The third and final part of Theodore F. Sizer’s “Study of High Schools” will focus on the “Shopping Mall High School,” says Arthur G. Powell, staff director of the research effort and a co-author of the forthcoming book. Mr. Powell told the Boston Globe last week such a school is a place where “the goal is to do what is minimally necessary to create at least the illusion of learning.”
In the shopping-mall school, which features speciality “boutiques,” students “can buy what they want, in whatever quantities they want, or they don’t have to buy anything at all,” Mr. Powell said. The book will present the results of the researchers’ intensive study of 15 public and private high schools across the country, Mr. Powell said.
Florida’s 1984 Teacher of the Year, Edith H. Smith of Sarasota County’s Riverview High School, will not qualify for merit pay under the state’s new program to recognize able teachers because she does not hold a master’s degree. The 11th-grade English instructor, named this month by the State Department of Education as Florida’s top teacher for 1985, plans to use the $2,500 she has been awarded under the program to take a leave of absence to pursue the degree, department officials said.
Washington State’s superintendent of public instruction, Frank B. Brouillet, said this month that he will ask the State Board of Educa-tion and the legislature to approve measures that would require all teachers to have a master’s degree.
Mr. Brouillet outlined his plan at the annual state conference of the Washington Parent Teacher Association. He said he would ask the board and the legislature to increase requirements for entry into the teaching profession to include stronger academic prerequisites and higher grades as well as a master’s degree. His plan would also provide increased pay incentives to teachers who want to continue their education and would provide raises for teachers across the board.
Shapely knees of two varieties--both girls’ and boys'--will be highlighted under the new dress-code modifications enacted by the school board in Broken Arrow, Okla.
“As part of the new preppy look that is quite popular,” said Judy Gourd, public-relations director for the schools, all students are now per-mitted to wear Bermuda shorts to school--IF they append knee socks to the outfit.
“It’s really a modification in the dress code we had,” Ms. Gourd said. “We had a request from a parent asking that the full-cut Bermuda-type shorts be permitted with knee socks and the board approved that.’'
The unanimous vote was taken on April 23 with little debate, Ms. Gourd said. Discussion involved whether the code was for both boys and girls. The board did stipulate, however, that “cut-offs and jogging short-types are not acceptable,” Ms. Gourd said.
The Broken Arrow board’s student dress code had previously allowed “pant skirts that give the appearance of a skirt rather than shorts.” The new policy, Ms. Gourd said, allows for “pant skirts or other knee-length fashionable apparel that give the appearance of a skirt.”
The dress code states that “good grooming is a very important part of the general training of young people and is a cooperative effort of the school, parents, and student.”
The code further states, Ms. Gourd said, that “it is the intent of the dress code to permit students to dress according to fashion and at the same time restrict extremes and indecency in grooming, which will distract from the main purpose of the educational program.”
