The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

' THE OSHAWA TIMES, Thursdey, August 25, 1966 9A Importance Of Education Paramount By HAROLD HOWE I U.S. Comm. of Education Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare "What service can we ever render our country equa) to promoting education?" Thomas Jefferson asked almost 200 years ago. Today, as youngsters all across this great country head back into the classrooms, I echo the question. Imparting necessary basic knowledge to youngsters will always be one of our most im- portant -- and one of our most difficult -- tasks. It is even more important, and more dif- ficult, for us to learn to help our disadvantaged children overcome the social. handicaps they bring to school with them. The story of poverty is becom- ing 'mcreasingly familiar to us, but not so familiar.is the rela- tionship between poverty and receptivity to education. But the simple, harsh fact of the matter is that poor children, in addition to their economic handicap, have far less chance. of a successful academic career than the children of middle- class Americans. They arrive at school hampered by a de- prived home life and, despite a facility to learn equa] to their materially better off contem- poraries, all too often find | themselves falling further ind | further behind through the ele- mentary grades. Some of our children arrive at schoo] unable -to pronounce their own names and without ever having seen a book. Some do not know the name of such common objects as chairs, tables, and pencils. Some come with empty stomachs and with serious medica] and dental problems. Despair is their nat- timony; functional illiteracy may be their future. These are some of the per- sonal dimensions of poverty as they affect one out of every ten children entering school this year. Typically, these children will be a year behind by third grade, three years behind by eighth grade -- if they reach eighth grade. Many have drop- ped out before that. ° Despite. compulsory atten- dance laws, more than 100,000 youngsters dropped out of ele- mentary schoo] last year; more than a million left our schools without a high schoo! diploma. NOT TO BLAME For a long time educators thought dropouts lacked self- discipline or intellectual ability. Today we know better. Many of them are "push-outs", baffled by an educational system de- signed for middle-class young- sters from stable families. 'yoday we know that schooi performance and dropout rates are less related to a child's in- nate ability than to the interest and even the salary of ™ teachers, the per pupil expen- ditures of his district, and the number of books in his school library. Poverty - area schools, with the biggest educational gap to jump, lag farthest behind in these resources, and their stu- - dents suffer accordingly. Their teachers are paid less. The bet- ter teachers, those who have a choice, usually transfer to schools in more attractive neighborhoods. More than two- thirds of our elementary schools have no libraries -- provide no books at all for children from homes where comic books may be the only reading material. Some disadvantaged young- sters drop out to get jobs. Some leave because they have little academic ability. But a great many -- probably most who fail to finish school -- leave the classroom because they find little there that seems real, vital, and necessary. in their _lives. The 'school confronts them as a citadel that they must conquer with inadequate TUTE TereeernperreereirirituLii weapons and no particular en- PRINCIPAL ANDERSON INSPECTS BUILDING ~ |. Major Construction, Anderson High Discipline often in' their couragement. displaces creativity classrooms. Dollars alone' won't solve these problems, nor will our in- creasing educational technology and. research though they help. What we really need is compassion,- ¢ om prehension, and concern as we work with these youngsters. They can't means broadening our whole ---- it eres ge that educational "horizon. This isn't must change if it is to accom- ; modate the needs of these stu- easy. But we are trying and we have made a good beginning, ee ee ee ee No More Wishing and Dreaming ... ! " OSHAWA WOOD PRODUCTS Can Help You Give Your Children The Home Study | - Benefit of A... PLAYRO and of their own ! Taba Advantane Wood Products Values on Materials to Finish the "Rec" Room or Study @ x 7' 4.20 HEAD OFFICE AND SHOWROOM COURTICE-- PHONE 728-1611 of Achaw- OSHAWA W STUDY Here's What Leading Educationists Suggest. Educatisnists suggest thot a study and play- room of their own benefits in the develop- ment of children. With no distractions -- concentration on studies or hobbies is poss- ible. The power to think and reason and the personality ore more fully developed. 4 MM, ¥-GROOVED LAUAN _. MAHOGANY Rotory Pre-Fininshed 3% Prov. Tox Extra 4' x8' 4.80 ) dents. Changing our schools ABITIBI LAURENTIAN. © HARDBOARD | 3% Prov. Tox Pag "x7 x 8' 5.04 5.76 OD PRODU TS LIMITED OSHAWA SHOPPING CENTRE PHONE 728-1617 GER RR Ree eee eee ee mye "ALLONT -- THE NAME TO BUM® ON" o