Portland observer., July 08, 1998, Page 4, Image 4

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JULY 8,1998
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lesh a W illiam s
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Address:______________________ _____________________
C ity , S ta te :___*______________________________ — ----------------------------
Z ip -C o d e:
T hank
Y ot F or R
e a d in g
T he P o r tla n d O bserver
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P r u e . M c K in l e y B i r i
Last week, many readers found it hard
to believe that this "spelling nonsense”
had been going on for over 170 years. It
was equally difficult to com prehend the
shocking state o f teacher education in a
state with the highest num ber o f colleges
and universities per capita in the nation.
The New York Tim es News Service
(7/2/98) reported that M assachusetts
teacher education system had carried
Noah W ebster’s “simplification” proce­
dure to new heights - o r lows! A ppar­
ently, it no longer w ould be necessary for
a teacherto know, define, or presumably,
spel 1 the standard parts o f speech. A nd as
for their intended pupils (?).
W hen 60% o f prospective teachers
tailed the state exam for basic com pe­
tence, they w ere criticized by a legislator
as “idiots” who could not define what a
noun or verb was, or the w ord “im m i­
nent". Others wondered w hy few gradu-
atesofeducation programs could answer
questions such as, “what is a preposi­
tion?" Passing grade w as “C ” .
Local teachers w hom I’v ek n o w n fo r
years asked if Boston has a "Eurobonic”
uana s “ Ebonics
coonics ’- -ivi-
equivalentofO akland’s
for-
“Ebonics For White Folks” II
need not go to the inner city, simply pick
mally known as the "Standard English
Proficiency Program," most exam -tak­
up the daily newspaper: "insistence -
Sattelite - mispell” and the contusion
betw een "effect and affect” It w ould not
doanygoodtocallfor"M rs. Malaprop.
ers were not black.
Several o f these teachers, form er stu­
dents o f mine at PSU, recalled a special
two-page spread that appeared in the
Portland O bserver, July 25, 1990. The
late Joyce W ashington, publisher and
dedicated education advocate, had di­
rected m e to design a "hard-hitting m es­
sage” to the comm unity in support o f a
frustrated “desegregation w atchdog
T he School Board?
But back to our good friend and bene­
factor, Noah W ebster "W hen 1 had com e
to the last word, I w as seized with a
trem blingw hich m ade it som ewhat diffi­
cult to hold my pen steady for writing.”
H e w as 67 years old and had just com ­
pleted 27 years o f dedicated research by
oil lamp, no less. But before that, he had
put in halfa lifetim eofhis "Speller” . This
group”. Schoolboard response to paren­
tal concerns had been desultory.
1 included a description o f m y highly
critical testimony in Salem before the
legislature’scom m itteeonTeacherStan-
year o f 1825 w as important in more ways
than one.
I w as furtherrem indedthatearlierthis
year 1 had written a piece on a m uch
dards and Practices, then chaired by
Legislator Vera Katz. The key issue w as
the sam e as the present controversy over
‘teacher certification tests’ in M assachu­
setts, the low enng o f standards. A nd my
answ er was the sam e as that o t those
A m encans o f 170 years ago. "T he blind
earlier contribution to education by our
w oefully perm issiveN ew England state,
“MassachusettsHighSchoolLaw, 1827.
Everyone in the educational establish­
m ent w as not that happy that I had pub­
licized a set o f ’teacher standards and
practices’ o f 170 years ago (about the
tim e W ebster got his magnum opus roll-
cannot lead the blind.”
I’ve been reminded that it w as only a
partial
paiuai victory.
v i s u h v . W hat else is new ? O ne
........-
ing).
In addition to United States his­
tory, single entry bookkeeping, geom-
etry.algebraand surveying, shallbecom -
petent to instruct in Latin and Greek
languages, history, rhetoric and logic.”
But then, too, I have written about my
experienceattheJohn Marshall Elemen­
tary School from 1927 to 1935. An old
ghetto building in Central St. Louis, MO.
and in a state o f som ew hat disrepair.
D oom ed to inherit five to ten year-old
books from the city’s white school sys­
tem s and to beg for needed supplies and
equipm ent (Today, in m any cities, one
must m onitor the “Federal Grant and
Title G am e.” Rascals still am ong us).
Despite all odds, there is no w ay those
com m itted African American teachers
(all fem ale) w ould allow you to leave
Marshall headed for high school without
athorough mastery ofthe ‘ partsofspeech. ’
And, o f course, subject predicate agree­
ment, an introduction to the meaning o f
"tense, m ood and voice,” verb and ob­
ject, and punctuation. T he “rules ot en­
gagement’ ' mandated homew ork and use
o f library. N o “Ebonics.”
- Continued next week
-
Make Our Numbers Count
B y H i gh
B. P r ic e
P r e s id e n t
N a t io n a l U r b a n L e a g u e
The U.S. Census Bureau has nearly
completed its month-long trial in three
areas across the country for the new w ay
it plans to conduct the population count
in the year 2000.
No doubt, som e o f you may be think­
ing: Now, if ever there’s a subject to
make the eyes glaze over, it’s the details
o f conducting the Census.
If that’s what you think, think again.
R em em ber that this decennial event
provides the dem ographic data that lit­
erally fleshes out that ideal called the
American nation.The information in the
C ensus-racial and ethnic, econom ic and
educational, and so on-tells us w ho we,
the American people, are. M ore practi­
has little incentive now -to track w hat’s
becom e o f them: A re more people rely­
ing on food pantries? Have more people
doubled up in households with relatives'?
T he census can docum ent w hat’s re­
ally happening. A frican Americans, along
w ith other people o f color, must take a
special interest in the upcoming Census
count. W e m ust see it as a way to make
sure that m ore ofus are properly counted-
and the H ouse o f Representatives. A nd
they are even used by m any businesses
to help determ ine how -and w here-best
to market their products, w hether it’s
soap or a supermarket.
There areothercom pellingreasons to
think seriously abouttheC ensus.Forone
thing, A m erica’s economic recovery is
welcome news. But pockets ot high un­
employment and poverty that only the
so that our true num bers count.
T here’s a specific reason for that
concem .The 1990 Census missed 10
million peoplenationw ideandcounted6
census can detect still exist.
Foranother. President Clinton and the
governors keep hai ling the supposed suc­
cess o f welfare reform because so many
folks have been dropped and pushed off
million peopletwice. The final countw as
o ff by 4 million.
Significantly, m ost o fth e missed 10
the public assistance rolls.
But the governm ent has never--and
million w ere African A mericans in inner
cities and Hispanic A mericans in Texas.
N ew M exico, and California.
M ostofthe6millionwhowerecounted
twice w ere college students and affluent
whites w ho ow n m ore than one home.
The C ensus predicts that if it uses the
traditional w ay o f counting every h e a d -
an estim ated 275 million in 2000—it will
miss about 5 million people.
1 'nat’sw hy i f stryingsom ethingnew .
It’s called statistical sampling, an ap­
proach which mixes the traditional house-
to-house attempt tocount every person in
a neighborhood with a simultaneous
sam ple o f 10 percent o f households in
that neighborhood.
cally, rem ember also that the census
count greatly determines how federal
and state funds are allocated.
Its findings also play a significant
role in the draw ing and re-draw ing o f
Ten th o u sa n d eyes
election districts for state legislatures
are on me,
sh o u tin g Casey,
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Send your letters to the Editor to:
Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208
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To the Editor,
In a re c e n t issu e o f T h e P o rtla n d O b se rv e r (Ju n e 3rd) a n n o u n ced the form atio n o f a p artn e rsh ip b e tw e e n the
V a n c o u v e r-C la rk C o u n ty P ark s an d R ecreatio n D ept. an d the U .S. M arine C o rp s for the c o m p le tio n o l a p ark
ex p a n sio n p ro je c t. I d o n o t u n d e rsta n d w h y su ch a p artn ersh ip m ak es sen se to the p arties in v o lv ed , in clu d in g th e
O p e ra tin g E n g in e e rs U n io n L o cal 701.
r h e in v o lv e m e n t o f th e U .S. A rm ed F o rces in p u b lic w o rk s p ro jects like th is one— as w ell as p artn e rsh ip s w ith
local sc h o o ls an d p o lic e d ep a rtm e n ts— is in creasin g ly co m m o n p lace in co m m u n ities th ro u g h o u t th e n a tio n as the
P e n ta g o n stru g g le s to ju s tify its b lo a te d d efen se b u d g et. M o st o ften , th ese p artn ersh ip s are p raised fo r th e m o n ey
th ey “ s a v e ” an d th e v o lu n te e rs th ey m ak e av ailab le to sch o o ls and co m m u n ity groups
In re a lity , th ere is n o sav in g s as p ro ject co sts are m erely sh ifted from local to federal coffers. T he sam e b u d g etary
slig h t o f h a n d o c c u rs w h en m ilita ry p erso n n el “v o lu n te e r” in sch o o ls an d o th e r co m m u n ity settin g s as p a rt o f th eir
a s s ig n e d (a n d p a id ) d u ties.
W h y sh o u ld m ilita ry p e rso n n el be a ssig n ed to w o rk th at is u n related to the m issio n o f th e U .S. A rm ed fo r c e s ,
e sp e c ia lly w h en th ere are tra in e d civ ilian s read y an d ab le to take th ese jo b s ? A nd if train in g is th e p ro b lem , w h y
n o t d e v e lo p tra in in g p ro g ra m s for c itizen s in n eed o f g o o d jo b s rath er than sto p p in g the g ap w ith m ilitary
p e rso n n e l?
I d o n not u n d e rsta n d w h y u n io n le a d e rsh ip w o u ld su p p o rt n o n -u n io n m ilitary p erso n n el tak in g w h at w o u ld
o th e rw ise b e u n io n jo b s , th e sam e issu e ap p lies w h en m ilitary p erso n n el teach classes in local sch o o ls in p la c e o f
u n io n teach ers. F u rth erm o re, I find it a la rm in g th a t u n ifo rm ed m ilitary p erso n n el are b eco m in g in creasin g ly v isible
in th e c iv ilian secto r— in o u r sch o o ls, co m m u n ity g ro u p s an d p u b lic parks. W e d o n o t y et liv e in a p o lic e state,
an d th ese are n o t th e ro le -m o d e ls th a t I w a n t fo r m y children.
Sincerely,
John Grueschow
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W ebster’s First Dictionary Featured ‘Eurobonics’;
by
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Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily
Reflect Or Represent The Views Of
(Tl|c |4nrtk'xnb (0bseruer
ase,
third hase.
M ake your
move today.
Do it, Casey,
do it.
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mighty Casey, ■
score.
But I ju st d o n ’t
w
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get it.
President Clinton Announces Market-
Based Affirmative Action Policy
T h e D e m o c r a tic N a tio n a l
C o m m itte e to d a y h a ile d P r e s i­
d e n t C l i n t o n ’s a n n o u n c e m e n t to
e s ta b lis h a m a rk e t b a se d a f f ir ­
m a t iv e a c t i o n p o l i c y t h a t w ill
e x p a n d o p p o r t u n i t i e s f o r s m a ll
d is a d v a n ta g e d b u s in e s s e s .
T h is n e w p o l i c y w ill a ll o w a f ­
f i r m a t i v e a c t i o n to b e u s e d in
i n d u s t r i e s m a k i n g u p a b u t th r e e -
p r o m is e to m e n d , n o t e n d a f f i r ­
m a t iv e a c ti o n , e x p a n d o p p o r t u ­
n i t i e s f o r s m a ll d is a d v a n ta g e d
b u s i n e s s e s . ” [ W a s h i n g to n P o s t ,
6 /2 5 /9 8 ].
R e p r e s e n t a t i v e M a x in e W a ­
t e r s ( D - C a l i f o r n i a ) , C h a ir o f th e
C o n g r e s s i o n a l B la c k C a u c u s ,
s a i d th e n e w p o li c y w ill “ p r o ­
v id e o p p o r t u n i t i e s f o r q u a li f i e d
f o u r t h s o f a ll g o v e r n m e n t c o n ­
t r a c t s . T h e P r e s i d e n t s a id th a t
m i n o r i ty b u s i n e s s e s to c o m p e t e
o p e n l y a n d f a i r ly f o r F e d e r a l
th e n e w p o l i c y “ c o n t i n u e s m y
G o v e rn m e n t c o n tr a c tin g o p p o r-
tu n i t i e s . ( N e w Y o rk T i m e s , 6 /
2 5 /9 8 ]
“ A t a ti m e w h e n c o n s e r v a t i v e
R e p u b li c a n s h a v e l a u n c h e d an
a ll o u t e f f o r t to d i s m a n t l e a ll
a ff irm a tiv e a c tio n p ro g ra m s ,
e v e r y A m e r i c a n w h o b e l i e v e s in
fa irn e s s an d e q u a l o p p o rtu n ity
fo r a ll s h o u l d s u p p o r t P r e s id e n t
C l i n t o n ’ s e f f o r t s to le v e l th e
p la y in g fie ld f o r m i n o r ity - o w n e d
b u s in e s s e s ,”
s a id
S te v e
G r o s s m a n , D N C N a tio n a l ( h a ir .
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a n h o n e s l . o p e n d i a l o g u e w i t h t h e m a t a n e a r h a g e . C a ll f o r a t r e e b o o k l e t t h a t c a n h e l p
s o u d i s c u s s a ll k i n d s ol t o u g h i s s u e s lik e s e x . M P S a n d v i o l e n c e .
Im a g in a tio n s ru n w ild . la lk w ith v o u r c h i hl.
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