European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 11, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 the stars and stripes sunday May 11,19b6 by Christopher Connel associated press. A s Bill Honig Falls the Story. He was strolling through Golden Gate Park in san Francisco one Day a i the tag end of ihe1960s, surrounded by hippies Hare Krishna and exhibitionists when it struck him thai my generation was refusing to grow  Emolion Aily. We were still children in the Park Hong says. That s when i decided that the world could probably survive with one less lawyer but that one Mote teacher might make a  so Honig turned his Back on a corporate Law practice and owned the teacher corps. Struggling to. Help 9 and 10-year-Olds in an alternative elementary school team Reading and male. He soon underwent another conversion from progressive educator to traditionalist. Today he is California s superintendent of Public instruction and in the forefront of the school Reform movement in America. His words have Impact tar beyond California s Borders whether he is begging publishers to restore. Evolution to their science textbooks campaigning Tor a Core curriculum or sounding the Tocsin about teacher shortages. His Awn career Wilh the switch from open classroom zealot to Rock ribbed traditionalist Marks him As the everyman of a journey that Many . Educators have undertaken since the 1960s. In 19b2, Honig. Then a suburban school superintendent and member of the state Board of education came out of nowhere he stood at 3. Percent in the polls a Lew weeks before the first election to trounce the incumbent superintendent Wilson riles by 600,000 votes. Soma teachers wore Black armbands to class. Hong had angered them by saying that 5 to 10 percent of the teachers were incompetent and by depleting California s school system As a virtual caricature. In its Lack of. Purpose discipline and standards California s schools had been on a Scarsdale diet. Or years thanks to proposition 13, the 197b tax ii Muing initiative and a Law dating Back to Ronald Reagan s terms As governor that sped up the withdrawal of state Aid As enrolments sagged. We were in a serious free fall said Michael Kirst a Stanford University education professor and former presi Donl of the state Board of education. California had the shortest school Day and some of the largest classes in the nation. The Only slate requirements for High Choc graduation were two years of physical education. Honig engineered passage of a Reform act in 19b3 that lengthened California s school Day restored. Graduation requirements and boosted state Aid by $3,5 billion to $ 13.7 billion in three years. Starling teacher salaries Shol up from $13,500 to $20,265 in much of the stale. Today Honig is running for Raa Lection against Token opposition. He has Strong support from teachers unions. We left he was trashing Public education before he was elected says Marilyn Fussel Blytle president of the California teachers association but afterwards he changed. He realized that ii we were going to restore programs we were going to have to spend. More Money. He became a Champion for that  he also enjoys the backing of a Galaxy of top California business executives who came to his support in 1983 Whan he was engaged in a tug of War with gov. George Oeuk me Ian Over increasing the education budget however not everyone is convinced that Hong has California s schools on the right track Larry cuban a professor of education at Stanford has accused Hong of a feverish worshipping of numbers and said tie had the mind clan auditor wedded to the heart of a  cuban said Honig personifies a "top-down1 approach to school Reform that will ultimately stub its  All the state Reform legislation across the country is based on the Assumption that you can change what goes on in a classroom by Remote control from the state capital by passing Laws and penalties and incentives says cuban former superintendent of the Arlington county va., schools. It s a bureaucratic  Honig. Sitting in the Art filled victorian town House that he mortgaged to the Hilt to finance his run for slate superintendent 1962, dismisses such criticism. People Don t realize How close we came to losing. Our Public schools he says. We went Down so fare be got a Long Way to move Back  last fall Jie and the California Board of education stared Down major textbook publishers forcing them to expand Ihler treatment of evolution sex and Othor sensitive topics in elementary and Junior High science Lent books. Although such revisions were strongly opposed in traditionalist educator Bill Hong. Back to classroom basics California s superintendent of Public schools pushes for More school Reform s California controls 11 percent Olf the $1.3 a textbook Market and the publishers. Bowed to that stale s wishes. Manv Stales Are experiencing a min Boom m Elemen mry enrolments. California is on the cutting Edge it attend. Too schools Are filled to bursting a he booming san Bernardino county Central Valley and los Angeles areas. Los Angeles already teeming with 575,000students is switching to year round classes As 11 girds .tosmes,ud9en,Syby 1991,. Accommodate More Hilven by operating a 12months and Alternan ing pupils vacations. Statewide California officials say they need to build 26 140 new classrooms  Pace with enrolments climbing from 4.1 million to a projected 4.7 million. Hong a lures he needs 83,000 new teachers half As Many As the current teaching Force to nil. Classrooms new and old minority students who constituted 27 percent of the school population in 1970. Now account for 42 percent and they will be a majority by the turn of the Century. One in eight students 525,000 is limited in English proficiency. Hong makes frequent recruiting visits to the campuses of California s state universities. The. Response was so great at California state University at Hayward last August that harried University officials initially turned away 100 students who wanted to sign up for the yearlong teacher credential program. If we were fighting a War right now and we needed lighter pilots we would t say we re sorry we can t Lake any More Honig protested. University administrators hired More faculty to accommodate the overflow. At a recent Slop at California state University Fullerton. More than 300 students packed a recital Hall to hear his message. It s a very exciting time to be walking into education. It s like a growing business hat s opening now franchises he told them. You re trying to figure out what the whole spirit of the school is going to  Honig himself was in that same position.15 years ago in an impoverished Section of san Francisco called Hunter s Point where he and other Young turks were sent to open an alternative Public school called second Community. We had 120 kids Hail Blacks rom the neighbourhood and half bused in Whites mainly the children of freethinkers who shared our enthusiasm Lor open education he neg recalled in his 19b5book, last Chance for our children. It did t take Long Lor Honig to decide that the education fads of that Era open classrooms relaxed discipline English courses that substituted detective stories for Shakespeare were a calamity for kids both the poor ones he began working with from san Francisco housing projects and ally want children in a suburban District where he Laler became superintendent. In 1975. He became a member of the cat Lornia Board of education Courtesy of a former fellow Law clerk then gov. Edmund g. Jerry Brownjr. Honig believes every child deserves a crack at the  culture s not the opera he said culture is those things we hold to be important the Wisdom of the Ages things about who we Are and what is  tall bespectacled balding and gaunt Honig cuts a figure that invites comparisons with Ichabod Crane. California Magazine once said he came across on television like an Escapee from a brother Anthony Xerox  hit Campaign like appearances and penchant for pull ally have encouraged speculation that Honig has his Eye on higher office perhaps Deukmejian s Job or a Seal in the . Senate. Honig says he does t. You could t design a better Job Lor me. I love  says Honig 49. A former Democrat who now holds a nonpartisan position and eschews part labels. Honig insists that a traditional education grounded in English history math science the line arts and health and physical education is the Best preparation Lor Lile Money can buy for All students including he poor and minorities. Like . Secretary of education William j. Bennett Hong believes pubs schools have a responsibility to instruct Cal Lien in ethics and morals