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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 22, 1982)
Portland Observer, September 22,1982 Page 5 Education and technological revolution by l)r. Matthew Prophet Superintendent, Portland Public Schools A ll ligns point to the fact t Aat in the next tw enty years this country w ill experience a technological revo lu tio n ta r greater than any in our past. The students in our schools today w ill live their lives in a society o f high speed com m unications, high technology and computer science. In order to better prepare s tu dents to live and succeed in this changing society, the public schools must place greater emphasis on pro viding students with the skills need ed to get and hold a jo b in the fast- paced society that is their heritage. On numerous occasions since I ar rived in Portland, I have stressed the need fo r the d is tric t to increase its emphasis on the whole range o f vo cational, in d u s tria l, and technical training and education available to students in our schools. In my judgment the truly unsung programs in the schools today arc those that could provide the level of skills essential to students to earn a living after high school, advanced technical training and/or college. In the real world o f the 1980s, vo cational and technical education, in a ll o f its d iv e rs ity , may very well dominate the thrust o f public educa tion. A ll o f the statistics tell us that in the 1980s job skills training and education w ill loom as a dominant function for the public schools, par ticularly in the cities. Please understand, it is in no way my intent to downgrade strictly aca demic programs. They are absolute ly essential and I w ill continue to up grade their q u a lity throughout the Portland Public School System, but the educated student o f the future should have a balance o f vocational and academic tra in in g and educa tion to increase the career options and opportunities they w ill face. It is one o f my goals for the future o f the P ortland P ublic Schools to m axim ize the o p tio n s fo r a ll s tu dents, and to better equip them to fu n ctio n effectively as productive c o n trib u to rs in our society. To do this w ill require the support, interest and p a rtic ip a tio n between the schools and all o f its publics. Vocational education has not re ceived s u ffic ie n t a tte n tio n in the Portland M etropolitan Area and in Portland Public Schools during the past decade and m ore. Program s have steadily declined in num ber and quality—often in seeming obliv ion to the needs o f the local econ omy. For example, Portland Public Schools now has electronics p ro grams in three high schools as op posed to eight programs ten years ago— th is, despite the am azing growth o f the electronics industry in our area. D eclin in g e n ro llm e n t, eroded state and federal support and a be leaguered national and local econ omy have been prime villains in de cline o f vocational education. H ow ever, other school d is tric ts have faced these same problem s, and have emerged w ith stronger p ro grams and retooled delivery systems that provide quality programs in the most cost-efficient manner. Recent reports show that our aca demic programs are significant im provements in teaching students the basic skills. The recovery o f voca tional education must be engineered w ith the same dedication and take advantage o f this recovery. Educators over the past two dec ades have been forced into listening to vocal advocates from competing interest groups. The tragedy is that seldom have these voices been raised by those in our com m unities w ho employ people and pay their checks. It is ironic that (he greatest poten tial strength o f vocational education has often been somewhat o f a weak area in our school system, that being our relationship w ith our business and industrial com m unity. Though we have made gallant attempts to in volve advisory committees, we have found any consistent, m eaningful involvement d iffic u lt to maintain. We simply must develop a d e liv ery system for vocational education in the Portland Schools that closes these enorm ous gaps and, most im p o rta n tly , gives fu ll ow nership for vocational/technical education to the local business and industrial community. I have committed myself to w ork ing closely with the business and la bor leaders o f the P o rtla n d area, and to do my best to m obilize and focus the support o f in flu e n tia l heads o f co rp o ra tio n s and sm all businesses in the Greater P ortland Area toward im proving the overall vocational/technical program in our schools. 1 am confident that this v i tal task can be accomplished w ithin a reasonable period o f time. Now is therefore the time to begin a comprehensive review o f the exist ing vocational education delivery system, w ith a goal to establish more effective and efficie n t m eth ods to prepare those students who so choose, to have salable s k ills upon high school graduation, while at the same time contribute toward m eeting P o rtla n d c o m m u n ity economic needs. Washington Hot Line by Congressman Ron Wyden When Congress voted last week to override the President's veto o f the Supplemental Appropriations Hill, it struck a blow for fairness and credibility. For the first time since the Reagan Adm inistration took office, Con gress stood up and said no to a bud get plan that wasn’ t fair. For the first time in two years, Congress went toc-to-toe with the President over the issue o f fairness—and won. In pushing for Congressional sup port for his veto, (he President at tempted to portray the Appropria tions Hill as a budget-buster. The facts simply don't support this con tention. The bill approved by Con gress asked for $2 billion less than the President himself had requested What the President really was up set about was how Congress spent the money—not how much it spent. The bill Congress sent to the Pres ident called for some $917 m illion more than the President had re quested for employment programs for the elderly, education programs for the handicapped, loans for col lege students and extended unem ployment benefits for the millions o f Americans who have been thrown out o f a job by a flagging economy. It called for $2.1 billion less in de fense spending than the President wanted. So when the President said he did n 't like how much we were spending, he really meant he didn’ t like how we spent it. It was not real ly a matter o f cold cash—as the President would have had the Amer ican people believe— but a matter o f priorities, a matter o f choices, a matter o f how we allocate our re sources. As I said in a speech prepared for floor debate, the President made it clear in setting forth his request that he would rather spend for foreign aid than for elderly employment, student loans and education for the handicapped. He made it clear that he would rather spend for exotic weaponry that does not work very well and would not give us any more security if it did, than for advances to state unemployment funds. Congress, in rejecting the Presi dent's plea to sustain his veto, made it clear it does not agree. Faced with a choice o f whether we should spend our money to help get America back on her feet, or to con tinue to pay for waste, Congress said no. T hat’s a victory for American taxpayers. And it ’ s a good sign for the future. ★ * * * ★ COME TO OUR Buchanan seeks office (Continued from page I column J) should be dumping that kind o f money into El Salvador, but it has no legality and no place on the county ballot. It's a straw poll f i nanced with county taxes to sample public sentiment on a given issue. I he initiative measure requires some education on both sides o f the is sues. The county ballot is for county business.” Huchanan uses this same logic to oppose a nuclear freeze measure on the county ballot. W ith the demise o f federal funds, could the county pick up the slack? "People are willing to support addi tional funding for essential services but not for human services pro grams. People are not willing to tax themselves any m ore." Huchanan says the property tax lim itation measure, ballot measure #}, is a terrible idea, " , 'm sympa thetic with people who want to lim it property taxes but as the public begins to understand the conse quences they w ill sec that it is just not an acceptable solution. I ’ m dead set against it. A vole for this I '/ i percent lim itation w ill create havoc in local government, schools, cities and counties. If it ’s approved, we w ill end up voting on a sales lax, lottery or an increase in the state’ s income ta x ." Dennis Huchanan is also opposed to ballot measure #6, especially the clause that prevents lobbying by a county official. " I think it’ s a bad idea that we cannot retain someone on staff who supports county inter ests. We’ve had two big problems in the county. Historically, the legisla ture has suid to us that we must pro vide certain services but they have not given us the funds to carry these services out. Hy going down to Sa lem full-tim e we were able to get the State to take over the court system. This saved the local property tax payers over 15 m illion dollars over the next five years. You just have to have people down there who repre sent your point o f view.” Why should the voters support Dennis Buchanan over Gordon Shadburne? Huchanan says, “ The voters should support me because o f my superior performance in office. I think that I have been able to repre sent them better and I stay in step with the progressive traditions in Oregon. I stand for open and re sponsible governm ent — one that meets the needs o f the citizens. I stand for the progressive goals o f equal rights and fair treatment for all our citizens. Just look at my rec ord: Dennis Huchanan supported the ERA, the 911 system and pre serving the Colum bia River Gorge. My opponent opposed all these. "A g a in , the record speaks for it self. I ’ ve done a better job and de serve voter's support." 25% o« all New & Used Vacuum Cleaners GRAND OPENING!!! FALL S E A SO N STARTS SAT 9-11-82 W E BU Y • SELL • T R A D E FURNITURE • APPLIANCES • M IS C . TOOLS KNICK K N A C K S « ETC. FLEA MARKET MALL 4440 SE 104th at Holgate 7606346 EUREKA ELECTRIC CO. 140 N.E. Broadway« 287-9420
