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Page 8...The Portland Observer...Noveniber 13,1991
Portland Causes Stir At Conference
has instituted and, as we understand it,
is presently being used in their every­
Multi-Culturalism has become a
day
curriculum?” 1, of course, pro­
primary focus in school districts nation­
vided
them with a response that was
wide. Questions that have been surfac­
based
purely
upon the know ledge that 1
ing, too often, are -- “ How arc the
had
from
hearing
other educators con­
ethnic students benefiting from the
verse
in
Portland;
but, I could not pro­
present curriculum in the schools? Do
vide
them
with
any
in-depth informa­
white teachers have the understanding
tion.
However,
several
conference par­
and the ability to teach students of other
ticipants
had
had
the
opportunity to
countries?” These, of course, are only
have Carolyn M. Leonard, Coordinator
two o f many questions which seem to
of the Multicultural/Multiethnic Edu­
be buzzing around the nation.
cation Office, with the Portland Public
For approximately ten years, school
School, to come to their districts across
districts have attempted to solve this
the nation for the sole purpose of pro­
dilemma. The increase of Hispanics,
viding them with and enlightening them
Asians, Native Americans and African
on the concept of the Baseline Essays
Americans in the classrooms has caused
and the possible effect it would have, if
a geographical quandary which, in some
properly utilized, in their districts. These
cases, has placed the school districts in
conference attendees had adopted the
a not-so attractive light. ‘ ‘There are too
Baseline Essays for use in their districts
many cases where the parents are ac­
and had very positive comments about
cusing the teachers of not teaching their
its effectiveness. Others stated the es­
children and/or they (the teachers) don ’ t
says’ focus was too narrow to meet the
understand our people enough to be
needs of the diversity within their dis­
able to teach them in the first place.’’
tricts. Had there been an adequate rep­
This is a mere smattering of how the
resentative from the Portland Public
parents have been speaking out, with
Schools, a great sharing would surely
concern, for their children’s educational
have taken place. Because - the invis­
development or the lack thereof
ible, well sought-after, highly spoken
In New Orleans, Louisiana from
of celebrity of the conference, were the
October thirty-first through November
Baseline Essays.
fifth, there were very talented and dedi­
Geraldine Hammond, Central
cated representatives currently work­
Administrator
and Multicultural Edu­
ing in the field ot Multiculturalism who
cation
Coordinator
with the Salem-
had gathered from all over the United
Keizer
Public
Schools,
was the only
States of America; from Canada, trom
representative
at
the
conference
from
England and even the continent of Af­
the
state
of
Oregon.
“
I
did
not
come
rica at the Hilton Riverside Hotel, to
prepared to address the issue on Baseline
address pressing issues on M ulticultu­
Essays,”
Hammond stated, “ We, in
ral Education.
the
Salem-Keizer
School District, are
As registration took place, every­
presently
looking
for
materials, inservice
one looked to see who you were and
training
ideas
and
activities
that will
where you hailed from. When they saw
provide
our
students
with
a
greater
Portland, Oregon on my badge, they all
appreciation
of
cultural
diversity.”
came over to me and said “ You are the
TH E CONCEPT OF
one we need to talk to...’’ And I asked,
BASELINE ESSAYS
“ Concerning what?” Their response
[information
provided by
came fast and unanimously; “ What about
PPS
Multicultural
Office]
this BASELINE ESSAY that Portland
BY MATTIE ANN CALLIER-SPEARS
The concept of Baseline Essays
was introduced by Dr. Asa G. Hilliard
III, consultant to the Portland Public
School District’s desegregation plan,
in 1982. The tenu, when used by Port­
land Public Schools, means a scries of
essays that give information about the
history, culture and contributions of a
specific geocullural group in the areas
of art, language arts, mathematics, sci­
ence, social studies and music. The
purpose of the essays is to provide the
reader with a holistic and thematic history
of the culture and contributions of a
specific geocultural group* from an­
cient times to the present. This will
enable the reader to get a sense of the
significant events that have occurred as
well as a better understanding of the
group’s world view -axiology (values)
and epistemology (ways of knowing).
Writing essays that address tradi­
tional areas of study provides a frame­
work that allows teachers to move the
information from the basic discipline
to the specific subjects the teacher will
present to students. Baseline Essays arc
to be read by all district staff-adminis­
trators, counselors, support staff, teach­
ers, etc. This will enable them to gain a
better understanding and appreciation
of the history, culture and contribu­
tions of the geocultural group and fur­
ther, to utilize the information to pro­
vide better service to all students.
While the District has made a
commitment to Baseline Essays for each
of the geocultural groups, the length of
the essays has not been defined. Ide­
ally , essays should not exceed 50 pages;
however, the individual essays can be
signigicantly shorter in length. Refer­
ences and bibliographies will enable
those who need more information to do
follow up reading or research.
♦ Geocultural Group = Inhabi­
tants o f the United States are divided
up into six geocultural groups: Afri­
can-American, American Indian, Asian-
American, European-American, His­
panic-American, and Pacific Island-
American, These divisions, with the
exception o f the Hispanic-American,
are based upon the land masses where
human-kind could be found approxi­
mately 10,000 years ago. In this in­
stance, American is used as a synonym
fo r United States. All residents o f the
U.S. are hyphenated Americans with
the exception o f American Indians.
** Hispanic-Americans are, o f
course, European, Indian and African;
however, they are presented as a geoc­
ultural group because o f the govern­
ment definition and the group's ac­
knowledgement o f the term Hispanic.
Educators weren’t the only ones
present at th is international conference.
Included were representatives of major
corporations, textbook and publishing
companies. Each seeking answers, i.e.,
“ Will they adopt our textbook or not?
Or what new materials and ideas will
surface and is it too late to include this
information in this year’s publication?”
One such person present was Proc­
tor Houston, Group Vice President of
Jostens Learning Corporation. He was
raised in the streets of New York and
now resides in the state of Louisiana.
He opened his luncheon presentation
by saying ‘ ‘ In order for businesses to be
successful, they must cooperate with
schools and communicate what kind of
employee skills are needed. If not, busi­
nesses will find themselves ill-prepared
and unable to operate.”
Houston said that he grew up in a
multicultural environment. There were
Jews, Italians, Spanish, African Ameri­
cans, Whites and Puerta Ricans. “ We
all went to the same schools,” said
Houston. After he had reached the high
school level, he had a negative experi­
ence with a guidance counselor. “ I
don ’ t want to go to that school ” he told
his parents His parents had to fight to
get him in an academic high school. All
students of ethnic backgrounds were
being steered to the trade high schools
because the counselors felt that their
intelligence levels could not handle the
materials and learning from the aca­
demic high schools. It was through his
parents’ persistence that he was
able to attend the high school of his
choice. " I did not realize the impact
that this experience had on my life until
I had reached adulthood. It helped build
self esteem and pride.’ ’ He continued,
“ When you find a person who is com­
fortable with themselves, you will find
a person who likes himself and has a
good attitude. Attitudes are very impor­
tant. To be successful, you must be well
prepared.
“ In my business, there are three
very important “ p ’s” : the person, the
product, and the preparedness.
“ The demographic changes are
evolutionary. According to the statis­
tics, there are over 250 million young
people, of ethnic origin, presently going
through the doors of our educational
institutions. In two years, these figures
will have increased to 268 million; and,
in four years, it will have increased to
282 million. The statistics are real. This
progress is evolutionary. Can you sepa­
rate multicultural issues from business
and education? The answer is an un­
equivocal ‘No!’
“ There are 64 million kids under
the age of 18. In California alone, 46.4%
of that 64 million and 30% of the 46.4%,
are minorities.” And the statistics go
on and on and on, in the same fashion
across the nation. Are we ready to ad­
dress the needs of this increasing num­
ber of minority children? Everyone of
these children have to learn.
Houston said that he really has a
problem with labeling —i.e., at-risk or
disadvantaged. He asked the question,
“ At-risk of doing what?” He sited an
incident at a school he visited. There on
the playground were many young chil-
dren playing. As he walked across the
grounds, the teacher who was escort­
ing him commented, “ See those kids
over there? They’re at risk.” He looked
at her puzzled and asked, At-risk of
what?” Her response was, "They are
at-risk of failure by the time they reach
high school.” He was so upset. Hous­
ton said that a child can just look into
your eyes and tell what you are think­
ing. He can tell whether you care or
whether you are just going through the
motions while awaiting his imminent
failure. How productive are labels?
And - how effective are they?
Houston described America as
being “ a bowl of tossed salad’ ’ instead
of it being a ‘ ‘ melting pot.’ ’ In a melt­
ing pot, all the items tossed lose their
identity; but, in a salad bowl, each in­
gredient retains its identity and com­
bines its flavors to enhance the flavor
of one another.
“ What are the real issues here?”
asks Houston. “ Schools are forced to
provide more and they can’t afford
more. I say — all children can learn if
they’ve given a chance. Are there more
teachers that can’t teach than there are
children who can’t learn? There are
too many children who have paid high
prices for our mistakes.
Businesses need to have better
communications with schools and pro­
vide support to the programs for Mul­
ticulturalism. We must demand a bet­
ter system for educating all of our
youth, together we can make a differ­
ence. We must identify and recruit
teachers who arc gentle, fair and con­
cerned about the quality of the product
— our children.
We must seek ways to provide
support and funding for good teachers.
Our theme shold be —
“ FIND ONE GOOD TEA CH ER, .
SAVE ONE CHILD!”
[continued in next week’s issue]
Project Help/Oregon Heat
Fuel Assistance Fund
Celebrates 10 Years
The Project HELP emergency fuel year by taking on a new partner —
assistance program will kick off its Oregon HEAT. Oregon HEAT (Home
10th year with a birthday party Friday, Energy Assistance Team) is a service
November 15 at the Salvation Army’s of Oregon Energy Services, Inc., a non­
new family services building, 1712 NE profit statewide corporation which
SandyBlvd. Cake will be cut at 11 a.m., promotes energy self-reliance for low
following a brief presentation. All who income households.
By joining with Oregon HEAT,
have contributed in the past or been
the
utilities
are supporting the creation
helped by the program are invited to
of
a
statewide
fuel fund with the de­
attend.
sired
result
of
raising
more funds for
Project HELP helps local needy
energy
assistance.
The
Oil Heat Com­
families pay their winter heating bills.
It is sponsored by Pacific Power and mission is another major participant in
Portland General Electric, and admini­ Oregon HEAT.
Contribution envelopes for Proj­
stered by the Salvation Army and other
ect HELP/Orcgon HEAT are in cus­
community social service agencies.
To date, it has helped almost 44,000 tomers’ November electric bills. Dona­
families throughout the two utilities’ tions may also be sent to Project HELP/
Oregon HEAT, PO Box 5080, Port­
service areas. Funds for the program
come through customer and employee land, Oregon 97208-5080.
donations, bolstered by donations from
the shareholders o f Pacific Power and
Portland General Electric.
Project HELP is marking its 10th
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PDX International Passengers Increase
40 Percent
A
International travel through Port­
land International Airport (PDX) in
September 1991 increased by 40 per­
cent over September 1990.
September’s passenger increase
continued 1991’s pace as international
traffic has grown 27 percent year to
date, from 207,335 passengers in 1990
to 264,158 in 1991.
“ The increase in international traf­
fic has been a real boon this year, as
domestic travel has dropped slightly,”
said Keith Phildius, Port of Portland
aviation director.
Phildius said the growth in interna­
tional traffic in 1991 is the result of
several factors: Delta Air Lines’ addi­
tion in February of a daily nonstop
flight to Nagoya, Japan, and Portland’s
continued rise as an international trade
and tourism center.
Overall for September, PDX traf­
/•Í
Help warm the home of a needy family this winter. Support Project HELP/Oregon H E A T.
Project HELP is an emergency fund created to help less fortunate families and individuals pay their winter
heating bills. And Oregon HEA T ( Home Energy Assistance Team) is a non-profit organization that helps these
&
people become financially self-sufficient again.
The two have now joined hands and are funded by your donations, a s w e U a ^ h o s e f r o n ^ o c a ^ i ^
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providers. Last year, your donations helped about 300C families. Deserting
recipients are chosen by the Salvation Army or local social service agency.
Don’t let this winter be a chilling experience for some families. Look for
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And give what you can. It will go to help a local family. And it will give you
KAT
a nice warm feeling in return.
ftjX ld General Electric
the tax-deductible donation envelope in your November utility statement.
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POWER
fic was down 4,000 passengers from
September 1990. For 1991, PDX’s
passenger counts trail 1990’s figures
by only 8,000 passengers. PDX, how­
ever, continues to outperform the na­
tional aviation industry, which was down
4 percent for 1991 over 1990.
Cargo tonnage through PDX in
September was 11,069 tons, a 7 percent
jump over September 1990. For 1991,
cargo tonnage is 100,827 tons, up 2
percent over 1990.
General aviation operations (take­
offs and landings) at the Port’s airports
experienced mixed results in Septem­
ber. General aviation operations were
up 5 percent at PDX, while declining at
Portland-Hillsboro Airport by 6 p
cent and at Portland-Troutdale by 12.5
percent. For 1991, however operations
at Hillsboro and Troutdale have in­
creased over 1990.
A.K. Rucker Gives 155%. Do You?
Continued on front page
pass on to kids what he’s learned: “ It’s
good to have enough money to surv ive,
but it’s also important to keep your self
respect and have fun doing what you
want to do.”
“ It’s my way of giving back some­
thing to the community,” Rucker said
of the Whitaker program. “ Some people
get out and don’t look back. Il’s easy to
donate money. But we need more black
leaders to help (keep down) gang activ­
ity. There’s so much misunderstand­
ing. People don’t know how to solve
problems so they run away instead of
getting involved.”
Rucker is involved. He wears it on
a tee shirt to bring it home to the kids,
especially on tough days: “ Why am I
here? To give you 155%. Why are you
here?”
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