The Bison – April 1988

"I'm just surprised he got off as easily as he did," said one of three teenage victims Criminal Sexual Conduct case against former Wright County Sheriff's Deputy Jeffrey Yates.

At one point, Yates was charged with multiply counts of first, second, third, and fourth degree Criminal Sexual Conduct. The three victims in this incident were Explorer Scouts participating in the ride-along program with the Wright County Sheriffs Department.

All the alleged crimes took place during and between the years of 1984 to 1986, when the victims were between 14 and 16 years of age and sophomore and junior status at BHS.

According to court transcripts, the locations of the incidents vary from an abandoned restaurant in Montrose, to Albrights County Park, to a squad car.

Without the consent of the women pressing charges, all of those counts were reduced to one count of fourth degree Criminal Sexual Conduct in return for a guilty plea.

District Judge Bruce R. Douglas told the StarTribune that the plea bargain "appeared at the time to be the reasonable thing to do. It was a first offense and [the plea] avoided a series of trials that would have been difficult for the victims."

County Attorney William MacPhail, the prosecuting attorney, said that the girls would have been credible witnesses and he could have gotten convictions on more serious charges. However, he said one of the reasons he accepted the plea bargain was to spare the girls the ordeal of testifying.

MacPhail also felt that the plea bargain and the sentence was a fair outcome to the proceedings.

The girls however, expressed an unsatisfied opinion toward the plea bargain, and stated sentiments favoring full prosecution.

"If MacPhail is sparing me from the trial, he is also sparing Jeff Yates from the rightful punishment he deserves," said one woman to the StarTribune. "I was nervous about testifying in court, but I was also very willing to do so."

The court records showed that in a note to the judge, one girl said, "Throughout the case, people involved have encouraged the victims to open up and let everything out in the open...then suddenly comes this plea arrangement, which I was not made aware of."

In the court transcripts one victim stated, "I knew that it was getting out of hand with Jeff, and it had to be stopped...I was afraid, so I didn't know what to do."

In the StarTribune story, one victim said, "He was very authoritarian. I had watched him in the line of duty before. I saw him throw a 6-foot-5-inch man on the hood of a car. I knew that could very easily be me. He said he'd come looking for me."

Wright County Sergeant Berlyn Birkholz gave a similar reaction to The Bison. "I don't feel it [the plea bargain] was appropriate. If they would have wanted this type of plea, I wouldn't have objected at all. I think the girls had a right to be heard in court."

The victims were all between the ages of 14 and 16 at the time of the alleged offenses which took place between 1984 and 1986.

The case first surfaced in 1986 when the third girl called the police. As one victim put it in the StarTribune, "You put all your trust in the officer when you get in the car. It was a real downfall for us when he took advantage of the situation."

Yates would not discuss the case extensively and said in the StarTribune, "Be the accusations true or false, it's over with."

"I have a hard time dealing with it," one victim told The Bison. "I think it's going to scare a lot of people. A lot of people look down on the Sheriff's Department now."

Starting next year, District 877 will instate a new sex education curriculum. It is designed to provide basic information, clear up misconceptions, and hopefully prevent teen-pregnancies, sexual abuse, and sexually transmitted diseases.

The problem is, not all parents want their children to learn it.

Two years ago a survey of students, parents, and community members indicated a need for a stronger sex education curriculum. Results showed 63% of the students and 73% of the parents felt the school has not taught the subject adequately in the past and should take a greater responsibility in doing so.

These results initiated the development of a Human Sexuality Task Force composed of administrators, teachers, students, and parents which would design a program for use in the school district.

A package of lessons, worksheets, and class discussions will be taught at each grade level, covering six main topic areas; Sexual Abuse, Responsible Sexuality, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Communication Skills, Prenatal Health, and Understanding Contraception, Conceptions and Prepaerity.

Curriculum for two of the topics, Communication Skills and Sexually Transmitted Diseases, has been completed and on March 3, 7 and 10 it was presented to the district committees approved it.

During curriculum writing sessions in August, the Task Force solicited input from administration, teachers, clergy, doctors, parents, and students. As a whole, most communities of Montrose, Hanover, and Buffalo respectively are pleased with the resulting curriculum and all involved are pleased with the resulting curriculum and all involved district committees approved it.

However, one group of parents is not pleased. In an age when parental permission is needed for ear piercing, but not abortions, many parents criticize the curriculum, feeling it excludes them from their child's

---
One lesson drew particular criticism at the review meetings for this reason. Entitled "Conflicting Voices; Deciding About Sex," the lesson includes a passage parents felt told their children to ignore home influences. "If you're parents are very protective or if they expect you to be a virgin for the rest of your life, their message may not be very realistic. If they fear your sexuality or don't want you to be sexual at all, you may feel a strong need to tune out their voices....," the reading states.

This may be strong stuff if taken out of context. This lesson is not among the required materials of 10th grade Health, but included in the elective class, Lifestudies. Parents objected strongly nonetheless.

In a letter circulated among committee members, parents attacked the lesson, stating: "Rather than supporting a parent's guidance, it directly tells the student to ignore a parent's teachings, and is entirely unsuitable. To subvert a parent's guidance in this way is unacceptable. The words *expect you to be a virgin the rest of your life' are sarcastic and belittling to parents. What parent would expect or even want his child to be a virgin his whole life?"

Other parents objected to the wording of the curriculum, claiming it to be explicitly detailed and worded in such a manner as to encourage sexual activity. One parent even said it resembled a "how-to course," using the birth control lesson as an example.

"Many couples incorporate birth control into their lovemaking. For example, a partner can help insert a

Predictions reveal that for every person with AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) in the U.S., another five are infected with the virus. By the year 2000, one out of every four hospital cases will be AIDS related.

In a press conference for BHS journalism students, Patricia Lind, a Wright County Health Service educator, said that she feels that education can play a large part in the control, spreading, and understanding of AIDS, perhaps lessening statistics like those mentioned above.

"Teenagers and kids sometimes think they will live forever and nothing bad could every happen to them," said Lind.

Lind believes that AIDS education should take place at school or at home, depending on the age of the child.

"In order for a student to understand about AIDS, they should have a good understanding of what's going on. They should understand sexuality and what it is," said Lind.

Lind feels that AIDS education should be taught in public schools. She feels that students in Junior and Senior high school are old enough and "wise" enough to be taught specific information on AIDS. Younger students, five to nine years old, are too young to grasp the true meaning and consequences of AIDS, Lind said. Therefore, their parents should have the option of learning about AIDS so they can answer the questions their children may ask.

Some of the important things that should be taught about AIDS, according to Lind, how AIDS is spread, the high risk groups, and how AIDS can be prevented.

AIDS is spread through direct sexual contact, blood transfer on contaminated needles (usually needles involved in illegal drug use), to a baby through the mother during pregnancy, and in rare cases through blood transfusions. Since a new needle is used each time, a person cannot get AIDS by giving blood.

Despite what common myths claim, AIDS is not spread through casual contact.

The main way by which AIDS is spread in Minnesota is through sexual contact, this includes oral, anal, and vaginal sex. This is linked to the largest risk group in Minnesota, the homosexuals, which account for 82% of the known cases.

According to Lind, 4% of the AIDS cases in the state are intravenous drug users, and 6% are both homosexuals and drug users. Heterosexuals comprise 3% of the states' cases and a small percentage includes both hemophiliacs and transfusion patients.

The surest prevention of AIDS is abstinence from all kinds of sexual acts, Lind said. If that is not realistic, the next best practice is to know your partner or have a mutually monogamous relationship with an individual who is uninfected with AIDS. Condoms also offer protection, but like the prevention measures, they are not fail-safe.

Lind feels that apathy towards AIDS is dangerous and AIDS is a deadly disease that cannot be ignored.

"It's not just a matter of moralism anymore; or not just a matter of pregnancy anymore; it's a matter of life and death," said Lind.

[YNS] Between 13 and 20 million people die each year from hunger and starvation, according to the National Student Campaign Against Hunger (NSCAH). Three out of every four of these fatalities are children.

On April 16, high school and college students in 110 cities across America will be working to combat the problem of hunger through NSCAH's Fourth Annual Hunger Cleanup. The cleanup, first conceived by students from nine colleges in Grand Rapids, Mich., allows student hunger activists to raise money for local and international hunger relief by working on community service projects with the sponsorship of area businesses.

Student committees pick a project, recruit volunteers, obtain and collect sponsorship pledges, publicize their event and pick a local charity to which 50% of the money raised will go. The remaining funds are given to the NSCAH, divided among local campaigns and international causes, such as agricultural development projects in Ethiopia.

"Students have the optimism and energy to make a difference in this problem," said Leslie Samuelrich, the campaign's director. "High school is a great time to get involved, build your skills and increase your knowledge of the issue."

"Being involved in a project like Hunger Cleanup is rewarding," Samuelrich said, "(students) should develop some sort of civic responsibility."

The number of students participating in the cleanup has grown from 250 in 1985 to 4,000 last year. Some $54,000 was raised by last year's projects with students donating services worth $40,000.

There are currently 110 group projects registered with NSCAH for the 1988 cleanup, 15 of which involve high school students, said Samuelrich. In many cities, several colleges and high schools will team up and plan events together.

Along with hunger cleanup, NSCAH sponsers several other hunger relief activities throughout the year and distributes information about the problem of hunger to interested students.

There is no formal membership procedure to become a part of the campaign; students should just contact the group's national office and the staff will help them plan local efforts to combat hunger, said Samuelrich.

For a copy of NSCAH's Hunger Cleanup Manual or more information about any NSCAH projects, call or write to: National Student Campaign Against Hunger, 92 Temple Place, Boston, Mass. 02111, (617) 292-4823. When writing for information please include your phone number.

Washington, D.C. (YNS)

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal on February 22 on a lower court decision for a Tennessee school district. The ruling said that the district did not infringe on the rights of students by using textbooks the students opposed on religious grounds.

The sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last August that because students were not required to believe the textbooks, the Hawkins County Board of Education did not violate their rights by using a reading series that student and families contend promotes feminism, situational ethics, and other values contradicting their fundamentalist Christian beliefs.

The Supreme Court let the ruling stand without comment.

Mozert v. Hawkins Board of Education began in 1983 when the district adopted the controversial series for grades one through eight.

In 1986, a United States District judge ordered the school board to allow students to "opt out" of classes using the texts, ruling that free exercise of religion was being violated.

The Justices' decision not to hear the case is one of a string of defeats for fundamentalists attempting to convince the public schools to accomodate their beliefs.

In September 1987, a federal appeals court in Atlanta reversed a district judge's order banning 44 textbooks from Alabama public schools because they promoted "secular humanism" and elevated human values over spiritual values. In December, lawyers for a citizens' group decided the case would not be appealed to the Supreme Court.

Three months earlier, the Court struck down a Louisiana law requiring schools to give equal treatment to the theory of evolution and creationism.

A group of BHS students, along with five adults, and Monticello students, participated in a ten day mission trip to Texas which ended the first week of April.

While in Texas, the group's base was in a church in McAllen. From this base church, they attended church services in small towns approximately 200 miles into Mexico.

To participate in the mission group and attend the trip, each member was required to fill out an application, be interviewed, and accepted by the mission church board.

After being accepted onto the team, the new members had to attend all team meetings which included a weekend retreat, as well as write an agriculture report, two book reports, and learn common Spanish phrases and songs, along with other activities.

In an effort to raise money to support parents in third world countries who have had their children taken from them by their governments, BHS's Amnesty International chapter is planning a music recital.

The local chapter will use this fundraiser to aid parents and grandparents in searching for their children.

Often in South American countries, like Brazil or Argentina, according to Chapter Adviser John Ause, "death squads" will enter the homes of persons involved with political opposition to their government, beat them or kill them and take the children away.

In some cases, the children are farmed out to people who can't have children or sold to American adoption centers, said Ause.

Along with fundraising, the BHS members of the chapter have written letters to government officials in these countries and others like the Soviet Union warning them to stop violating human rights.

One example occurred with Chilean government about threats made to 81 American actors who were working within the country.

The student letters insisted that the actors be protected and asked the government to investigate the threats made by the "death squads." None of the actors have been harmed.

The United States has received letters from Amnesty International criticizing the U.S. for policies whereby minors face death row and the death penalty.

Amnesty International chapters, started by a group of people in London, write and mail letters to let governments who violate laws of human rights know that we know what they are doing.

The recital is set for May 15 at local church.

Further fundraisers to support Amnesty International and missing children funding include selling raffle tickets.

Return with me for a moment to the night of May 10, 1984.

While my Iowa State University (ISU) freshmen were studying for final exams, I was standing, frozen, in the heat of Orlando, Fla. Frozen because a muscular, tattooed woman was screaming at me for being a college brat. And I had just learned the word attention meant more than watching "Dynasty."

When one enters the U.S. Naval Reserve Training Command, all civilian rights and privileges are left outside with weapons and pills in the amnesty box.

Once inside I walked fast, said nothing and abandoned my long practiced stance of folded arms, bent right leg and left thrust hip.

Unfortunately, receiving advice about posture from a sister already in the Navy didn't save me from the wrath of my Company Commander (CC).

I remained convinced that she held a psychology degree.

She started at the end of the 60-strong line of women recruits, glancing frequently at the clipboard that held a fortune in potential blackmail material.

She was good, ripping into their weaknesses and publicly disclosing private information.

By the time she was three-quarters down the line, the whole group was crying.

But not me.

I wasn't going to give that mud wrestler the satisfaction of seeing my tears. I listened closely to her tactics. She was using the same ones on each of us, but with a personal twist added after consulting her clipboard.

Did the other recruits really love the children they left for at least four months?

Did they miss their husbands and boyfriends? Did they still snort cocaine?

I had no children or lovers and had never done drugs, so I was ready for her.

She worked on me for almost 20 minutes without success, a fact I consider one of my greater achievements.

It was hard, especially when she zeroed in on mother having taken a second job at night to pay for my tuition—that was one of the main reasons I had left college.

I managed to stem the flow of tears by blocking out her ranting and by thinking back to the day I'd decided to leave college.

It had been after I'd returned to school after Christmas break at home.

It had been a bleak holiday seeing my mother, a divorcee living on the south side of Chicago with her three-year-old son to support, struggling to make ends meet.

Back at school, I worried constantly and kept busy finding fault with all the things that I'd come to enjoy there.

I alienated my friends, stayed alone and brooded about what to do.

I decided it had been a mistake to allow my mother to pay my tuition.

It was too hard on her.

It was my education; I should be paying for it.

I called my older sister, who was stationed at Naval Air Station at Pensacola, Fla., to ask her advice.

While she wasn't enthusiastic about my leaving school, she was a Navy careerist and she soon plugged the Navy's educational benefits to me.

When she told me about the Navy's journalism opportunities, my mind was made up.

I asked her to take a few days leave when I came home to help explain things to mama.

We both knew it wouldn't be easy since mama was determined that my younger brother and I would be the first to finish college in a family of five children.

After consulting a Navy recruiter and taking an Armed Service Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test, I was told that my science score was too low for journalism.

I wasn't interested in signing over four years of my life for anything but writing, so I said thanks and began to leave. What followed, when he stopped me, is an outright lie.

It makes me distrust recruiters to this day.

He said I could enlist as an undesignated seaman and when I went to see the career counselor in boot camp, I would only have to score three points higher on the ASVAB, and journalism duty would be mine.

My sister had forewarned me about the "undesignated" field. But Mr. Recruiter reminded me about my mother and talked me out of calling my sister for advice.

After I'd passed the physical exam, I was told I could leave on May 10 or at the end of August. I wanted to finish my freshman year at ISU, but the recruiter said that if I left in August since all sailors that began training in August are sent to sea.

Even now, I am appalled at my naivete in dealing with that man.

While my classmates planned their vacations for spring break, I silently packed my belongings and left Ames, Iowa without saying goodbye to anyone. I was too ashamed, and I couldn't stomach their endless questioning and sympathetic glances.

I arrived home to find my entire family waiting for me. What was supposed to be an adult discussion turned into an intense family quarrel. It went from my enlisting, to my mother's experiences—as a Vietnam wife, to my parents' divorce. In the end, everyone was angry at me.

Later, when the house was quiet, I wrote my family a goodbye letter and went to a hotel to stay for two days before I left for Florida.

Boot camp was a long and arduous experience that I don't care to ever re-live. Because I was the only recruit who refused to break down on opening day of boot camp, my CC had it in for me. In addition to enduring the standard recruit jobs, such as folding t-shirts so perfectly they resembled sliced bologna and cheese sandwiches, I had to handle constant harassment.

For me, it was more push-ups, less mealtime, more midnight watches.

Nothing I did was right.

My CC started calling me "Miss NAACP" (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and eventually allowed my shipmates to do the same.

Since there were only eight blacks in the entire company, I regarded that address as a racial insult.

I became rebellious and spent many nights doing push-ups at Intensive Training (IT).

When I finally visited the career counselor, I was in for a major disappointment. When I told him what the recruiter said about re-taking the science portion of the ASVAB test, he laughed heartily and mumbled under his breath, "Those lying squids."

He informed me that I couldn't re-take the ASVAB for another year.

He told me that the journalism rating was closed and nearly impossible to enter.

Up until that point I had confined any tears to my pillow at night and in my three-minute morning showers.

But this was the last straw. The possibility of journalism duty was the only thing that had kept me strong for four weeks at boot camp.

I exploded into tears, letting loose all my frustrations. After I'd calmed down, the counselor said that he would try to get me into an "A" or B Navy trade school. He seemed sincere enough, but then so had the boii squid of a recruiter.

After that, I was numb. I spoke only when spoken to, did whatever I was told and cried constantly.

Assuming she'd beaten me down, my CC renamed me "Wendy Whiner" and began hounding someone else.

My company graduated from boot camp in July with honors.

On liberty weekend, my shipmates went wild, carousing in bars and renewing their interrupted sex lives.

I went alone to Disney World and thought of my family and college friends. It was the loneliest time of my life.

This passage, and another pertaining to a hot tub experience in "titillating terminology" concerned parents at all community meetings. Input from these meetings will be considered by the Task Force in re-writing certain objectionable portions.

"I liked the curriculum with those lessons. I don't think parents should have been concerned, they don't seem too strong or blunt to me. Besides, some students need that bluntness, and all of them need that information--not just in high school, but for the rest of their lives," said Senior Sara Naaktgeboren, Task Force student representative.

District policy allows parents to remove their children from a class while controversial subjects are taught, and many have said that they will do so. To offset removal, alternate lessons will be designed by the Task Force. Naaktgeboren estimates 5% to 10% of the students will be pulled from classes.

Other parents have indicated following a stronger course of action, including court proceedings and permanent removal of their children from the district to avoid the curriculum altogether. However, this is a choice of the parents, not the students.

According to Senior Shannan Custer, a Task Force student representative, students have been very supportive of the program and welcome sex education in the school. Many don't receive the information at home and won't take the initiative to become well educated.

"Kids will like [the curriculum] because they'll feel respected. The material is basically open and honest, and treats us like mature young adults. Kids don't want to be talked down to, we just want someone to tell us these things straight," said Custer.

Over thirty students attended a School Board meeting on March 14. Their input, along with that of the community, will be considered by the Task Force in making changes to the curriculum.

The Board approved the curriculum for Kindergarten through th grade. Senior High lessons will be examined again and re-written.

Eventually the entire curriculum on Communication Skills and Sexually Transmitted Diseases will be adopted and put into use in the 1988-89 school year. However, the other four topics still have to go through the entire process.

Yet, this is the message a select group of parents advocated at a community evaluation of two sections of the curriculum developed by the Responsible Human Sexuality Task Force, Communication Skills and Sexually Transmitted Diseases.

Objections to the curriculum were primarily directed toward a lesson entitled "Conflicting Voices; Deciding About Sex." The lesson deals with all the possible messages which influence teenagers, ranging from abstinence to sexual activity. The underlying purpose is to help students realize that they alone—not their parents, peers, or other voices, are ultimately responsible for their sex and that options exist.

The parents opposing "Conflicting Voices" believe that some of the voices undermine the role of parents, contradict the values they teach their children, and promote engaging in sexual practices. Some of these parents merely suggested, while others demanded that the lesson either be excluded entirely or changed.

Even though the lesson is only included in the elective Lifestudies courses, and not in the required 10th grade health curriculum, some parents threatened to remove their children from health classes during the sexuality unit.

The Bison believes that these parents should be applauded for their concern and involvement in the curriculum, but also feels that their "just say no" proposal is an unrealistic solution to presenting a curriculum which promotes their values. Although "no" may be effective, teenagers often don't think of it, or maybe don't even want to say no.

"It's not just a matter of moralism anymore, or not just a matter of pregnancy anymore, it's a matter of life and death," said Pat Lind, Health Educator for Wright County, in a press conference.

Plain ignorance won't protect teenagers from the dangers involved in engaging in sex. If the school can't educate students, and parents aren't willing to educate their children on sex, who will be there to tell teenagers of the consequences that come from those nights in the backseat of their Oldsmobiles?

---
FROM HEARS THAT TALK: LESSON 1 WHAT EVERY TEEN SHOULD TELL THEIR PARENTS ABOUT THE FACTS OF LIFE:

IT ISN'T JUST A MATTER OF MORALISM ANYMORE, OR NOT JUST A MATTER OF PREGNANCY ANYMORE, IT'S A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH.

BESIDES, TIMES HAVE CHANGED. YOU NEED TO TALK ABOUT...

YOU ARE MORE THAN JUST SEX, MORE THAN JUST... MORE THAN JUST...

DATA CONTROLS EVERYTHING. WHY WON'T THEY CALL YOUR NAME?

The small nation of Nicaragua now aligned with the Soviet Bloc, threatens the security of the United States and its Central American allies.

That is the reality of Nicaragua--a nation that on March 17 sent 2,000 of its soldiers into neighboring Honduras to exterminate a band of Contras that no longer constitute a threat to the Soviet-backed regime in Nicaragua. To answer this case of international breaking and entering, the White House ordered 3,200 U.S. troops to Honduras as a sign of support for the Honduran government.

News of this was greeted by a rock throwing mob in Minneapolis that succeeded in demonstrating its noble cause of peace by trashing an armed forces recruitment office and potentially endangering the lives of people living in apartments above. If that is their method of forwarding peace, I would hate to see how they spread violence.

Since 1979 when Daniel Ortega's Sandinistas took power in Nicaragua, Soviet and Cuban military advisers and weapons have been brought to Nicaragua en masse and have in turn been exported by Nicaragua to groups of thugs intending to overthrow legitimate governments in Latin America, including El Salvador—where they nearly succeeded.

The United States must get the point across that it will not abandon its allies in Central America, the targets of unprovoked attacks by Nicaragua.

If Nicaragua wants to pick a fight they should pick a fight with the United States.

One of two solutions to this problem would be a complete answer to the question of democracy in Central America. One, a blockade of Nicaraguan ports to stop vessels bringing arms and advisers in or out of Nicaragua. Or, second, a full scale invasion of Nicaragua to remove Soviet and Cuban military personnel and the Sandinista government.

Some may consider these methods "extreme" but is this more extreme than the North Korean invasion of South Korea when the United States and the United Nations entered the Korean War to stop that? Or more "extreme" than the United States refusing to pay tribute to pirates in Tripoli after the American Revolution? Isn't the United States having to assist in defending Central American governments a form of tribute in itself? Or is it even more extreme than the Soviet Union invading Afghanistan and butchering its populace?

The United States is justified to not only go down to Honduras and flex a little muscle, but to answer Nicaragua's invasion with force.

"Good Morning Vietnam" is another movie adding to the growing list of Vietnam War movies. The only difference in this case is this is a war movie, comedy.

It's a comedy starring Robin Williams who plays the role of Adrian Conraner, a disc jockey for the armed forces in Saigon.

It isn't realistic and doesn't pretend to be. It's all Robin Williams.

A person cannot let all the subplots of this film tangle them up. Williams's comedy is the reason to see the film. At times it seems like one of his many stand up comedy concerts.

"Good Morning, Vietnam" was made as a comedy, but many times the drama replaces Williams's humor. That when the movie drags on a bit, the reason being that there are too many subplots. Conraner falls in love with a Vietnamese girl he can never be with, unknowingly befriends a terrorist, and works as a volunteer teacher.

But, hey, I'm not going to tell you about the whole movie.. If you want to find out what its all about then I suggest for you to go and see it for yourself. Remember, seeing is believing.

On a scale from one to ten, I rate it a seven, for the main reason that Williams is hilarious..

I recommend this film to anyone that loves comedies and would like to see an 80s version of MAS*H without the blood.

Public Displays of Affection, or "PDA" have become activities that need to be taken seriously, not with the tongue in cheek attitude adopted by students and faculty.

What exactly is a PDA? Four obvious examples come to mind: entangled limbs, intense hugging, flagrant kissing, and leech-inspired hickies. These four types of PDAs are usually regarded as inappropriate behavior in school and are often mocked, talked about, and interrupted.

Whereas, many types of socially acceptable PDAs exist in the school, they occur nearly everyday and need not provoke the responses of on-lookers. They include smiles, holding hands, giving flowers, a pat on the shoulder, and a firm handshake. A line needs to be drawn between acceptable and unacceptable PDAs. The question is, where?

Where indeed. For those whose level of discomfort in the five-foot radius of a reckless PDA measures Bison intolerant prude, The Bison suggests a set of rules to curb these offenses.

First, all kisses must be dry. Second, kisses may not exceed two seconds. Third, ogling is limited to the eyes and the tongue may not extend to the floor. Fourth, one hand must remain on books at all times. All faculty should be issued stop watches and PDA violator tickets. Punishment for gross infractions may include: suspension, detention, mandatory separation, cold showers, and required viewing of "Father Knows Best" or "The Waltons" reruns.

The lack of an official policy on PDAs leaves an opening for the Domino Effect to occur. Where holding hands leads to hugging, hugging leads to kissing, kissing leads to the downfall of Western Civilization.

If The Bison's suggestions are not stringent enough to keep PDA violations down during prom season, may we also suggest frequent violators be tagged with a scarlet A+.

To the Editor:
I always read the Bison from cover to cover. It is first-class writing compared to the school newspaper, Maple Leaves, I worked on way back when. My favorite column is Amy Weivoda's. I don't always understand where she's been or where she is going but it is imaginative, entertaining and makes me look at things in new ways. Amy is a treasure and I enjoy visiting with her. I hope her writing continues.

Marlene Stumpf

To the Editor:
By stating that Holtorf "should be more educated in writing newspaper articles" I simply meant that the way his comments appeared seemed very opinionated. And maybe he should be more careful not to upset others with his views. Not that being enrolled in BHS's journalism class and having six stories published in the Bison isn't something to stand up and take note of.

Having two opposite views in The Bison wasn't a good idea to me because I don't believe that people would get the "true meaning of punk". As I verified in the February 12th issue, some people did not understand my meaning. Punks just want to do what they have the right to do and not be criticized for doing so. I'm not saying that some people don't share Holtorf's view that punk is just "out-dated"; but others don't even give punks a chance because they are thought of as attention-seeking, drug addicts with funny haircuts who will give a fatal disease to anyone who happens to be too close.

I believe that even more people, if possible, would stay close-minded toward punks because now they have a reason to. Stating that it is "out-dated" just isn't appropriate. That's like saying Guess jeans are out dated and unstylish. They've been around for years but you still see people walking around in them.

Leslie Locke

"If you can stand the embarrassment it's o.k."
Laurie Christian, Freshman

"They should keep it in their own privacy and on their own time."
Doug Sutton, Senior

"It's o.k. as long as it doesn't go to far, maybe holding hands or arms around each other, but no hands in back pockets."
Leif Nygaard, Sophomore

To the editor:
Minnesota has quietly moved to a national leadership role in providing choices for its high school students. The public knows about the postsecondary options program, which allows students to take courses at colleges, universities, and technical institutes. Support for and participation in the program is strong. Interest also is strong in the open enrollment program, which allows students to attend high schools outside of the districts where they live.

But another choice initiative of great significance has not received the attention of those two programs--the high school graduation incentives program, which began last September.

"Incentives" allows students who have dropped out of high school--or those who are at risk of dropping out--to make a fresh start at another school district. When a student is frustrated by failure or alienation, he or she may need that fresh start in a new program with different teachers and students who may under- stand his or her needs.

Although the program is new this year, hundreds of students throughout the state are enrolled and have vastly increased their chances of getting a high school diploma by doing so. Great credit goes to the 1987 Minnesota Legislature for enacting the program. Students from 12 to 21 may be eligible if their circumstances qualify them for enrollment. They are eligible, for instance, if they fall behind in their studies, are pregnant, or are chemically dependent. Further details are available from the counseling/guidance department of your local school district.

I commend the educators who are working to make this choice possible for the youth of Minnesota--especially those in need of this type of option. Their future and ours are at stake.

Dr. Ruth E. Randall
Minnesota Education Commissioner

(Editor's note: For further information see the story on page 1)

"How much are educated men superior to those uneducated? As much as the living are to the dead."-- Aristotle

The public schools in America are being asked to handle more than ever before. And according to the experts, the statistics, and the educators, the system is less able then ever to accomplish the task.

In an age when "latch-key kids" are the norm, family structures fragmented, and kids growing up--or trying to--much faster then their parents did, the schools are being expected to provide far more then the "3 R's". The lessons taught by the home, church, and community in the past are now a vital necessity in public education. For many kids, the school is the only place to turn for help. Society turns to the education system for answers and solutions to every problem we face today. After all, Parents must intrust their children to the care of this institution. Logically they want and expect it to play the part of parent they are less able to in modern society.

But they also expect it to play the traditional role of educator. As the school takes on more social obligations, it must also retain its educational responsibilities.

In 1983 President Reagan appointed a committee to study the state of education in America. Some critics view the committees establishment as no more then a political move designed to help regain American dominance--or at least give a few reasons why we are not...

In an effort to keep ahead of educational breakthroughs and help advise the many changes ahead for the schools, District 877 recently hired Susan Hagstrum. Replacing Merill Fellger, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Hagstrum has worked with the district since July, 1987.

On March 18 she spoke to The Bison on the state of education in our schools.

Bison: How have Buffalo schools been affected by the 1983 "Nation at Risk" report? Has it promoted changes in the district?

Hagstrum: Yes, I think that it has. For one thing, it pleases me to see the general public is interested in education as it has been since those reports were published. From this view, those reports have been very positive. The problem with those reports is that they comment very generally on the state of education in America as compared to other countries.

I think because we have not competed as well in the trade markets in recent years, that's caused a lot of people grave concern. People were asking what is it that the Japanese are doing that we aren't, and they look immediately to education systems and the preparation that young people have for taking roles in society.

Bison: Do you think politics is the foundation of American educational reform?

Hagstrum: I think so. The last time there was a big push about education not being up to date in America was in the 60s. I was in school myself and I remember Sputnik and a lot of things that happened then, many years prior to your birth. Then the big push was that we weren't doing enough in the sciences and so there was a proliferation of a lot of science curriculums. But making that specific to Minnesota, I think for many years this state has been one of the top states for education: we spend more per capita on education than almost any state in the union.

Bison: I just came across a fact that surprised me, however, that Minnesota has the highest dropout rate in the nation. How do you account for this? (See StarTribune, March 8, 1988. Page 1B)

Hagstrum: I'm not sure about that statistic and I'd be surprised if that were really accurate. I'm not sure we have a drop out rate as high as some of the cities, New York for instance. I'd have to see the statistics.

Bison: Do you think perhaps this is caused by tracking, as recent trends in education focus on "Academic Achievers"-- might a large number of students who aren't the brightest be neglected by the system?

Hagstrum: Well, it could be. You asked me specifically about where we are in Buffalo. Buffalo has a reputation for being very metropolitan in our character. In terms of the curriculum we offer, its very advanced. We're probably further along in our development because our district and our school board has made a commitment to that, then many districts in the metropolitan area.

However, we also feel that it's important to make choices about improving our system. You mentioned the issue of tracking. One of the things that we're making changes in next year is the way we serve young children. We used to have several options that were available for kindergarten and first grade students. We had a pre-kindergarten program, then kindergarten, and a Readiness program we will have for one more year.

I just described a program that was tracked for students. In the future we will be serving students in regular, general classrooms without separating them into groups. There is a big trend in that direction today.

Others look at it as a legitimate, necessary and beneficial move. Neither side can deny, however, that the findings of the National Commission on Excellence in Education point to a very accurate scene in education today. A scene in need of a severe reorganization.

The report begins: "Our nation is at risk.... The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and as a people..."

The report went on to criticize particular aspects of the system and address the issues affecting it. No action or assistance from the government came from their studies in 1983. The reports did bring about some results, however. Since their publication, the American people have become more aware of educational practices and deficiencies. They have become more willing to find solutions to the problem they see. Administrations, teachers, and parents are working towards a more efficient school system, viewing it as a foundation and starting place for improvement.

As the nation becomes more complex, the problems arising from this become incorporated in the schools. The problems affecting youth and society are the problems the school is expected to solve. Issues such as drug use, crime, poverty, and teen-pregnancy are among the schools new responsibilities.

Society's downfalls are just as prevalent and even emphasized in the schools as they are on the streets. Racism for instance, compromises the obligation to provide equality in the schools, and in failing to do so, create binds that force injustice to continue outside the school walls.

Beyond racial inequity, the committee found heavy discrepancies in the quality of education students receive in a homogeneous student body. The practice of "tracking" came under heavy attack when research showed students in lower groups were receiving an education greatly inferior to the high track curriculums.

Each year the school system graduates functional illiterates. Many other students--as many as 25% nationally-- don't graduate at all. As a result, the school becomes responsible for problems such as poverty and unemployment. Solutions need to be found, and in order to keep up with progress and adequately prepare young people for a highly complex world, the school must change soon.

The solution lies in many areas.

Considering the drastic changes occurring from decade to decade, education has changed very little since the 1800's. In order to update an outdated institution, every aspect must be considered. The education a child receives before school must be examined. The education available after graduation-- and how to prepare students for it-- must be considered. And most importantly, the education the schools provide during those thirteen years must be examined closely and changed completely, or the are schools are indeed in danger, and will fail their purpose: to educate.

His name is Joe Clark, a 48 year old principal of Eastside high school in Paterson, New Jersey, a city with a population of 410,000. Arriving at the school in 1982, from being a former Army Reserve sergeant, he took quick action.

He put an end to the marijuana smoke that blew out of broken windows and to the graffiti that marred the walls. Clark chained doors against pushers and threatened any strays near the school with a 36 inch baseball bat, according to Time magazine, February 1st, 1988.

He also threw out 300 students on a single day in his first year. Clark calls such students "leeches and parasites" and went on to throw out several hundred more over the years. For Joe Clark, discipline is the ultimate tenet of education.

"I don't think getting that tough is the answer," said Lloyd Styrwoll, Assistant Principal.

Styrwoll defines his role at BHS as an opportunity to get involved with the judgmental mistakes students make.

"He's (Joe Clark) really an interesting guy, somewhat of a publicity seeker," said Principal Nick Miller.

"I see his way of dealing with problems as a bit short termed."

According to Miller, a principal can bring the hammer down on a group of individuals and gain some short term results, however a principal can gain long term results if he or she builds a relationship with these individuals. What Clark has done is eliminated anyone that has caused him a problem.

Restructuring the days, years, and the system itself is a idea many districts are seriously considering. Changing teaching styles or requirements for teaching are another aspect under review. Besides the traditional classroom teacher, or even the traditional classroom, education will become the responsibility of outside sources as well. The role of the student is being redefined. And the responsibilities and requirements of the students are getting tougher. Technology is playing a greater and greater role in the educational process. Students are not only being prepared for a technological world, but by one.

"When you have students with significant problems, you have to work with that student and help him or her to cope with the problem. That is what we emphasize- we don't want everyone to drop out because where are they going to go? Kicking them out onto the street has not solved anything for the student- it solves only problems for the principal," said Miller. "As an educational leader, a principal has a role to support staff members, and make sure they meet student needs."

"He's kind of an interesting character," said Miller. "I don't see a principal as a person who tries to tie everything together so that the community feels good about the school, and students and instructors feel good about the school."

"He's (Joe Clark) really an interesting guy, somewhat of a publicity seeker," said Miller. "I don't see his way of dealing with problems as a bit short termed."

"He's kind of a John Wayne type guy - he's being used, a motivator, a public relations expert, and an advocate for the students."

"I see his way of dealing with problems as a bit short termed," said Miller. "When you have students with significant problems, you have to work with that student and help him or her to cope with the problem. That is what we emphasize- we don't want everyone to drop out because where are they going to go? Kicking them out onto the street has not solved anything for the student- it solves only problems for the principal."

"He's kind of a John Wayne type guy - he's being used, a motivator, a public relations expert, and an advocate for the students."

Hagstrom: Well, one of the things we're doing in the high school is offer course opportunities to students. There is a building schedule advisory committee meeting to explore two possibilities of altering our schedule to provide those students who are interested with options.

Bison: You've mentioned changes for younger children. But how will this affect the high school?

Hagstrom: Do you mean options in totally new areas?

Bison: No--just the opportunity to take more courses. I think we're offering a rich array of courses but we need to give students more availability to those. And one immediate solution that comes to mind would be something several high schools in the area are doing, which is to have a seven hour day. I don't know that we'll do that. I don't know that it's possible but we're exploring. We're also reviewing our foreign language curriculum and exploring the possibility of adding Spanish. We're not sure this we'll do that but we're studying that issue.

Bison: In recent years, schools have been faced with every issue concerning society and held responsible for solving them. Do you think this draws away from academic teaching? What do you think the purpose of the public school is and should be?

Hagstrom: I think you hit the nail right on the head. We are being pressured to accommodate a lot now, and that the nature of a public institution, which we are. As an institution, a school has to respond to a number of stakeholders. What I mean by that is, there are a lot of people who have stakes in the school, not just parents, not just students, but people in the community who have an interest in what goes on in society. In response to your question, we developed a Mission Statement, and I believe I had significant part in developing this statement. We worked with a committee of people and gathered input from all staff--cooks, custodians, everyone, and we believe, as an organization, that the purpose of this school district is to produce independent life-long learners. I think bottom line is that we need to teach students how to learn, because they're going to keep learning all their lives.

Bison: Do you think as we tend towards teaching values and social areas of education, we are moving away from teaching academics--the basics?

Hagstrom: Probably not. If you've taken Mr. Ause's class you know he teaches specific facts, but also gives you good experience. I witnessed a sample Nuremberg trial. Students were learning a lot of different skills, academic and self-esteem enhancing skills.

Bison: How supportive do you think the administration is of innovative teachers like Mr. Ause-- would they encourage more to teach like him?

Hagstrom: I don't think so. Mr. Ause and his style is good only for a certain minority of students. We have other constituencies for whom we must be responsible. We have a very large student body with a multitude of interests and I think it is our responsibility to respond to all of them.

Bison: Well that's a part of the structure.

Hagstrom: It varies from school to school, but we have a Faculty Senate where teachers would have an opportunity to participate in decisions made about things going on in school. There's also a leadership team responsible for staff development, so I think we're moving in the direction of more participation from teachers, although they probably think they need more.

Bison: Do teachers have a say in how they teach or do they just take orders from higher powers? How do you deal with a "bad" teacher in the system--or don't you?

Hagstrom: Oh, I think we do. We have a performance review system where administration reviews their performance and offers suggestions for improvement. We also have a system of tenure where teachers are protected from arbitrary and capricious administrative behavior and so once a teacher has been through the three year probationary period we confident that they are good for us and our system. There are some teachers who students, I'm sure, don't like very much and there are some who have personality conflicts with the administration and these things are worked out.

Bison: Beyond personality matters--if a teacher is incompetent and students recognize it, how do you tell them they are stuck with it, denied the education they are entitled to because of a tenure matter?

Hagstrom: Well, if a teacher is grossly incompetent...we have fired teachers in the past, but I don't think it is appropriate for a student or group of students to decide if a teacher is competent or not.

Bison: How about a "bad" student? How do you deal with people who hate school, distract learning, and don't want to be here--but are?

Hagstrom: We have an obligation to all students. They have individual strengths and needs. The needs of a troubled student are greater then the needs of an editor on the school paper. We have special programs to meet these needs. The ones we cannot place in programs we provide for elsewhere.

Slavery is but one half abolished, emancipation is but one half completed, while millions of freemen with votes in their hands are left without education.

Kids are divided into four swimming classes at Camp Buckskin, in Isabella Minnesota. Those with exceptional ability are placed with other "Walleyes", average swimmers are called "Sunfish", poor swimmers are "Minnows", and the non-swimmers and water-phobics are lumped together as "Rocks".

BHS has its own "Rocks" and "Walleyes."

In education the practice of grouping students by ability is called "tracking." District 877, as well as most area schools, is prevalent in using the technique, especially in grade school reading groups. However, according to Director of Curriculum Susan Hagstrum, the trend is to move away from ability grouping.

Recent scrutiny of educational techniques pin-points it as a main problem area; once a well accepted standard in education, tracking is now a major candidate for revision in the movement towards educational reform.

When schooling became mandatory in the 1800s educators faced the problem of teaching a large and varied group of students. School was no longer a privilege of the wealthy and intelligent; students now came from a wide spectrum of backgrounds and abilities. Thus tracking developed as a method to reach all areas of the large student body.

The system's merits touch both students and educators. For teachers, tracking eased the pressure of teaching a large group of varying ability levels. Also, from the standpoint of meeting academic needs, it was seen as the most efficient method of individually teaching large student bodies.

For students, tracking is intended to promote learning and achievement by placing them in groups closest to their individual abilities. In these groups they are taught at a level they can access easily. They are also separated from contact with other students in different tracks. Educators previously believed students suffered from such contact with different track students--the best and the brightest suffered from bad influences and the worst and dimmer would feel inferior.

New research, however, indicates that tracking not only fails to promote learning or serve the individual, but in fact lowers the quality of education for most students.

Nearly all schools deliberately or unconsciously track students. The most commonly tracked classes are math and English, areas traditionally tracked in BHS schools. Generally students are first tracked in the first and second grade when reading groups are established. The group a student is placed in at this time will, in most cases, be the track they follow throughout their education, as low track curriculums lock students into these placements by denying them the knowledge required to advance.

At BHS, math classes are deliberately tracked by the teachers. In English, however, students tend to track themselves. High track English classes include Novel, Journalism, Advanced Composition, and Advanced Placement English. The college bound track logically gravitates towards these courses, as well as the non-required science courses, such as Chemistry and Physics. Others are going next-door for vocational classes. One choice is not necessarily better than the other, but early tracking almost limits students from choosing one over the other by controlling access to information within tracks.

Exposure to different information not only keeps students within the educational track; it also can indicate the general direction a students future will take. Different tracks ultimately gear students towards different careers. High tracked students are prepared for college and high paying, professional jobs. Medium tracks head towards average jobs and little post-secondary education. The low tracks funnel students directly into the workforce. This compromises a basic goal of education; to provide students with the equal education needed for equal opportunities in life.

Instead of providing students with an equal education, tracking seems to widen the differences between them, and provide only those students in the high tracked curriculum with great advantages.

In accordance with the trend in "academic excellence," limited funds are focused on the high track, as these students produce immediate results, namely PR and capital gains for the school.

Low tracked students are seldom given the same advantages because, politically and economically, low-performance students are a bad investment. Instead of an equal education, they are given one that sets them at a disadvantage for the rest of their life. Frequently it is the least advantaged students--poor and minority children--that are placed in this position, thus emphasizing the inequities they already face.

In fact, according to a October 1986 Phi Delta Kappan article by Social Scientist Jeannie Oakes, tracking originally helped institutionalize stereotyped beliefs about class and race differences in intellectual ability.

On a more immediate level, tracking negatively effects students by reducing self-esteem, lowering IQ scores, and fostering negative attitudes towards school, education, and authority. Their high tracked classmates are given an education that develops qualities leading to success and achievement.

The disparity tracks promote is obvious even in the differences in classroom set-up. In separate tracks students have access to different types of knowledge and different opportunities to develop intellectual skills. High track students are exposed to topics and skills required for college, such as research, writing skills, critical thinking, and vocabulary found on college entrance exams. Low track students complete basic worksheets, write simple sentences, and practice filling out job applications. They focus on memorization, rather than thinking, and mediocrity rather than achievement.

Teachers also contribute to the differences. High track teachers are found to be more enthusiastic, organized, innovative, and clearer in instruction. They grade in a manner relevant to student learning, give more homework, and set aside more time for learning, while low track teachers are often more concerned with classroom procedures and discipline problems. They expect little of their students and set large amounts of time at the end and beginning of class for socializing.

Ironically, it is the students most in need of good teaching who are least likely to receive it.

Tracking is clearly a system advantageous to some students, but as the high track represents only 30-35% of a total student body, it is clearly a system that buys the success of few at the expense of many. Educators are beginning to realize equality is as important as achievement in education, and many schools are looking for alternatives.

Next year Buffalo schools will implement the grade school reading program with a new "Metropolitan Reader Program" designed to reach a heterogeneous group of students. Although the students will not be placed in groups, they will be provided with options if they need help in certain areas, or wish to advance beyond their classmates.

"Whether you call them Redbirds, Blackbirds, Crows, Buzzards, or Bluebirds, students know when they're in the high group or the low group. We want to be able to group kids flexibly, depending on the particular skills they need, but still be able to keep them all together...I think we are definitely moving away from tracking in Buffalo and that is a good thing," said Hagstrum.

Seventy percent of mainstream teachers surveyed thought that academic standards at BHS have stayed the same as five years ago. The standards have lowered the level of student achievement, according to social Studies teacher John Ause.

"The emphasis has gone away from real learning or thinking and moved toward passing tests and students valuing high grades on report cards," said biology teacher Boyd Emmel.

"Kids haven't gotten lazier and dumber; educators have backed off and lowered requirements of students," said history teacher Susan Sodeman. "There should be a classical, traditional, basic body of knowledge that each student needs to have."

Some classes are challenging, but overall teachers surveyed thought BHS is average. As a whole BHS has a grade point average around a B- which is barely above a C, the average grade.

Three out of ten teachers surveyed thought that academic standards are tougher now than five years ago.

Teachers are more comfortable with setting standards, said one teacher. There are teachers who are making higher standards in their own class rooms by using different methods of teaching.

"Classes should be more difficult and technical, the students can handle it if they study and are serious high school students," said biology and anatomy teacher Dave Fiedler.

The state legislature considered and turned down a bill for an 11:30 p.m. curfew for working high school students, claiming there was not enough support. As a result, many students still work past midnight to earn the extra buck.

Being popular, having a social life, and wearing fashionable clothes are just a few advantages of having a job. But along with working comes responsibilities-- such as learning to manage money, develop job skills, working relationships, organization, and time management.

According to Counselor Nick Bakken, when a student works, it takes time away from their schoolwork and social life, and having money encourages students to spend it rather then to save it.

"There is a time for work and a time for school and schoolwork, and when a student starts taking their schoolwork time away to add more time to their work, then the balance of time management is upset, and something usually suffers--usually it's the homework," said Nick Bakken, Counselor.

Bakken said that there are three main types of students in the high school.

First, the college-bound students who don't work as many hours in order to keep their grade point average up and bank most of their earnings for college and the future.

Next, there are the students that haven't decided what they are going to do later on in life: Before these students get jobs, their grades are generally above average. But after they start working their grades drop to average or below average.

Third, there are the students that really don't care about their grades at all so they get jobs for the money to spend or even worse--to support a drug habit. These students end up working 30 to 40 hours a week.

"It is a lot easier to support a drug habit when you have a job than it is when you're in an activity, for the main reason that with a job you get paid, and people like coaches and fellow teammates aren't hovering over you and watching every move you make," said Junior Jim Quigley.

Students end up working late, then come to school the next day half-awake or unprepared for class.

Employers can offer solutions, such as limiting late hours, and keeping track of grades-- if they stay up then the student should be allowed to work and if they fail then the student should be put on a lighter schedule or be taken off completely until their grades improve.

Some students find their satisfaction and reward in sports, activities, and school, while others get it from working.

"Students find more satisfaction and reward from a job," said Junior Colleen Smith, former kennel attendant, "because of the main reason of--they get paid for it."

But there is reward and satisfaction a student can receive from school; and that is a high school diploma. A student can enhance their learning to get a better paying job in the future.

Students who don't work actually do work; schoolwork. They realize that it is a full-time job and it is a priority one. Working students often end up with two part-time jobs, school being one of them.

The Supreme Court's weapon against racism in education is a new school busing policy. Racism is the practice of discriminatory behavior towards other racial and cultural groups.

Institutional racism is when prejudicial and discriminatory action or policies are employed by institutions such as schools, businesses, and other organizations. Black and other minority groups lack educational opportunities.

In the 1950's, the Supreme Court began to grant equal protection under the law to black and other minority groups in states where segregation was practiced. The Supreme Court ordered that these schools be integrated. By 1970, every state had at least some integrated schools.

Many northern and western states have no segregation laws but have segregated schools. Many black individuals in these states live in all black communities and their children attend an all black school. Also many white individuals in these states live in all white communities and their children attend an all white school.

In the early 1970's, federal courts ordered that these schools become racially balanced. As a consequence, many local school boards ordered the busing of students from one neighborhood to another. In 1971, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of busing.

Many parents felt that their children should have the right to attend the school nearest the child's home and busing projects in various parts of the nation brought opposition from these parents.

The Supreme Court, in 1974, prohibited the busing of students across school district lines.

In 1975, however, the Supreme Court upheld a plan in Delaware to bus students between the primarily black inner-city to the primarily white suburbs.

The program had begun in 1978, with much opposition.

In 1982, the Supreme Court had apparently became more moderate in its position on busing. It upheld a state court ruling to reduce a previously court-ordered pattern of busing in Los Angeles.

Black parents may be becoming disillusioned with America's school systems.

There is an another obstacle in the pursuit of equal education and that is segregation within the school. In schools throughout the nation, academic classes tend to be predominately white while classes that are designed for slow readers and classes that teach skills tend to be predominately black.

The task for providing an equal education for all of Americans citizens is a task that many feel is far from complete.

According to the First Amendment everyone in the United States has the right to free speech and the freedom of expression. But according to the Supreme Court, this doesn't include students.

According to John Ause, Social Studies teacher, "The court, I think, misinterprets the Constitution, if they restrict student expressions in the schools, specifically the Hazelwood case."

There are laws on education and student rights, but the courts must determine how far they reach in the educational process.

"There is already a court ruling that was made back-in 1969 called the Tinker case which was on student expression. Some people ironically felt that case gave students unlimited expression. And that's not what the case said, what the case said was in those instances where student expression disrupts the educational process, then it can be restricted. That test seemed to work very well all the way up until the time of the Hazelwood case. What happened in the Hazelwood case is that the principal prohibited the publication and therefore imposed prior restraint. He prohibited the publication before there was an opportunity to see whether it would disrupt the educational process or not. He also justify what he was doing as a part of the maintaining order in the school. He just pulled it for a whole variety of reasons. And so I guess I would say that's how far the courts should be able to intrude upon student expressions in the school, to the educational process," said Ause.

Student rights are for the most part based on the amendment. Laws on education are made up by the courts. These can be tested.

In October of 1987, the Supreme Court heard the case of Hazelwood vs. Kuhlmeier in which student editors fought against the censorship of "The Spectrum." The paper was a part of the school's journalism curriculum and not a public forum; it was not covered by the thorough First Amendment protection.

If these kinds of rulings continue, what kind of effect can it have on education? What kinds of standards will be put on students?

Ause said, "A chilling effect... it may be teaching the truthful lesson of the world and how it actually is. And that is that a lot of people guard their comments, and worry about what other people will think rather than speaking the truth. But that isn't what we should be teaching kids, and I think that will have in the long run it will only have a bad affect. I think that we'll begin to see is worse than principals coming in and censoring school newspapers, we'll see students censoring the paper themselves. In writing the article they will be thinking in their minds, 'Now will this offend somebody? And if it does offend somebody shouldn't I just leave it out?'... I think the self-censorship will be the more serious problem."

Although there have been restrictions, on the other hand, students rights have been upheld. In 1969, the Tinker vs. Des Moines case dealing with student rights of political expression ruled, "Students do not, leave their rights on the doorstep-when they enter the schoolhouse door."

"The worse case scenario is that anything that a student writes offends a faculty member or offends school administration, or offends a schoolboard member, or offends some influential group of students, might be restricted. And that could go for the student expression of student opinion as well as news articles. Restricting expression in any instance is bad," said Ause.

From now on, it could be more difficult for high school journalists to print stories on issues considered controversial. Education as a whole is affected by the past, present, and possibly future rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court and the other courts in this country.

From the Olympics in Calgary to BHS's own teams, purity in sport is tough to find. Most of the time.

The Special Olympics, however, is a year round training program for handicapped or mentally retarded individuals whether they are children, young adults, or adults getting together to do some of the things the athletes in the regular olympics.

But they keep in mind that everyone participating can be a winner. And if they didn't receive first, second, or third place that's OK. They're at least going out there and trying to do their personal best.

The Special Olympics started in 1968 and has continued for twenty years. Lori Steenstra, Special Olympics coach said. "I've been coaching Special Olympics (at BHS) for three years and I think it's...been here for seven years now."

Twenty to twenty-five students participate said TMH teacher Lori Fildes.

Buffalo offers five sports for mentally and/or physically handicapped. "In the fall we have the swimming and gymnastics, then in the winter we offer the cross-country ski program, and inbetween the winter and the spring is the bowling," said: Lori Steenstra, adapted phy-ed teacher and Special Olympics Coach.

Track and Field

"In the spring there is the athletics, or the track and field event, which will have [dates]. The reason they call it athletics is because there are other sports involved with it."

Training always starts at least four to six weeks before each event, as Steenstra said. "We can't just throw in there without any training. This helps with their confidence and skill level too."

Most of all of the participants in the Special Olympics are involved in the track and field events. Steenstra said that track and field offers many events for many different abilities. "If you're not ambulatory you can participate in the softball throw or the frisbee throw. Or if you're a good runner they have relays and running events."

Bowling is one of the Special Olympics as described by Fildes. "The State Bowling Tournament happened on March 25" and several area schools participated. "I think most people participate in bowling. I've got one that participates, I'm hopefully going to get into the five years--and she's really honing. She's wacky, and I nominated her for the international games next year."

YARC important

YARC plays a very important role in preparations for Special Olympics.

"The way the YARC group is involved is...they are offered the opportunity to help out, help Lori Steenstra during her practices, said Fildes. "For swimming I had five or six of my YARC people that volunteered to go into the pool and help the students train for the meets. And then a couple of them ended up going along to the area meet, and a few of them went on to the state meet."

Any BHS student can join YARC and volunteer to help out. "Not only do they help out with the practices or the meets, but with the big track and field meet that we host in May," said Fildes. YARC volunteers during the May Track and Field day do everything from blowing up helium balloons to serving refreshments to showing movies to the Special Olympians. "They also took some time to go out on the track and give hugs and encouragement to the students who are participating."

Fildes continued, "But they all had a really larger job in the special events. A time on a committee or group is responsible for entertaining two-hundred [people]."

All of the Special Olympics participants, including the volunteers, has a good effect on everyone who participates.

"The whole philosophy is to go out there and compete and try to do the same kinds of things the athletes do in the regular olympics, but with the thought in mind that they are all there for a reason. They all just finish the meet. To place first, if that's important to them, to maybe increase their speed by one second--they're all there to accomplish one goal and that's not necessarily to be the best but to participate, and to finish," said Fildes.

Fildes adds: "I think they all feel they real special whether they have a gold medal around their neck, a bronze medal, or whether they have a participation ribbon."

Steenstra agrees. "I think it's real motivating for them, it's a real positive thing for them. I guess the thing I emphasize most is the participating and finishing out your race. Everybody gets an award of some type."

Like their BHS counterparts, socializing rates high for their reasons why they participate.

"I guess the most positive thing about it [Special Olympic events] is, I think it helps develop their self-esteem because they are learning and meeting new friends," said Steenstra. "And it's a real social thing for them too because at most meets there's a lot of other things happening besides just running your race, which is the most important thing, of course."

"But," said Steenstra, "there's always a dance to look forward to for them."

The spirit of sports sounds different for Special Olympians, than for regular BHS teams or professional sports. It sounds purer when everyone is a winner.

People dance in the center of the room, music fills the air. Teenagers move to the beat, everyone to their own individual dance. A typical party. There are even the typical chaperones standing like wallflowers around the room. Everyone looks like they're having a good time. One of the students is dancing, but their partner is in a wheelchair. Another is aided by a walker.

This scene, in the special education room, is a common one. One where the mainstream and the mentally and/or physically handicapped mix, openly and freely.

Ten, twenty; or thirty years ago this scene would have been a oddity, there wouldn't have been "normal" people there. The mentally handicapped would not be in a public school, but rather in a institution, or a special school. These people, because of their handicaps were feared, hated, and even thought to be contagious.

In the last five to six years because of an increasing awareness of the mentally handicapped, and because of deinstitutionalization legislation, the mentally handicapped aged fourteen to twenty-one years old were put into public high schools to be taught how to live in the real world.

A small group, knows as the Youth Association for Retarded Citizens, (YARC), consisting of BHS students and one adviser, Lori Fildes, spend many hours with the BHS's mentally handicapped students. They play, teach and learn with them by helping the teachers and attending many special events, such as the Special Olympics, parties, award ceremonies, etc.

"The main goal is to get the mainstream student population in the normal high schools in here working," said Lori Fildes, YARC adviser, and Special Education director.

According to the twenty to twenty-five students in YARC, there are many reasons to join. Some have relatives who are mentally handicapped. Others just want to learn how to share themselves in a special way with these kids. "The friendships we make ... it's really special," said YARC member Lori Johnson.

Sophomore Amy Heath commented, "Knowing you can help someone else makes you feel good."

In the present Special Education program there are about twenty students. For each student there are four main objectives.

The first objective is domestic living. The students are taught personal hygiene, cooking, and cleaning. In short, all the skills needed to keep up an apartment or home.

The second objective is vocational. Many of the students will need some way to support themselves after high school. In this area they are taught whatever skills needed for various jobs, for example; custodial, assembly, etc.

Objective three is leisure. The students are taught games, sports, crafts, and how to play in a group.

The fourth objective and last objective is community awareness. For example, grocery shopping, banking, eating out at restaurants.

Many of the students are creative, outside of school. Some belong to Boy Scouts, some have joined a local ARC, some go to swimming or aerobics class.

Despite physical or mental handicaps, this group still manages to have fun on St. Patrick's Day.

The Bison Boys Varsity Tennis team has seven returning lettermen including four singles players and three doubles players leaving three positions on the Varsity squad to be filled before their opening match.

Leading the returning players will be #1 seeded singles player Sophomore Adam Cohen. "He is a force to be reckoned with," said Co-Head Coach Charlie Keifenheim. Cohen says he wants to "make it to State and win conference."

Other returning team members are: Senior Co-Captains Todd Nelson (Doubles) and Dave Gervasio (Singles), Seniors Trent Weber (Doubles) and Mark Radzwill (Singles), Junior Jeff Wagner (Doubles), and Sophomore Knute Nelson (Singles).

Gervasio has a specific view of his role as a captain. "Captains are a communication between the coaches and the team. Having coaches communicate through captains to the team helps resolve problems peacefully," said Gervasio.

There will be a new twist in the coaching system this year for tennis. Gerry Bakke and Keifenheim will act as Co-Head Coaches.

"I like the idea of co-coaches. You can learn from both of them and it distributes the responsibility evenly between them," said Wagner.

"I believe we'll improve upon last year's record," said Keifenheim. They finished with a 6-9 record in '87.

The coaches and team alike feel they can compete with any of the teams in the conference. However, Hutchinson and Orono seem to be the early favorites.

The team's first match will be at St. Cloud Cathedral, April 5. Their first home match will also be their first in conference: against Chaska, April 14.

Sophomore Melissa Barth (right) and Junior Cheryl Peterson (above) along with other athletes have begun preparation for the '88 season.

If your a sports fan, the month of March has been nutty. So much has happened, it's been hard to keep up. And yet, by now, it's old news and early April doesn't promise much either.

So let's try this--what would happen if we crossed Sid Hartman with Olive Ebert?

This:

I still can't believe Edina won the State Hockey Tournament. Of course when you can spend outrageous amounts of money on camps and equipment for your players you should have a half way decent program. Ya sure. I was pulling for Warroad the whole way. I'm sick of seeing the Edinas, Hill Murrays, and Bloomingtons dominate. Ah well, maybe next year.

Then Edina had the gall to go and win the Girls State Basketball Tournament. It would have been nice to see Buffalo there but you have to admit they got beat out by one heck of a Hutch team. Fortunately for the Bison they have Juniors Stacy Carver and Debbie Wermager returning and they won't have to see the likes of Hutch's Senior Guard Kris Hoeft anymore.

Remember that awful snow storm on the way back from Mankato State University? I thought I'd never see a plaid shirt again. Uffda.

Then there was that crazy NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. With Danny Manning leading the way with 31 points and 18 rebounds, Kansas upset Oklahoma playing the Sooners' kind of game fast-breaking up and down the court. I'm so glad the defending champs, Syracuse, got knocked off by Rhode Island. They're such a bunch of whine-buckets, especially their center Las Seikally.

Does anybody really care about the North Stars or the Strikers? I know I sure do. I try to catch them on TV but I have so much to do, like watching dust deposits form in the corners of my bedroom ceiling or picking lint off my socks. Oh. What a fun night for a family. First a North Stars or Strikers game then maybe a quick bite to eat at the Tom Thumb deli. You betcha Ken. I really hate to say it, but I'm glad the North Stars didn't make it into the playoffs. It would've been embarrassing for the whole state of Minnesota. The team isn't even anywhere near the .500 mark, no make that the .250 mark.

Is there any question the Boston Celtics are going to win the NBA Championship? I don't think so. The Celtics just have too many guns from outside. Danny Ainge has one of the leagues best three point shooting percentages and Larry Bird's performances in the last two three point shooting contests held during the All-Star Break speak for itself. Nuff said.

Just because we've got New Coke, plaid bellbottoms and extra-strength Ban de Soleil, modern man thinks he's pretty cool.

We've also got mass pollution, nuclear weapons, and a war in Central America. Personally, I'd rather be a cockroach. Or a turtle. Or a mosquito. Those guys have it made.

A cockroach can survive food poisoning, mass disease, a few dishwasher cycles, and nuclear war--everything, in fact, except for a night in a hotel. Invincible, but gross.

All the decent animals are being murdered, driven from their homelands, or ground-up to make paint, glue, and Knox-Blocks.

What's the joy in being a wild horse anymore? You can't get too wild in .2 acres. Or a bird--the air is full of smoke and the water of oil. A snake can't slither across a lawn without getting a manicured by a Snapper riding lawnmover. You can't even be a dog anymore, in a nation that claims to be seething with dog-lovers.

A Minneapolis jerk threatened to dip a dog in gasoline and torch it at a peace demonstration last week. Somehow, there's got to be a problem with priorities when a man protests a war by igniting a puppy. I guess that does make a pretty strong statement about human cruelty.

Society finds it fully acceptable to exploit the earth and all its creatures-- by eating them, wearing them, squashing them, microwaving them, taming them, and wasting them.

Every now and then--for instance when a species we actually recognized is driven to extinction--mankind feels a tinge of remorse. So he creates Zoos.

It's Ok to kill a thousand Snow Leopards if there are still six to pen up and feed Alpo. And then if a brand new one is born in captivity--why how wonderful of mankind to engineer such a scientific breakthrough.

Zoos not only alleviate the guilt of mankind, but serve as a reminder of our origins. If even Sylvester Stallone didn't evolve from a monkey, there is something about them not too different then Mr. Neanderthal Man, who is us right now, only in the Flintstone era. Neanderthal type people didn't really sit around watching game shows and eating Bronto Burgers. They weren't quite smart enough. Also, television hadn't been invented yet. Cave-kids had to lasso flies with their hair and take them out for a fly.

If you want to know the way it really was, I'll tell you. I wasn't there or anything but I know anyway. The average caveman spent his days hunting animals which were not dinosaurs and bopping his neighbor on the head with a rock. Or a stick, if he was particularly bright. Which he wasn't. Brightness in cavemen can be determined by one simple test: can you invent fire? Only one guy passed. And that guy was a woman, of course.

Except for her, mankind on a grand scale was a pretty sorry situation. And a pretty pusillanimous one to boot. If B.F. days, (Before Fire) the entire civilization crept to their caves at Five o'clock. They weren't tired--they were scared. Of everything.

Modern man still is, except he plays cool--or dumb--to hide it.

A possible explanation for the cruelty inflicted on animals is revenge. A million years ago an ancestor of the mink ate our ancestors' last Bison burger and spit on the fire. So in revenge, we turn his modern relatives into ear-muffs. Pusillanimous mankind feared all animals. Modern mankind, with his traps, guns, and snowmobiles, fears no animals. But he does retain some traces primordial insecurity, as well as primordial instincts. To fight and kill animals is probably one. Even I, who grieves over road kills, suffer from this instinct. I am not actually guilty of murder, but I do admit to thinking about it.

Here's the scoop:

Four weeks ago, on my bed, trying to write a column. In desperation, I coasted through my vast repertoire of barfing stories (I have a lot of good barfing stories--not my own because I never barf) but last issue I over-exercised my talents in bad taste so I can't rely on that. My mind began to melt. Sorry--I just don't do originality.

As the wee hours approached, I entered a comatose state. Not Iowa. Or Washington D.C. At the edge of my peripheral vision, I glimpsed, hanging by a thread, fangs bared maliciously, a humongous spider. He seems suspended in midair, appearing from nowhere. Or maybe Heaven. You never can tell--God moves in mysterious ways. Philosophy of the day: all spiders are really dead people. A rather gross variation on Michealangelo angels.

Anyhow, the nightmare is getting closer. The closer he gets, the bigger he looks. By now, he is almost as big as a needle-eye. Magnified. I leap up, in a cold sweat, practically having a whole apoplexy. Two choices are evident:

1) Croak of fear.
2) Croak him.

I am braver than I really am. I really am. But I'm rather annoyed--the little creep is walking all over my oxygen supply. So I tried to hairspray him to death. Non-aerosally. He disappeared before I found any though, so I haven't killed. Yet..

That was my primordial instincts at work. Two million years ago it would have been a Tyrannasaurus. Or a forager from a neighboring tribe. Or Ronald Reagan.

To transitionalize this, I'll drag out some Contempt Lit. archetypes. It it ain't man against man, it's man against animal. If we are brothers to the animals, not as far away from them on the evolutionary chain as we were then, its just another case of Sibling Rivalry. It just isn't nice to club your neighbor anymore. Instead, you get those urges out when you are small--for instance, remember in third grade when you made Joey Breathe sand? Or skewered Barbie's empty plastic brain with a pin? Or microwaved Fluffy.

Grown-ups just shake hands too hard, or vote Republican when they feel cruel.

To paraphrase The Beatles, and in the end, the love you save is equal to the love you bake.

Bison: How much say do students have in their own education?
Hagstrum: Well, I think that educators have a broader perspective then students would. In the 60s there was a swing in education directed much more to the student, focused on their interests and needs. I think that students have learned since that time that students were afforded too much independence at that time and need to be directed more. Now we're swinging more towards a conservative approach, because we're concerned about basic skills. But we're also more concerned about self esteem and giving students options. I think the best way to go is to give students options.

Bison: What do you think that students want from their education?
Hagstrum: It varies from student to student. I believe strongly in individual education. I don't like to generalize about students. We offer many programs for their needs.

Bison: How tough are the requirements for graduation? Tough enough?
Hagstrum: We have in many ways exceeded the state minimum for graduation, for instance in social studies. The problem is we don't have enough hours in the day to accommodate more requirements.

Bison: Do you think restructuring the day would help significantly?
Hagstrum: I think so. We're looking at possibilities. I think there are ways we could offer more. Some staff members could try some new flexible options.

Bison: You've mentioned a lot of changes coming up in our district. Do you think education will be drastically different in the year 2000, as research predicts?
Hagstrum: Change doesn't happen overnight, but I think so. We have a significant commitment to keeping abreast of new things. Yes, there will be a lot of changes. But if you look at the way education looks in 2000 it won't be much different then 1999, but it will be very different then 1988.

Bison: Can you give me a few examples of changes we'll have in 2000--and what you personally would like to see happen?
Hagstrum: Well, personal things always come first. I'd like to see each student with an individual learning plan. Not all completely different--your plan might look like that of ten other students. I'd also like to offer more options in the day. That's very much in vogue now. I think we'll do less teaching inside the school walls. We'll have people besides educators doing more teaching. That's also a trend. While Buffalo might not be the first to institute these changes, we'll be up there with the best.