Texan wants learning punt before sport

Press, 12 May 1984, Page 18

Texan wants learning punt before sport

By

David Finch,

of Reuters, in Denton, Texas. Through NZPA

H. Ross Perot, who organised the rescue of his computer company’s employees from an Iranian jail, is facing an even tougher challenge — how to rescue the Texas public school system from the grip of sport. A self-made millionaire who is chairman of a select committee on public education set up to revitalise the system, he believes that the high priority placed on sport, marching bands and drill teams is one of the main reasons why the academic standards of Texas, one of the wealthiest states, are among the country’s lowest. He also wants to introduce a competence test for the state’s 170,000 public teachers based on the exams they set their pupils. He estimates that 15 to 20 per cent of

teachers would fail. “Some schools have even banned week-end.homework so as not to interfere with sporting events,” says Perot, who hired a private commando group to rescue employees of his Data Systems Corporation who were jailed in Iran after the fall of the Shah. Emphasising the need “to recapture the school day for learning,” for the Texas system’s three million children, he says that 40 per cent of the state’s SNZI2.6 billion annual education budget is spent on sport. Blasting what he sees as a total reversal of priorities, Perot told a recent conference of educators: “We spend too much time and money in our schools on providing

entertainment for adults." His call for “a radical change of the system” has aroused the ire of football coaches, band and drill team boosters, teachers, and the Texas State Board of Education, which runs the public schools. He has the backing of the Governor, Mark White, and most leading politicians. His opponents are sport-crazy fans in widely-scattered Texas towns where Friday night highschool football is literally the only game in town. Teachers’ groups like his proposals for increased pay, but dislike his competence tests. Proposals which will be submitted to the Governor include fullday education at the age of five instead of six, and an extension of

the school year by 10 days to 185 days a year. Perot says if is commonplace for athletes to miss classes to attend sports practice, and that it is not unusual for Texas football Kers to spend four hours a week omework, but 20 hours a week studying their playbook. “We have got to get our priorities right. If you compare our chemistry and physics facilities with our sports complexes, you’ll see what our priorities are.” Emphasising’ academic excellence was essential for the future of Texas, because the state’s changing industrial base demanded better-educated workers, Perot said recently.

“Teachers should be tested in what they’re teaching,” he added. “Teachers of fifth-grade maths should take a test in fifth-grade maths. English teachers should write an essay, and we should fail those displaying bad grammar or sentence structure.” The Texas State Teachers Association has unanimously rejected any competence test. Perot’s prime target is the school board, which he charges “has not evolved the education system as times have changed. They have consistently voted for the status quo, and the status quo does not serve our children’s interests.”