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Portland Observer. January 12, 1983 Page 5
¿Mnllyinunii 3Flnrr«t
Education for the future
ìfluincrs f r o lli ¿Holluioooi»
bv Dr. M atthew Prophet. Superintendent
Portland Public Schools
(The following ere excerpts
from a speech to the Portland
Chamber of Commerce on Janu
ary 11th.1
. . . In this country there it a rap
idly growing gap between the needs
of our highly technical information
age and the education and training
of our work force. Unless we— as a
nation— take immediate action to
properly prepare our populace for
the economic realities of the post-in
dustrial age, we will continue to lose
ground to other nations o f the
world. As you know, many of them
are at this moment making a con
certed national effort to gear up for
competition in the international
marketplace.
Authorities in virtually every sec
tor of our society suggest that the
key to advancing our economy,
strengthening our position in world
markets, maintaining our national
defense, and moving our nation into
the post-industrial age, is technol
ogy. Just as the evidence that
technology is the key to attaining
our national goals in each of these
areas is overwhelming, so is the evi
dence that education is the key to
technology.
A review of our current economic
situation tells the story.
•T he U .S . rate of productivity
has declined each year since 1965,
and the actual level of productivity
has decreased since 1979.
•Managem ent analyst Peter
Drucker anticipates that through
the 1980s and 1990s 10 to 15 million
manufacturing jobs w ill disappear
from the American landscape. Even
if Drucker is half right, imagine the
economic, social and political panic
created in 1980 81 by the loss of a
mere 300,000 auto industry jobs
multiplied many times.
•W e are already facing the eco
nomic consequences o f becoming
technologically inferior in the man
ufacture of automobiles, radio, tele
vision, high fidelity, tape and video
recording, and a host of other elec
tronic industries. Now we face the
compounded consequences o f be
coming inferior in the microcompu
ter and memory chip industries.
Japan already holds 70 percent of
the world market in 64K memory
chips and is currently working on a
one megabyte chip.
•fo llo w ing Japan's lead, France
has formed its ministry of research
and industry. The French ministry is
launching eight separate projects to
design commercial high technology
products. This five-year, $20 billion
e ffo rt to build France into the
world’s third technological and in
dustrial power, alongside the U.S.
and Japan, is underway.
•G erm an y, another rival in the
world marketplace, has not lost the
message o f the Japanese and
French. Germany is also pushing
hard to automate its industry and
move into higher technology indus
tries.
•Even Third W orld nations with
their abundance of low-cost labor
threaten to attract assembly work
away from the U.S.
The evidence is clear from what is
happening internationally that there
is a need to address this issue.
by advanced technology? At a time
when it is becoming more and more
important to train our students for a
post-industrial world, we are still
producing scientifically and techno
logically illiterate high school gradu
ates— the fastest growing minority
How then can the U.S. maintain a
lead in some technological areas and
make gains in those areas in which
we are currently behind? Clearly we
cannot rely on internal monetary
policies and tariff barriers when an
important portion of our gross na
tional
product
comes
from
international trade.
If we are to retain and keep pace
with the technological advances of
our foreign competitors it is neces-
>4ry for the education sector to aid
In the response.
The educational community must
help our nation become effectively
Competitive in the high technology
industries by developing the human
(Jesources upon which a technologi
cal base is dependent. We must edu
cate. train and retrain our populace
for the information age-----
It seems clear that the United
Slates lacks the national goals, the
public policies or even the vehicle to
focus discussion and debate in the
reconstruction of science and math
ematics education. No other indus
trialized country has defaulted on
the education of science and mathe
matics teachers to the extent of the
United States.
What are the implications of such
a lack of national commitment on
our need to be com petitive in a
world market becoming dominated
group in America.
What can we do?
Unfortunately, the future looks
grim Realistically we can expect lit
tle help from our national or state
governments. On the national level
our leadership is working hard to
cut back spending in all n on -m ili
tary areas. Education has, for ex
ample, been the recipient of severe
cuts from the federal level.
The current state of our economy
makes it impossible to expect more
help from the state level and, in
fact, reductions are likely.
W hile not all o f our youth will
seek employment in high technology
industries, they will all need to be
aware o f communications technol
ogy if they are to be prepared to sur
vive in a technology driven society.
The future adult who is not aware of
technology will be as disadvantaged
as those today who cannot read.
But we can't afford to do this job
alone—in fact, I'm sure you would
not want us to do it alone. While the
cost o f technology has decreased
dramatically, to prepare our youth
to be technologically literate will re
quire a major investment. This cost
can and must be shared by the entire
community. Businesses can help by
sharing your expertise, by being on
our advisory committees, by sharing
your personnel and facilities, so that
our students can learn the practical
application of technology.
In December o f 1980, the P ort
land Board o f Education adopted
the concept of partners in Portland
education. This concept encourages
the District to work closely with the
Chamber of Commerce to develop a
school/industry partnership. The
Chamber Board has recently com
missioned S .R .I. International, a f
filiated with Stanford University, to
conduct a study to identify, among
other things, those industries most
likely to play a significant role in
economic development. In working
with the Chamber we hope to build
partnerships between businesses in
those identified industries and build
appropriate vocational programs
within our schools for those indus
tries.
I B M . has agreed to support us in
adding to the system in a very cost-
effective fashion.
One element being considered for
the integrated network between the
high schools is that of individual pi
lot projects. Examples of these in
clude computer aided design and
manufacturing (including drafting)
robotics, computer graphics and mi
crocomputer construction, repair
and maintenance at Benson High
School. Wilson High School is con-
sideering the use o f electronic li
braries such as ''Dialogue,” “ Com
puServe," and " T h e Source" to
conduct research and Roosevelt
hopes to become involved in a user-
directed computer counseling net
work, a career information program
and administrative uses of compu
ters . . . .
Cleveland intends to soon become
involved in a conference phone net
work to local and state businesses
and agencies in a project being
sponsored by A IS Division of A m
erican Bell.
Jefferson is exploring certain in
novative computer applications.
They are giving consideration to the
introduction of utilizing the compu
ter to assist in A rt and Music in
struction, interactive television, ex
pansion of basic skills applications,
staff training, and possibly the es
tablishment of a computer demon
stration center.
In addition to the programs I
have mentioned, this District a l
ready has 418 microcomputers and
computer terminals in place in our
schools for use in instruction and
management. That is one for every
108 students in Grades 1-12. We
have developed a K-12 learning plan
in computer science and a course
outline titled Introduction To Com
puters and we have one of the most
sophisticated non commercial tele
vision studios in the state— to enable
us to tap into cable innovations.
Our target is to have all students
become computer literate— to learn
how the new technology can be used
to solve our problems.
We arc looking closely at our en
tire range of educational p ro
grams, including special education,
talented and g ifted , English as a
second language, and various other
special programs to determine how
we can strengthen them by the use
of modern technologies.
In addition to increasing our co
operative efforts with the private
sector, we are taking the following
actions:
First, we have created an office of
instructional technology to spear
head our efforts to move our district
into the information age in a timely,
productive and cost-effective fa
shion.
In addition, we have carried out a
broad-based districtwide planning
effort involving teachers at all lev
els, adm inistrators and support
staff, and members of the Portland
State University Department o i
Education. Out of that " In fo rm a
tion Age Planning Conference” has
come a set of recommendations for
the District's involvement in instruc
tional technology-----
Now students in Lincoln’s foreign
language programs will be able to
communicate by voice on a regular
basis with students in foreign coun
tries as a result of this project. Such
communications w ill enhance the
Lincoln international studies mag
net program. Initially, Lincoln stu
dents in Russian language will com
municate with students in the Soviet
Union and Lincoln’s students of Ja
panese will be communicating with
students in Japan
This project is a good example of
our desire to go beyond computers,
to enter the entire range of instruc
tional technologies and to include
the entire span of the curriculum in
our e ffo rts .. . .
We are also considering the de
velopment of a computer network
that will, in its first phase, link our
ten high schools together by compu
ter. We intend to communicate be
tween schools by electronic m ail,
and to establish a solid intercommu
nications system among the ten
schools.
Each o f the high schools is a l
ready involved in some preliminary
planning for a pilot project o f its
own and w ill be able to share its
progress via computer communica
tions. I B M . has agreed to provide
substantial support for this project.
If it is as successful as we anticipate.
are essential«) the survival of public
education in our rapidly changing
society At the same time we intend
to increase (not decrease) human to
human interactions and to provide a
more humane educational setting
By making the very best use of
people, instructional tools, manage
ment skills and tax dollars we will
achieve that vision.
I hope that you will join with us in
making your resources available—
either through providing experi
ences in your industries or in sharing
your resources with our classrooms.
Together we can help our society
overcome computer anxiety, and
move forward as a community into
this new age Time magazine names
a computer the "man of the year"
and the Portland schools will pre
pare our youth to use " th a t m an"
for a more productive tomorrow.
In order to address the problem
of skills deficiencies among a seg
ment o f our students, and to do
everything possible to ensure that all
students meet the increasingly de
manding graduation requirements,
we are now in the process of evalu
ating several computer-assisted in
struction pilot projects designed to
help students who have failed in one
or more areas on our District-wide
levels test We arc looking to devel
op the best possible approach to ba
sic skills remediation in cooperation
with private sector companies
Elementary schools across the na
tion are becoming increasingly in
volved in the use of computers in in
struction. This district is taking a
hard look at two particularly prom
ising programs: Apple Logo and
I.B .M .’s "W ritin g To Read" pro
grams. Each of these is being exam
ined as possible pilot projects for el
ementary schools. . . .
We are also concerned about the
human element. O ur use o f m a
chines is intended to enhance rather
than replace the personal role of the
teacher in our classrooms. As we
move heavily into the use o f such
tools—as I believe we must— it is es
sential to address the human and in
terpersonal issues to be faced by
both our students and our staff
members. . .
Portland can lead the way in this
country in ultimately bringing edu
cational costs down and increasing
educational productivity. The pro
gram l have just outlined is an ambi
tious one, but is reachable through a
cooperative effort within our com
m unity. It is one that the School
District can not do alone. We have
neither the resources nor the staff.
Nor can it be done overnight. It will
lake time and the combined efforts
of all of us. We are competing with
highly technically oriented countries
which have adopted national goals
in these technical fields. We need
your help!
Our goal is to develop a strate
gic vision that brings the best re
sources of business, industry and
education into a concerted effort to
allow for the kinds of changes that
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