Page 16 The Battalion Thursday, September 9,1993
Texas behind in literacy levels, survey shows
The Associated Press
AUSTIN — Adult Texans' liter
acy levels are below the national
average, according to preliminary
results of a state survey released
Wednesday by the Texas Educa
tion Agency.
The reading and writing skills
of more than a quarter of Texas'
13 million adults ranked at the
bottom level of the study, accord
ing to TEA.
That means they might be able
to perform basic tasks, such as to
taling a deposit slip or identifying
specific information in a brief
news story, the agency said. But
they could not do more challeng
ing work.
The Texas study was done in
conjunction with the 1992 Nation
al Adult Literacy Survey conduct
ed by the Educational Testing Ser
vice of Princeton, NJ.
Participants in the literacy
study were tested in three areas:
prose, document and quantitative.
The prose score was based on
ability to locate information in
written text, like newspaper arti
cles or instructions. The document
score was based on ability to lo
cate facts in complex materials
and combine it with prior knowl
edge to generate new information.
The quantitative score was based
on ability to glean mathematical
information from documents.
On prose literacy, Texans' aver
age was 259 of a maximum 500,
according to TEA. The national
average was 272.
On document literacy, the
Texas average was 255, compared
with 267 nationally.
Texans scored at the 258 profi
ciency level in quantitative litera
cy. The national level was 271.
A score of 225 or lower put
people on the lowest of five litera
cy levels. The highest level was
for those with scores of 376 or
more. No more than 3 percent of
Texans surveyed scored in the
highest category.
Responding to the survey re
sults, state Education Commission
er Lionel "Skip” Meno said Texas
must consider how to meet the ed
ucational needs of those perform
ing at the lowest literacy levels.
"Today's survey results would
indicate that a basic education is
still lacking for many adult Tex
ans," Meno said.
"Many of these individuals
will require retraining, additional
education and continuing educa
tion to help our state and nation to
succeed in an increasingly com
petitive global economy," he said.
About 28 percent, or 3.4 mil
lion, Texas adults don't have a
high school diploma. Twelve per
cent, or 1.5 million, have complet
ed less than nine years of school.
Meanwhile, Texas' allocation of
$9 million for adult education pro
grams ranks 46th among the
states, according to TEA. Califor
nia allocates $400 million and
Michigan puts in $426 million.
Report: school dropout rate decreasing
The Associated Press
AUSTIN - The number of
students dropping out of public
school over the past five years
has decreased more than 40 per
cent, education officials say.
The annual dropout rate for
1991-92 was 3.8 percent, com
pared to 3.93 percent in 1990-91
and 6.7 percent in 1987-88, ac
cording to a report released
Wednesday by the Texas Educa
tion Agency.
That means that Texas schools
had 53,421 dropouts in 1991-92;
53,965 in 1990-91; and 91,307 in
1987-88. As in previous years, the
largest number of students —
16,058 in 1991-92 — drop out
during the ninth grade.
"The report shows that in
Texas we clearly are moving in
the right direction," said Educa
tion Commissioner Lionel
"Skip" Meno.
The report cites numerous fac
tors leading to the lower dropout
rate, including directing funds to
students at risk of leaving school,
funding for pregnancy-related
services, and additional school
counselors.
But Meno said the dispropor
tionate number of students drop
ping out of the ninth grade, and
the disproportionate number of
minorities leaving school were
reasons for concern.
Hispanic students are 2.2
times more likely to drop out
than white students, and African-
Americans are 1.9 times more
than white students, according to
the study.
The report recommends re
structuring the elementary, mid
dle, and high school systems,
extending the school year for
students who otherwise would
be held back, recruiting minori
ty teachers, and establishing
programs for students expelled
from school.
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Bay City nuclear plant
operators work to get
project back in operation
The Associated Press
BAY CITY — Operators of the South Texas Project told federal
regulators Wednesday they have significantly reduced maintenance
problems and have reorganized management in hopes of getting the
troubled nuclear plant back in operation next year.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials, however, said there is
much yet to do.
Deputy Administrator John Montgomery said he is skeptical that
Houston Lighting & Power Co., the operator of the plant, can meet a
January target to bring the first of the plant's two units to 100 percent
operation.
The twin-unit 2,500-megawatt plant, idle nearly all of 1993 be
cause of maintenance and equipment problems, was placed this
summer on the NRC's watch list, meaning it demands closer scrutiny
by regulators. It is one of five nuclear plants nationwide to carry the
watch list designation.
"It takes a while to get on the list," Montgomery said. "It takes
a while to get off. We don't put it on quickly. We don't take it off
quickly."
After years of delays and construction costs that exceeded the
original estimates by billions of dollars, the plant's first unit began
producing power in 1988. The second went up the following year.
In February, a pump problem prompted a shutdown of one unit.
The second was idled a few days later.
It subsequently was disclosed that the plant had thousands of un
resolved maintenance problems, prompting a special review of the
plant operations by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
On Wednesday, Houston Lighting & Power Co. managers, in a
presentation to NRC officials, said the backlog of problems on Unit 1
alone had been trimmed since May by 39 percent, from 3,000 to
1,825. They said they hope the backlog will go to below 1,000 before
power production is resumed.
Culture
Continued from Page 1
Dale said changing the require-
ment from six hours to three
would make the proposal seem
broad enough so that it doesn't
appear to be a requirement.
"Three hours is a minimum not
a maximum," Dale said. "It's a
good place to start."
Dale said the suggestion of the
name change is because the re
quirement would be cut down to
one required course instead of two.
The Academic Affairs Commit
tee will discuss further amend
ments to the proposal at its meet
ing Sept. 12 and will hold a open
forum Sept. 16 from 7-10 p.m. at
the Governance Room in the
Koldus Student Services Building.
Dale said the public is invited
to the meeting and the Senate en
courages people to express their
views about the proposal.
Cantrell said the Academic Af
fairs Committed will make final re
visions to the proposal at its Octo
ber meeting and the Faculty Senate
will vote on adopting the proposal
at its November meeting.
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Election
Continued from Page 1
polling site will be viewed as il
legal campaigning and will be
ruled upon by the Student Gov
ernment Judicial Board.
Other major changes include:
increasing campaign expendi
tures, candidates will sign a grade
release statement, the definition
of "flier" and all campaign para
phernalia will now be filed with
the Election Commission prior to
its distribution or display.
Warhol studied different elec
tion methods this summer to de
vise a better way of conducting
A&M's student elections. She
consulted universities of compa
rable sizes and student govern
ment makeup when drafting the
new regulations.
"Last year we were running a
university election using a high
school style of election process,"
Warhol said. "These changes
won't solve everything but it's
an improvement compared to
last year."
Election Commissioner
Steven Mathews said the revi
sions are a needed improvement,
"It's going to make my job a
lot easier," Mathews said. "All
the confusion will be stopped,
and we will be able to avoid any
controversy."
The revisions will be imple
mented before the freshman
class elections Oct. 7.
Beavers
Continued from Page 9
Beavers
"You just have to contend with
great players like that and realize
they're going to make some plays
- you just hope they don't make
too many."
The six-foot-
two, 232-pound
senior said one
of his main
goals is to lead
the Big Eight in
sacks - and he
will not dis
criminate this
Saturday
against the Ag
gies. He said he
likes to hit hard
and hit often - a practice that was
instilled in him during his high
school years at Yates High School
in Houston.
"(At Yates) they said 'play at
your best at all times,"' he said.
"They always said 'whoever
tackles the hardest (and) hits the
hardest is going to win the game
in the end.' And that has stayed
within me."
This philosophy had time to
further develop during Beaver's
first two years at Oklahoma
(with the exception of three
games at the start of his fresh
man year) as he was ineligible
because of the NCAA question
ing his college admission exam
scores. Though the two years sit
ting the bench were difficult for a
number-one prospect out of high
school, Beavers said he made the
best of it.
"I felt those two years were a
challenge to me," he said. "So I
stayed in and I fought it and I had
a great year last year and I'm
looking forward to an even better
one this year."
Last year, Beavers lead the Big
Eight in fumble recoveries with
three, came in second with 11.5
quarterback sacks and third in
sack yardage with 57 yards. He
was also awarded national play-
er-of-the game three times last
season: twice by ESPN and once
by ABC.
Beavers said that if any area
of his game needs improvement,
it's his pass-rushing skills and he
has been working on those since
last season.
"Back in high school, I would
use quickness and finesse and all
that," he said. "But now as you go
up (in level of play), you've got to
use more than speed, you've got
to use your hands sometimes,
you've got to use technique -
that's the key."
Many observers have projected
Beavers as a top NFL draft pick
next year and one of the top-five
linebackers in the nation. But
Beavers said there are more im
portant things than the draft that
concern him right now.
"This game - we've ^ot to get
this accomplished first, ,Y he said.
"This is a big game for me and my
teammates.
"Right now, I'm not even
thinking about the draft. I figure
that if I have a bad season, that's
going to hurt me in the draft any
way, so I'm trying to focus on
this season."
A few years ago during the
NCAA allegations, the draft was
not much of a reality for Beavers.
Now, with the potential of a
promising professional career,
"the Beav" said he is more than
thankful to be where he is now.
"My greatest accomplishment
is that I'm still here," he said. "I
could have left here and been on
the streets of Houston, but I
stayed and fought through the
bad times."
Beavers said he received a lot
of help from his teammates and
coaches during the troubled times,
but his greatest inspiration came
from his idol - his grandmother.
"I thank the Lord for her," he
said.
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