ustxtxb_obs_1958_03_21_50_00001-00000_000.pdf

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March 21, 1958, 12:00 AM, CST

HOUSTON Several years before the Sputniks caused a national crying-out for more basic education and less “life adjustment” in the schools, the Houston school board ordered a revamping of its system to give gifted students special opportunities and to restore stress on fundamental knowledge. Curiously the “return to fundamentals” has been woven inextricably into the conservative majority’s attempt to purify the curriculum of subject matter it regards as dangerous politically. Critics of separate classes for intellectually gifted students might conclude, too, that school trustees who are aristocratic in their political values might also be less considerate, of mental averageness. Even so, the revision of the Houston school curriculum toward fundamental subject matter and the encouragement a intelligent ‘Students has had “bi-partisan” auppnrt from liberal and conservative members of tiro Traugtnn board for the past four years. Edwin Martin, assistant superintendent for secondary education, last October preseAted the board with a school-by-school re port on separate classes for gifted students. Interesting points: At Austin high, J. R. Weeks, teaching special classes in English, let his students use a college text for grammar diagramming. They also studied writers’ magazines and worked cooperatively on short stories. He said their study of literature was hampered because of the lack of enough copies of “choice books.” In a 20-student biology class, students were permitted to study units at their own pace and request an examination when they Ronnie Dugger felt they were ready, then going on to the next unit. Seniors in a special English class at Bellaire high turned in essays and creative work on alternate weeks. “Their work,” said teacher Shirley Wile.v, as a, whole, was oolliparable to freshman college level, and in some instances was profound.” Low tenth grade students in a special English class at Lamar high studied the regular materials plus a serious novel, several short stories, and many poems; they wrote original short stories, poems, and essays; one won a top award in a creative short story contest sponsored by T.S.C.W., and another won third prize in Seventeen magazine’s short story contest. Eleventh grade for gifted students at Lamar included a study of the Odyssey and a study of versification. Special classes were offered in Spanish, geometry, trig, physics, chemistry, and American history. “The rate at which the class can progress is somewhat higher than in the other classes … because there are no slow learners to retard speed,” said physics teacher C. B. Gentry. In second semester civics at Lamar, F. L. Duggan’s special class took up some of the fields of philosophy, particularly logic and ethics. “The students are going to get their feet wet in these things; we will try to get them to think about the background of Western thinking and we will talk some about the scientific spirit,” Duggan says. It: addition, Lamar offered a course equivalent to college freshman math. Milby high principal W. I. Stevenson said of that school’s many special classesEnglish, biology, history, civics, algebra, Spanish “Much repetition was eliminated and more original thinking was emphasized. Pupils were given more control during periods of activity.” Reagan high principal R. H. Williams reported special courses BLACKOUT AMARILLO Word has been plssed to the desk of the Amarillo Daily News and Globe-Times that Sen. Ralph Yarborough’s name is not to appear in print, the Observer is authoritatively advised. in writing, chemistry, history, and math. He said the seminar method is used in the writing courses, with students readhig their work aloud to their teachers and fellow students, receiving criticisms, then rewriting. Much more is expected of gifted students, Williams said. At Wheatley high, special classes, says Principal John Codwell, were established in English, geometry, and biology, with special class science and math pro . lectS winning grand prizes at the science fair in Houston last April. Higher Standards John Ratliff, principal at Pershing junior high, says of the special classes there: “Adult magazines, Encyclopedia Britannica, chemistry and physics textbooks, anthologies, indexes, catalogues … instruments, and slide rules are used by these students. … Original studies are encouraged. … Higher standards … are re Training the Gifted titA ,141.WIC’ 1014MITifik AA t% y 17

<div id="pico"><p>HOUSTON Several years before the  Sputniks caused a national  crying-out for more basic  education and less “life adjustment” in the schools, the  Houston school board ordered a revamping of its system to give gifted students  special opportunities and to  restore stress on fundamental  knowledge.  Curiously the “return to fundamentals” has been woven inextricably into the conservative  majority’s attempt to purify the  curriculum of subject matter it  regards as dangerous politically.  Critics of separate classes for intellectually gifted students might  conclude, too, that school trustees  who are aristocratic in their political values might also be less  considerate, of mental averageness.  Even so, the revision of the  Houston school curriculum toward  fundamental subject matter and  the encouragement  a intelligent  ‘Students has had “bi-partisan”  auppnrt  from liberal and conservative members of tiro Traugtnn  board for the past four  years.  Edwin Martin, assistant superintendent for secondary education, last October preseAted the  board with a school-by-school re port on separate classes for gifted  students. Interesting points:  At Austin high, J. R. Weeks,  teaching special classes in English, let his students use a college  text for grammar diagramming.  They also studied writers’ magazines and worked cooperatively  on short stories. He said their  study of literature was hampered  because of the lack of enough  copies of “choice books.”  In a 20-student biology class,  students were permitted to study  units at their own pace and request an examination  when they  Ronnie Dugger  felt they were ready, then going  on to the next unit.  Seniors in a special English  class at Bellaire high turned in  essays and  creative work on alternate weeks. “Their work,” said  teacher Shirley Wile.v,  as a,  whole, was oolliparable to freshman college level, and in some instances was profound.”  Low tenth grade students in a  special English class at Lamar  high studied the regular materials plus a serious novel, several  short stories, and many poems;  they wrote original short stories,  poems, and essays; one won a top  award in a creative short story  contest sponsored by T.S.C.W.,  and another won third prize in  Seventeen magazine’s short story  contest.  Eleventh grade for gifted students at Lamar included a study  of the Odyssey and a study of  versification. Special classes were  offered in Spanish, geometry,  trig, physics, chemistry, and  American history. “The rate at  which the class can progress is  somewhat higher than in the  other classes … because there  are no slow learners to retard  speed,” said physics teacher C. B.  Gentry.  In second semester civics at  Lamar, F. L. Duggan’s special  class took up some of the fields  of philosophy, particularly logic  and ethics. “The students are going to get their feet wet in these  things; we will  try  to get them to  think about the background  of  Western thinking and we will talk  some about  the  scientific spirit,”  Duggan says. It: addition, Lamar  offered a course equivalent to  college freshman math.  Milby high principal W. I. Stevenson said of that school’s many  special classesEnglish, biology,  history, civics, algebra, Spanish “Much repetition was eliminated  and more original thinking was  emphasized. Pupils were given  more control during periods of  activity.”  Reagan high principal R. H.  Williams reported special courses  BLACKOUT AMARILLO Word has been  plssed to  the  desk of the Amarillo Daily  News and Globe-Times that  Sen. Ralph Yarborough’s name  is not to appear in print, the  Observer is authoritatively advised.  in writing, chemistry, history,  and math. He said the seminar  method is used in the writing  courses, with students readhig  their work aloud to their teachers  and fellow students, receiving  criticisms, then rewriting. Much  more is expected of gifted students, Williams said.  At Wheatley high, special  classes, says Principal John Codwell, were established in English,  geometry,  and  biology, with special class science and math pro . lectS  winning grand prizes at the  science fair in Houston last April.  Higher Standards  John Ratliff, principal at Pershing junior high, says of the  special classes there: “Adult magazines, Encyclopedia Britannica,  chemistry and physics textbooks,  anthologies, indexes, catalogues  … instruments, and slide rules  are used by these students. …  Original studies are encouraged.  … Higher standards … are re Training the Gifted  titA ,141.WIC’ 1014MITifik  AA t%  y   17 <r  SC The one great rule  ot composition is to  speak the truth.  Thoreau  011r Orxtt,6 Obrrurr  We  will serve no  group or party but  will hew hard to the  truth as we find it  and the right as we  see it.  An Independent-Liberal Weekly Newspaper  Vol. 49   TEXAS, MARCH 21, 1958  10c per  copy   No. 51  CLAIMS UP AUSTIN New claimants for unemployment insurance last week  again exceeded those of the  previous week.  A spokesman for the Texas  Employment Commission told  the Observer that TEC took a  total of 14,064 new claims in  the week ending last Thursday. The new-claim total for  the previous week, the spokesman said, was 10,899.  TEC said Texans now on  unemployment compensation  total 82,983. 'Last week's total  was 82,576.  The spokesman said it was  his personal opinion that the  economic situation was close, to  the beginning of an improvement. He said "next week or  the first week of April we  should reach the peak of total  claims." He said last week's  new-claims total "may be the  peak point" of that category.  TEC said last week it was  unofficially estimating total  Texas unemployment at 200,000  persons.  TMA [\(amends  The Sales Tax  HOUSTON The chief lobbyist for the  Texas Manufacturers Association, executive vice president Ed C. Burris, spoke of  TMA's preference for a general state sales tax, and a  liberal Democrat, Dean F.  Johnston, said a tax on corporation net profits would be  a better way to raise extra  money for state purposes.  The two were witnesses at a  hearing held in Houston's city hall  by the state tax study commission  under the chairmanship of Sen.  William S. Fly of Victoria. Other  witnesses included James E.  White, Jr., acting executive director of the Tax Research Association of Houston a n d Harris  County, who would like to see  Al Hieken  the state give up all ad valorem  taxation on property, and Homer  Leonard, general counsel and lobbyist for the beer industry.  Leonard's account of how one  sales tax, the state levy on beer,  is cutting the profits and threatening the prosperity of his particular group of manufacturers,  and the jobs of their employees,  contrasted with the claims in favor of a sales tax made by Burris.  Prior to his testimony, Leonard  had surveyed the audience of  about 100 in the council chamber  and remarked: "This doesn't look  too good for beerit looks more  like a scotch and soda crowd."  Sales  Tax  Burris told the commission the  TMA. .15 not recommending any  specific tax, but a written brief  he gave the commission made it  plain his organization much prefers a retail sales tax, to be paid  by consumers, to the corporation  profits levy.  Burris claimed a profits tax  would discourage investment in  AUSTIN Four months before he  died, a former mayor of San  Antonio drove up to Austin  and presented to an attorney  of this fair city a certficate  elaborated by hand, in  green ink. "I," it said, "Maury  Maverick, do hereby declare  the Honorable Creekmore  Fath to be Democrat No. 1.  My hand and seal, Maury  Maverick."  Just why he did is a story going back some, and then going  forward some, a story to take  some telling, a story with many  levels and many players at each.  Visiting Fath today in his ninth  floor Littlefield Building office,  looking out upon Congress Avenue and the quaint turn of the  century facade of Scarborough's  Department Store, cannot be very  much different from visiting a  barrister in Londontown when  Queen Victoria was in reign. He  comes forward to usher you  through his study, heavy oak  table in the center, past his law  books and Congressional Records  bound all the way back for 30  years, into his office and reading  room at the corner of the building, windows with a clear view to  the sky.  He has, in the last decade, collected perhaps 4,000 volumes on  politics of all varieties and times,  and the walls of his office bristle  with Churchill, Marlborough,  Bevan, Lub ell, Myrdal, Cicero,  the Secrets of His Correspondence, C. Wright Mills, John Marshall's Life, Henry Adams, Jefferson's memoirs and papers, Boswell's Life of Johnson, the Fed eralist Papers, Paine, Grant, Garner of  Texas,  Bowles, Vandenberg, Wilson, Hoover, Ickes, the  13 volumes of Roosevelt's public  papers and  the four volumes of  his letters, the books on Truman  and Eisenhower.  Can you gather in the kind of  intense and loving enthusiasm  one would need before he would  have the patience and spend the  money to collect original copies of  every campaign biography in the  American presidential campaigns?  Fath has been doing this since  1947stopping in old book stores  all over the country, getting his  name on lists for cataloguesand,  now he believes he has all the  biographies except two from the  Lincoln campaign of 1860.  "Short Answers to RECKLESS  FABRICATIONS, against the  Democratic candidate for President, James Buchanan. 1856." A  life of Sam Houston when he was  considering running for the presidency in '56. "Perpetual Warthe  Policy of Mr. Madison," 1812.  "Greeley Illustrated," 1872. "A  Republic Against an EMpire, Address of William Jennings Bryan,  Indianapolis, August 8, 1900, Accepting the Democratic Nomination." 1800, Freneau and Jefferson, and the letter Alexander  Hamilton wrote against John  Adams.  One does not see here, Booth  Mooney's biography of Lyndon  Johnson, and Fath says he does  not have it; nor does he seem upset by this.  He is not an orthodox looking  man; he might have inspirecl a  Dickens character  under the  needful circumstances. Nose  roundly arched, forehead capped  high, hair receding to make it  Early Years of Creekrhore Fath  the innocent. This, however, is  usually when he hears of a pratfall by someone he regards as  wicked, a Republican, say, or a  Daniel Democrat.  For  this is the dissonance in  the sense of vintage surrounding  .Fath, that he is secretary-treasurer of Democrats of Texas, DOT,  seem higher, he laughs readily,  and sometimes wickedly, as  though he were about to devour  values  and  ^e ,  New  and Fair  Deals as far back tt.  enough to fight for   " and it been fighting for liberal  114.411.in.8.  was old  Spread out through the o  three rooms of his Littlefield  suite are the paraphernalia of  practical politics, the mimeograph  machines, duplicators, files, nameplates, and whatnot with which  he and Clare Jones carry on the  \(Continued on  MAURY MAVERICK.  MAC J   mAROLO O. PUTMAN  MAVERICK. PUTMAN & PUTMAN LAWYERS coo numerr  TOWER SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS JAMES E. DECKER PAMMIM 022.  9 GeSz k  /9-1.  e  
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