September 19, 1984

Education Week, Vol. 04, Issue 03
Education Opinion The Truth About Technology
"Today, computers and telecommunications are a fact of life almost as basic as electricity," writes Larry Cuban.
Larry Cuban, January 1, 1993
13 min read
Education Opinion Stolen Learning
"In the 6th grade, I stole a cheap paperback atlas that no one seemed to want," writes Clark Brown. "I took it because I loved maps and spent hours happily poring over them."
Clark Brown, November 1, 1992
6 min read
Education Letter to the Editor Letters

Unforgivable Events


I commend David Hill on his generally well-written and accurate article, “The Writing On The Wall” [October], about San Marino (Calif.) Unified School District teacher Georgia Gabor's fight against anti-Semitism.
November 1, 1992
14 min read
Education Opinion Don't Forget The Child
Child-centeredness is inherent within the nucleus of education. By reforming our schools through coordinated organizational mosaics composed of the best programs and instructional models we now have, education can produce successful, optimistic students in nurturing, child-centered schools.
Daniel L. Burke, November 1, 1992
7 min read
Education Opinion Read-Aloud Books: The Best Of The Bunch
Judy Freeman is librarian at the Van Holten School in Bridgewater, N.J.
Judy Freeman, November 1, 1992
9 min read
Education Opinion Books
Book reviews by David Ruenzel.
David Ruenzel, November 1, 1992
3 min read
Education Employees Union Sues E.P.A. on Asbestos Risk
The Service Employees International Union, which represents some 100,000 school-maintenance workers around the country, last week filed suit against the Environmental Protection Agency in an attempt to force the agency to issue within 30 days rules requiring the removal of hazardous asbestos from the nation's public schools.
Lynn Olson, September 19, 1984
6 min read
Education North Carolina Department Urges Standardized Course Offerings
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, concerned that educational opportunities vary among school systems within the state, has issued a plan designed to ensure that a minimum course of study is offered to every student in North Carolina.
Raymond Lowery , September 19, 1984
2 min read
Ed-Tech Policy Computers Column
The National Commission on Industrial Innovation, a bipartisan group headed by Edmund G. Brown Jr., the former California governor, is turning its attention to the use of computers in schools.

The commission's work is centering on two "schools of the future" proposals that are expected to be finished by year's end for introduction in the upcoming Congressional session.

September 19, 1984
4 min read
Education Federal File: Humanists, Beware; A Loss of Face?; !Escuelas Si!
Because of a largely unnoticed item in a bill to improve instruction in mathematics and science that was signed by President Reagan in August, the teaching of "secular humanism" will be taboo in schools that receive certain federal funds.

The prohibition against the teaching of that doctrine--which is said to advocate the well-being of mankind over religious considerations in civil affairs and is anathema to a number of conservative groups--was included in the section of the measure that provides $75 million for magnet schools.

September 19, 1984
2 min read
Education Georgia Panels Asks Board To Raise Standards for Administrators
Finding wide disparities in current practices, Georgia's Professional Standards Commission has recommended that the state board of education raise standards for the training, licensing, and evaluation of school administrators.
Lynn Olson, September 19, 1984
3 min read
Education Hatch Lashes Out at Civil-Rights Bill Supporters
A press conference here last week that featured Olympic athletes speaking out in favor of a controversial civil-rights bill prompted the harshest and most detailed critique of the measure and its sponsors to date by the bill's chief opponent in the Senate.
Tom Mirga, September 19, 1984
4 min read
Education Educators, Parents Welcome Rules On Students' Rights
The Education Department's final regulations regarding student rights in experimental and psychological testing and treatments were generally welcomed last week by representatives of education organizations and parents' groups concerned about federal control over school curricula.
Tom Mirga, September 19, 1984
3 min read
Education Media Column
The National Science Foundation has announced an $8.5-million five-year grant to "3-2-1 Contact," an award-winning science series produced by the Children's Television Workshop in New York City.

The grant from the science foundation is contingent on Congressional appropriations.

September 19, 1984
2 min read
Education In the Press
Many young people today "are in a complete moral stupor," and the schools are largely to blame, contends Christina Hoff Sommers in the summer issue of The American Scholar.

Ms. Sommers, an assistant professor of philosophy at Clark University, argues that a growing aversion among educators to teaching traditional morality is undermining the moral development of many students.

September 19, 1984
10 min read
Ed-Tech Policy Parents and Teachers May Be at Odds Over Use of Computers, Study Says
As the number of families buying home computers for educational purposes increases, "some of the traditional lines of authority between teachers at school and parents at home may be challenged or disrupted," concludes a New York University professor who has conducted an in-depth study of 20 families with microcomputers.
Linda Chion-Kenney, September 19, 1984
4 min read
Education Teachers' Ladder Enacted in N.C.
North Carolina's state board of education gave final approval this month to a $110-million career-ladder plan for public-school teachers, despite some educators' objections that the plan does not do enough to address the problems of the teaching profession.
Raymond Lowery , September 19, 1984
1 min read
Education Multimedia Series on Science, Math Premieres
The video component of a mixed-media project in science and mathematics education for 8-to-12-year-olds that combines a television adventure series with computer software and print curriculum materials premiered last week on public television stations across the country.
Pamela Winston, September 19, 1984
3 min read
Education Judge Upholds Disciplinary Policy
A Prince George's County, Md., circuit-court judge has upheld a district discipline policy that resulted in the expulsion earlier this year of a student for carrying a Swiss Army-type knife on school grounds.

Last April, two students reported to their teacher that a knife had fallen out of the pocket of Burleigh Odum, now 14, a student at Gwynn Park Middle School in Brandywine, Md.

September 19, 1984
1 min read
Education Pope Asks Public Aid for Parental School Choice
Arguing that "a totally secular school system" in a modern nation would not satisfy "the legitimate claims" of religious groups and would deny "a fundamental right" to parents, Pope John Paul II last week told Roman Catholic educators in Canada that governments have a responsibility to support educational services for all.
Cindy Currence, September 19, 1984
6 min read
Education 'Distinguished' Principals To Be Honored by Reagan Administration
Following is a list of 54 principals honored in the first annual National Distinguished Principals Program, announced last month by Secretary of Education Terrel H. Bell and Samuel G. Sava, executive director of the National Association of Elementary School Principals.

The program honors outstanding elementary- and middle-school principals from 45 states and the District of Columbia, four private schools, and four overseas schools affiliated with the U.S. Defense Department or the U.S. State Department.

September 19, 1984
5 min read
Education Public-School Advocates Readying Opposition
Coming amid a Presidential campaign already flavored by church-state issues, the statement last week by Pope John Paul II calling for government aid to religious schools is likely to heighten the activity of a growing number of public-school officials and advocates who oppose public support for private educational institutions.
Cindy Currence, September 19, 1984
8 min read
Education For The Record
Following are excerpts from remarks made by Pope John Paul II to Roman Catholic educators on Sept. 12 at the Basilica of St. John the Baptist in Newfoundland. (See related story on Page 1.)

September 19, 1984
6 min read
Education Federal News Roundup
House Democratic leaders last week postponed a vote on a multi-billion-dollar education bill promoted extensively by the National Education Association, effectively killing it for the remainder of the current session of the Congress, according to House aides.

The staff members said that a number of House Democrats raised last-minute concerns over voting for the high-cost bill, which has been attacked by the Reagan Administration as a "budget buster."

September 19, 1984
2 min read
Education State News Roundup
The deans of nine colleges of education in Arkansas have endorsed a proposal to allow people who do not have education degrees to be certified to teach.

The plan would allow noncertified individuals to work as "supervised interns" for three years while completing the education courses necessary for certification, the deans said in a proposal sent to the Arkansas Education, Certification, and Evaluation Committee last month.

September 19, 1984
1 min read
Education District News Roundup
A set of Haitian triplets has been denied admission to the Dade County (Fla.) Public Schools because they each have a disease believed to be a forerunner of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (aids).

Health and education officials think the rare immunity problem could endanger the health of the triplets as well as that of other schoolchildren in the district.

September 19, 1984
5 min read
Education People News
William Bradford Reynolds, assistant attorney general for civil rights, this month told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit that a federal judge illegally extended his authority and misinterpreted a 1980 consent decree when he ordered the U.S. government to pay Chicago schools $103.8 million in desegregation aid for this year and more in subsequent years. (See Education Week, Aug. 29, 1984.)

Mr. Reynolds reiterated the U.S. Justice Department's position that the government is not bound by the vague language of the consent decree to a broad funding plan for Chicago and that U.S. District Judge Milton I. Shadur's Aug. 13 order to that effect violated the constitutional separation of powers.

September 19, 1984
3 min read
Education News Update
Teacher strikes in several school districts across the nation have been settled, but new strike activity has disrupted the schooling of thousands more students. (See Education Week, Sept. 12, 1984.)

In Michigan, strikes in Grand Rapids and Anchor Bay were settled last week. Teachers also are back at work in Cassopolis and Escanaba, and a spokesman for the National Education Association said last week that settlements were "near" in East China and River Rouge.

September 19, 1984
2 min read
Education Deep-Sixed Greenbacks in Circular File Bring G-Men
"Kids can be kids--if you know what I mean," lamented John Daenzer, principal of Southeast Oakland (Mich.) Vocational Education Center, as calls from the media continued to pour in early this month about the eight summer-school students who were suspended--but not arrested--for attempting to counterfeit money.

No money was actually printed in the school's print shop, but to the Secret Service, which learned of the situation through a tipster, making the plates was just as objectionable as forging the cash, Mr. Daenzer said.

September 19, 1984
1 min read