Monday, 8/11/97 Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down THUMBS:
Good strategy Thumbs up to the Monrovia Police Department for
offering rewards for tips that lead to the arrest of people
illegally carrying guns. The Gun Bounty Program, which awards $100
to tipsters, is the first of its kind in the state. UCLA a school,
not studio Thumbs down to movie and production studios who shoot
films and commercials on campus. Students aren’t warned ahead of
time, and it’s inconvenient to take alternate routes to class. The
producers act like they own the place because they pay to use the
areas where they shoot. Well, we pay too, but it’s for our
education – and UCLA is a school, not a movie set. Nice try – too
little, too late Thumbs up to the Long Beach School District for
creating a mandatory five-week reading program for students reading
below grade level. But five weeks isn’t enough … Thumbs down to
the fact that students’ reading is so poor – 1,900 (25 percent) of
the district’s 7,700 third-graders are now enrolled! Thumbs up for
the effort the district is making by starting a program for
eighth-graders who failed two or more classes. These students are
required to attend a new remedial school. But if so many students
are having trouble passing classes and reading, it’s time to worry
about what’s wrong with the schools. … And you wonder why kids
can’t read Students’ reading skills might be better if schools
bought books! The textbook shortage in the Los Angeles Unified
School District shows why students can’t read – there are no books!
Thumbs down to the budget allocations – last year, the district
spent about $33 million on educational technology and $21 million
on textbooks. Sorry, computers are great, but they just can’t
replace books. Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down represents a majority opinion
of the Daily Bruin Editorial Board. Previous Daily Bruin Story:
Thumbs up, thumbs down, 7/21/97