European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 04, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday May 4. 1989 the stars and stripes Page 3 Achung  Milit Rische Obungen auf Eigene Geahr caution local recreation area military training at one s own risk West germans Send ouf warning on military training West i. A reviving their protest have Ham mered Home their thoughts about military use of areas in the Ober olm Forest in Mainz. The lat est Salvo of signs in the Battle Between the us. Army and West germans was fired sunday when area residents put up five signs in the Forest that say caution local recreation area. Military training at one s own  the roots of the Mes Sage in the Forest run Back to March 13, when the army following the direction of the West Ger Man assets office posted about 100 signs that said unauthorized entry is prohibited. Caution danger to  the germans read the signs and then raised their voices in protest fearing that the army wanted to shut off their Access to the Forest. The army responding to the cries removed the signs and rewrote the message. Warning Entrance at own risk. Liability will not be assumed the new signs say. The change failed to satisfy mayor Luerman alarm it Weyel when called on his forces to Post sunday s message. Sis Dan Dwion report gives failing Grade to . Education Washington a american education is stagnating by nearly every measure in a new compari son of school performance across the country. Educa Tion Secretary Lauro Cavazos said wednesday after releasing the discouraging report card. The sixth annual state education performance Chart shows a decline in the National High school graduation rate and falling scores on College Entrance exams in half the states. We must do belter. We must revitalize education in America by setting targets for improvement Cava 7os said in a statement accompanying the report. We have not made any Progress in the last three years Cavazos said in an interview on Abc s today program. It s hard to say Why. I still believe that we have not focused on the fundamental issues of trying to get everybody involved in the education of children. It s not a matter of dollars. Cavazos pledged. I m going to write to every Gover nor to Ever school Board president i m going to communicate with the leaders the superintendents and All the people out there and say we must Issue a Chal Lenge to improve the schools. Performance targets include boosting High school graduation Rales to 90 percent and cutting in half the number of children who fail a Grade. Today about 3,600 students will drop out of school. 1 think it s a disaster that we must turn around Cavazos said. The performance Chart known As the Wall Chart shows a general Lack of Progress despite the continuing Pate of Reform efforts and Ever rising education spending up to $3.977 per student on this year s Chart compared to $3,756 last year. National scores on the Scholastic aptitude test sat fell from 906 to Lauro Cavazos Psi 904 on a scale of 400 to 1 1.600 from 1987 Toi 1988. Fourteen of the 22 s nyx states in which the sat is the dominant College in trance exam registered declines. Scores on the Ameri can College testing pro Gram Acton a scale of t to 36. Showed a scant 0.1-Point gain. And 11 of the 28 slates using the act posted decreases. In trends since the first Wall Chart was issued in 1982, one Bright note is a continuous Rise from 5 percent to 11 percent in the number of students taking the advanced placement test which qualifies them for College credit. The department attributed the climb largely to doubled hispanic involvement and an 83 percent increase in participation by Blacks. The High school graduation rate Rose from 69.5 per cent in the first Chart to 71.7 percent in 1985. But it fell slightly in 1986 to 71.6 percent and then dropped to 71.1 percent in 1987, the latest year for which Statis tics could be calculated. Minnesota ranked first with a High school comple Tion rate of 90.6 percent while the District of Colum Bia was last at 55.5 percent. Wyoming showed the most improvement zooming from 25th in 1982 to second in 1987 Michigan did the worst falling from 28th to 48th. The department noted that Alabama. Mississippi South Carolina and the District of Columbia All with relatively High poverty rates have registered some of the largest increases in College Entrance test scores since 1982. The report said this shows that states with Large proportions of disadvantaged students can make great Progress. However while South Carolina showed the most improvement of any stale a 48-Point gain in sat scores since 1982 it still ranked dead last this year among the 22 Stales where he sat is the dominant lest with a score of 838. The District of Columbia was second from last despite healthy gains. Alabama tied for the top in act improvement up nine tenths of a Point since 1982. But it was ranked21st of the 28 Stales this year where most students take the act. Mississippi came up 28th. Or last with an average score of 16.2. Mississippi also ranked last this time among All the slates in per Pupil spending. The state spent $2,350 per student in 1988. Alaska was the highest at $8.010, followed by new York at $6,497. The Wall Chart also compares Stales on teacher Sala Ries Pupil teacher ratios and education Reform efforts. Alaskan teachers were paid the highest in 1988, $40,424, while South Dakota teachers were at the Bol torn with $19,758. The National average last year was $28,008, up from $19,274 in 1982. Class size ranged from a Low in Connecticut of Jum Over 13-1 in student teacher ratio to a High in Utah which had 24.7 students for each teacher. The National average was 17.6. On the Reform front the department found that 21 slates have minimum competency testing for graduation and a dozen others have tests for Grade promo Tion. Eight slates have authority to intervene in academically bankrupt districts. Forty four Stales now require or will soon require new teachers to take a certification exam and three require current teachers to take such a test. Britons wish Thatcher would step Down poll indicates London a ten years after the May 3. 1979, election that brought mar Garet Thatcher to Power most britons want her to step Down soon and think her right Wing revolution has gone too far according to new polls. But while britons questioned ahead of wednesday s anniversary say they Don t like her the likelihood is they will go on voting for her because they respect the woman who always has led what the economist weekly Calls a reluctant  the economist noted that throughout Thatcher s tenure Gallup polls have never registered More than 24 percent support for a Basic Thatcher doctrine tax cuts rather than increased state spending particularly on welfare. Soundings published sunday and tuesday arc part of a nationwide assessment of Thatcher ism prompted by the anniversary of the conservative Par by s Triumph Over former prime min ister James Callag ban s labor party government. Europe s first Thatcher woman prime min ister was elected by a nation weary of strikes and inflation and yearning for Strong government to reverse a National decline. She won two More elections and is Britain s longest continuously serving prime minister in this Century. In the polls she scores High for Quali lies such As determination and courage. Her Roost popular policies arc curbing Trade unions and allowing Public housing tenants to buy their Homes. The Leader who was determined to wipe out socialism in Britain appears in most polls to preside Over a nation that has not taken her message to heart. A Market and opinion research International poll published tuesday in London daily the Independent shows Only 30 percent support the notion thai private interests and a free Market Economy should  according to a Harris poll in Lon Don s Liberal observer newspaper 58 percent think 10 years of Thatcher is enough. And 66 percent of the respondents agree that mrs. Thatcher has gone too far in her  forty percent said they think she should go immediately and 18 percent want her to make Way for a successor at least a year before the next general elec Tion due mid-1992. But just 7 percent of. The 1,040 Volcks questioned by Harris actually expect Thatcher to resign in the a Cal few years. And 28 percent apparently can t imag Ine being without her. Asked when they think Thatcher 63, will retire the respondents replied  but in a notable Victory for a Leader who has spent a decade preaching self Reliance most britons no longer expect the government to put it right