European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 12, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns the stars and stripes James j. Kilpatr1ck Bennett rates a for bid to upgrade education first inc Good news Public Educa Tion in America could be worse. In Foci it has been worse. Over he past five years our schools have made modest improvement in a do in areas the bad news is thai Overall inc picture is still pretty sad. Education Secretary William Bennett voiced those observations a few Days ago in a report on the stale or Public Educa Tion in America. His report comi s As a follow up 10 the 198 findings of the president s com Mission on excellence in education. The commission found very Little excellence at that Lime. Our schools were struggling in a rising ride of mediocrity that threatens our very  since then said Kenneit there has been some undeniable  the slide has been arrested. His study found hundreds even thousands of Fine schools outstanding teachers courageous principals committed governor Sand legislators and eager and accomplished students of every color class and  thanks to the impetus of the 1983 re port Ai least 35 sidles have strengthened i hair academic requirements for High school graduation. Some Stales have begun o recruit excellent teachers from beyond the teachers colleges. Among the highest achieving students math scores ure rising and English composition skills have notably improved. Students especially Black students Are doing belter in science. Efforts to reduce drug use Mayhe having some  the slates and localities have greatly increased outlays for teacher salaries and physical equip ment. When that has been said Ihu Best has been said. The  commission urged five years ago Thill the school Day be lengthened by an hour and that the school year be Cal ended beyond Iso Days. Virtually nothing has happened in these areas. There has been a significant increase in the amount of Homework assigned but 00 percent of Junior High school students report Homework of less than an hour a Day. Sixty four percent of eighth graders watch television three or More hours a Day the commission ush d in 1983 for greater emphasis upon a Core curriculum of English history math and Sci Carl Rowan Cnoc Wilh a  require ment for students who were College hound. Some school systems Hove moved in these directions but there has been no nationwide Reform. Forty percent of High school graduates entering the armed services arc Reading Only a the ninth Grade level. Eleventh graders As a group arc appallingly Igno rant of american literature. Their aver age score on 26 questions of historical chronology was a miserable is percent. More than two thirds of them could not place the civil War we live in a time of explosive changes and discoveries in science and technology. How Are our students doing a recent assessment found our 10-year-Olds about average in International Competition eighth place among 15 countries tested k hut our 14-year-Olds placed 14lh out of 17 countries in a tie with Singapore and Thailand. American High school seniors tvs e tested in Competition among 13 countries. They placed ninth in physics 1 Ith in chemistry and dead last in biology. The Good news in sum is largely but not wholly offset by bad news. Efforts at significant nationwide Reform still Strug Gle against legislative timidity and bureaucratic inertia. Above All said Ben Nett sound reforms arc threatened by the determined opposition they  thai opposition has taken various forms Over the years. Early on it appeared As a form of denial a claim that things were not so bad As they seemed in our schools. A Little later the apposition la Reform took a different Lack admitting that things might be bad but insisting thai they could not be fixed in the schools that first society or the system must be altered. Today we lend to hear what might be called opposition by extortion the false claim thai 10 fix our schools will fint require a Fortune in new  Bennett blames the narrow self interested exercise of political Power in stoic Legislatures and local school boards for the situation. He is especially critical of teacher Union pres sure that has led to obstruction and backsliding. For these accurate observations he has been roundly denounced by the National education association if the shoe fits Ine Secretary might Tay put in on. The Federal Rule in education is prop Erly limited. About All a Secretary of Edu cation ran do is to report prod scold Praise and encourage. Bennett docs his Job exceedingly Well. Many being victimized by ideological struggle so Bod Iii e says to president Reagan thanks for the Nice things you said about me. Even though i m not  comedians everywhere arc joking about How Secre tary of state George Shutlz and soviet foreign min ister Eduard a Shevardnadze arc going steady and Toiv Reagan and soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev have set up a Summit of the month  but in is no joking matter especially to the peo ple of the Many countries that have been and arc being victimized by the ideological struggle and the arms race Between he United Stales and the soviet Union. Events Over More than four decades have made it Clear that it is hell trying to be the master of your own do shiny if you live in Hungary Czechoslovakia. Poland Afghanistan or anyplace else under soviet Hege Mony. We americans have deplored the Kremlin s use of troops assassinations sabotage and economic strangulation to put Down uprising for Freedom in Eastern Europe Afghanistan and elsewhere. We recoil at a Brezhnev doctrine in which the Laic soviet Leader declared thai no country in the soviet orbit could do anything thai made it 3 threat to the soviet Union or communism. We demand stridently that the soviets pull their troops out of Afghanistan. But patriotism prevents millions of americans from acknowledging let alone talking and writing about How much we have let ideological and strategic fears make us act like the russians. From the Monroe doctrine to the Reagan doctrine we have made in Pride wounding to be one of America s poor weak neighbors. Beneath Noble claims of securing democracy or preventing another communist beachhead in this hemisphere the United states had done some ignoble things to the people of Chile Nicaragua Panama the dominican Republic and yes even Mexico. We have talked self  while telling our neighbors thai Washington will decide whether their government leaders Are acceptable this Doest bother those who throw out the cliche that a great Power should acl like a great Power suggesting that in is of if the soviet Union and the United Stales each draws a list of neighbor ing countries and declares these Are mine do not touch aside from the fact Hal neighbors Don t Lake happily the idea of being Mere satellites these assertions of Hegemony Over certain areas have never been honoured. Despite president Icacan s sudden embrace of he notion thai the Kremlin Leaden no longer Are set on ruling the whole world the soviet Union clearly in engaged in political and proxy military warfare in Cuba Nicaragua the Caribbean and other parts of Uncle Sam Back Yard the United Stales has contributed to ideological and military warfare in Afghanistan Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe. Both Powers Conlin be to joust in the Middle East Angola and other parts of Africa. It is the people of the weak nations who suffer who wind up killing each other. Imagine How much belter off Afghanistan would be if the Soviel had sent in food teachers books instead of groups How much better for Honduras if fhe United states had Send in chickens and Rice instead of 3,000 troops on a training Mission so let Shutlz and Shevardnadze do their rain. Get and Reagan and Gorbachev climb Summit to Summit. Only when they replace Mutual fear Wilh a measure of Trust will the two great Power end the madness that has produced so much anguish for their neighbors