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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 24, 2018)
Page 2 The Skanner Portland & Seattle October 24, 2018 ® Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now Bernie Foster Founder/Publisher Bobbie Dore Foster Executive Editor Jerry Foster Advertising Manager Christen McCurdy News Editor Patricia Irvin Graphic Designer Monica J. Foster Seattle Office Coordinator Susan Fried Photographer 2017 MERIT AWARD WINNER The Skanner Newspaper, es- tablished in October 1975, is a weekly publication, published every Wednesday by IMM Publi- cations Inc. 415 N. Killingsworth St. P.O. Box 5455 Portland, OR 97228 Telephone (503) 285-5555 Fax: (503) 285-2900 info@theskanner.com www.TheSkanner.com The Skanner is a member of the National Newspaper Pub lishers Association and West Coast Black Pub lishers Association. All photos submitted become the property of The Skanner. We are not re spon sible for lost or damaged photos either solicited or unsolicited. ©2018 The Skanner. All rights re served. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission prohibited. Local News Pacific NW News World News Opinions Jobs, Bids Entertainment Community Calendar LOCAL NEWS BRIEFS Updated daily. SAVE THE DATE The Skanner Foundation MLK Breakfast January 21 2019 Opinion Beyond the Rhetoric: Why Times Are Getting Better I attended an Economic Sum- mit at the White House two weeks ago. It was an uncom- monly joyous event. We were all there to celebrate the actual changes that were go- ing on in our great country. It was summed up by saying, “Deregulation and Tax Reduc- tion.” Those are the reasons for our economy to start turn- ing upwards. Like it or not, this nation is economically growing suddenly, or at least during the last two years. It is clear — the numbers don’t lie. We worked feverishly during the last 10 years to bring a halt to a landslide of regulation and taxation. I chair the Government Over- sight, Regulatory and Con- sumer Affairs Committee at the US Chamber of Com- merce. It has been one of the most rewarding activities of my life. It recently cumulated into the passage of the Reg- ulatory Accountability Act. This is essential to growth, it makes it easier to perform business without costly reg- ulations and permitting to adhere to. Equally important was Tax Reform. This will go down as one of the best pieces of leg- islation ever passed. Wages are increasing, investment is increasing, jobs are expand- ing by the thousands. We now have our lowest unemploy- ment figures in more than Harry C. Alford NNPA Columnist 40 years. It is most notably detected amongst Blacks and Hispanics. It is historical and undeniable. The stock markets support that charge with all-time high breaking records. We were told by the previous Administration that some jobs weren’t coming back. Guess what? They are coming through the “door” like never. “ Steel plants all over the nation are being refur- bished and that is a sure sign of in- creased man- ufacturing Our steel industry has been on a decline for many decades. However, it is bouncing back with a vengeance. Remember when they used to call Gary, Indiana “Steel City”? That moniker may be returning. US Steel just announced that it is putting an investment of over $750 million to refur- bish previously “mothballed” facilities. In fact, steel plants all over the nation are being refurbished and that is a sure sign of increased manufac- turing for our nation equat- ing to exponential increase in high paying jobs. Our past rigid high taxa- tion caused investors to put trillions of dollars off shore. Those trillions of dollars are starting to come back in terms of investment and job cre- ation. Good times are sure to come in the following years. As the old saying goes, “Cot- ton is high, the fish are biting, and the bosses are paying!” A next determinant has been a sudden change in our international trade balanc- es. America has been on the losing end in trade. In fact, we have been bullied by Chi- na and the nations of the Eu- ropean Union. That has all changed now. The fact is the strongest economy in the world is the United States. However, we have been act- ing as a weakling. No more! We are dealing eye to eye and settling for nothing less than “fair ball” when acting with our trading partners. The in- ternational rip-offs are over. China has more than 2 bil- lion persons to feed. That is a permanent problem for them as we have a little more than 300 million and have proven to manage that chal- lenge quite well with a Gross Domestic Product that is the greatest in the world. Russia has a decreasing population, a depressed population and a Gross Domestic Product that doesn’t rival that of the state of Florida. All other nations, even the united groups of nations called the European Union, are miniscule to our economic might. Thus, we are finally acting like it and resisting any attempt to bully us on international trade. Times are great! Look at your IRAs, or stock invest- ments and you cannot deny that growth is here. You must go back decades since good times from an econom- ical point of view were being blessed on the United States. If you reflect on the past decades, the liberal point of view has not been beneficial to our nation. The conser- vative approach is yielding dividends like never. This is reason for the progressives to be upset with our progress. Let them cry as we march on with economic growth. Let them protest, resist, obstruct like going south with a bullet. America is being blessed for standing by its capitalistic principles and following our U.S. Constitution. It works! Why try and fight against it? Do Children All Need to Succeed the Same Way? T he Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines stan- dards as, “something es- tablished by authority, custom, or general consent as a model or example. For example,” the Egyptians es- tablished the 365-day calen- dar, recording 4236 BC as the first year in recorded history. Around 1100 AD in England, it was determined that the length of King Henry Beau- clerc’s foot would be used for the standard measurement of a linear foot. These standards of time and linear measurement are still widely used and accepted today. During the Civil War, America recognized a need for standardized gauges for the railroads so that parts were easily inter-changeable. Standards continue to remain essential aspects of organiza- tion as societies increase in size and complexity. The same concept applies to academic standards in education. In the mid-twentieth cen- tury, educators adopted ac- ademic standards. Those standards were designed to ensure that all students pro- gressed at relatively the same pace while acquiring the skills necessary to become contributing members of so- ciety. One example of this is the adoption of a Competen- cy-Based Curriculum (CBC) Julianne Malveaux NNPA Columnist by the District of Columbia in the 1980s. CBC consisted of a series of skill sets within a hierarchy. Students were required to demonstrate mastery of the skills at one level before progressing to the next. Teachers were re- “ Unlike wid- gets, children will never fit perfectly into standardized molds quired to teach/test/reteach (if necessary) and then retest. Once students demonstrated mastery, they received a score that reflected such. The score did not entail how many times the teacher had to reteach and retest before the students ac- quired the intended skillset. A more recent example of academic standards is the 2009 states-focused effort to create clear, consistent, and competitive learning goals, resulting in the Common Core State Standards. Common Core State Standards were adopted by 48 states, two ter- ritories and the District of Co- lumbia. The federal govern- ment supported the validity of Common Core Standards by providing financial incen- tives for state adoption. Proponents of Common Core Standards argue that the standards provide students with the necessary knowl- edge to succeed in college and career regardless of geo- graphical location. Howev- er, many critics have argued against this, emphasizing resulting ambiguity, lack of training, and lowered student expectations as the key points the identify a policy in need of revision. In 2015, the Ev- ery Student Succeeds Act, a re-authorization of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESSA), offered a resolution. Under ESSA, states have the option of keeping Com- mon Core State Standards or creating their own state stan- dards. The financial incentive to adopt Common Core by the federal government no longer exists and the option to work with a consortium of states to develop standards is also available to state educa- tional leadership. Guidelines set by ESSA for state-developed academic standards is a step in the right direction. ESSA allows for states to decide how to best set goals and meet the needs of students. It is obvious from the widespread criticisms of Common Core that uniform education standards have not worked. As states continue to develop academic standards they must keep this in mind, understanding that every child does not learn and/or demonstrate knowledge in the same way. Unlike widgets, children will never fit perfectly into standardized molds. They learn to walk at different ages. They learn to talk at dif- ferent ages. And each child has a different set of interests and learning style. Students’ ability to demonstrate mas- tery in one area over another has a lot to do with their pre- vious knowledge and expo- sure to out-of-the-classroom experiences. As a mother to many chil- dren, I have observed that some of my children are good in math, while others are mu- sically inclined. A select few demonstrate the ability to make fantastic meals out of simple ingredients, while oth- ers have a hard time boiling water. We must understand that every child is capable of achievement at high levels as long as we encourage their strengths. Whatever their gifts and talents, we need them all.
