Banner Graphic, Volume 12, Number 90, Greencastle, Putnam County, 22 December 1981 — Page 7
-A right to take pride
'Despite the critics, the American system of public education is the envy of the world'
Publisher’s note: The following was submitted to the Banner-Graphic by Donald G. Thompson, I'niServ Director of the Indiana State Teachers Association office at Crawfordsville. Thompson’s multi-county district includes Putnam County and its four school corporations - Cloverdale, Greencastle, North Putnam and South Putnam. Teacher associations in all four corporations are affiliated with ISTA. By Donald G. Thompson UniServ Director, ISTA The barrage of undeserved criticisms aimed at our public schools is becoming an outrageous national scandal. Not withstanding what some think they read in the newspapers, the quality of student performance is as good or better than it was a generation ago. The Indiana State Teachers Association does not pretend public education is flawless or that there are no areas in which public education should be strengthened, but the ISTA believes that at no time in the nation's history has literacy been higher, academic skills greater, and educational opportunities pursued by a greater number of citizens. CRITICS OF EDUCATION claim that public schools are not doing the job of educating the youth. But despite the critics, the American system of public education is the envy of the world. No other nation has as high a literacy rate as the United States - 98.2 per cent, a vast im-
opinion
LARRY GIBBS Publisher
Letter to the Editor Why do they put up lights if they don't turn them on?
To the Editor: I am writing about the Christmas lights in the downtown area. My younger brother, age three, has become overjoyed with Santa Claus and all of the other things associated with Christmas and every few nights we go downtown after dark to look at the lights. Only once between Thanksgiving weekend and now (Dec. 17) have we ac-
Signed letters are welcome
The Banner Graphic believes the interests of its readers are best served by expression of varied points of view. We offer our opinions and those of others on this page and welcome you to do the same, whether you agree, disagree or wish to comment on another subject of public interest. Letters to the editor should be typed or written clearly and limited to 300 words if possible. All letters must be signed and include the author’s address and telephone number. Although we en-
Nuclear apathy? Experts point to Americans' need to deny or displace their underlying fears
By Jean Dietz (c) 1981 Boston Globe BOSTON Why are Americans apparently so apathetic about the potential horror of a nuclear holocaust? That question was the center of a twoday conference of psychologists, psychiatrists and other physicians on “The Threat of Nuclear War” sponsored by Harvard Medical School last week. In psychological terms, some of the participants attribute the apathy of the
Nation's capital has become 'Home, Sweet Home' for liberals who lost in 1980
By MARJORIE HUNTER c. 1981 N. Y. Times News Service WASHINGTON As one version of the old political saying goes: “They never go back to Pocatello,” meaning that once they have tasted the fruits of Washington, few former politicians move back to their home towns, be they Pocatello, Idaho, or Mitchell, S.D. At least that is true of most of the small but distinguished band of liberal Democrats defeated in re-election bids for the Senate last year in the Reagan lancJskde.'They have settled down comfortably, and they say happily, in the nation’s capital. Gaylord Jieisdn, who represented Wisconsin in Congress forlß years before his defeat, is now chairman of the Wilderness Society, with headquarters here. Does he miss being in the Senate? “Not at all,” he says. “I’m not stuck with a lot of boring stuff I don’t have to give speeches I don’t want to give. I didn’t realize until I got out of that pressure cooker up there how many things I was doing that I really didn’t want to do.” George McGovern, too, has decided to stay. He and his wife Eleanor recently purchased a condominium on Connecticut Avenue. The 1972 Democratic presidential nominee spent 22 years in the Senate and House before his defeat last year. Now, he says, he is making far more money lecturing than he ever made as a
provement over the 55 per cent in 1945. Today, more than 88 per cent of America’s public school graduates performed adequately or higher on literacy skills tests. This amazing feat has been accomplished despite the fact that the American public schools successfully encourage students with academic problems to stay in school. As a result, America sends more of its students to school than any other nation in the world, and more complete high school: In 1950, only 56 per cent of the white school age population finished high school; today 85 per cent graduate. Seventy-five per cent of the black students graduate today, compared with less than one quarter 30 years ago. Fifty-three per cent of American high school graduates go to college, more than any other nation, and more American college students complete degree programs (50 percent) than those of any other nation. Until the Johnson years and the “Great Society” initiatives, fewer than half of the entering black high school freshmen completed their high school education. A national survey shows that now 60 per cent of all black occupational gains have been due to higher levels of education enjoyed by the 75 per cent who now finish high school. IN 1960, only -135 minority students were enrolled in white colleges in the South. Today more than 100,000 attend those schools. In fact, 13 per cent of all college age black youth are attending higher education, a 250 per cent increase in enrollments in the past 10 years. There are now more blacks in American colleges than in British
ERICBERNSEE Managing Editor
tually seen the lights on. In order to let my brother see Christmas lights, we drive to Indianapolis and look at the lights on the Circle. The question in the back of my mind is “Why do they put up ornaments and lights if they don’t turn them on?” Ellen Mercer Greencastle
courage readers to permit publication of their names, requests for use of initials will be honored in most cases. Letters containing personal attacks on individuals, libelous statements or profanity will not be published. All letters are subject to editing, although such will be held to a minimum and the intent of a letter will not be altered. Send your letters to: Letters to the Editor. The Banner Graphic, P. O. Box 509, Greencastle, Indiana 46135.
average American to the nuclear arms race to denial or displacement of their underlying fears. Others talk about a process of “psychic numbing” in the face of a threat to health and survival too terrifying for the mind to grasp. Denial and displacement are psychological mechanisms that people use to blot disturbing thoughts out of their consciousness in order to minimize their anxiety. While Europeans are taking to the
member of Congress. “I am really enjoying life,” he says. Last summer, he and his wife took a leisurely monthlong trip to eight national parks. He is learning all over again how to play the piano and has progressed to some Scott Joplin rags.
I n response to AP-N BC poll
U.S. should disarm if Soviets do, 51 % say
By TIMOTHY HARPER Associated Press Writer NEW YORK (AP) - A majority of Americans favor nuclear disarmament if the Soviet Union agrees to disarm as well, the latest Associated Press-NBC News poll says. But only about one-third of the 1,602 respondents telephoned Dec. 14-15 in a nationwide scientific random sampling said they favor a freeze on the production
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streets in mass protests to combat imminent danger, only a small number of Americans appear to be actively opposing nuclear war. To Europeans, the danger is “very real and immediate since Europe is the focus for nuclear arms deployment,” said Dr. John Mack of the Psychiatry Department of Cambridge (Mass.) Hospital. “The death and destruction of war on their own soil is part of the European experience. For most Americans, it remains remote.”
BAYH
and French colleges and universities combined - 1,062,000. One recent survey shows that an identical 17 per cent of both white and black families with incomes below the poverty line report at least one family member in college. No other nation has advanced so many of its children so far. While approximately 80 per cent of American children graduate from high school, the other developed nations manage only to graduate 17 per cent. THE INTERNATIONAL Studies in Evaluation reported recently that 90 per cent of all American seniors can add, subtract, multiply and divide whole numbers accurately. Fifty per cent can apply these mathematical skills to quantitative problems such as taxes, auto trips, etc. Only Japan performed better, but that was with about 17 per cent of its high school age population. Data from the ISE also shows that American Public education achieves in reading with 75 per cent of its students what other developed nations achieve with a very select group. In fact, through 1957 almost 98 per cent of 25 studies found that American students did better than those in the past not only in reading, but math, spelling, vocabulary and writing. A STUDY CONDUCTED in 1976-77 concluded that the reading levels in that year were equal to or better than those in 1964 - a banner year in American achievement test scores. A 1981 study conducted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress discovered that reading
McGovern
of nuclear weapons in this country. The poll also said three of four Americans think the United States will become involved in a war during the next few years, though a majority said they are not worried that President Reagan will get the country into war. Public opinion was almost evenly divided, however, over whether Reagan and his administration are talking too much about the possibility of using nuclear
Results of a questionnaire given to 1,000 grade and high school students in the Boston area show the psychological impact on youth living in a world where thermonuclear disaster is a constant threat, Mack said. To a question on how nuclear advances influenced future plans, one student wrote: “I don’t choose to bring up children in a world of such horrors and dangers of deformation. The world might be gone in
He is also donating time to a public interest group, Americans for Common Sense, which he founded. He receives no money for this. A paid staff, supported by contributions, is monitoring New Right political groups and preparing a series of papers on various nonpartisan issues. Washington is still home, too, for Frank Church, whose 24year Senate career ended with his defeat for re-election last year. Now a partner in Whitman and Ransom, a New York law firm with offices in Washington, the former Democratic senator from Idaho, who was chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, is representing clients in Japan, Korea and Western Europe. He also has been active on the lecture circuit and just finished a two-week tour of Australia. “I’m as busy as I can be,” he says. “I feel very lucky. I have one foot in the public sector, with these lectures and my writing, and I have the other foot in the private sector, with my law practice.” Does he miss the Senate at all? “I can’t say that I do,” he says. “Sometimes, I feel like I got out of the Army after a long tour of duty.” Birch Bayh, an Indiana Democrat who served 18 years in the Senate, is practicing law in Washington and Indianapolis, and has kept his home in the capital since his defeat for re-election.
scores on both comprehension and vocabulary have increased over the past decade for grades one through three. Focusing on ages nine, 13, and 17, NAEP found significant gains in reading skills for the nine-year-old age group. The nearly 4 per cent growth rate built on a two-year trend of improvement. Contrary to the claims of the detractors of public education, the study proved there was no decline in the reading abilities of students aged 13 and 17. The same study showed remarkable accomplishments by blacks, males and students living in the Southeast. Here in Indiana, primary, intermediate and junior high school students are achieving higher test scores on 95 per cent of a variety of tests on reading, writing and spelling than their counterparts in the rest of the nation. This feat was accomplished for the second year in a row. A RECENT STUDY by Roger Farr, former president of the International Reading Association, found that Indiana students read significantly better (in 1976) than those in 1946. According to an October (1981) study conducted by the Indiana Department of Public Instruction, the claim that Indiana students are not learning the “three Rs” is belied by the facts. The study, based on scores compiled on a national test during the last two school years, shows fewer Hoosier students score low and more of them score high in reading, composition, spelling, math, and social studies skills than is the national norm. Specifically, only 14 per cent of Indiana’s 1.1
weapons, and whether such talk increases the danger of nuclear war. Fifty-one percent said the United States should move toward nuclear disarmament only if the Soviet Union agrees to disarm as well. Twelve percent said the United States should disarm on its own, 27 percent said the United States should not disarm and 10 percent were unsure. But on whether the United States should stop producing nuclear weapons, 49 per-
two seconds from now. but I still plan for the future, because I am going to live as long as I am going to live. ” Other replies reflected a lack of confidence in the political process. Until recently, Mack said, adults have been acting “as though they were hypnotized, like a pack of lemmings headed to the sea,” in regard to nuclear war. “The growth of apocalyptic religion, drinking and drugging of our society into a stupor, and failure to deal with all sorts of social
December 22,1981, The Putnam County Banner-Graphic
million school children tested below the national average. Likewise, 30 per cent of Indiana’s students scored above average. Fifty-six per cent of Hoosier students scored average compared to 54 per cent of the students nationwide. INDIANA PUBLIC SCHOOLS can rightfully take pride in these comparisons, especially in view of the fact that national education norms have risen in the last 20 to 30 years, as children : have acquired more skills and knowledge at an earlier age. The fact that Indiana has much to brag about is ’ additionally symbolized by the United States ‘ Department of Education citation exemplifying Indiana’s Career Education program as a national model. Indiana leads the nation with 180 threeyear programs. In 1979-80, the Indiana Depart- - ment of Public Instruction awarded $354,000 to 24 school corporations which in turn generated another $400,000 in community funds for Career Education. This program is slated for termination by the White House. Unlike exclusive private schools, American public schools meet the needs of handicapped children. As a result a higher percentage of handicapped children are taught in American public schools than any other nation in the world -- 1.2 million enrolled this year. WHILE THE NATION’S 80,000 public schools are engulfed in the social and political problems of the times, they remain the wonder of the rest of the world’s education establishments for the success they continue to show.
cent said no, 34 percent said yes and the rest said either they were not sure or only if the Soviet Union stops producing nuclear arms, too. Seventy-six percent said it is either very or somewhat likely the United States will become involved in a war during the next few years, an increase from 68 percent m the September and October AP-NBC News polls and 57 percent in the August poll. Yet a majority does not think a war will be Reagan’s fault: 59 percent said they are not worried that Reagan will get the country involved in a war. At the same time, respondents split 48-44 in saying Reagan and his administration are talking too much about the possibility of using nuclear weapons, and 48-46 in saying such talk increases the danger of nuclear war. Respondents split 52-38 in favor of reinstatement of the draft for the armed for ces, marking a continuing decline in support for the draft. Reinstatment was favored by 59 percent in the July AP-NBC News poll and 65 percent in the January poll. There was no significant change, however, on three other questions: Forty-three percent said Reagan is doing a good or excellent job in handling foreign affairs. Sixty-six percent said he has set the right tone in his dealings with the Soviets. > And 38 percent said the United States and Soviet Union are equal in military strength, while 39 percent said the Soviet Union is stronger, 13 percent said the United States is stronger and 10 percent were not sure. As with all sample surveys, the results of AP-NBC News polls can vary from the opinions of all Americans because of chance variations in the sample. •
problems as a result of extraordinary defense expense,” Mack said, are among the consequences of unexpressed fears of nuclear power Not only the rise of political and religious fundamentalism but even the preoccupation with outer space reflects “psychic numbing,” a diminished capacity to feel, to take into account what happens at the receiving end of nuclear weapons, said Dr. Robert Jay Liston of Yale.
He misses being in the Senate to some extent, he says, but actually doesn’t give it too much thought because he keeps so busy practicing law and giving lectures. On Christmas Eve, he will wed Katherine (Kitty) Halpin, a former aid to Robert S. Strauss at the Democratic National Committee and now director of news information for ABC News. Bayh’s first wife, Marvella, died of cancer in April 1979. Law has kept John C. Culver in Washington, too. Defeated last year after 10 years in the House and six in the Senate, th lowa Democrat is now specializing in international law with the firm of Arent, Fox, and considers suburban Chevy Chase his home. “Sure, I enjoyed being in Congress,” he says. "But I’m ex-“; cited about what I’m doing now." On his last day in the Senate last December, Warren G.‘> Magnuson, D-Wash., told colleagues: “Last night, I bid you; adieu. Ishould have said, ‘AufWiedersehen.’l’ll be back ” Thus ended a 44-year congressional career for a man who, at; the time of his defeat, was dean of the Senate and chairman of/ the Senate Appropriations Committee. Magnuson did, indeed, come back, but only for a few last summer to sort and pack up 1,200 file drawers of papers that? document his years in Congress. He has donated them to the. University of Washington. He and his wife, Germaine, also have been busy remodeling? an old house they bought in Seattle. And there they plan to stay.
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