TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/100989/10098900.016

Text File | 1992-09-23 | 5.4 KB | 106 lines

                                                                                EDUCATION, Page 69

SOME KEY BUSH PROPOSALS: How They're Doing


    FREEDOM TO CHOOSE SCHOOLS

    President Bush's version of the "choice" idea focuses on
two major plans: magnet schools, which attract students by
developing specialties in areas like drama and science; and open
enrollment, which permits parents to move their children from
schools they do not like to ones they do.

    Both approaches are being tried around the country. In
locations from San Francisco to New York's East Harlem, parents
are free to shop around for what they judge to be the best
public school in the district. Minnesota goes further: it is
phasing in a program that by 1990 will allow students to attend
virtually any public school in the state so long as the move
does not harm desegregation efforts. Earlier this year,
Arkansas, Iowa, Ohio and Nebraska adopted similar plans; eleven
other states are moving toward choice. But it is unclear how
many families will take advantage of such freedom: in Minnesota
only 3,800 children -- less than 1% of the state's student
population -- asked to cross district lines this fall.

    Advocates like choice because it empowers parents and
fosters competition among schools. Critics say the policy is
racist, encouraging parents to take their children and tax
dollars out of minority-dominated inner-city schools.

    SIMPLER LICENSING OF TEACHERS

    As recently as 1983, only eight states allowed full-time
staff teachers to be hired without an undergraduate degree in
education or classroom experience. Now 23 states have eased
training and certification requirements, considered by many to
be the most formidable and unnecessary barrier to attracting
teaching talent. The result has been an influx of military
retirees and career switchers from other professions -- some
2,500 in all during the 1987-88 school year. These recruits have
helped reduce teacher shortages and have reinvigorated the
classroom. Last spring Bush proposed $25 million in grants to
encourage other states to follow suit; the measure awaits
congressional action.

    Some state teachers' unions have opposed legislation aimed
at luring job switchers, arguing that it allows unqualified
people into the classroom. However, many mid-careerists charge
that the traditional system is too rigid, forcing even seasoned
professionals to take two years of what New Jersey Education
Commissioner Saul Cooperman calls "Mickey Mouse" education
courses. Both camps agree on one point. Says Katherine Foster,
34, who gave up dentistry for the classroom to become a ninth-
and tenth-grade teacher in San Benito County, Calif.: "Teaching
is more rewarding than anything I ever imagined."

    PARTNERSHIPS BETWEEN SCHOOLS AND BUSINESSES

    In the 21st century the U.S. work force will need fewer
strong backs and more strong minds. To prepare for that future,
local businesses are pairing up with local schools to provide
students with training and jobs. Since 1974 St. Louis County has
had a program, now expanded to Kansas City, that gives high
school seniors two hours of instruction each day at area work
sites. About half the participating students, who this year
number 100, get jobs after graduation; most of the rest go on
to college. California has had a similar program since 1983 that
involves some 35,000 students and former dropouts, most of whom
are linked to local hospitals and doctors' offices. The purpose:
to teach them health-industry vocational skills. After 1,300
students dropped out of area high schools last year, Orlando
launched a school-business compact. In return for a written
pledge to stay in school, troubled youths ages 14 to 18 are
paired with "mentors" from local firms who offer counseling as
well as a promise of a full-time job upon graduation or
financial aid for more education. More than 90 students have
enrolled so far this fall. Like most school-business
partnerships, the Orlando program is small, localized and labor
intensive. But the work-study approach, which Bush backs,
appears ripe for application on a broader scale.

    EXAMS FOR GRADUATION AND PROMOTION

    During the 1988 campaign, Bush endorsed the idea of
requiring all students to pass minimum competency tests before
they are promoted or permitted to graduate. Only a handful of
states have adopted this plan over the past few years, however,
and the jury is still out on whether it actually improves
performance.

    In Texas, where such tests have been mandatory since 1985,
average scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test have remained
flat and the dropout rate high. Critics maintain that real
learning has been stifled. "Teachers are teaching to the test,"
says John Moore, chairman of the education department at San
Antonio's Trinity University. Some South Carolinians, on the
other hand, feel that their three-hour high school exit exam in
reading, writing and math -- which for the first time will be
required for a diploma this academic year -- has already had a
salutary effect. "Students are taking it seriously and
studying," says Robert Paskel, a state education monitor. One
worry: that kids who do not pass will become discouraged and
eventually drop out. "Holding students back, especially in the
lower grades, doesn't help," says Bill Honig, state
superintendent of public instruction in California.