European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 14, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 stars and stripes Friday March 14, 1986 same old words to same old tune by Ellen Goodman there Are moments when the latest act of welfare Story sounds As if it were written by a lyricist who cannot decide whether the poor Are depraved on account of they re deprived or deprived on account of they re depraved. Once again a cast of economists moralists politicians and social planners Are raising their voices to be heard on the subject of the welfare poor. But they sound less like a chorus than like an endless round Robin. Their big production number goes something like this a Lack of family leads to dependence on welfare. A Lack of jobs leads to a Lack of family. A Lack of education leads to a Lack of jobs. A Lack of self esteem leads to a Lack of education. A Lack of a family leads to a Lack of self esteem. And on to dependence on welfare. This musical number which has been rehearsed for years never reaches any conclusion. What happens is that sooner or later the voices Wear Down and Trail off in frustration. The government throws up its hands the experts get sore throats and everybody Heads Back for the wings. But before we lose the attention of the audience which is notoriously Short on the subject of welfare someone ought to Point out that we Are not really paralysed in hopelessness. There Are some things on which there is Public agreement and Public agreement is the stage for policymaking. There is As Mary to Bane an academic and policymaker currently managing $15 billion Worth of poverty programs for new York state says in the simplest terms widespread agreement that work is Good and child sup port is  not that Long ago Bane remembers there was a controversy about whether the welfare mothers of Young Chil Dren should work outside the Home. That controversy is virtually resolved. The result is the widening Range of experiments in Job programs for women As Well As men. Some of them Are better than others some of them will pan out and some won t. But there is support for greater action. We can also agree that it is crucial to get fathers to take More responsibility for their children even when they Don t live with them. That provides solid staging for Chan Ging Public policy All the Way from welfare guidelines to enlarged child support enforcement programs even to Job programs for unemployed fathers so they can pay. There is also some agreement although with much less unanimity about the importance of talking about sex with teen agers and making birth control More available. The current stereotype May portray a teen age Mother who chose to get pregnant but there is a great difference Between Active Choice and passive Drift. These pragmatic lyrics Are usually quieter than the More ideological ones. We forget for example in the current focus on the underclass that most people do get off the Dole. Only about one out of 10 poor people belong to the welfare  among those who sign up for welfare today Only one fourth will be getting checks for 10 of the next 25 years. More than half will be off i within four years. But it is important to know that there Are places we can interrupt the welfare round Robin. We have options not perfect but we can agree on ways to make things better. Without that sense it s easy to be attracted to those who suggest that the Only Way to make things better is by making them worse by cutting payments. David Ellwood at Harvard s Kennedy school of government thinks we would do Well to remember that in the past decade the actual combined value of food Stamps and Aid to families with dependent children has gone Down about 20 to 25 percent. But the welfare Rolls have held constant. President Reagan May say again and again that in the War against poverty poverty won. But in the recent War against poverty programs poverty has also won. We be tried making things worse for the poor. It has t worked. There Are deep flaws in the morass of welfare pro Grams and it s hard to overestimate the problem of break ing out of that hardest Core the underclass. But we won t find the cure in a one note Anthem blame the program. There Are some tunes around which a majority of us Are willing to sing. And they Aren t All the blues. C Boston Globe Washington Post things looking up on school front by James Kilpatrick Over the past 20 or 30 years Many of the nation s Public school systems have received Sharp criticism from parents special commissions and the press. Many of them have richly deserved it. The time has arrived to say a few words of Praise. Things Are looking up on the school front. Secretary of education William Bennett released some encouraging figures two weeks ago. Over the past three years senior High school students in 35 states have improved their scores on Standard tests of Scholastic aptitude and performance. Thirty nine states have improved their records on dropouts. Much of the credit for this remarkable turnaround probably is owed to the National commission on Excel Lence in education. Washington is famed for the unread reports of study commissions. Most such reports Are Pon Derous affairs tediously written filled with indigestible statistics. The National commission s report of april 1983 was different. It was Short superbly written and stunning in its Impact our nation is at risk the report said. The educational foundations of our society Are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future As a nation and a  the commission spelled out the dimensions of this risk. American students perform miserably in International competitions. About 13 percent of All 17-year-Olds in the United states Are functionally illiterate. Average test scores of Scholastic achievement in 1982 were lower than scores in 1956. The number of exceptionally High scores was falling. The declines were especially disturbing in the areas of science. Having defined the problem the commission made 32 recommendations toward solving it. Local school boards were urged to consider a longer school Day and a longer school year. We should get Back to basics and eliminate snap courses on the educational smorgasbord. Students should be assigned More Homework. Beginning teachers should be required to meet High educational standards. Teacher salaries should be increased in order to attract talented people but salaries should be geared to an effective evaluation  the commission s report had a galvanic effect. Gover nors and legislators went to work. Some of the Good re sults Are now evident. Bennett reported that 31 states now have requirements that new teachers take certification examinations. Thirty one states have developed or Are initiating performance based pay and other benefits for  Between 1981 and 1985, the average teacher salary increased from $17,360 to $23,582. Per Pupil expenditures have risen everywhere. In All but five states Colorado Hawaii Minnesota new York and Tennessee the Pupil teacher ratio has declined. The figures Are encouraging but on close examination they provide Little cause for jubilation. During the 1984 85 school year 11 states reported average teacher salaries of less than $20,000. Nine states were spending less than $2,500 per Pupil. In Louisiana 43.3 percent of ninth graders never make it to High school graduation. The dropout rate is 37.9 percent in Alabama 37.8 percent in new York and Florida. C Universal press mk.puvali5k, think. 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