Severely handicapped class arrives - The Lowell

Stop watering down our books!
One hopes that every Lowelliic can read. Not only read,
bin be able lo comprehend a leitbook written at his ow.»
grade level. Thank goodness die California Board of
Education has rciliied thai textbooks written for
"readability" do not behoove the education of a student
today..
The Board recently rejected every science textbook
written for seventh and eighth grades as being "watered
down" and guilty of "systematically omitting" full
discussions or evolution. Tut decision reverses a decadelong
tread to reduce the reading level of books to make
them prbtable for all students.
Biology teacher James Knerl said," there wn pressure
in tbj seventies to reduce the reading level. They watered
tens dewn. There is a tremendous diflerence in the level
of reading in the 1973 and i977 biology textbooks."
For example, from the 1973 edition of Modem Biology.
by Otto and Towle: "In gene mutation!, we find the basic
source of tarUfioas and Ux material for evolution."
From the 1977 edition, which Lowell students use in
Biology 1 tixl 2: "The most common mutations are gene
nutations. It is these gens mutations that vz the main
cause of the changes fc«ofted in evolution."
Students at Lowell preparing
for rigorous advanced education
need the challenge of well-written
material.
The simplicity of the 1577 book is a concern of Kncrl's.
"The book is very encyclopedic — it takes away an excitement
by including too much not essential detail."
Some textbooks purchased Tor use in all San Francisco
high schools end up at Lowell looking ridiculously staple.
Anne Wallach, a former Lc*cll English teacher,
sttted, "District selection cf books is very important.
Ttere is a range of low and high level achievement in
any dutrict," and particularly at Lowell, the books purchased
need to be written for ths high end of the achievement
spectrum.
She called the recent decision "promising. If change
tfOCS occur, then lilaf wilt !>• «n ln)|»o»«in»«nl.**
Wallach came before the Hale board in 198013 "alert"
it to the sixth grade reading level found in all the eighth
v«Je grammar oooki being considered. It was "an
English teacher's dismay." she said
Teubook reading is only one part of a Lowell education.
Although at one time, the SFUSD forbade the
'./aching of Shakespeare's Vie UTduml of Venice on
grounds that it was ami-Semilk, no book has been removed
from the library or banned from teaching in many
years.
Books purchased need to be
written for the high end of the
achievement spectrum.
Lowell librarian Robert Campbell said there has been
no removal of books from the Lowell library since he has
been here. "The district does have a policy of rrvicw .
.. and if n book is challenged, the complaint must be in
Tiling." The book is then re-reyicwed and a decision
made to lcrvc or remove it according to its literary value
and appropriateness for the age level it serves.
Wallach never received any complaints from parents
SAB enraged over room
To the Hdiior
We ire wntinjL out of anger and
disbelief about the tcrrbtc situation
iota which the administration his
thrown t/weU's student government,
by Mixing almost every bi* of room
it once had. The "non changes" L>
tolving the Soidcot Activities Bowl
(SAB) first hejan in Ute October of
19W. Dr. FMih told the SAB that
he had to put ia t acienct lab and the
SAB room was the only room available.
The room was to be divided in
twc. leaving the SAB a food portion
in the fro*. Dr. Fibiih alsu told the
SAB that the tciencc Ub would be
ready by the spring semester 'S3.
Tb** ->/ay, if the tab prwed to be on*
ru~~*j*nii. the dividing waU could be
taken down during the summer and
the SAB conW Law its room back for
fall'85.
Dr. Finish has since broken hi\
wJ on almutt everything he xuurcj
the SAB or !ut October. Fintofall.
the SAB received as sm>ll an area of
the iwn as pouible. The dividing
wallets put un during the spring Kmotet
and the science Ub is just being
id up now. Also, it b almost certain
that once it is set up. it won't be
gotrg down. toother words, the SAB
room KU divided five months btfort
tlie Ub was jrt up. and it seems M
if the SAB will never get its room
back.
Meanwhile, all tfuJent government
wu working out oi Room 262. The
SAB. BCO. LTC. and BSCS tharcd
262. and it wctkri quite well. Our
content with this minimal space was
very short, tvc=UK at the beginning
of the present school year. 262 was
expropriated.
Well, are we not right for ccnv
plaining? The SAB wonlen if the admlniuraik>n
lui the Uightest idea of
how much student government doc*
for Lowrtl. Tile the SAR alone, a
board of 11 officer* -nd tO vjbjd
member*. The SAB puts on a nujority
of Lowell'* tiinoca, alt of L/iwell *i
mllics. nun> of Lowell's swill
events. anJ nun)' other things concerning
Lowell, from athletics tu
spirit items.
The academic »klc of Lowell u extremely
important, but the SAB believes
th*t l-ouell'i. uvul aipcct U
very Decenary in nukt&g it a wellrounded
high school.
Of cvune. 60 stwknts working
constantly to male Lowell as exciting,
social. anJ enjoyable as possible
cannot be compared to an elite
group of about 12 science students
who couldn't weak for all the science
Ub rooms and equipment