October 19, 1981

Education Week, Vol. 01, Issue 07
Education Refugees Face Health Problems
When the first Indochinese refugee settled in Linda Vista, Calif. in 1975, school officials had no clue that by 1981, 75 percent of the 1,200 students at Linda Vista Elementary School would be Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, or Hmong children, many of whom would have serious, chronic health problems in addition to language and cultural differences.
Susan Walton & Tom Mirga, October 19, 1981
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6 min read
Education President Seeks to 'Defer' Spending Until 1982 Appropriations Are Voted
The Department of Education, authorized by Congress to spend $13.9 billion on fiscal 1982 education programs, has been instructed by the federal budget office to reduce that budget temporarily by 12 percent, department officials said recently.
Eileen White, October 19, 1981
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5 min read
Education Deans Endorse Extended Programs, Higher Teacher-Training Standards

Colorado Springs--An organization of education-school deans representing many of the nation's largest teacher-training programs last week endorsed the position that four years is no longer enough time in which to train teachers adequately.
October 19, 1981
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5 min read
Education Commission Told Schools Waste Too Much Time
Members of the new National Commission on Excellence in Education, meeting here for the first time this month, were told that too many schools waste time on non-instructional matters.
Arthur E. Levine, October 19, 1981
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3 min read
Education California Teachers Work to Alter Prop 13, Raise School Funds
The California Teachers' Association (cta) has decided to work with a statewide taxpayers' group to press for a state constitutional initiative that would alter some provisions of Proposition 13 and make available substantial amounts of money for public education and other government services.
Alex Heard, October 19, 1981
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3 min read
Education Title IX Gains Are Significant But Not Complete, Panel Says
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 has made a substantial contribution to reducing sex discrimination in education, according to a report from a Presidential advisory council released here yesterday.
Margaret L. Weeks, October 19, 1981
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5 min read
Education Innovative Uses Found for Surplus Schools
An estimated 7,000 of the nation's 86,000 public schools have been closed because of declining enrollment, according to Ellen Bussard of the Educational Facilities Laboratories (efl) in New York.
Arthur E. Levine, October 19, 1981
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5 min read
Education City News Roundup
The United Teachers of Los Angeles approved a "reopeners" contract that will give the district's 31,000 teachers a 7-percent raise. An additional 1-percent raise, also included in the contract, is contingent on the outcome of three school-finance bills pending in the California legislature.

The 7-percent raise is about on par with salary increases gained by other unions across the country this year, according to a spokesman for the union, which is the second-largest teachers' local in the nation.

October 19, 1981
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5 min read
Education Hearings
The following Congressional hearings of interest to those in the field of elementary and secondary education have been scheduled for October and November. Because times, places, and witnesses frequently change with little advance notice, it is advisable to check with the committees by telephone on or near the appointed dates.

SENATE

October 19, 1981
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1 min read
Education In Federal Agencies
Bilingual education. The National Advisory Council on Bilingual Education announced, in the Oct. 9 Federal Register, a meeting on Oct. 24-27 in New York City. Public hearings will be held on Oct. 27 in room 815 of the Graduate Center, City University of New York, 33 West 42nd St. A proposed agenda was also published.

Civil rights. The Department of Education requested, in the Sept. 30 Federal Register, comments, suggestions, and objections regarding the proposed fiscal year 1982 operating plan for the Office of Civil Rights. The narrative and tables of activities under discussion were also published.

October 19, 1981
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2 min read
Education State News Roundup
The Pennsylvania State Senate will soon take up a controversial measure that would give local school boards virtually unlimited authority to fire teachers.

Under an amendment to the state education code approved by the House of Representatives late last month, local districts would no longer need the approval of the state Department of Education to furlough teachers. Another House amendment extended the range of possible grounds on which districts may fire teachers.

October 19, 1981
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5 min read
Education Troubled Cleveland Schools Near a 'Turning Point'
Two important events in the next few weeks may produce significant changes within Cleveland's deeply troubled public school system. In an election that has attracted more than the usual interest among civic and business leaders, voters will elect a majority of the school board. And a federal judge is expected to rule on proposals to restructure the system. To take a closer look at the complex situation confronting the city's voters and the judge, Assistant Editor Peggy Caldwell spent several days in Cleveland interviewing administrators, parents, community leaders, and state and local officials. Here is her report.

October 19, 1981
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16 min read
Education Study Recommends Ending Driver Education
Eliminating high-school driver education, raising the age at which teenagers may drive and buy liquor, and restricting the hours in which they may drive, are the options for reducing auto accidents involving young people suggested in a new report by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Susan G. Foster, October 19, 1981
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3 min read
Education Research and Reports
While officials in some school districts are still worried about the large number of uninoculated children in the schools, measles, at least, is less of a problem than ever.

The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta reported this month that ''measles transmission is currently at the lowest level since 1925," when state health officials first began reporting communicable diseases to the national center. Between Aug. 30 and Sept. 5, there were only five measles cases reported nationally--"an all-time low for any week in any year," according to cdc's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

October 19, 1981
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3 min read
Education Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Controversial School Appeals
The Supreme Court last week agreed to consider three of the most sensitive issues in education: school boards' authority to remove "objectionable" books from school libraries; the right of states to curtail busing for desegregation; and the tax-exempt status of private schools that discriminate on the basis of race.
Peggy Caldwell, October 19, 1981
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4 min read
Education Education, Business Should Cooperate In Preparing Students for Careers
Businesses hire young people and educators prepare them for employment, but the two groups do not understand each other--or the social trends affecting each other's work--well enough.
Susan G. Foster, October 19, 1981
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3 min read
Education Rural Educators Request Voice in Federal Plans for Handicapped
Like educators everywhere, the 200 members of the Rural Education Association who gathered here last week are worried about the next round of federal budget cuts, but much of the conference talk was about a problem they face regardless of what occurs in Washington.
Alex Heard, October 19, 1981
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3 min read
Education Appointments
In the Districts

Nancy Steele Bryant, superintendent of the Michigan School for the Blind, Lansing, Mich., to director of the New York Institute for the Education of the Blind, 'Bronx, N.Y.

October 19, 1981
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1 min read
Education A Once-in-a-Lifetime Cultural Experience
Despite opposition from members of the local school board, one of whom called it "the lowest rung on the moral ladder," the Neshaminy-Maple Point High School choir in Langhorne, Pa., recently sponsored a female mud-wrestling bout to finance a trip to Germany.

The event, which raised about $4,000 for the choir and drew 1,600 spectators, caused a small controversy in the district. Three school board members thought the sport improper for a high school and were disturbed that they had not heard of plans for it further in advance.

October 19, 1981
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1 min read
Education Reliance on Tests May Discourage Blacks From Teaching
In response to pressure from state legislatures, departments of education, and other groups to improve the quality of teachers, increasing numbers of education schools are requiring students to take standardized tests both to get into and out of teacher-training programs and to earn certification.
Richard Wilson, October 19, 1981
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4 min read
Education Federal News Roundup
In spite of a recent unfavorable decision by the Federal Trade Commission, a group that monitors children's television is not giving up its fight for federal regulation of advertising directed at children.

The ftc decision, which followed three years of hearings and strong lobbying by the broadcasting, cereal, and sugar industries, says the agency cannot "justify sacrificing other important enforcement priorities" by continuing inquiry into such rules.

October 19, 1981
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2 min read
Education Growing Interest in Languages May Spur Federal Initiatives
Advocates of strengthened foreign-language programs, after years of lobbying, delivering ominous warnings of international embarrassments, and developing imaginative student-recruitment techniques, think they may finally be seeing their work pay off.
Peggy Caldwell, October 19, 1981
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5 min read
Education Opinion Combating the "Devil-Made-Me-Do-It" Theory of Moral Responsibility
In many ways educators respond to their critics the way silly putty responds to the poke of a child's finger. In the late 1960's, as a result of the civil-rights movement and the Vietnam war, there was a hue and cry to "humanize" the curriculum.
Henry F. Billings, October 19, 1981
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4 min read
Education Opinion The Contradictions of High Schools: To Be Excellent and Equal, Universal and Special
Recent developments in the economy and the culture have given powerful impetus to changes in high schools. ... High schools worked for a long time because many students for whom the high schools could not provide a decent education simply stayed away--or if they came, kept quiet.
David K. Cohen & Barbara Neufeld, October 19, 1981
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12 min read
Education Letter to the Editor Letters to the Editor
To the Editor:

Stephen Arons, in his essay on censorship ["Censors Play the Role of 'Guardians of Morality,"' Commentary, Sept. 28], tries to describe himself as completely against censorship. However, he is really only against censorship of his ideas and for censorship of the "bad guys."

October 19, 1981
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1 min read