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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 14, 1989)
The Battalion STATE & LOCAL — 3 Tuesday, February 14,1989 — Center tries to eradicate illiteracy By fttolisM Naumann REPORTER A Texas AicM program hat undertaken the task of making the word “illiterate" syno nymous with “archaic.” The Adult Literacy Center is working to organize and improve the adult education programs used to fight illiteracy across Texas. While many programs exist to combat illit eracy. no method of evaluation of the pro grams and the materials they use is available, in fact, many programs remain relativelv un recognized. Dr. Mike McCallister, coordina tor of the center, said. “We just received a list of 300 literacy agen cies across Texas," he said. “My guess is that there’s at least 150 more." Without a method of organization, the ef fectiveness of various programs is uncertain, McCallister said. “We’re trying to find out exactly who is doing what in adult education,” he said. “We’re always hearing of new people but no one’s ever pulled them together before.’’ Througn research, the center has deter mined ways to improve literacy programs. One area needing attention is the relationship between adult educators and the people they teach. “There’s light years of difference between the two,” McCallister said. While the teachers are often from middle- class families and have good memories of school experiences, students are likely to be lower on the socioeconomic scale and less en thusiastic about school. McCallister said his project hopes to bridge this gap by designing multicultural sensitivity training for teachers. “If you don’t know where someone's com ing from, you can’t meet them halfway." he said. Another effort is geared toward program accountabilitv. While this involves studying how many people actually participate in the programs and recieve GEbs, the equivalent to a'high school degree, it will also measure the personal growth of the participants. This personal aspect is necessary because literacy progams involve more than reading and main. "Generally, the longer a person is in an adult education program and the more suc cess they have in the program, the more their behavior changes," McCallister said. The behavior change results from expo sure to different ideas, philosophies and other adult education students. “Most illiterates think they’re the only one around who can’t read or write." McCallister said. “Then when they find a group that is like them, the group becomes powerful. “Plus the teachers are like mentors to the students. The situation provides a fenile ground for change in students." Since teachers and their methods are vital to the success of adult education programs, the center also evaluates and catalogs class room materials. “Adult education teachers are generally part-time teachers and aren't trained as adult educators,” McCallister said. “We want to help teachers and tell them the best way to ap proach something." The center recently finished evaluating a computer assistance program at Houston Community College. Learning how to attract students to literacy programs is another goal of the center. This is especially difficult because illiterate people are frequently hard to identify. “They become actors," he said. “They learn how to hide their illiteracy and spend a lot of time developing strategies to disguise it." Then, once a potential student is attracted to literacy training, the class must be worth his time for him to continue with it. Since the students are adults, many have full schedules and can not afford to rearrange their life styles around a class. Another obstacle is admitting illiteracy. "You have to recognize the emotional and psychological risk people take when they ad mit that they can't reaa or write." McCallister said. » While the center was established in the early 1970s, it moved to A&M from Austin only last semester. Located on the Riverside campus on Hwy. 21, it is staffed by McCallis ter, three graduate students and a part-time secretary and tunded by the Texas Education Agency. W’orking at the Adult Literacy Center is re warding. but Mcflallister said he could give it up : , "Nothing would make me happier than to go out of business in the literacy racket." he said. “That would mean the quality of publk education has gotten better and they wouldn't need me anymore." Accusations against PUC spark Senate response AUSTIN (AP) — Responding to charges that the Public Utility Com mission has “ripped olT hundreds of millions of dollars from Texas cus tomers. the Senate directed the agency Monday to review promptly the impact of a 1986 federal tax re duction on utility rates. Sen. Carlos Truan, D-Corpus Christi, broadened his accusations to include the Slate Board of Insurance and other unnamed regulatory agencies, which he said “are not just a disgrace. They are a menace.” Truan also said he opposes utility commissioners Marta Greytok of Taylor Lake Village and William Cass in of Houston, who were 'ap pointed to the PUC last year by Gov. Bill Clements. Both nominees must be con firmed by the Senate. Truan's resolution, which was ap proved on voice vote, sought a prompt hearing “on matters of pub lic interest.” »»k . #■ Specifically. Truun said he was concerned over (hefWIav in review ing a 13-month-old petition to ad- Correction In a story in last week’s Battal ion, the Ross Volunteers were identified as the honor guard for- Mardi Gras' King Rex. The RVs, who are the honor guard for the governor, actually lead the King Rex parade dress the 12 percent federal cor porate tax reduction, which he maintains should be reflected in lower utility bills. The PUC on a 3-0 vote Wednes day ordered the petition be placed on its docket, with a hearing ex pected after March 1. Truan said until a Senate commit tee last Wednesday forced the PUC’s hand, it had been "asleep at the wheel" in failing to save Texas con sumers hundreds of millions of dol lars. He referred in a Senate speech to “regulatory rot” and “philosophical corruption” among state agencies that "nave made a public mockery of the concept of impartial enforce ment of the law and a decent con cern for the public interest." The Senate, in other action Mon day, approved proposals that would: • Authorize the issuance of spe cial $3 license plates for veterans of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Truan said there are 519 Pearl Harbor sur vivors in Texas. • Designate April 9 of each year as “Former Prisoners of War Recog nition Day" in Texas. April 9 marks the anniversary of the day in 1942 when the remaining U.S. forces on Bataan in the Philippines were cap tured. • Authorize all county commis sioner courts to pay an automobile allowance for district judges in their county. • Authorize a commissioners court to meet in a county building other than the courthouse. MSC Forum speaker explains American views on Nicaragua By Fiona Soltes STAFF WRITER MSC Political Forum’s “Nicara gua: Myth or Reality," became a fo rum in the true sense Monday night when comments from the featured speaker sparked a rebuttal from a native of Nicaragua. Albert L. Michaels, professor of history at the State University of New York at Buffalo, addressed an audience of about 30 people con cerning U.S. foreign policy toward Nicaragua. Reading excerpts from a book he wrote to be published in April, Mi chaels categorized opposition to for mer President Reagan's Central American policy into three groups, saying these groups helped tne Marxist-Leninist party strengthen its grip on Nicaragua. During a que^tion-and-«mswer ses sion after the speech, Angel Na varro, a Nicaragua native, ap proached the podium and gave his views concerning his country and Michaels’ speech. Navarro said as an economist in Nicaragua, he was a part of the gov ernment and involved in the Nicara guan revolution. He has lived in the United States since 1982. “It is not a Sandinista revolution," he said, “but rather a country’s revo lution." Michaels elaborated on the three groups he said opposed Reagan's Central American policy. “The first comprised the ‘true be lievers’ of the Nicaragua Network. ft the political tourists and their left- wing allies in the Democratk con- gerrssional delegation," Michaels said. He discussed these ‘political tour- ists' and how they were influenced the amounts of money spent by icaraguans to impress them, while many in the country are left starv ing. “(The true believers) either delib erately lied about Nicaragua in or der to strengthen the appeal of in ternational socialism or deceived themselves because they so badly wanted to see that which was not the re," he said. 'The second group involved sin cere pacifists, or religious people who believed Reagan's promotion of violence was immoral. Also included are those who feared Nicaragua would become another Vietnam, he said. “The third category," he said, Democra “consisted of those Democratic poli ticians who clearly understod the na ture of Sandanismo but voted against the Contras either to embar rass the President or win the appro val of radical constituents.” Mkhaels cited many examples and statistics, discussing subjects such as American support for the Contras, which is about 60 percent. He also said 61 percent of respon dents to a survey believed the Soviet Union is supporting a Communist revolution against the Nicaraguan government. Questions following the speech from the audience concerned Amer ican foreign policy toward Guate mala. the future economic trend of Nicaragua. President Bush's admin istrative policy to Latin America as a whole and Fidel Castro's attitude to ward Mikhail Gorbachev. Navarra, in his rebutul, said he was not trying to defend the Sandi nista regime. “But I feel the audience is being presented an unfairly black-and- white and quite simplistic view of the whole situatkm," he said. “I think C u’ve all been told who the good or d guys are." 4 Navarro and Michaels also dis agreed over Reagan’s intentions to ward overthrowing the Nicaraguan government. “As for President Reagan saying he wanted to overthrow the govern ment, I strongly believe tnat he wanted to do it, ’ Michaels said. “But when or where did he actually say it? ... I f he had said that, it would have totally destroyed his policy . . . 'his policy would have been indefensib- After the debate. Navarro said, “Knowing the millions of dollars spent on arms, it would be foolish to say Reagan has not admitted to wanting to overthrow the govern ment." Michaels is an expert on foreign policy. Latin America and mass me dia and foreign policy. He has done extensive research in Mexico, Bo livia, Peru and Costa Rica, but said he has never been to Nicaragua. He also said he wanted the crowd to know he is a registered Democrat. Bryan resident decries zoning to City Council By Chuck Squatriglia CORRESPONDENT Just when the Brvan City Council thought it was time to finish the meeting and go home to dinner, Jo Ann Zaeske deckled to make a stand against the city’s proposal to consider zoning the community. At the conclusion of regular business at Mondav night’s meet ing. Brvan Mayor Maism late opened the floor to visitor com ments. and Zaeske made a des perate plea against the citv’s plan to consider zoning the city. “Zoning is not what makes our community a better place to live." Zaeske told the board. "An inher ent pnde in our property and our city make fora better Brvan." Zaeske is a member ol Bryan Citizens for Progress and Equity. The group believes zoning gives power to people who shouldn't have power and takes awav rights from people who spend money to have those certain rights, she said. “Zoning has been defined as government control ol pnvatelv owned land,” she said. “(1 he committee) feels government governs best which governs least.” Bryan Citizens for Progress and Equity’s main goal is to have the zoning issue put to a referen dum on the May 6 general elec tion ballot. Zaeske said. Because many of the council members are in the real estate business and may recieve finan cial benefits from zoning, the zoning issue should be voted upon bv the citizens, she said. After the meeting, Tate said the council has taken no action on the zoning issue, only appointing a committee that in turn hired a contractor to look into the best method of city planning. “No vote has been taken," he said. “We haven’t voted to go to zoning. “At the proper time, if we move forward with ib we will have public heanugs and |>ctjpl<‘ will have the qppuruuuty.io ipmc speak their peace." In other action, the council: • Formed a committee to de termine where sidewalk construc tion is needed most and how it would be financed. • Approved the adoption of an ordinance establishing the rate schedules for water and sewage services for the city. • Unanimously approved lor- mation of a centralized 91 1 dis patching system and will pass the recomendation to the 911 Distrk t Board. HOT TIPS FOR BUSI WORKSHOP ms FEB. 16 -10:00 pirn "Happy Valentine's Ags! Susan B. Fiechtner, Ph.L 'Business Etiquette: Resume Writing and i Rm. 226 usmm FEBRUAl Ann Wiatt P Tips on Etiquette" i s John & Peggy Business Fashion Shjpw Sponsored by KG HEN and PECK S PECK Rm. 212 MSC — Reception Following Sponsored by MSC Hospitality -We have expanded our variety of fish! -Texas Aggie Dog Sweaters -10 Gallon Aquarium $6.99 -$1.00 off any fish w/this ad. (1 ad per person, per visit, please!) Fish offer exp. 2/20/89 ANIMAL WORLD “thu n^t. a... n. .a.' 1 Manor East Mall Bryan JOIN US FOR THE 1ST MEETING OF "A&M STUDENTS OVER 25" 8:00 P.M. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15,1989 ROOM 205 MSC BRING YOUR IDEAS COME TO DISCUSS... YOUR NEEDS, WAYS TO PARTICIPATE, AND WHAT CAN BE DONE. SPONSORED BY THE OFF CAMPUS CENTER