European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 28, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns Ellen Goodman the stars and stripes judge in Frozen embryo Case has gone too far and now from a Small county courthouse in Marysville tcnn., comes a new reproductive rallying cry liberate the Frozen seven judge w. Dale Young issued this ruling in one of the most bizarre custody cases since divorced couples first began wrangling in court Over the leftovers of their marriage. This Lime the leftovers weren t a sofa and a car. They were seven fertilized and Frozen eggs in Stor age at the local in Vitro fertilization. The woman. Mary sue Davis wanted custody of the eggs so she could become a Mother. The Man Junior Davis wanted custody of the eggs so he would not be come a father. She sued for a night no other divorced woman has had the Power to control her cd Lisband s reproductive future. He sued for a right no other Man has had the Power to determine what happens after fertilization. If the judge had ruled narrowly for either of these contestants his decision would have been defensible. But what he did in a 57-Page Brief that gave custody to Mary sue was to Rule in the Best interest of the pc embryos. He did t Call the Frozen seven in this Story by their real names  the benign looking humane sounding magistrate referred to them As children or Little children or at least once on television Little peo  in his decision Young put it this Way or. And mrs. Davis have produced human beings. It serves the Best interests of the child or children in Vitro for their Mother mrs. Davis to be permitted the Opportunity to bring them to term through  human beings. Children. Little people. Judg Young makes human biology into a scene from Honey i shrunk the  but whatever his whimsical notions the 2-Day-old eggs in question arc not some sort of munchkins. Nor Are they Little children although they arc indeed Small about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. A pc embryo a group of  cells de serves respect because it can become a child not because it is one. The notion that this potential life has a Par amount right Heads us into some very murky Waters. Mary sue May feel vindicated today in her desire to have a child. But under the reasoning in the Case this single woman has just signed on to become the Mother of seven. Indeed if Mary sue gets pregnant and decides to Stop at one the judge has hinted that the rest of the Little people might go elsewhere. It is possible he wrote that the court might have to have them implanted in someone  do we Sec a show of hands no volunteers if the right to life of David Broder  the embryo is Paramount could t a judge Force a Mere adult to have it placed in her womb there is another consideration Here. Mary sue May not be the Best vehicle for turning Little people into big people. She already has had six failed if at tempts. If under judge Young s reasoning they Are human beings Why leave it Here Why entrust them to her rather than someone with a better track record once you put the embryos Best interests first there Are All sorts of logically absurd possibilities. What arc we to do for example with women who have fertilized eggs Little children and failed naturally to bring them into the world there arc some 336 million eggs fertilized every year in the world. About 107 million of them arc washed away. Don t the Unfrozen 107 Mil lion embryos also have a right to be born the implications of such a ruling for abortion and if arc deadly obvious. So arc the implications for birth control methods that Don t prevent fertilization but rather prevent implantation. Perhaps embryos like children and now occasionally fetuses will be entitled to their own lawyers. And while we arc on the subject surely every sperm and egg have a right to be joined As Well. Not since his Tennessee predecessor ruled against evolution in the Scopes rial has there been a verdict of such scientific fantasy. What is missing in the judge s focus on the microscopic aspect of life Isth larger picture. Honey i think he shrunk the Law. Washington poll writers group education summit1 faces a difficult Challenge the education Summit of president Bush and the nation s Gover nors signals an important National commitment to the task of overhauling America s schools. But no one should underestimate the difficulty of the Chal Lenge. It is one thing to set performance goals for the schools it s infinitely harder to come up with the strategy for achieving them. Seven weeks before Bush s Summit a group of education and business leaders met under the auspices of the Institute on education an the Economy of teachers College co Lumbia University. I was unable to listening on the discussions but this past week i received the papers that were prepare for the seminar. One in particular by Lorraine. Mcdonnell a senior political scientist with the Rand corp., is a Strong re minder of the difficulty of carrying out the Summit commitment. In its 67 pages Mcdonnell looks at wealth of evidence bearing on the ques Tion whether the kind of restructuring now under discussion really holds the potential for significantly improving american schools or is. Just another educational fad signifying Good intentions but with Little Hope of fulfil ment these proposals Are not new she says adding that the Slippy Riecss of the restructuring concept can be used to give the illusion of Reform where Little May  at the two Day Summit that was trend thursday in Charlottesville va., and in other forums politicians arc advocating different and conflicting approaches. They will not add up to a National program for education she warns unless policymakers find a Way to recon Cile them with each other and with the constraints the political system an budgets impose. One approach for example emphasizes decentralization of decision making to the individual school. It reflects the new thinking in american Industry appeals to anti bureaucratic sentiments and offers the Promise of attracting better people into teaching by empowering them to make More of the decisions that count. Its effect on Stu Dent performance however remains unproven and its up front training Cost would almost inevitably be High. A second approach endorsed by Bush Calls for parents to be Given greater Choice of schools their children attend on the theory that the simulated Market forces will Reward Good schools with in creased patronage while punishing schools which arc failing in their mis Sion. But state experiments in this Field arc just beginning and the effects on Stu dents arc largely unproven. Both decentralization and Choice Stra Tebics imply acceptance of Sharp Quality distinctions among schools which raise important questions of equity. A third approach pushed by various intellectual disciplines Calls for stiffening curriculum requirements in All schools to give students higher order thinking skills that the new Economy requires. It seem sensible on the surface but Mcdonnell reminds that previous efforts led by the National science foundation and others did Little to change what happens i classrooms or to improve students skills. A fourth approach Calls for tight ening the links Between schools and other institutions either to bring new resources into education As with Compa Nies adopt a school programs or tomake schools the centers for delivery of a wide variety of social services counsel ing health clinics Job placement Etc. Mcdonnell suggests quite sensibly that of All the approaches this one has the greatest practical difficulties and the least Assurance of paying off. But Why people ask can we not just insist on greater performance accountability from the schools the answer Mcdonnell says is that schools will in fact strive to meet external standards so we had better be careful what we ask them to do educators take the reporting of accountability data very seriously and alter their teaching to improve student performance on whatever indicators higher governmental Levels stress. The problem is that. Only student achieve ment on standardized tests is typically stressed. The effect in Many schools has been a narrowing of the curriculum inlays that Are inconsistent with the kind of analytical skills and subject Matte knowledge that students will need for future  these defects accountability measures Are powerful levers for Chang ing what happens in the schools. The key question that the new education re form Effort must resolve is who should hold those levers. Teachers and Princi pals in individual schools parents exercising Choice among schools scholars in each discipline prescribing tougher curricula or businessmen defining the skills we need in order to to compete this is the underlying governance question that Only political leaders can resolve after consulting their constituencies. If America tries to pursue All these education improvement strategies at once they will almost certainty collide and fail we have to decide where to place our bets and then give the peo ple we re betting on the resources to succeed. Washington Post writers group