randeis University Fights
to Keep Minority Students in College
Excellent Is As
Excellent Does
W e ll, chalk it up to progress, growing
enlightenment, consumer aware­
ness, or whatever - 99 percent o f our
readership agreed with last week’s rather
harsh indictment o f a conclusion reached
by an Oregon legislature task force on
‘ M in o rity Teacher Standards’ : “ Ore­
gon should scrap a basic skills test for
teachers.” We were equally critica l o f
the implications contained in their state­
ment that “ teacher training schools are
looking fo r ‘other’ ways to assess a
teacher’s basic skills...” Can there be a
more vital criterion than a basic compe­
tence in the lingua franca o f a nation?
I wrote here last year o f the type o f
training my mother and aunt received
when they attended Teacher’s College
seventy years ago (normal schools). A t
that tim e, graduation from one o f these
institutions assured one (or pupils/par-
ents) that he or she could teach or
design a curriculum w ith the co n fi­
dence that a recipient o f such instruc­
tion w ould indeed attain ‘ ‘cultural lite r­
acy” and mathematical proficiency.
There was no doubt at all but that the
affected student body would be able to
effectively interface w ith their world:
grammar, syntax, math, general sci­
ence, literature, social studies, geogra-
phy, history, biology, chemistry and
health science. Could there be any
less?
It should be emphasized here that
successful operation in any field results
from a practice o f the particular art
within a formal frame o f reference whose
context specifies objectives and the
m ethodology fo r achieving them. We
have taken the liberty here o f reprinting
the introductory page o f the book, P a rt­
ners F o r Success: Business and Educa­
tion (National Association o f Schools
o f Excellence). Can you imagine teach­
ers who have failed the “ C alifornia
Basic Educational S kills Test” being
employed to deliver an educational
product in such an environment o f
excellence?
Introduction: Our Kids Are Learning
The ‘ ‘Partners fo r Success: Busi­
ness and Education” conference
brought together a cadre o f 22 p rin c i­
pals who clearly demonstrated that
A L L C H ILD R E N C A N LE A R N .
T heir success stories tell o f leadership
and team e ffo rt turning barriers o f
poverty into doors o f opportunity.
Y ou who take advantage o f these
examples w ill learn the common links
between high expectations, setting
examples, enhancing skills, and aca­
demic success. You w ill learn the
importance o f considerate behavior,
safe and attractive buildings and
grounds, appropriate teaching m ateri­
als and methods, group decision mak­
ing, homework, and providing at-risk
students w ith adequate communica­
tion skills, and personal support.
You w ill learn about the p rin c i­
pal who carried a cordless telephone
and calls parents when he witnesses
students striving and succeeding.
You w ill learn about the public
school that adopted private school
uniform s to enhance school pride and
student self-esteem, other schools in
that district switched to uniforms the
fo llo w in g year.
Y ou w ill discover innovation that
defied tradition, confounded, intran­
sigeance, and circumvented bureauc­
racy. You w ill come to understand
methods used to achieve, academi­
cally and behaviorally, under the most
trying circumstances and acquire e f­
fective tools that attract parental par­
ticipation, teaching excellence, and
enthusiastic student accomplishments.
You w ill learn this is not a racial
issue. Those who tell their stories ef­
fectively teach Asian, Hispanic, H ai­
tian, Puerto Rico, Native Am erican,
A frican Am erican, and poor white
students.
You w ill lean the truly dedicated
have the courage to expand on routine
procedures and encourage innovations
- even resorting on occasion to friendly
coercion, i f that is what it takes to
accomplish their common mission.
Each practices a singular brand
o f super salesmanship that effectively
sell academic success.
New Program Helps Chemically Dependent
Residents o f the Portland/Van-
couver M etro Area w ill soon have an alter­
native, free, self-help program fo r chem i­
cal dependency. Rational Recovery (RR).
RR, based on the rational-emotive therapy
RET o f A lbert E llis, Ph.D., is based on ab­
stinence and self-reliance. A nationwide
network o f recovery groups is being devel­
oped by Rational Recovery Systems, a
coalition o f professional people who v o l­
unteer their tim e to this humanistic recov­
ery program.
On July 11,1990, the C alifornia-
based RRS Director, Jack Trimpey, LCSW,
w ill arrive in this area to explain the pro­
gram through media outreach plus an
evening lecture and a daytime workshop,
and to assist in organizing subsequent
support groups. Jerry G riffee, local coor­
dinator, is w orking closely w ith M r. T rim ­
pey to bring this program to our region.
"There is a desperate need in
Am erica fo r a self-help program that is
based on down-to-earth concepts o f self-
control, self-w orth, and complete recov­
ery. We know that human beings are quite
capable o f learning to abstain from alcohol
and drugs w ithout form ing new dependen­
cies or subm itting to higher powers or
authorities," Trim pey says. “ R ationalRe­
covery offers a no-higher-power approach
that is independent from one’ s religious
beliefs or the lack o f them. Recovery means
learning to say ‘ n o ’ and make it stick year
after year, but this is not nearly as hard as
it is usually made out to be. O ur program
provides the inform ation that is so im por­
tant in learning how to resist the tempta­
tion to drink. Then, members learn how to
avoid negative emotions like anxiety, de­
pression and anger that often lead to re­
lapse.” In RR, one is expected to eventu­
a lly leave the group when recovery is
complete. “ Traditional programs seem to
encourage endless dependency on the
recovery group. W e are here to help people
k ic k the recovery habit when they have
been sober fo ra long time and life is going
reasonably w e ll.”
The lecture w ill be held at 7-9:30
PM on July 12. The workshop w ill be held
at 9-11:30 A M on July 13. Both events w ill
be held at Room 1075 at Emanuel Hospi­
tal, located at 2801 No. Gantenbein.
Both are free and open to profes­
sionals and lay people. For further in fo r­
mation you may call Jerry G riffee (206)
256-2170 o r Pat Burnet (206) 835-3642.
CREED OF THE BLACK PRESS
T h e Black Press believes th at A m erica can best lead the world away from social and
national antagonisms when It accords to every person, regardless o f race, color, or
creed, h ill hum an and legal rights. H ating no person, fearing no person, the Black
Pram strives to help every person in the A rm belief th at all are h u rt as long as anyone
to bald back.
ERYER
PORTL
(USPS 959-680)
OREGON’S OLDEST AFRICAN-AMERICAN PUBLICATION
Established in 1970
A lfre d L. Henderson
Publisher
Joyce Washington
Gary Ann Garnett
Leon Harris
Business Manager
E d ito ria l M anager
A national attack against the prob­
lem o f college m inority student drop­
outs w ill be launched this month by
Brandéis University at six demonstra­
tion sites throughout the country.
‘ ‘ Higher Ground,” to be funded by The
Pew Charitable Trusts and The Ford
Foundation, and coordinated by Bran­
déis’ Center fo r Human Resources,will
serve at least 130 low-incom e students
at each site during the next four years.
H a lf o f all m inorities fa il to gradu­
ate from college, according to W illia m
M . Bloom field, director o f the project
and a senior research associate at Bran­
déis. O nly one in seven blacks and one
in ten Hispanics is likely to complete
college four years after graduating from
high school, he said.
Higher Ground is designed to help stu­
dents complete college and begin a ca­
reer by providing academic and career
couseling, and incentives. Year-round
activities include:
-A n intensive summer orientation to
college life
-On-going relationships with adult men­
tors from business and the college com ­
m unity
-Career-focused work experience that
cultivates skill development, affiliations
and contacts
-Academic s k ill development
-Fam ily outreach and involvement
-Career exploration and goal setting
“ Targeted academic and career-
oriented services can make the d iffe r­
ence between dropping out and staying
on fo r m inority youth who have made it
to college,” said Stuart H. Altman,
Dean o f Brandeis’ H eller Graduate
School fo r Advanced Studies in Social
Welfare under which the Center for
Human Resources operates. “ This w ill
be the focus fo r Higher G round.”
The project builds upon “ Career
Beginnings,” a 22-site high school-to-
college-and-career transition program.
Created by Brandeis in 1986, Career
Beginnings has helped more than 10,000
promising m in ority and disadvantaged
high school students who m ight not
otherwise have done so to prepare for
college or a career.
Six o f the 22 Career Beginnings
sites have been selected fo r the Higher
Ground Program: Bronx Com m unity
College, The Bronx, New York; C ali­
fornia State U niversity, Bakersfield;
Hartford Consortium o f Colleges, Hart­
ford, Conn.; Indiana U niversity N.W.,
Gary, Ind; and the U niversity o f Ten­
nessee, Chattanooga.
‘ ‘College entry represents only the
first step toward wider opportunity; per­
sistence through college graduation
means confronting more form idable
hurdles,” said B loom field.
“ College life is often very d iffe r­
ent from what these students expected,
and the task o f adjustment is often more
than they can handle on their own, he
added.
Bloom field cites labor Department
statistics which note that more than h a lf
o f a ll new jobs created between now
and the year 2000 w ill require some
education beyond high school, and almost
one third o f those w ill be fille d by
college graduates. M inority youth w ith­
out a post-high school education are
lik e ly to fa ll farther and farther behind,
he said.
Many colleges are now recruiting
m inority students from below the top
10 percent o f their class in an effort
toward greater inclusiveness in their
admissions policy, according to Bloom ­
field. “ This is an im portant step, but
without some additional assistance these
students are at substantial risk o f drop­
ping out before graduation,” he said.
Mandela's Visit Renews Commitment
Nelson Mandela’s visit to the United
States has renewed U.S. commitments
to economic sanctions against South
A frica, according to a United M ethod­
ist long involved in the sanctions cam­
paign.
“ I believe the church community
is going to intensify its effort to walk
the final mile w ith him to freedom,”
said Tim Smith, director o f the Inter­
faith Center on Corporate Responsibil­
ity (ICCR), part o f the National Coun­
c il o f Churches.
In the past few years, pressure from
the religious community and anti-apart­
heid groups has convinced more than
180 U.S. companies - including M o­
b il, Kodak, Xerox, General Motors and
Ford - to w ithdraw assets from South
Africa.
Forms o f pressure have included
selling o f stock, shareholder resolu­
tions, selective purchasing by more than
50 cities and states, and the 1986 U.S.
anti-apartheid act, which forbids com­
panies to start any new business with
South Africa.
For Smith, M andela’s visit here is
partial fu lfillm e n t o f a life tim e ’s work.
He became involved in the mid-
1960s in the struggle for equality in
South A frica, w hile s till a student at
Union Theological Seminary here. He
visited South A frica twice - in 1968
and 1970, when he accompanied two
United Methodist missionaries, Tammy
Hultman and Reid Kramer, who now
run A frica News, a publication pro­
duced in Durham, N.C.
Their interviews w ith directors o f
U.S. companies in South A fric a oc­
curred at a time when the idea o f pres­
suring such companies as a means o f
social change began to take root.
In 1968,fo r example, the W om en’s
D ivision o f the United Methodist Board
o f Global M inistries pulled $ 10 m illio n
from C itibank because o f its South
A frican ties, he said. The firs t share­
holder resolution was created by the
Episcopal Church in 1971 against Gen­
eral Motors.
During the 1970s, as a sta ff mem­
ber, first for the United Church o f Christ,
and later for the ICCR, Smith helped
lead the campaign to pressure banks to
stop new loans to South A frica.
Real pressure on corporations began
in the 1980s, he said, ‘ ‘ when very large
institutional investors began to debate
whether to sell their stock” in busi­
nesses dealing w ith South A frica.
*99 < to 0
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