Portland observer., November 17, 1993, Page 2, Image 2

N ovember 17, 1993 • T he P ortland O bserver
2
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Rural Schools Get
Poor Marks
The Black Family II; Is Education Alone Enough?
The three R ’s too often lake a
back seat to rural schools’ role as the
“ social hub” of their communities,
two award-winning researchers have
found.
That conclusion is based on first­
hand observations in 25 rural school
districts made by Richard Schmuck,
professor o f educational psychology
at the University o f Oregon, and his
wife Patricia Schmuck, director and
professor for the graduate level edu­
cational administration program at
Lewis and Clark College in Portland.
The couple embarked on a six
month, 10,000 mile, 21-state journey
across the United States to research
the quality o f education in rural
America and describe their findings
in their recently published book,
“ Small Districts, Big Problem s.” The
book recently received the 1993 Na­
tional Rural Education A ssociation’s
Research Award for best research in
rural education.
School houses, which are tradi­
tionally the heart of rural towns, R i­
chard Schmuck says, have become
.
.
. ___ _____ I
‘newcomers’ with the earlier struc­ the day were described, evaluated and
ture of the black family. It was clearly catalogued; even ‘translated for the
seen by the students that Atrican little ones if appropriate for their cars.
Americans were losing by default in One learned about all kinds of rela­
the struggle betw een ethnics to make tionships between people and institu­
it” in small business opportunities tions, proven strategies for dealing
and in the category o f lower-echelon with racism, employment opportuni­
ties, the housing market including the
jobs.
What leaped out at them was the mysteries of mortgages, real estate
fact that the Asians pooled their re­ contracts and liens and the few but
sources, financial, human, housing, then-growing business opportunities.
towns.
you-name it. When you speak of the We were an economic and social unit.
Teachers in these rural schools
This background, of course, con­
“continuity ot generations there is no
need
to be effective leaders in and out
stitutes
a
‘jump
start’
on
life
and
to
the
methodology superior to that ot hous­
of
their
classes, Richard Schmuck
extent
that
the
black
family
is
“dislo­
ing these familial elements together
cated”
in
this
respect
there
is
no
way
insists.
Rural
teachers need to stress
in the same domicile. So many of the
the
value
of
participation
and general
that
most
will
be
able
to
compete
with
first American generations of the
other
ethnic
groups.
We
see
the
result
social
awareness
to
their
students.
Asians revealed this pattern which
This
will
improve
the
caliber
o f the
of
the
“
scatterin
g
o
f
the
g
e
n
e
ra
­
closely mirrored that of earlier black
curriculum
and
reduce
boredom
and
tio
n
s
’
w
hen
in
tercity
stores
are
families (before super upward mobil­
in
c
r
e
a
s
in
g
ly
o
w
n
e
d
by
o
th
e
r
apathy
of
both
students
and
faculty
he
ity a la Ebony Magazine). We t ind the
g
ro
u
p
s,
w'hen
they
now
own
and
says
wisdom, talent, craft skills and ener­
S chm uck was quick to p o int
gies of the grandparents, parents and d o m inate the m anufacture or d is­
tribution
o
f
ethnic
beauty
supplies.
o
u
t,
h o w e v e r, th at they fo u n d
children com ingtogether in a produc -
“ O ur c h ild re n ” have gone o ff to
m
any
ru ral school d istric ts are
tive synergy.
c
o
lle
g
e
and
w
ill
seldom
return.
flo
u
rish
in g and do a good job e d u ­
This is something I experienced
catin g th e ir stu d en ts. Som e o f the
as a youngster when such interfaces T he m ajority stay and m any will
community social centers rather than
su ccess, they found, rests w ith
were traditional among blacks. We becom e sta tistic s. Is our love a f­
centers for education. In most areas,
bo ard s and a d m in istra to rs that
called it “supper table input” when fair w ith ‘e d u c a tio n ’ really the
they found that rural residents par­
activ ely encourage teach er and
during the evening meal the events of answ er? M ore next week.
ticipate more and show more enthusi­
stu d e n t in v o lv em en t in all aspects
asm for football games than for aca­
o f e d u c a tio n , not ju s t w ithin the
demic programs.
classro o m . T hey try to understand
The Schm ucks’ research also
the n eed s o f teach ers and stu ­
r.,odes a pervading myth; that small
d en ts as w ell.
rural school classrooms are usually
The Schmucks hope that their
more democratic in their teaching
descriptions for successful rural school
___ ________ i____ lin n anvw
av.
tion anyway
methods and allow students more
programs will inspire change in the
tion about what money the creditor fare, unemployment, veterans benefit.
For informalionaboutyour rights personal interaction with teachers.
Social Security, worker’s com pensa­
districts with problems.
can’t touch.
as a debtor, call 620-3000 and ask to
“In classrooms with only 12 or
Some of your wages are exempt, tion, pensions and child support can­ listen to tape #7069, Debtor’s Rights.
14 students, the teacher spent the
or protected from garnishment. Credi­ not legally be touched by creditors, For legal Advice call Multnomah
entire period lecturing,” he explained.
tors must leave you with 75 percent or But unemployment benefits can be County Legal Aid at 224-4086, the
at least S I60 of your weekly take- taken by Support Enforcement Divi­ Volunteer Lawyer’s Project at 224-
home pay, which ever is greater. For sion to pay child support. If a creditor 1606 or the Lewis and Clark Legal
example, if you make S I80 a week tries to take these types of income or Clinic at 222-6429.
W o r k e r ’s C o m p . B illin g
after taxes, only S20 can be taken, more than the law allows, you must
Multnomah County Legal Aid
P r e s c r ip tio n D e liv e r y
leaving you S160. But it you make file a Claim of Exemption to protect Service provides legal advice and rep­
U
tility
P a y S ta tio n • T r i-M e t
your
funds.
This
type
of
exempt
in­
S220 a week, up to S55 can be taken
resentation to low-income people liv­
come
is
still
exempt
when
placed
in
a
P o s t O ffic e • U P S • F a x
(25 percent of your income), leaving
ing in Multnomah County having
you with S165. If your debt is from bank account as long as it can be creditor problems. Appointments may
A m b a s s a d o r C a rd s
child support bankruptcy payments or identified. If you have an account, be be made by calling our North/North-
3002 NE Ainsworth, Portland, OR 97211
state or federal taxes, more than 25 careful not to mix exempt with non- east Community Law Office (on the
exempt
money
in
the
same
account.
percent of your income may be taken,
(503) 282-0787
Poitland Community College Cas­
In addition to wages and bank
even if you take home less than S I60
cade Campus) at 295-9494.
accounts, your property can also be
a week.
taken to pay a judgement. This is
It’s in your best interest to make
sure the garnishm ent papers your called attachment. When this hap­
pens, the sheriff can sell some of your
employer fills out are for one week
only. Employers will sometimes mis­ personal belongings to pay off the
takenly overstate your weekly pay by judgment. B ut a creditor cannot force
the sale of your home to pay off a
reporting the amount from paychecks
issued twice a month or every two judgment of S3,000 or less. The law
weeks. You may then lose more of also protects some of your other prop­
erty, such as household goods valued
your income to garnishment than the
at up to S1,450, a motor vehicle worth
law allows. If your boss made a mis­
up to S1,200 and clothesor jewelry up
take on the form, tell the judge in your
to S900.
case, and be ready to prove your real
Y ou do not need to file a Claim of
weekly wage.
It’s against the law for your boss Exemption to protect your home. The
to fire you for having wages garnished, law protects up to S I5,000 value you
but you shou Id let your employer know hold in a home, farm, mobile home or
if garnishment seems likely, If you houseboat or up to S20.000 for two
think you were fired because of gar­ household members who owe a judg­
ment. Although not always neces­
nishment, call a lawyer.
Some kinds of income can’t be sary, it’s probably a good idea to list
garnished at all. For example, wel­ your home on the Claim of Exemp­
j
by
P rofessor M ckinley B urt
“1 love it, 1 love it”, said anum ber
of older parents and some grandpar­
ents. They were referring to last w eek’s
Perspectives article,‘‘The Black Fam ­
ily Under Siege” . In particular, they
were expressing a personal identity
with my contention that much of the
trauma tearing at the fabric o f the
family results from "dislocation of the
generations.”
Simply put, the idea has been
introduced that, unmodified, the over­
all African American strategy o f a
combined thrust of educational excel­
lence and unfettered upward mobility
may have been seriously flawed. As I
stated last week, it is the "N ext G en ­
eration” which keeps a people vital
and progressive, the proverbial fa-
ther-to-son/mother-to-daughter trans­
fer of traditions, motivation, emotional
security, economic units, and basic
understanding of ’how the system
works’.
I described the circum stances
under which so many o f the promising
young and highly educated blacks fled
the family structure tor a dazzling
vista o f supposed economic success
In the schools, class discussions and
hands-on learning projects were rare.
Many rural school districts also
don’t do a good job of preparing their
students for college, the Schmucks
found. Quite a number o f college-
bound graduates who had been ac­
tive, well-adjusted participants in ru­
ral high school activities later were
overwhelmed by the intensity o f col­
lege life. They typically abandon col­
lege before earning their degree to go
back to the familiarity of the small
carefully structured for them by cor­
porate A m erica-and by squads ot
"black market men” who carefully
trained them to become the leading
purveyors of alcohol and tobacco prod­
ucts to the black community (add ex­
pensive autos).
For the moment, let us look at the
family structure and experiences ot
some other ethnic groups here in this
country. Here, we have some rather
real, empirical evidence ot what can
be accom plished econom ically by
people who maintain that “glue” or
structural integrity of their "blood
line”. 1 like to think that 1 am uniquely
positioned to evaluate this phenom­
enon due to my many years ot con­
tracts with the U.S. Forest Service;
‘outreach’ activities in a cultural di­
versity program that required me to
interface with a number of such ethnic
groups (Black, Hispanics, Vietnam­
ese, Korean).
A searlyas 19741 was integrating
my experiences with these groups into
my university course, “Black Eco­
nomic Experience”. The curriculum 1
developed directly compared the tra­
ditions and economic strategies ot the
L e g a l A id S e r i e s 2 5 :
G a r n is h m e n t A n d A tta c h m e n t
You work hard for your paycheck.
But if you don’t pay your bills, a
creditor may take you to court and take
that hard-earned money. Garnishment
is a legal process through which a
creditor can make your boss pay part
o f your earnings directly to the credi­
tor. A bank account can also be gar­
nished.
Before trying to collect any money
you owe, a creditor must go to court
and get a judgm ent (a decision by a
judge that you owe money). Before a
judge decides, however, you must be
given the chance to “answ er” or ap­
pear in court by filing a legal response
telling your side of the story. If you
don’t show up in court, a judgm ent
against you will autom atically be
placed in court records. The judgment
will normally be the amount the credi­
tor seeks in addition to court costs and
attorney fees. Sometime you w on’t get
a hearing before a judgment. This
happens if you owe child support or
taxes.
If the creditor gets a judgm ent
against you, he or she can begin gar­
nishing your wages or bank account or
attaching your property. Legal papers
must be given to your employer or
bank before garnishment begins, and
you’ll be charged a delivery service
fee. You won’t be warned before your
employer or bank receives the “writ of
garnishm ent” (a notice that garnish­
ment has been ordered). But a copy
will be mailed to your last known
mailing address along with informa­
A in s w o r t h D r u g
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