TIME: Almanac 1990/1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso/time/100989/10098900.016

Text File | 1990-09-18 | 5KB | 100 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.