The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 69, No. 17, Ed. 1 Friday, January 15, 1982 Page: 2 of 20
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In sincere appreciation of...
Putting out this newspaper is not what one might call an exact process. There are
currently about 100 people listed in the staff box located in the lower right hand corner
of this page, 50 of whom might contribute to the paper's production in any given week.
Each individual's role is vital, and therefore implicitly significant to the actual time it
takes for the Thresher to arrive in the colleges. Even the most conscientious of
reporters occasionally misses a deadline, sporting and cultural events are often
scheduled at times making timing essential but difficult, and mechanical breakdowns
occur with alarming regularity. <
all the good people who work for the paper put in valuable time, ultimately
it is the editor who suffers most significantly. And last semester, the usual problems
(plus many unexpected ones) put such a drain on Editor Bruce Davies that his
activities deviated just a bit too much from that tenuous balance between school and
the paper. He was forced to live the life of a full-time newspaperman and barely a part-
time student. Consequently, he went on scholastic probation, felt he could no
longer ignore his academic responsibilities and very, very reluctantly surrendered his
position at the paper.
Bruce's contributions to the paper can in no way be measured by anv tangible
means. His dedication, ability to work with people, and journalistic skill allowed him
to put out a paper that on many a production night seemed doomed to failure. The
paper will miss, in fact already does miss, Bruce Davies' presence this semester.
—Jay Grob
Snow: The pros and the cons
Snow. Beautiful, mystical, angelic. No flake exactly alike, but every icy granule
the same. The qualities ol snow are like none other, especially for old Houston
cowhands. A true snow in Houston brings about more snowmen per square mile than
probably anywhere else in the world.
Snow. Cold, irritating, treacherous. Each and every flake adds to your chances of
slipping, sliding or skidding. Even the lightest of snows strikes fear and forces
emergency preparation for Houston winter novices. Roads turns to a disgusting
brownish slush and do not improve until after the snow melts into dangerous rain.
This paradox of snow has always fascinated me. Initially, snow brings ai.
exhilirating sense of purity, excitement and change. But this quickly changes to one of
caution, even fear. So while you wonder at the marvels of Houston's light blanket,
keep in mind our frozen neighbors in the Midwest and the North, and hope that their
winter tragedy will quickly dissipate and end.
—Jav Grob
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EXPANDING THE HEDGES/ by Cb'ris Ekren
In the movie Sleeper Woody
Allen explains the thermonuclear
destruction of the world by saying,
"Albert Shenker got the bomb."
Mr. Shenker, the New York
teacher's union enfant gate', hasn't
"found a bomb yet, but he and his
brethren are already responsible
for a disaster that approaches
Allen's dark fantasy. Millions of
Americans have graduated from
high school functionally illiterate-
innocent victims of "professional
edcuatoiV like Shenker. Given the
success of such countries as
Germany and the Soviet Union in
educating their children, it is time
to reappraise our educational
system.
Somehow during the last forty
years the purpose of education has
shifted from the teaching of basic
skills such as reading and
mathematics to facilitating "social
change". While bureauerats bicker
over such issues as busing and
achievement testing, droves ot
students are abandoning our
public high school system. Our
inner city teachers ask for armed
protection. Millions of dollars are
wasted on experimental textbooks
and multi-media presentations
calculated to increase a student's
sense of "belonging" while
traditional methods of education
are ignored.
Millions more of our money is
spent to teach Hispanic students
Spanish. American teachers seem
to find it very hard to teach anyone
English. Nevertheless, unions
composed of the very teachers anc
administrators that have failed to
teach Anglo-Americans English
are now lobbying for the right to
misteach Mexican-Americans
both English and Spanish. When
legislators decide that students
should master the national
language before tackling another,
they are taken to federal court.
Ironically, even while being taught
in Spanish in our public schools,
Mexican-Americans can sue
prospective employers for
discrimination because they won't
hire people who don't understand
English instructions.
The success of continental
The Rice Thresher, January 15, 1982, page 2
educational methods, evidenced in
higher scholastic achievement
levels and less functional illiteracy,
is attributable to several
techniques. One of them is
acheivement grouping. Both
Germanys and the Soviet Union
have a tiered educational system.
Instead of placing everyone of the
same age in the same class,
particularly "fast" or "slow"
students are given special
attention. This frees the majority
of pupils from being held back by a
less gifted minority and develops
the most promising element of a
nation's future leadership to its
fullest capacity.
Any system that makes
decisions can be accused of
discrimination. Achievement
grouping has been stung in the past
by the cry of racism, and justifiably
so. In the past minority children
were, due to their lesser
opportunity, labeled "slow" and
forgotten. Public schools wish to
avoid the difficult situation of
having to tell parents that their
children are less than average.
Private schools, however, have
used tracking productively for
years. Realizing the illusory
comfort of egalitarianism, many
public schools have introduced
tracking or enhanced old
programs already in existence. All
black schools certainly cannot be
labeled as "racist" if they teach
students at their level of capability.
Considering the marked failure of
treating different people alike, we
have little to lose in using a method
successful elsewhere.
Another American educational
disaster that the Europeans have
managed to avoid is the "word"
method of teaching reading.
Unbelievably, it is twenty-sixytars
since Rudolf Flesch wrote Why
Johnny Can't Read. Johnny still
can't. Some schools have switched
to the phonetic reading/spelling
system, but not enough. Dr.
Leonard Bloomfield, the great
American linguist, wrote in 1933,
"Our schools arc utterly benighted
in linguistic matters...nothing
would be more discouraging than
to read our educationalist treatises
on methods of teaching children to
read." Things haven't changed
since his time. Consider, the
scholarly advice of Dr. Donald D.
Durrell of Boston University:
"Current practice in the teaching
of reading does not require a
phonetic knowledge of the letters."
The omnipotent position of
educational administrators over
parents, given pretense to
legitimacy by acamedicians like
Durell, is best seen in the
irresponsible positions of people
like Shenker. Practically every
European country tests its teachers
before it trusts them with its
children. Not suprisingly, teachers
are expected to be able to spell,
write, add, subtract and, yes
explain how to do those things.
Mr. Shenker and our teacher's
unions feel it is unfair to test
American teachers for em-
ployment related skills. Even when
twenty percent of the teachers
provisionally accepted for a job in
North Carolina failed a typical
high school exit exam. A multiple
choice exam at that, where the
applicants didn't even have to
write a sentence.
It is argued that more blacks fail
such exams than whites, a
phenomenon probably due to the
lack of equivalent educational
opportunities among blacks. Even
so, American children black or
white need to be taught by the best
qualified teachers available. If a
person cannot spell it is not racist
to refuse to hire him to teach
spelling.
Of course, many of the problems
that plague our public schools
have little to do with the prevailing
flawed concept of education
supported by our professional
educators. Primary and secondary
school teachers are among the
most important people in society, a
fact well recognized by those
countries (USSR, etc) that hope to
mold their populac^, into a "new
class". In America they are
increasingly perceived as losers.
They are paid a pittance. Those
with ambition join the legions of
admistrators and counselors.
Those who truly wish to teach are
frustrated by these very
administrators.
A broad change in the public's
perception of the role of education
is needed. At the very least, the
funding of education should have
priority over programs such as
welfare, unemployment insurance
and job training that people take
advantage of when they drop out
of school. The funding of school
districts should be uniform, not
dependent on the concentration of
business and industry in an area.
Schools in America are not
uniformly bad. By virtue of being
at Rice, most of this column's
readers are the benefiAries of a
fine elementary and secondary
education. Chances are the
influence of the reader's parents
made up for any school related
deficiency. The vast majority of
American are not so lucky.
Inasmuch as our future as well as
theirs depends on a well-educated
populace, it is imperative that
those policies that further our
educational self-destruction be
discontinued.
JAY GROB
Editor
BRENT WILKEY
Business Manager
Tom Morgan News Editor
David Koralek Advertising Manager
Mike Dishart Managing Editor.
Jeanne Cooper Sports Editor
Mike Gladu Photography Editor
Deborah KnafT Fine Arts Editor
Kelvin Thompson Back Page Editor
Richard Dees Senior Editor
Norman Furlong Copy Editor
John Heaner Associate Editor
New* Staff
Assistant Fditor* Chris Fkren (News). Dave Chilton (Sports).
Ciwcn Richards (f-'ine Arts), Ruth Hillhou.se (Typesetting)
Dave Potash (Production)
Contributing Fditors Ron F.hmke. Michele Gillespie.
I.ynn l.ytton. Chris Ekren
News Staff Alison Boher. Roh Schultr.
Jonathan Berk. Sumit Nanda. Patty Clearv. Joan Hope.
Michael Trachtenherg. Robert Morrison. Ian Davidson.
Michael Tinkler. Drew Sutton. Walter Wells. Matt I eslie
Fine Arts Staff I.orcn Fefer. Steve Bailey.
Scott Bodenheimer. Dan Borden. Andrew Tullts. Chris Bovcr
Hal Kohlman, Terri Herrman. Harry Wade. Recta Achari
Valen Mattioli. Fddie Burke
Sports Staff Steve Bailey. Donald Buckholt.
Ria/ Karamali. Boh Goeddel. Fnc Hough.
Genie l.utz, IXivid Steaklcv
Photography Stiff Frank Worley. Chip Clay. Steve Bailev
Robert Cruz. Scott Caddes. Conrad Reining
Mark Feige. Alan Nelson. Naomi Bullock. Shane Phelps
Production Staff Mark Meiche*. Gene Vaatveit. Hank Petri.
Howard Shapiro. Robert Henson. Palti Wuer/.
Steve Bailey. Joan Hope. Joseph Halcyon
(-" ■ Swlnm Staff
Astiiftant Business Mananger Cecelia Calahv
Assistant Advertising Myager Carolyn White
Business Staff .. . ,/y^: Karen Cook
Circulation Chris Cbunch. Vinnie Fonseca. I lovd Bennack
Subscriptions . Ann Ro^enwinkel
The Rice Thresher,the officialstudcntnewspaperat Rice I'niverxity since I9|f . is published each Frida>
during the school vear. except during examination periods and holidays, hv the students ol Rue
rnivcrsitv Fditorial and business offices are located on the second floor of the Ricc Memorial ( enter.
P(> Box IK*J2. Houston. lexas "*7251 telephone (7I )) 527-4801 or 527-4KII2 Advertising information
available upon request Mail subscription rate $20 00 domestic. $40 00 international. (via first class
mail) T he opinions expressed herein arc not necessarily th«>sc of anvone except the writer Ohuouslv
CIW2. The Rice Thrnher. All rights reserved
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Grob, Jay. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 69, No. 17, Ed. 1 Friday, January 15, 1982, newspaper, January 15, 1982; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245489/m1/2/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.