European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 22, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday april 22, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 7 census Bureau study finds rate higher than believed 13 percent of american adults illiterate in English by Leslie Maitland Werner Washington not a study by the census Bureau has found that 13 percent of the adults living in the United states Are illiterate in English. According to the study s supervisor the illiteracy rate for adult americans whose native language is English is 9 percent. For adults whose native language is not English the illiteracy rate is 48 percent. However Many of the latter Are literate in their native language. The literacy test Given by the census Bureau to 3,400 adults in 1982, was the first of its kind conducted by the government according to Robert e. Barnes acting director of the education department s planning and technical analysis division who supervised the project. Of the native English speakers who failed the test 70 percent had not finished High school and 42 percent had earned no Money in the year before they were tested. Barnes said the test results provide a much More accurate portrayal of the nation s illiteracy problem than did the census Bureau s previous estimate in 1979, that Only 0.5 percent of americans Over 14 were illiterate. A number of other studies however have painted an even Grimmer picture than that presented by the Survey. The most widely accepted study published by the univer sity of Texas in 1975, examined adult performance Levels in terms of functional competency including skills in communication computation problem solving and inter personal relations. That study found that almost 20 percent of american adults were unable to perform everyday adult tasks and 34 percent could perform the tasks but not proficiently. In judging adult performance that test evaluated such skills As the ability to read a help wanted and in a newspaper or write a grocery list. The new test was of the multiple Choice variety. The Reading portion called for choosing the Best of four Possi ble meanings for a specific word or phrase in a sentence. Twenty Correct answers on the 26-question test was considered an indication of literacy. Jeanne s. Chall an education professor and director of the Reading Laboratory at Harvard University challenged the Validity of choosing 20 Correct answers As an arbitrary Standard of literacy. You have to be careful saying that if you get 20 right you Are or Are not literate Chall said. Twenty Correct should be equitable with a specific Reading level or explainable in terms of real things they May  the test was originally designed in the late 1970s by the department of health education and welfare to deter mine whether adults were equipped to Deal with official notices and applications for assistance. The education department decided to administer the test in 1982. At that time at the direction of Congress it was about to have the census Bureau conduct a Survey aimed at determining How Many children required Bilin Gual education. The literacy questions were put to adults at the same time the children were tested. Barnes said 3,400 adults took the literacy tests while 4,000 school age children with non English speaking backgrounds and 4,800 children in native English speak skate break a photo Winter s Long gone Spring is Here and it s time for industrious 7-year-Olds everywhere to break out the old skateboard and Start covering ground. In Effingham 111., if Ethan Willenborg can get his cat Darrell to finish washing himself and dismount hell be ready to hit the sidewalks. Iguana killer belongs in jail judge says Woodbury . A a Man accused of try ing to Force his estranged Girlfriend to eat her pet iguana must go to jail says a state Superior court judge who rejected a plea bargain that called for probation. Harry Kostic 32, must serve a jail term for beating Beverly Swain with the 18-Inch iguana and then trying to shove pieces of the dead Lizard Down her Throat judge Elliot g. Heard or. Ruled. Heard in a ruling last week reset Kostic s sentencing Date for Friday. Under a plea bargain with the Gloucester county prosecutor s office Kostic pleaded guilty last month to charges of aggravated assault and animal cruelty. The prosecutor s office recommended that charges of making terrorist threats and criminal restraint be dropped and that Kostic be sentenced to probation. Heard s ruling Means the guilty plea will be thrown out so attorneys can attempt to reach a new plea bar gain. Kostic is accused of attacking Swain 25, on nov. 25, As she attempted to retrieve her belongings including the iguana from his Home. Guards protecting film Crews overseas los Angeles a fear of terrorism abroad has struck Hollywood with . Guards protecting a film Crew in Greece movie executives warning their staffs to be on guard in foreign trouble spots and television companies cancelling plans to work in Europe. The cast and Crew of hard bodies ii were surprised when american guards came on their set in Greece. There have been no signs of trouble for us Dimitri Logothetis one of the film s producers said in los Angeles. But the Day after the bombing the . Attack on Libya the american embassy sent Over a couple of  ing Homes took the bilingual education test. The Sample tested was selected following procedures developed by the statistical methods division of the census Bureau Barnes said. It Drew on information from the 1980 census and supplementary listings of new households. Barnes said the census Bureau gave the department the raw test data in Early 1984 and that the department did its first tabulations last november. And while Secretary of education William j. Bennett has mentioned the study s total illiteracy figure in recent testimony in House hear Ings the department has not yet disseminated the findings of its Survey. The test results provide a new and detailed picture of the population of illiterates. About 37 percent of them speak a language other than English at Home among that group 82 percent Are immigrants and 21 percent entered the United states in the last six years. Education is still the prime indicator of literacy rates Barnes said adding that 60 percent of All native English speakers who had completed High school answered All 26 questions on the test correctly. About 0.8 percent of those with some College education failed the test 6 percent of those who finished High school failed 18.6 percent of those with some High school failed 34.3 percent of those with six to eight years of schooling failed and 53.3 percent of those with five or fewer years of schooling failed. The test identified various factors As potential risks contributing to the likelihood of illiteracy. These risks included education immigration status use of a non English language race age and poverty. Kissinger says Reagan s style puzzles him Washington a Henry Kissinger says a strange phenomenon occurs when you meet and listen to Ronald Reagan. You ask yourself How did it Ever occur to anybody that he should be governor much less president " Kissin Ger said at a Library of Congress symposium last week. On the other hand you have to say also that a Man who dominated California for eight years and now Domi nates the american political process for 5 /2 years As he has cannot be a trivial figure the former Secretary of state said. Kind of instinct he has a kind of instinct that i cannot explain kiss Inger said adding that it is perfectly possible history will judge Reagan As a most significant  it is also possible that he will be seen As somebody who spent a lot of capital maintaining popularity for eight years said Kissinger who served during the Nixon and Ford administrations. Academics make a mistake to underrate a Man. Who has moved with such Assurance amidst so Many  Kissinger expressed Surprise after the symposium on learning that a reporter was present. Did i kill myself in there he asked. Kissinger who headed a bipartisan commission that reviewed Central America policy for Reagan told his audience that both sides Are spouting nonsense in the current debate Over Aid to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua. Kissinger said that either the administration s analysis of the situation in Nicaragua is wrong or the solution is wrong. It cannot be that it is such a vital interest and it can be solved with $100  total nonsense the argument of democratic opponents that you ought to use diplomacy and not Power is also total nonsense. What does it mean diplomacy and not Power if they said it s not a vital interest or in using Force you do so much other damage to other interests that Are even More important then we could join a sensible debate. As it is now both sides Are stating platitudes he said. Kissinger expressed frustration at the failure of scholars to offer new insights on arms control and apartheid. On arms he said at this moment we would have in fact a Good Opportunity to negotiate if we had an idea what we want to negotiate  the arms controllers seem to me to be stuck in the categories of the late 50s, and the opponents Are stuck in the category of the Early 70s, and they paralyse  at a time when pressures on the soviet Union Are great he said we Are stuck. Without a Long term intellectual