Abilene Reporter-News from Abilene, Texas • Page 76

Abilene Reporter-News J. ABILENE, TEXAS, THURSDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 1, 1977 Scores Show Majority Can Read Florida Students Lack Math Skills TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) First scores from the 117-queslion literacy lost that Florida youngsters must pass to get high school diplomas show that a vast majority can read but about 40 percent can't do Die simple math required to compare prices of goods on sale, Results ql the two-part basic literacy test administered to 120,000 high school juniors in October were being released around the siate Wednesday. This year's juniors are the first students who will be denied diplomas unless they pass the test, which covers math and communications skills and is supposed to reflect ability to solve day-to-day problems. Those who fail either portion will be given remedial training, under a special $10 million stale program, and will get two more chances.

If they still fail, they get only a certificate at the end of their senior year saying they attended school. In MUml, 42 percent failed the math portion; the math failure rate in Jacksonville was 45 percent. Smaller counties reported math failure rales ranging from 25 percent to percent, which was about what state education officials who designed the test had expected. In contrast, on the communications skills portion, from 96 percent to 97 percent of the students passed in half a dozen counties. Early returns snowed the failure rate on both parts was highest in predominantly black schools.

One math question asked students to calculate the best buy if one slore offered one-third off and another had a 30 percent markdown on an item selling for the same base price. Another question asked how many cans of paint it would take to paint a wall 12 feet high and 16 feet long if a gallon of paint covered 10 square yards. Students will receive test scores over the next few weeks. Tom Fisher, head of the Florida Department of Education's assessment pro- gram, said he was "surprised" at the low failure rate on the reading part. "With all the talk about kids can't read, I was expecting it to be a little bit worse," he said.

Phyllis Miller of Miami, chairman of the Dade County School Board, said the test might be "too hard," but Fisher said he felt it was fair. "I'm sticking by my guns at this point," he said. "However, I've always said that every year we will look at the test." State officials were reluctant to speculate as to reasons for the high math failure rate, but they said math may not have received enough emphasis in Florida schools. "Many the students in recent times haven't had math courses." said Stale Education Commissioner Ralph Turlington. J.L.

Jones of Miami, Dade County school superintendent, said the scores indicate teen-agers haven't learned how to figure out a problem. He says youngsters have been able to go through high school with only one math course by choosing electives inslead. "I'm not a traditionalist, but I've recommended thai we return to a more traditional curriculum," he said. Fisher said early results substantiated his prediction that the failure rate for blacks would run 2 times to 2tt times the rate for whiles. At Miami's predominantly black Jackson High School, 74 percent failed math and 31 percent failed communications skills.

Some blacks have charged that the test is culturally biased. Turlington said the remedial program should cut the failure rate to less than 10 percent. "I think we can make some good progress as far as those students are concerned." he said. "You can get rusty in math." But Jones said the tests are supposed to measure knowledge gained over years of schooling and said he questioned "whether you can teach a dog new tricks. I'm just not certain." couple of dolls Joy Linclsey, left, won first place and nearly $200 in prizes in the Dolly Parton Look-Alike Contest spon.sr.rgti by radio station KWKC.

Dolly Parton, right, will be in concert at 8 p.m. Thursday in the Civic Center. More than 1,400 tickets have already been sold. Tickets are $0.50, $7 and $7.50 and available at the Civic Center box office. Knox City Youth Modest About Achievements BRETT BOONE CiUien twtrd By LYNNE MESSINA Stiff Writer No one can accuse Brett Boone of being smug.

The mere mention of his many accomplishments brings a crimson blush to the 17-year- old Knox City youth's face. Boone recently received the Daughters of the American Revolution Good Citizen Award from the Abigail Ann Berry Chesley chapter in Abilene. It's one of a long list of honors that includes National Merit Scholarship Qualifier, Band Beau at Knox City High School, 4-H Gold Star Boy and numerous club offices. The high school senior is especially proud of two things he hss done, but he still blushes when he speaks of them: Being voted Best All Around Boy last year by his fellow students and winning district in University Interscholastic League de- bale last year. He explains his interest in debate.

"It's a combination of a lot of things. You have to speak, and you have to think and you have to use a little psychology on your opponents. It's exciting. It's orderly but sometimes heated. You get to let your hostilities out." He said he's seen a girl get up and say, "Heck, you guys win." Unfortunately, he agrees with a slightly rueful smile.

"They don't do that in football." Boone has participated in track and football. Asked if he ever feels defeated, he replied, "I have felt that way before. "We had a goal (o win district in football. But we lost seven starters to injuries. We didn't win the district, but I do think we represented ourselves well." Hard work and success have robbed Boone of neither his modesty nor his sense of humor.

Asked "How would you describe the ideal girl?" his eyes twinkle as he answers "There's a Miss World contest. Then he adds, more thoughtfully, "I don't know." What has spurred his achievements? "I like to see how far 1 can get, see just what I can accomplish. "I have great respect for my father (Farmers Home Administration agent Joe Boone), but a lot of my ideas come from my peers." He lists his classmates as those who've encouraged him to succeed. "I think they're all outstanding." His mother agrees. "The whole class is like that.

They challenge each other." Mrs. Boone said. Asked whether he prefers athletics or academics, Boone replied, "1 enjoy athletics, but I think academics are important too." His favorite subjects are math and science. "1 enjoy figuring things out. and I like to be challenged." He doesn't plan lo try out for varsity football in college.

"Not only will I not have time. I'm somewhat lacking in size and possibly ability," he explained again with a blush and smile. To relix, Boone listens to music and reads. "I spend a little time dating girls and riding around with my friends," he said. He also does ranch work for his father, though, he points out.

"that's not to relax." "I'm trying to learn to waler ski just a little, and I'd like to go scuba diving some time." He has yet to try hang gliding because "we don't have the facilities." He's undecided about where he will attend college, and he said he's leaning toward majoring in pre-med. His advice for other teens? "Whatever you do, try your hardest at it." Erma Bombeck Knack of Hiding Ohio Cable Subscribers Talk Back to TV A book called How To Hide Almost Anything, by David Krotz, isn't as crazy you think. No one wants to live in Rip-Off these days. And face it, we're living in a lime where you pay 50 cents to park at a park and swap for the opportunity of buying back your kid's bicycle that was stolen the night before and feel that you got a bargain because you only had to pay half of what you originally paid for it. I wish I understood what I just wrote.

Krotz lists 157 pages of likely spots to hide things that includes baseboards, plumbing, secret panels, woodpiles, beams, ceilings and trapdoors. It's a book most parents can't afford to be without. Heaven knows I'm not a paranoid possessive person, but I have the only tennis racket in the house with strings. Because it is unique in that it offers a ball some resistance upon contact, it is in great demand. I hive hidden It in the broom closet, behind the hot water heater, under my underwear and on the bookshelf behind the complete works of Shakespeare.

I had it in the trunk of my car, in a box in the attic marked, "TUNA RECIPES," in a suitcase with a broken handle, and jammed between the table pads for the dining room table. Once I put it under the dishtowel and as distasteful as it was, one of the kids actually lifted it, revealing my last child-proof hiding place. My husband says I have no imagination. "If you really want to hide something, you can't think like a hider, you have to think like the seeker. If I wanted a tennis racket, the first place I'd look is on a hanger in your closet with your bathrobe over it." "Who told you?" I shouted.

"No one had to tell me, it was just a simple deduction. Do you see me running around going crazy looking for my camera? My binoculars? My transistor? My scissors? Roll of tape?" "Where do you hide them?" I insisted. "1 put them in the boys' bedroom in plain view. They haven't found anything in that room for 15 years." Eat your heart out, Mr. Krotz.

You have just met your match. (3 1977 Field Enterprises. Inc.) COLUMBUS, Ohio A When the Henry Eckhart family didn't like the rock show they were watching on television recently, they pushed a button attached to a computer in their living room. So many other viewers did the same that the emcee signed the program off the air. Starting Thursday, cable television subscribers all over Columbus will be able to talk back to their TV sets voting shows off the air, answering quiz questions, bidding in auctions, and even second-guessing cdashes in sporting events.

The Eckharts were among 200 families who tested the computer device called QD'BE, which was designed by Warner Communications whose largest cable outlet is the Columbus market For a $19.95 installation fee and J10.95 a month, subscribers can get cable service plus the black computer box attached lo an IS-bullon console. The buttons let viewers choose channels and make responses to the shows. Officials will not discuss subscriber numbers, but before the advent of QUBE Warner Cable claimed 26,500 subscribers. CUudine Eckhirt recalled the night she, her husband and their children Anne, 9, and Hobert, 8. were watching one of the 30 cable channels that had "a rock show on, playing records.

"They asked the audience whether they should continue the show or cut it off," she said. "We didn't like it and voted 'no. 1 The emcee said, 'The majority rules. Thank you and good And the show signed off. Our vote counted." Susie Russell, who took part in the test with her husband John, said they especially enjoyed the quiz shows and would "compete to see who got the most questions right." "One night he would have the console, the next night I would get it.

One night, he was out and I took a sports quiz. I didn't get one right," she said. Mrs. Russell said she also took part in an auction, "but I only bid once before 1 chickened out." "They would show an article and ask how many people would bid J5 for it. Then the bidding agent went up until there was only one person left," she said.

Like other cable systems, QUBE's 30 channels include some that offer nothing but slock market listings, consumer information or programs for pre-school children Others which cost from $1 to $3.50 per program a offer movies, sports events and college courses for credit. "Television was the very first step in home viewing and QUBE is the next step -the giant step in television's sophisticated evolution," says QUBE President Lawrence B. Hilford. Hilford said the name QUBE doesn't stand for anything but was chosen because it rhymes with "lube" and because il sug- gests "something that is distinctive and futuristic without being scary." He said all the information stored in the computers is confidential. "We monitor the premium channel for billing purposes.

Any time a viewer pushes a response button, he has been told beforehand the response is being recorded," he said. When viewers vote on whether to stop a show dead in its tracks, the computers merely record the overall tallies, Hilford said. However, the system can register how a specific subscriber votes as in the case of a student taking an examination for a televised course. Pre-Christmas BOOT SALE our regular $49.99 8 $54.99 NOW Daydreams honors T.S.T.A. MEMBERS discount in Dec.

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