European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 12, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday. January 12, 1987 the stars and stripes Page 7 . Students Trail in math report says n new Yor k a american mathematics students badly Trail those in Japan and Hong Kong largely because of a challenging and  Lessly repetitious school curricula a study of schools in 20 nations and territories concludes. In school mathematics the United states is an underachieving nation and our curriculum is helping to create a nation of underachiever the study the underachieving curriculum As Sessing . School mathematics Froman International perspective released sunday says. The study follows by a week another one released by Secretary of education William j. Bennett praising japanese schools. Bennett suggested thai America Bor Row some ideas from Japan especially the View that Progress can be made by practically anyone who tries hard  the latest study places blame for the nation s male woes squarely on he curriculum in  schools which it con tends lacks focus Challenge and vitality and needlessly repeats concepts year after year without building on  but it disputes Oft repeated claims that american students arc outperformed by other nations students be cause of tack of sufficient time for instruction Large average class size or poorly trained teachers. In Japan the average eighth Grade class has 40 pupils and in 12th Grade the average is 43. Both exceed . Averages of 26 in eighth Grade and 10 in 12th Grade. The average amount of Lime devoted to math in . Schools was 144 hours per year compared to 101 hours for japanese schools the study says. The report also questions he com Mon practice of grouping students according to their mathematics ability Early in their careers. The . Curriculum from an inter National Point of View lacks Challenge and focus. The curriculum typically keeps revisiting concepts bul the Trou ble is with each revisit we re not add ing anything new said Kenneth j. Travers a University of Illinois mathematics education professor who was one of seven co authors of the report. The study draws heavily from the widely publicized second International mathematics study released in 1984 showing . Eighth graders and 12lh-graders ranking no better than a. Erac and often wone in a variety of mathematical subjects compared with 9 other nations and territories. That study of 12,000 pupils found for example that japanese eighth graders had the Best achievement scores in All five topics covered Arith Metic algebra geometry statistics an measurements. The Best showing by . Eighth graders was in arithmetic where the ranked i oth among the 18 countries studied. But they ranked 12th in Alge Bra and 16th in  countries and territories studied were the United states. Belgium both flemish speaking and French speaking British Columbia England Wales Fin land France Hong Kong Hungary Israel Japan Luxembourg the Netherlands new zealand Nigeria Ontario Scotland Swaziland Sweden and Thailand. 4 iranian stowaways pulled from new York Harbor new York not four iranians stowaways on a freighter bound for Newark n.j., from Istanbul Turkey were pulled from new York Harbor Early saturday morning after jumping from the ship police said. A fifth iranian remained aboard and was taken into custody by the Federal immigration and naturalization service when the freighter docked at the port of Newark Amli Grilies said. Chief Petty officer Joe Gibson of the coast guard which pulled the men from the Choppy 39-Degrec water said ins officials told him the stowaways were iranian  deserters. Gibson said he believed the incident is being handled As an Asylum Case with the 39-Dcgrec water and 36-Degrcc air you d be expected to slay conscious for 30 minutes and live for 90 minutes he said. The arc i no Way they would have been Able to swim to Shore and  the four were rescued 16 minutes after they jumped he said. That s Prity amazing he added. One of them was so cold he could t gel hold of a life ring Gibson said and Seaman Debbie Perales jumped into the water and assisted him. Charles Troy a spokesman for the Eastern Region ins office based in Burlington vt., said it is the service s policy not to discuss Asylum cases for fear Apphia one of four iranians leaves a coast guard Rescue boat. That relatives of foreign nationals maybe harmed. Troy declined to describe the background of the iranians or their reasons for stowing away on the ship. He said Only one of the iranians spoke English and interpreters were required before i depth interviews could be conducted Troy said four of the men were being held at the ins detention Center in new York. The other stowaway is also in custody Troy added but he said he did not know where. The service s new York administrative offices were closed saturday and officials there could not be reached for comment. Sgt. Raymond o Donnell a new York police department spokesman said the five men ranged in age from 23 to 27. He identified them As Framan Abbasi Mohsen Moubar Erz Deh Kord Ali moslem and Yusuf Tapai the four who jumped front the ship and Reza Ahadi the stowaway who remained on Board. The coast guard said it pulled the four men from the Harbor at 5 15 a.m., after they received a Call from the freighter the Estoril which is of panamanian Regis try. Gibson said the Pilot of the freighter had seen the four men jump and immediately notified the coast guard. A coast guard helicopter and three vessels were dispatched to search for the men Gibson said. They were spotted by the helicopter with searchlights. Planetarium elephant kills handler at Texas zoo dedicated to astronaut Jackson miss. A a planetarium theater Here was dedicated saturday in Honor of challenger astronaut Ronald Mcnair who during his first space shuttle Mission helped him a planetarium documentary. Mcnair s widow Cheryl thanked a crowd of More than 1,000 Jackson rest dents who turned out for the ceremony in which officials unveiled a portrait of my Nair one of seven astronauts killed in the Jan. 28,1986, space shuttle explosion. Officials lauded the physicist for his role in the award winning space documentary the space shuttle an american adventure shot during a 1984 Mission. The director of the planetarium. Rich Ard Knapp who developed the space film idea said More than 350,000 people have seen the documentary in 12 planetarium nationwide. A film chronicling Mcnair s life was shown at the dedication. It s a wonderful Surprise said mrs Mcnair a resident of Houston. She at tended the dedication with her parents and two children. Ron would be very very honoured and i am very very  fort Worth Texas a an animal handler at the fort Worth zoo was crushed to death saturday when a 4-ton elephant knocked him to the ground and stepped on his head officials said. Michael a. Bell 35, of fort Worth who had handled elephants during most of the 14 years he had worked at the zoo was pronounced dead at the scene said Ken Seleske the zoo s assistant supervisor of education. Seleske said it was the first fatal Accident in the zoo s 78-year history. Bell was stepped on about 1 . By Sam an elephant in his Early 20s who arrived at the zoo s new Breeding facility last april from the International wildlife Park in nearby grand Prairie. The elephant knocked Belt to the ground with his trunk As Bell and an other elephant keeper John legged were moving the zoo s seven elephants indoors said or. William h. Kirksey veterinarian for the fort Worth zoo. The massive asian male elephant apparently stepped on Bell s head As hews crawling to safety Leggett who was in a nearby paddock rushed to Bell s Aid dragging him 42 feet out of the animal s reach said fort Worth police patrolman Bill Chudej. Bell was instrumental in establishing anew multimillion Dollar elephant exhibit that opened last fall and contains one of three Active elephant Breeding programs in . Zoos Sam was probably pushing the females around a Little bit in h male female relationship. He was just trying to assert his dominance Kirksey said Sam was put in isolation for Obser vation and will not be on Public View for an undetermined amount of time he said. We re morally convinced he was acting Normal for an elephant Kirk sey said. Once something it Down at his feet its almost a reflex to either Kneel or push the object away where he could see  search ends for men capsized off mass. Boston a rescuers stopped a round the clock search of the icy Waters off Martha s Vineyard on sat urday for four men whose fishing boat capsized three Days before a coast guard spokesman said. One of the five Crew members of the 73-foot trawler Andrew & Allison was rescued thursday one Day after Ibe vessel Sank. The coast guard used five boats three air planes and a helicopter in the search which was called off at dark Hoesten said. We won t go out and look anymore unless something turns up he said. The boat was last seen 15 Miles South of Rhode Island s Block Island. The trawler s Home port was Point Judith . The tone survivor Alan Lauzon 29, of Narragansett was found floating in a life raft. He was treated at Cape cod Hospital for hypothermia Hoesten said. The coast guard identified the missing men As Brian Jones 29, of Narragansett Andrew Forayth of Narragansett Roland Bowen 30, of South Kingstown and John Troy Ivcic 28, of Groton Conn. Louzon said the boat capsized with out warning. Everyone made a mad dash for the survival suits he recalled shortly be fore being released from fal Mouth Hospital on Friday. "1 looked at the water coming in the wheelhouse and i said i Ain t going Roget off this boat if i try to put on thai survival suit he said. Instead he dived into the water and swam toward a life raft that As de signed had popped away from the Hull when the boat capsized