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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (April 19, 1961)
' MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD, OREGON WEDNESDAY. APRIL 19. 19S1 A 5 BY LOUIS CASSELS UPI Correspondent ' What do you call a poor kid from a wretched home, who enters school with two strikes against him. If you're an educator, you call him a "disadvantaged child." We might as well learn the term now, because we're go ing to be hearing it often dur ing the next few years. The problems of the disadvan taged child and the prob lems he creates for schools are engaging the attention of many national leaders, includ ing President Kennedy. Kennedy displayed his con cern by making special pro vision for these children in his program of federal aid grants. for public schools. He proposed that 10 per cent of the funds allocated to each state be earmarked "to help meet the unique problems" of schools serving slum neigh borhoods and depressed areas. The Educational Policies Commission, sponsored Joint ly by the National Education association and the Ameri can Association of School Ad ministrators, also worried about the children who come to school with unwashed ears and no lunch money. It has launched a special study project to determine how schools can do a better job of helping them to overcome their environmen tal handicaps. ' Dr. James E. Russell, the commissions secretary, esti mates that America's urban school systems are now trying to educate about one million children who clearly belong in the "disadvantaged" cate gory. And the proportion of such children in city schools. he adds, "appears to be rising." : Educating these children is a formidable challenge, Dr. Russell notes, because "the stability and well-being need ed for effective learning are generally absent" from their lives. They come from "homes , characterized by poverty, meager educational back- ground, lack of privacy, emotional instability, shifting personal relationships, per sonal conflicts and mobility;" ' "Such homes" he says "tend to produce children who are indifferent to respon sibility and unable to concen trate on learning, who have physical defects, poor health habits, inadequate communi cation skills, socially unaccep table behavior, limited aspi rations and little experience of cultural participation." v To send a disadvantaged child into a typical public school is like transporting him to a foreign country. The values which the teacher is trying to convey, the content of the courses, the very mus- Ay It " ii ' " 1 i Warn -i fcua By Marguerite W. Wright A bill has been introduced in the 1961 legislative ses sion to appropriate $35,000 to get the 1963 session started. That was another of the signs that the hectic 51st as sembly is about to wind up and go home after considering a record number of bills. It missed its goal of a lOOv. day session, but it seemed cer tain to quit far short of the longest-128 days in 1957-and of the 115-day session in 1959. Legislative action has been accelerated in the home stretch drive which has also brought into play the power of the governor's veto for the first time. His threat of a veto added controversy on top of controversy. As the end approached, this was the legislative picture on major issues: Taxation The bill to re model Oregon's income tax law on a "net receipts" basis had passed the House, but was precariously resting in the Senate Taxation Committee where it had considerable op position. The proposal, which Gov. Mark Hatfield first brought to the Legislature in his 1959 message, was expect ed to stay there through the end of the session. A compromise timber tax bill, at this writing, is expect ed to pass the House and go to the Senate, where it will get favorable ' reception in the Senate Taxation Committee, This bill, sponsored by Rep. W. O. Kelsay (D-Roseburg), was approved by the House Taxation Committee,- because 'it would bring in a little more money than timber taxes now produce, provide a little relief for the slow cutter (operators who hold their timber until it matures), and add a little to Paint With PS. yll' The Wonderful Paints... ' So Easy To Use! I "I1UTU M S&H GREEN STAMPS, TOO! Medford Paint & Wallpaper Store 6th & Holly Acroit From P.O Phone SP 2-9321 trations used in the reading and arithmetic books, are com pletely alien to his way of life. His experience at home and. on the streets has iu.t prepared him to fit into an in stitution which reflects the mores of an advanced Indus trial culture. Thus it is hardly surpris ing, Dr. Russell says, that schools serving under- privileged ..areas encounter poor I classroom response'' to traditional teaching methods, low achievement, spotty at tendance, serious disciplinary problems, and high rates of failure and drop-out. Must Overcome Hostility Before a school can edu cate a disadvantaged child, Dr. Russell says, it must over come his natural hostility to the school environment, and establishe "effective contact' with him. To do this, "teachers need to be highly skilled and understandings." They need to work with "smaller-than- normal classes" and to have time for a good deal of indi vidual attention to each child. They need the support of a wide variety of special school services in the areas of tutoring, remedial education home visitation, health and psychology. They must be "ever aware of the circiim stances which handicap their pupils" and have enough hu man warmth and sympathy to avoid being "shocked or re pelled" by them. Dr. Russell warns that the kind of schools needed "will not be cheap." Highly-skilled teachers, small classes and special school services all cost money. But they do not cost as much as society will have to expend on social welfare services, law enforcement, and prisons, if it lets ' these children grow up without an education, to perpetuate the despair and delinquency of their own lives the condi tions from which they came. We Are Proud ... Of our new funeral home. "There Is none finer anywhere in Southern Oregon." This comment is not ours. It comes from outsiders who should know. We hear it constantly. LITWILLER'S FUNERAL HOME Highway 66 at Normal Ave. Ashlan Dial MU 5-4541 C. M. Lirwiller mm . Mrs. -Lirwiller Ashland's Leading' Funeral Director Since 1935 'Disadvantaged Child' Getting Attention of Leaders in Education Kennedy Makes Special Provision In Aid Program trim- the addl- the tax load of the fast (cut out and get out) cutter. The bill to cut taxes on heavy trucks by $1 million a year was pulled back off the governor's desk (after it had been passed by both houses) by the Senate as a result of Hat field's threat to veto the biU. The governor, in . a rare ulti matum, gave legislators thel choice of reierrlng the Dill to the voters or having it vetoed. The governor said he wouldn't sign a bill to reduce highway revenue when .nearly every part of the state wanted highway construction projects in its area. Also he noted that authoritative facts about wear highways by big trucks would be known after Illinois road tests now being conduct ed are concluded. Senators accused Hatfield of political blackmail," "lack of intestinal fortitude" and so on. Sen. Walter Pearson (D-Port- land) noted that he had been nicknamed "Three-Way Pear son for his support of the Three-Way" workmen's com pensation bill, and that Hat field ought to be known as One-Way Hatfield his way or none." For all the sound and fury, it looks like the truck-tax bill is a long way off. The House-passed bill .to substitute a 2.7 per cent tax on business income to replace the present personal property tax on inventories was in a similar position . . . dead, or at least in a deep coma. So was the bill to defer property taxes on homes of people over 65 years of age. Some of the proposals might be salvaged in the last days, but there was no change in the session-long view that lit tle major tax legislation would come from the 1961 session. Reapportionment Two Is sues were in the bill, one to reapportion the Legislature, as required on the basis of the 1960 census; the other to amend the constitutional basis for the requirement to guar antee more representation for less-populated areas of the state. t" On the first problem, It seemed certain that no -widespread changes - would be forthcoming. Eastern Oregon Democrats and Republicans, both in danger of losing repre sentation if the reapportion ment law was strictly com plied with, had joined together behind proposals calling lor minimal changes. If they don t come up with constitutional plan, the re apportionment problem will land in the lap of Secretary of State Howell Appling Jr., andor, eventually, the State Supreme Court. -' Reorganisation - Legislative opposition continued to chip awav at the governor's plan for establishing a cabinet form of government for Oregon. The proposal for a Natural Resources Department was killed by Senate votes against including Fish and Game com missions, Forestry depart ment, Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, De partment of Agriculture, and the Marine board in the new department. Some observers declare that as long as the present genera tion of vested interests re mains in control in such areas as fish and game, no effective reorganization is possible. Evi dently, changes in administra tion, with wholesale bloodlet ting, are prerequisite to any drastic reorganization. Only one minor change now is assured, but several others of the least-cont roverslal moves may be added before the session, concludes. Already signed into law is a bill to abolish the Hydroelectric com mission and turn its duties over to the state engineer, who was a member of the commission already. Establishment of a Depart ment of Commerce, and De partment of Revenue, and some changes In the mental health administration could still make the reorganization grade. Way. and Means No one is particularly concerned about revenue this session, but the Ways and Means Committee has shown great concern about how to divide it up. Some of the fiscal experts believe Gov. Hatfield's esti mates for income for the gen eral fund in 1961-63 are about $10 million low. So Ways and Means may recommend appro priation on that level rather than the governor's. At any rate. It appears the Legisla ture's final budget will be slightly above the $358,000,- 000 figure the governor recom mended, though they have found some rbom . for ming from his budget. Appropriation for Boardman project, and tion of some new services in other areas has so far more than counterbalanced the sav ings they have been able to make. ' ' Education Showdowns are near on two of the big money items of every session-basic school support and the budget for Oregon's public-supported colleges. In addition, a com munity college bill which would cost some S3 million, is in the legislative mill. The outcome of votes on several other budgets and money matters will be the de termining factor in how much the state's support to -public school districts is increased. The House Education com mittee gave approval to a $15 increase to $120 per child a year. This could be cut back $5 depending on the availabil ity of funds. The fate of the governor's proposals for some $5 million in raises for college faculties rests on the same considerations. Otherwise, the higher education budget prob ably will go through essen tially as recommended by Gov. Hatfield. Salaries - Also on the shelf while Ways and Means makes final division of the pie is the proposal for a ten per cent increase for state employees. This would cost the general fund some $9 million in the next two years.. Substantial raises for the governor (from $17,500 to $20,000 a year) and for the secretary of state, state treasurer, attorney gen eral, superintendent of public instruction and labor commis sioner passed their first tests in the House without much problem. Miscellaneous - The track has been cleared of many con troversial issues. Apparently dead for this session were bills to curb trading stamps and advertising dentists, provide a Three-Way workmen's com pensation law, to keep the governor from moving the State Public Welfare commis sion from Portland to Salem, and to shorten the Capitol Mall by some three blocks. The welfare move issue took its death rap from the gover nor who used his veto power for the first time last week. He also vetoed a bill which i cal party conventions from en would have prohibited politi-1 dorsing candidates. Auto Insurance Trouble? Uninsured Accident? Violations? Teen-Age Problems? Confidential Service) EASY IOW RATES Also Preferred Rates for Preferred Drivers Atkin-McCullough Insurance, Inc. 328 So. Central Phono SP 3-7441 POISON OAK BOTHER YOUr WORRY NO MORE Um I H rw'iofl Oak Letfon. Satiifactien Guar, anteed, at Jtl Faverlte D-uf Store. ' fc " " ; jvv-v..'' the Family . In the busy life of the family "home manager" the checkbook has become a very important aid. 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