May 25, 1983

Education Week, Vol. 02, Issue 35
Education Many States Assess Lessons of Florida 'Exit-Test' Lawsuit
As the first state to try to withhold the diplomas of high-school seniors who failed an "exit test," Florida has learned some expensive lessons from the legal challenge that followed.
Peggy Caldwell & Susan Walton, May 25, 1983
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9 min read
Education People News
Sixty years after completing his undergraduate coursework at Columbia University, the educator and philosopher Mortimer J. Adler has received the B.A. degree denied him because he failed a swimming test as an undergraduate.

Mr. Adler, who holds a Ph.D. from Columbia, is the author of more than 40 books, and is now able to swim, wrote to the school at the end of last year that he would be pleased to accept the degree if Columbia officials could see their way clear to granting it. "While it is a trifle extraordinary to receive a B.A. 55 years after receiving a Ph.D.,'' Mr. Adler wrote, "I think the time order is less important than the or-der of values. In my scale of values, the B.A. is the higher degree, so far as signifying a start in the process of becoming an educated person."

May 25, 1983
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1 min read
Curriculum Federal File: Searching for Research; Bowing To The Federal Will; Shrinking Federal Aid; Calling For Support; Reading Is Fundamental;
Filling Committee Slots
May 25, 1983
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4 min read
Education Letter to the Editor Letters To The Editor
The underlying assumptions and recommendations for change contained in the [Secretary of Education Terrel H.] Bell commission's report on excellence in education bear a striking resemblance to James Bryant Conant's 1959 work, The American High School Today. Then, too, national security demanded that our schools be reformed. "The Russians are coming!" was the national phobia. Now it is the Japanese.

As a piece of political propaganda, A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform, was a success. The media and the public were very receptive to having their preconceived notions about teen-agers and our public high schools reinforced. Unfortunately, as a plan for improving secondary schools in America, it is a failure.

May 25, 1983
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4 min read
Education Opinion Progressive Education Revisited
The Bell commission's report and its call for educational "excellence" are before us. But if we are to combat the "rising tide of mediocrity," we would be wise to rethink our educational philosophy and pedagogical methods, or else more homework, longer school years, and elaborate testing can only result in repeating our present mistakes on a larger scale.
Howard B. Radest, May 25, 1983
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9 min read
Education Opinion Master-Teacher Plan Will Need Master Planning
Like Gov. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, I believe that an incentive structure for the teaching profession is long overdue and much needed. But although I commend the Governor for his efforts to implement a master-teacher plan, I also applaud State Senator Tommy Burks, who had the gumption to "jump off the bandwagon" and cast the decisive vote to defer the plan.
Ann M. Weinheimer, May 25, 1983
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6 min read
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