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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 18, 1998)
NOV. 18, 1998 Page B6___________ _________________ _________ __ C tjt JJarilanb ©bserucr-------------------------------------------------- Community Group Bruce Chevrolet’s Event Benefitted Call Attention to Meals On Wheels Charity Transit Affordability Education is a basic right afforded to everyone Students who can’t find a way to get to school, do not have equal op portunity to exercise that. Over the past year Sisters in Portland Impact ing Real Issues together (SPIRIT) surveyed over 2000 students in schools across Portland to find out how they were getting to school and what they identified as problems re lated to, taking public transit. According to Tri-M et’s own esti mates, youth constitute upward o f 20%ofpublic transit ridership. Close to 15,000 kids use public transporta tion to get to and from school every week day. A key issue for many par ents and students is the cost o f get ting to and from school. SPIRIT dis covered that, while school districts in cities close to Portland, such as Seattle, subsidize public transit passes for students, five years ago the Port land Public School District was ex empted from a State Law requiring districts to provide free transporta tion for middle and high school stu dents traveling up to a mile and a half to school. The city ofEugene ’ s school district was also exempted. This means that families are forced to bear the cost o f getting their kids to school. SPIRIT spoke with parents, coun selors, teachers and administrators in the schools and found that access to transportation for students is a concern shared by anyone interested in a child’s education. Counselors and teachers reported that students often use lunch money to get to or from school or teachers use then- money to get kids home. Although only 19.2% o f its fund ing comes from passenger revenue, Tri-M et’s fares remain unnecessar ily high. Out o f the 107 American cities included in the Am erican Chamber o f Commerce Research Association’s survey, Tri-Met’s stan dard fare o f $ 1.35 is more than 30% higher than the national average. In September o f this year youth fares increased to 1.70 per round trip. A monthly youth pass is $29. This means that a household with two school-aged children pays close to $60 to get two kids to school on public transit each month. Shaneva Jackson is a 13 year-old SPIRIT member who travels across town to get to school. Her situation and the experience o f many youth in the organization prompted SPIRIT to take on this issue. “I have missed school a few times because my mom didn’t have the bus money or a car. She takes care o f five o f us. That means sometimes it’s food or a bus ticket”. (Shaneva Jackson) A national study conducted by Teen Adoles cent Magazine in 12 urban high schools, reported that 10% o f high school drop-outs sited transportation problems as their primary reason for quitting school. As Mayor Vera Katz explores the issue o f a fareless transit system as a way to decrease traffic congestion, the parents and students o f SPIRIT point to an additionally compelling reason for Tri-Met to take this solu tion seriously. If Tri-Met truly be lieves in its slogan How You Get There Matters, perhaps its new lead ership will understand that how They G et to S chool M a tte rs—K ids Shouldn’t have to Pay the Price. SPIRIT will hold a public town Hall Meeting on February 2,1999 to discuss this issue with Tri-Met, the city, the county and the community. W hat Is Education, W hat Is Technology II B y P rof M c K inley B urt We may not have answered those questions for all times, but it seems that we presented an interesting over ture. Last week’s interface with read ers and peers will attest to that. One frequent comment was, “It is amaring how easily and unchallenged we use and accept terms without ques tion - when, upon examination, the speakers prove to be poles apart in their meanings. But, as we saw last week, it is the case that even the dictionary’ may prove confusing. Evidently, language is a work-in- process’. A fru stra te d p a re n t o ffered , “ Meaning’ seems to be very much like what they say about beauty’ - it may lie in the eyes o f the beholder.” Readers may be getting the idea that helping the kids with their home - work’ may not be as easy as first projected. And that the process may be subject to Murphy’s Second Law: “the expected takes longer than ex pected.” So, not only is there an “informa tion glut”, but there is a great deal o f confusion in the methodology by which we exchange it, I will not bore (or frustrate) the reader with an excur sion into the philosophy o f' meaning ’, but will remind that fairly often I have quoted the character o f “Humpty Dumpty’ who advanced the follow ing ad v ice in L ew is C a rro ll’s children’s (?) story, “Alice In Won derland.” “Things are what I say they are." Don’t jaugh, it is fast becoming that kind o f world as we approach the 21st century. We note that John Lennon of The Beatles was fascinated with Lewis Carroll who was an Oxford scholar and a great mathematician. We note that our daily newspaper now carries a “technology section” which highlights many new advances in science but our observations apply to media as well as to text and curricu lum. We must read, read and read - and we must question, question and question. Those who followed my series here, “The Lead Pencil Soci ety” will not be surprised at an Octo ber News report that gained nation wide attention. “Internet Pioneer Calls Online World A Lie." Clifford Stoll has harsh words. This famed author (and hands-on- practitioner) offers some startling per spectives on the failure ofthe ‘online’ and ‘multi-media’ delivery systems for information, education and tech nology. The man who gave us “The Cuckoo’s Nest” “Silicon Snake Oil” had the following startling comment. He would have us beware o f the Internet and “the massive amounts of unsorted, untrustworthy information it dumps into a person’s lap and the amount o f isolation it can bring’ I do believe that is the very same message I have been sounding in these pages. There are more echoes: “Learning requires discipline and responsibility - you have to do your own’ home work, learning demands commit ment. Learning requires a sense that there’s no shortcut. There is no fun; happy, easy way to get a quality education.” This is a ‘Just-in-time’ warning. More and more I find m yself admon ishing parents and some teachers that the interesting and motivating dem onstration models that I and others have developed to stimulate student learning are just that, “models.” Hard work and dedication to task must follow. Real situations and useful applications will be presented next week. F or th e p a s t o f m o n th s Pa c ific U n iv e rs ity s tu d e n ts w o rk in g as G e n e r a l M o to rs M a rk e tin g In te rn s h a v e s u c c e s s f u lly c r e a te d an e x c itin g p r o m o tio n a l e v e n t e n t i t l e d , “ C e l e b r a t e th e S e a s o n s o f C h e v r o le t” . F o llo w in g m a rk e t re s e a r c h an d a fo rm a l p r o p o s a l s to t h e i r c l i e n t B r u c e C h e v r o le t o f H ills b o r o , th e s tu d e n ts se t S a tu rd a y , N o v e m b e r 14th as th e e v e n t d a y fu ll o f p r iz e s , a c tiv itie s fo r th e c h ild a n d th e a d u lt in u s, fo o d , m u s ic , a n d n e w C h e v r o l e t c a rs . T h e e v e n t ra n from 10 a m . to 4 : PM o n P a c i f i c U n i v e r s i t y ’s c a m p u s b e h in d the T a y lo r-M e a d e P e rfo rm in g A rts B u ild in g , on th e SE c o r n e rs o f C e d a r a n d P a c if ic A v e n u e . T h e e v e n t f e a tu r e d a c o m b in a tio n o f c a rs an d tru c k s : th e M a lib u , C a v a lie r , M o n te C a r l o , S i l v e r a d o , Y u k o n , S -1 0 , a n d th e B la z e r c o u rte s y o f B ru c e C h e v r o le t o f H ills b o ro . V is ito r s c a m e to c h e c k o u t th e new v e h ic le s , and r e c e iv e a s p e c ia l p ric in g o ffe r c o u p o n , le a rn a b o u t the s p e c ia l f in a n c in g p ro g ra m fo r c o lle g e s tu d e n ts , an d w on p riz e s in c lu d in g a tr ip fo r tw o to L ake T a h o e . P ro c e e d s from th e e v e n t b e n e f itte d m e a ls on W h e e ls o f F o r e s t G ro v e . Kelcy Asuncion, Susie Weber, & Scott Heuston. Back Row (L to Fernanco Sanchez, Tina Quartes, David Rummel, Anthony Boyd, Jeff Inman, & Corey Robertson. Publishers Share A “Sweet” Evening With Former Kansas City Monarch Player S w eet W ords From Sweet Lou - “Sweet” Lou Johnson (center), a player w ith the form er Negro Baseball League’s Kansas City Monarchs, recently shared his career experi ences with members o f the West Coast Black Publish ers Assn. At their 13th an nual conference in Las Ve gas. At the President’s Re ception, hosted by South ern C alifo rn ia E dison, “Sweet” Lou announced he w ill rid e on E dison International ’ s Rose P arade float on New Year’s Day which celebrates baseball as America’s favorite past time. Free Legal Help With Civil Legal Issues Now held on the same days as Community Court, a legal service representative will be available on site at the King Neighborhood Fa cility, 4815 NE Seventh Ave., on the first and third Wednesday o f every month, from 11 AM to 12:30 PM. The legal service representa tive can answer questions, provide referrals and schedule appoint ments for those with questions about unfair collections practices, bad credit, employment issues or un employment benefits, insurance issues, landlord/tenant law (except evictions). These services are free, confidential and open to the public. Q uestions? C all 248-3337. Announcing Network North Portland The second N e tw o rk I N o r th P o r t l a n d -- a c o m m u - I n ity - b a s e d , c o m m u n ity - I w id e e v e n t d e s i g n e d to g e t I n e ig h b o rs ta lk in g w ith I n e ig h b o rs -- is b e in g I p la n n e d fo r N o v e m b e r 2 1 , I 1 9 9 8 . T h e a l l - d a y m e e tin g I w i l l b e h e ld a t th e U n i v e r - I s ity o f P o r tla n d a n d w ill h ig h lig h t N o rth P o r tla n d ’ s a s s e t s - - i t s p e o p l e -- a n d how th o s e a s s e ts can com e t o g e t h e r to c r e a t e c o m m u n i t y s u c c e s s . A c c o r d i n g to c o n fe re n c e c o o rd in a to r M a ry J a r o n K e l l e y , “ th e o b - | | j e c t i v e s f o r th e c o n f e r e n c e w e r e d e v e l o p e d b y th e l o c a l c o m m u n ity m e m b e rs w h o a r e o r g a n i z i n g th e e v e n t , ” a n d w i l l in c l u d e : * id e n tify in g and s u p p o rt in g a s s e t s a n d s t r e n g t h s in th e c o m m u n ity * b u ild in g e ffe c tiv e p a r t n e r s h i p s to g e t th e j o b d o n e * c o n n e c tin g re s o u rc e s a n d p e o p l e to a c h i e v e lo n g - la s tin g re s u lts * l e a d e r s h i p d e v e lo p m e n t o p p o r t u n i t i e s f o r y o u th . T h e c o n f e r e n c e w ill f e a tu re k e y n o te s p e a k e r Jo h n K r e tz m a n n f r o m th e A s s e t- b a s e d C o m m u n ity D e v e l o p m e n t P r o j e c t in C h i c a g o . S m a ll-g ro u p w o rk s h o p s and d is c u s s io n s on v a rio u s to p ic s w i l l b e o f f e r e d a s w e ll as a re s o u rc e f a ir , a co m m u n ity s h a r e b o a r d , y o u th o r a l h i s t o r i e s , a n d liv e e n te r ta in m e n t. L o c a l e le c te d o f f i c i a l s w i l l a ls o s p e n d th e d a y w i t h c o m m u n ity m e m b e rs. R e g is tr a tio n h a s a lre a d y b e g u n ! F o r m o re in f o r m a t i o n a n d / o r to r e q u e s t r e g is tr a tio n m a te r ia ls , c a ll M a r y J a r o n K e l l e y a t N o r th P o r tla n d N e ig h b o rh o o d O f fic e a t 8 2 3 -4 5 2 4 . *-»»•*••« Please send your donation right now to the M ajor hurricanes, storms and floods struc American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund the U.S. this year, and thousands of families' homes and lives still lay or call 1 - 8 0 0 -HELP N O W . shattered. The Red Cross is there to help W ith your support, one day the storm victims put their lives back together devastation w ill be just a memory. again, and we urgently need your help. Riqht now ifs still all too real. CALL 1-8OO-HELP N O W Yes, I w o u ld lik e to s u p p o rt the Red C ross OR CONTACT YOUR LOCAL CHAPTER □ $25 Am erican Red Cross □ $50 □ $75 □ $100 r-y .... State Zip ------------- 1 1 Other Help Can’ t Wait G98 payable to the AMERICAN RED CROSS and mall your 37243, Washington, D C 20013 Or call I 800HEIPNOW hltp://www redcrosi.org ...•i««*-.'-'' , . -* -.’•Ci • . ••X— i> i.J ííí
