European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 31, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday january 31, 1992 the stars and stripes Page 13 . Rosentha japanese right on one thing a . Illiteracy the japanese a some of them a Are beginning to get under our skin. In a thinking now of that politician who said that american workers Are Lazy and a third of them could t read. Lazy american men and women line up to get work a sometimes thousands waiting in the cold for too few jobs at too Little Money. American workers can still out produce japanese person for person. American Industry working people and service members did not seem All that Lazy by the time world War ii ended. As for japanese executives when i was a reporter in Japan they never seemed to work harder than american business people i knew at Home. Often japanese executives outnumbered the desks. By 6 . The executives were in their company cars heading Home a the Long Way Home via bars and restaurants where they booked ate and fondled on the company expense account. American auditors would have daily heart attacks in Tokyo. So take that Yoshio Sakurauchi speaker of the lower House of parliament. I am hardly a Japan Basher a usually the contrary. But take your caricature of americans i thought and pour it in your Sake cup just As i was working up a Good head of indignation however the thought struck me that the Man was half right a the literacy half a and maybe we should thank him instead of wallowing in defensiveness. About 5 percent of the Young adult population is totally illiterate not a third. But that is not comforting once you take a look at table 368 of the department of education a 1991 statistical digest. The literacy skills that prevent people from drowning economically in modern society Are held by Only a minority of americans Between 21 and 25. Only 20 percent can use bus timetables which Means they could not follow work manuals. Only 22.5 percent can figure out the percentage of a restaurant tip which i suppose Means the others could not even earn it. Forty four percent cannot locate information in an almanac or news Story. Would you hire one of them for a clerical Job in any communications or financial company Diane Raviteh an outstanding assistant Secretary of education says achievement trends in academic Progress have been a essentially Flat for the past 20  in a world Ever More demanding for workers Flat Means Down. Raviteh writes plainly enough for anybody to read what was Good enough 20 years ago Isnit anymore. Who is to blame people who know the Field say that Bush has been great in fighting for modern literacy a Barbara Bush. If her husband has become the education president i am indeed the King of saudi Arabia. But what president in the past 20 years has done the education Job right or which Congress or big City we can of course simply blame Root causes for destroying the a learning environment a guns poverty race drugs drink schoolyard crime and teen age pregnancy. And forcing schools to substitute for jailers parents cops preachers and epidemiologists instead of teaching. But without follow up action that would leave american work literacy and education where it is now a with Sakurauchi and his parliamentary pals having a Good chuckle. We will have to pay for action a with More Money if necessary and lots no doubt will be needed. At a time when we need More school computers some teachers Are themselves paying for classroom pencils a a shame for us All. We need More therapeutic communities to handle drug Ridden children and police to sweep human garbage from schoolyards. Parents will have to pay with constant attention to their children a schools and their children a work. Private citizens and business will have to pay for marketable literacy with Volunteer time and Devotion As that shown by new yorkers Elizabeth Rohatyn publishing executive Parker Ladd columnist Liz Smith business executive Saul Steinberg and Gay Fryd Steinberg and members of the new York Public Library Board along with people like them in cities everywhere. But not enough people. No one thing a taxpayers volunteers teachers parental attention business politicians a will fix our school system. Hut put them together and you have the formula of japanese educational Success which the . Can achieve As Well and maybe a bit better or. Speaker. C Tho new York limes Ana Veciana Sinare clerks bad attitude no help in bad Economy not Long ago i went to a Well known department store to Exchange a too Small outfit one of my children received for Christmas. Thousands of people have done the same thing within the past few weeks and probably that Many also experienced what i did. There were Only two clerks on the entire floor that weekday morning and they were busily chatting about their fantastic weekend. My request for help was met by a Blank stare from one and a snarl from the other. When i insisted a not too politely since nothing gets my Dander up quicker than unwarranted rudeness a the snarled led me to the Cash Register where she shoved some papers in my face tapped her Well shod feet impatiently while i filled them out and then grudgingly finished the transaction. In a not exaggerating. Actually my experience May be a relatively pleasant one compared with stories in be heard from exasperated customers dealing with Sale clerks. One Man i know who was having trouble fitting in his usual suit size was told in no Uncertain terms to go on a diet. Another woman waited in line for 20 minutes before a gum chewing cashier who had been complaining loudly about not getting a break quit just As my Friend was moving her purchases from the shopping cart to the counter. All of us at one time or another have experienced Crummy service wherever we conduct business a Long lines at the women a department in Iolite clerks at the customer service desk interminable Waits on the phone to a Utility. Sadly we be come to expect that from businesses in America just As we be come to accept shoddy workmanship lower College admission test scores and the Ever decreasing Dollar. So when we head for the mall we Wear More than comfortable rubber Soled walking shoes. Without realizing it we also bring along a shield to protect us from the toxic fumes of obnoxious Ness. If we manage to Complete a rare transaction without incident we attribute the Triumph to determination ours Over insolence theirs. I thought about shoppers War stories when the Commerce department announced recently that the Christmas Selling season was one of the worst in three decades. Retailers have been saying this All along of course but the governments announcement made it official. A government spokesman attributed the pessimistic figures to a the cautious consumer a the you and me who worry we May find a Pink slip on our desk at work tomorrow. Maybe that same government spokesman ensconced comfortably in a Well appointed White House office never has to wait in line at the department store if he had to venture Forth into the real world of retail he might have added that the consumer is not Only cautious. He or she is also fed up. The consumer in some cases is also ignored or simple tolerated like flies during a Barbecue As a necessary evil. Yes of course salespeople probably Deal with behind the scenes problems we know nothing about. Maybe they re overworked and underpaid a common complaint in All industries suffering during the recession. Or maybe they too Are answering rudeness with rudeness. In be witnessed shoppers whose manners  qualify in the barbarian Competition. But fewer and fewer Sale clerks Are paying tribute to that ancient adage the customer is always  when was the last time you heard that probably when you were still buying eight track cartridges when i do find a helpful employee i smile so hard that the Muscles in my face ache for hours afterwards. The person deserves it. Unfortunately i done to get them often and in a few places not at All. But i do frequent one particular store because not Only does it have excellent prices on Quality goods but it has something even More uncommon cum thous prompt service. Both things Are import and to me they Are to must people unless one derives masochistic enjoyment from frequenting places notorious Lor in your lace a Dewiess