliminated. When the Board de
cided to put Tubman at Boise, Board member
Joe Rieke expressed the sentiment o f some
Board members: “ Boise is a terrible program:
it’s a failure. We need to get rid o f it.”
In the end, the community gave up the Boise
K-8 program at great sacrifice in order to place
Tubman at E lio t. Boise— the last symbol o f
community resistance to the Blanchard p la n -
will soon be gone.
Even now Boise is being disregarded. At a re
cent staff meeting to discuss merger, our new
superintendent discussed the delicate programs
o f Tubman and E lio t and how they must be
moved carefully and gently— but not a word
about Boise.
The community should be proud of Boise. Its
staff, its parents, its students are responsible for
its growth. The students have not been unaware
o f the district’s disfavor. They have been very
aware o f the activities o f the board and adminis
tration toward them and their school—each year
they have heard the discussion on how to get rid
o f Boise. We can only hope that no other
school, no other community, no other group o f
students will have to face such overt neglect and
discrimination.
Black families and the Reagan budget
by Norm an H ill
It is widely accepted by both lib
erals and conservatives that no insti
tution plays a more critical role in
shaping the developing personality
than the family. Sociological analy
sis conclusively has dem onstrated
that stable fam ily units create the
most auspicious conditions for the
re a liza tio n o f a c h ild ’ s p o te n tia l.
In p art this stems fro m parental
supervision and the importance o f
fa m ily figures as role models fo r
a young child.
Econom ic w ell-being is an
important factor in maintaining the
s ta b ility and cohesiveness o f the
family unit. O f equal significance is
the fact that stable fam ilies fre
quently enjoy the benefits o f two-
incomes and therefore are able to
provide fo r children a better stan
dard o f living.
Thus the state o f the fam ily is a
crucial indicator o f the well-being of
a society. But families do not exist
in a vacuum. They are profoundly
affected by econom ic and social
trends and by governm ent policy.
From this point o f view it is import
ant to take a look at the effects o f
the Reagan A d m in is tra tio n ’ s p o l
icies upon the family unit.
According to a recent symposium
organized by the Leadership C o n
ference on Civil Rights, an umbrella
group o f over 150 civil rights, labor
and com m unity organizations, the
effect o f the President’s tax cuts and
budget austerities has been to
further exacerbate the economic and
social inequities between black and
white families.
The researchers and scholars who
■
mi
E d it o r ’s note: N o rm a n H ill is
President o f the A. Philip Randolph
institute.
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M EM BER
PER
NêWAL
Founded
/
has been highlighted in the writings
and research o f University o f C h i
cago Sociologist W illiam Julius W il
son. Professor Wilson has pointed
out two divergent trends which in
recent years have manifested them
selves in the black community: the
growth o f a black middle class and
the simultaneous growth o f an “ un
derclass” o f black poor.
S ignificantly, Professor Wilson
notes, the growth o f this underclass
o f black poor is directly linked to a
process o f disintegration o f family
structures. He demonstrates, for ex
am ple, that while 90 per cent o f
black children from middle-income
families live with both parents, only
18 per cent o f the black children
from low-income families live with
both parents.
C le a rly , econom ic pressures
brought about by living in poverty
or on its edge have a devastating ef
fect on fam ily stability and on the
possibility for black children to live
a life in which their basic needs are
essentially satisfied.
Regrettably, the policies to which
the current A dm inistration is com
m itted do nothing to address this
disturbing trend of disintegration of
fa m ily life am ong low-incom e
blacks.
Despite President Reagan’s rhe
toric o f commitment to the values of
the family, in the first 18 months of
his A d m in is tra tio n he has shown
himself to be callously indifferent to
the consequences o f his policies for
the family life o f the poor.
Portland Observer
Met >■
Oregon
1 Newspaper
Publishers
Association
A ttoaatlon
participated in the Leadership Con
ference symposium point out that
today 41 per cent o f black families
are in the bottom fifth o f the income
scale, while white families make up
95 per cent o f the highest fifth. Un
der such circumstances, the effect of
the Reagan across-the-board cuts
has been to cut incomes twice as
much for white families as for their
black counterparts.
The Leadership Conferences dis
cussion o f the consequences o f the
a d m in istra tio n ’s budget cutbacks
indicates that they disproportionate
ly place budens on areas with high
concentrations o f urban poor black
fam ilie s. T o a large extent such
areas have few taxab le resources
and face heavy burdens o f govern
ment services which cannot be met
without transfering payments from
the federal government. Families o f
poor blacks therefore have been hit
hardest by the cuts in funds for so
cial services, public education, voca
tio n al tra in in g , and low -incom e
housing.
M oreover, the Leadership C o n
ference points out th a t these new
setbacks are occurring at a tim e
when in the last decade the median
income for black fam ilies has de
clined in real terms by 6.3 per cent.
W h ite fam ilies have also exp er
ienced a decline, but it has
amounted to considerably less— 3.7
per cent. The end result of the last
decade’s economic trends has been
to open even wider the gap between
black and white fam ilies. We have
reached the point where black /
fam ily income is less than 58 per
cent that o f white families.
A substantial factor in this decline
TMS
A l McGilberry, Editor/Publisher
A ! Williams, Advertising Manager
283 2486
National Advertising Representative
Am algam ated Publishers, In«.
N ew York
i
Congressman Ron Dallums of
C alifornia w ill ba the featured
speaker for the O bserver'»
Achievem ent Awards Banquet
on July 16th at the Hilton Hotel.
Honorees are: Earl Wantland.
president, Tektronix: V.F. Book
er, president. Am erican S tate
Bank: Harry Qllckrtian, execu
tive vice-president of the Trail
blazers; Cora S m ith , ow ner of
Cora Sm ith Hair Design; State
R epresentative G retchen Ka-
foury; County Executive Don
Clark;
City
Com m issioner
Charles Jordan; Edna R obert
son. Coordinator for the North
east District Neighborhood O f
fice. Woman of the Year: Linda
Williams. The Oregonian; Man of
the Year, Ron H erndon, co-
chairm an, Black Unltad Front;
O utstanding C om m unity Sar-
vica: Ruth Haefnar.
Tha banquat w ill ba hald at
7:00 w ith no-hoat cocktail hour
preceding. Tickets will be avail
able after June 21st.
CONGRESSMAN RON DELLUMS
Boise surpasses school district average
[Continued fro m page ! column 2)
son’s social studies class also em
phasizes multi-cultural education.
Patty Z im m erm an, who teaches
language arts, integrates other sub
ject areas. “ W e o ften use health
books fo r read in g — to teach
h e a lth .’ * In reading class, N ellie
Larson uses a broad range o f books
from the well-stocked library.
T h ere are some who believe
Boise’s students are deprived by not
having the science, shop, homemak
ing and other specialized classes that
are offered in middle schools. " M y
philosophy is that i f a student can
read and write, he can learn science
or any other subject. I f he cannot
read, he cannot learn anything; he
will be left out. We know that when
these eighth graders go in to high
school, they can read and they can
learn.’’
44 4
43.7
48.2
12
9.0
10.3
6.0
10 5
Boisa
6.0
District
Fifth
Grade
4.6
5
6.3
3
7.0
5
District
Sixth
Grade
8.8
6
7.6
2
7.6
2
District
Seventh
Grade
6.5
4
3.8
2
6
2
District
6
5
3.9
2
7.7
2
District
grade year as the eighth graders did
in the fall o f their eighth year, will
surpass (his y ea r’s eighth grade
class.
Although staff morale has hit an
all-time high and teachers are excit
ed about the child ren ’ s achieve
ment, there is concern about what
w ill happen a fte r next year. " I t
seems like now that the program is
succeeding and we can see the re
sults, it w ill be gone,” Patty Z im
merman said. The sta ff is worried
that when Tubman and Boise upper
graders are merged the “ fu n d a
m en tal” program w ill be lost and
children who need the emphasis will
be lost.
Language Reading Math
38.5
46.2
43.0
Fourth
Grade
Bolsa
Bolsa
Boisa
Boisa
The above chart shows that Boise students exceeded the district
average In improvement of scores between fall of 1961 and spring of
1982 in all but one category (Fifth Grade Math). In some cases Boise
growth doubled or tripled the district average growth.
Boise’ s “ P-scores” fo llo w . A
score o f 50.0 equals district average.
Arts
43.1
45.6
44.5
45.9
47.1
50.9
Reading
Eighth
Grade
M rs. Glosson agreed. " I tell the
students that if they can read and if
they can express themselves in w rit
ing and o ra lly , they can read any
book and can learn anything.’’
Third grade:
Fourth grade:
Fifth grade:
Sixth grade:
Seventh grade:
Eighth grade:
Language
A rts
M a th
44.6
47.2
42.2
44.9
43.4
46.5
The trend— with the higher scores
in the upper grades— is opposite to
the usual trend in “ disadvantaged”
schools where children fall further
behind the average each year.
M cC rea predicts that this year’s
seventh grade, which scored as high
in the spring test o f their seventh
"M a n y o f Boise’s students are ex
trem ely bright and w ill do well in
any middle school,” M cC rea said.
" B u t there are others who need the
special emphasis on reading and
writing to ensure they have the ba
sics. These are the children we feel
need the type o f program we have at
Boise."
Boise students do find time to ex
cel in other areas: the 6th grade boys
and the 6th grade girls took first
place in the city basketball league,
the fifth grade boys were second.
The 7th and 8th grade volleyball
team — the school’s first in some
years— reached the semi-finals. The
school took first place in the Urban
4-H track meet.
The newly organized m arching
rhythm band won a second place
award in the Junior Rose Parade.
The student council sponsored
many activities and raised money to
purchase M a rtin Luther K in g ’s
bust. The school publishes its news
paper, Boise Speaks.
Letters to the Editor
To the editor:
Only three years have passed since
the A ya to llah Khom eini assumed
power in Iran, and yet the war with
Ira q — with at least 130,000 deaths
and four million refugees— 50% o f
ficial unemployment rate for a work
force o f 12 m illion, reduction o f oil
prices and production, food short
ages and long lines, infighting with
in the regim e, and c o rru p tio n in
government institutions, all added
to the repressive rule o f the mullahs
and their guards, have forced the
people o f Ira n to seek an a lte rn a
tive.
In these circumstance, the opposi-
tion forces have united to form this
altern ative in the body o f the N a
tio n al C o un cil o f Resistance. The
N .C .R ., which has been successful
in establishing itself as the only pop
ular and leg itim ate a lte rn a tiv e to
K hom ein i’s rule o f terro r, is com
posed o f many popular and progres
sive forces and personalities. Initiat
ed by the People’ s M ojahedin O r
ganization o f Iran, the most popular
social force in Ira n , this fro n t in
cludes p ro m in ent figures such as
former President Bani Sadr, as well
as forces such as the Kurdish Demo-
cratic Party, the strongest regional
force in Iran, its popularity rapidly
growing among the people and even
am ong the A rm ed Forces, the
N .C .R . has dealt many serious and
strategic blows to the regim e, de
priving it o f a future.
U n lik e K h o m e in i’ s regim e, the
program o f the Provisional Govern
ment o f the N .C .R ., which w ill
serve as a transitional government
a fte r the d o w n fa ll o f this regime,
guarantees the freedom o f ideas and
parties; the rights o f ethnic, relig
ious, and n atio n al m in o rities; as
well as equal social, p o litical, and
economic rights for women. In ad-
^ t^ .^ ^ n n M jK e d b j^ M o ja h e d
r
i
, i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
M a s ’ ud R a ja v i— in charge o f the
C oundil— the Provisional G overn
ment o f the N .C .R . favors a non-
aligned, n o n -in terventio n ist, and
non-adventurist foreign policy
aimed at international peace and co
operation.
F in ally, whereas Khom eini and
his aides u n rig h tfu lly seized the
leadership o f the 1979 Revolution
without any piogram for the future
o f Iran, thus bringing anarchy and
despotism to the country, this time
the organized, nationalist and dem
ocratic o p p ositio n , the N a tio n a l
C ouncil o f Resistance, w ill bring
peace, order and democracy to Iran.
Julie A. Jessie
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