4C C 4
44
Mark Johnson/The Collegian
Pointing the finger: Educator Joe Clark was quick to blame school officials
and parents for the flaws in public education when he spoke in the Reed
Lecture Hall Tuesday.
The Gollegim
Thursday, February 21, 1991 JUN 2 0 2001
Penn State, Erie launch
education partnership
Mark 1 / 4 . Collegian
Spreading the word: Provost and Dean John
Lilley and Robert Light, director of industrial
programs for the CE Center, field questions at the
PEPP press conference Friday.
Mark Owens
The Colkglaer
A new Penn State program,
aimed at helping over 100 "at
risk" Erie middle school students
stay in school, was announced
last Friday at the Erie School
District Administration Building.
At the press conference
Provost and Dean John Lilley,
along with representatives from
the Erie School District, Erie
Community Agenda and the
General Electric ELFUN Society,
announced that the $lOO,OOO per
year program would start
sometime next month at both I
Wayne and Wilson Middle
Schools.
"This program has been in the
planning for over a year," said
Erie School Superintendent
Joseph Rodriguez. "It's our hope
that Erie students will be able to
benefit from this effort."
Funding foi the program will
come from many sources. Aside
from a $61,000 commitment
from Penn State, another
$lO,OOO will be given by the
Erie Community Foundation and
$25,000 from the General
(continued on page 3)
Educator Clark
talks tough
Blames administrators, families for
inner-city educational problems
Robb Frederick
The Collegain
Joe Clark may now spend his
time on the lecture circuit, but
the controversial principal who
once stalked the halls of his New
Jersey high school waving a
bullhorn and wielding a baseball
bat nevertheless remains a full
blooded educator.
Throughout his presentation
"From Disgrace to Amazing
Grace" in the Reed Lecture Hall
Tuesday night, Clark reinforced
his polysyllabic speaking style
with translations into common
terms, subconsciously expanding
the vocabularies of his listeners.
The need for these elaborate
adjectives and unusual adverbs
was essential to Clark's
discussion, however, and resulted
in a tangible illustration to his
central point -- that public
education has become a sick,
ineffective institution.
"We are a disoriented flock
grazing on a barren land," he
explained. "America has become
the worst of all industrialized
nations."
The problem with the current
educational system, Clark
professed, stems from inadequate
fundamental teaching at the
elementary and high school
levels. This problem also appears
Speaker highlights
wellness week
Unfortunately, chemical dependency affects not only
the alcoholic or the addict, but his or her family members
as well--sometimes for several generations. Ann W.
Smith, a pioneer in the treatment of such families, will
take a look at "Co-dependency and Adult Children of
Alcoholics" Wednesday, Feb. 27, beginning at 8 p.m. in
Reed Lea= Hall.
Smith is a nationally recognized expert in the field of
treatment for adult children of alcoholics. She started the
nation's first in-patient ACOA treatment center, Caron
Foudation, 16 years ago in Wemersville, Pa. Through her
work at Caron, Smith found that chemical dependency
has lasting effects on family members and loved ones in
the form of "co-dependency."
Co-dependency is a pattern of compulsive behavior
and approval seeking in an attempt to find safety, identity,
and-self-worth.
Even when the alcoholic has stopped drinking, families
often remain dysfunctional and co-dependent for several
generations, Smith teaches. Having treated more than
10,000 co-dependents, Caron Family Services' five-day
program serves as a model for treatment programs
VoL XXXIX No. 17
at the collegiate level, where
admissions requirements are
lowered to provide educational
opportunities to minority
students.
"Many blacks should not be
here," he said. "Most of them
can't compete; they were buried
in the elementary schools.
"Don't insult me by saying
'Here little black boy, we're
going to make things easier for
you because you're just not good
enough.'"
Clark was quick to place
blame for the weaknesses of
public education.
"If a young boy can memorize
the words 'of M.C. Hammer,
Boogie Down Productions or
Public Enemy, then that boy can
learn his times tables just as
easily , " he said.
Families are also to blame,
Clark continued. "There is a lack
of strong males within black
families today. These children
need strict role models who will
grab them by the chest and say
'There are things you just can't
Another group at fault
includes school administrators
and bureaucrats, who are
negligently misleading inner-city
youth.
"Most black youths are unable
(continued on page 3)
(continued on page 2)