1983 La Voz de Aztlan

              L a Voz de A ztlan
CSU, Fresno
Thursday, February 17, 1983
Chicano Youth Conference '83
By Pedro Perez
The Chicano Youth Conference celebrated its 10th anniversary by welcoming
over a thousand students last month at its
annual meeting. Bus loads of students
came from as far away as Ventura,
Soledad and Santa Maria to share in this
year's theme, "Saber es Poder," Knowledge is power.
Rosemary Biaz, CYC chairperson,
said, "We registered 1,200 students as
they arrived in the morning, but more
students continued to arrive after registration". She estimated that there were 1,500
students that participated in the forty-one
career and general interest work
shops offered. Biaz said, "Pre-registration
forms returned by the high schools |
indicated 1,700 students were expected
to attend, but due to heavy fog that day a
couple of schools did not come".
One of the maimgoals of sponsoring the
conference is to expose and encourage
high school Chicanos to continue with
higher educations., Biaz said, "Chicanos
are being channeled into vocational
schools and aren't being told of financial
aid and scholarships by their counselors".
She said hopefully the conference will
promote those careers that require
higher education. "Bringing Chicanos
from all over the state gives them a sense
of brotherhood and sisterhood",
explained Biaz.
The effect the conference has on
Chicanos is not measured by the
university's research office or any other
recruitment office. Consequently, it is not
known exactly how successful the conference is in recruiting Chicanos to this
campus. However, the evaluations
completed by the students in attendance
provide. CYC committee members with
some feedback.
Out of 800 evaluations turned in by the
students, 200 of them were tallied by
CYC committee members. According to
the findings, the conference encouraged
98% of the students to attend college, and
that 88% would consider attending FSU.
Students gathered from around the state to attend the CYC.
Ernesto Martinez, La Raza Studies
coordinator, said the conference does
have a definite impact on Chicano enroll-
ment on this campus. He said,
"Traditionally, the university is seen by
some Chicanos as the White House,
unattainable. But now with the
conference, Chicanos are exposed to this
university, and it makes this place seem
less alienated to them".
According to figures compiled by the
Institutional Research Office, there was a
total of 1,546 Chicanos enrolled in the fall
semester, an increase of 228 students
since 1973. Manuel Perez, Assistant Dean
of Student Affairs, cites several reasons
for the relatively low increase in
enrollment during the past ten years.
"The fact of going to college is a very
serious decision in one's life, and if you
come from a background that has never
had any kind of familiarity with going to
college, the thought of going to college
becomes some thing you don't know
about and wonder if you can make it".
Perez also said that he would like to see
Photo by Robert Hernandez
more La Raza studies classes incorporated in the general education requirements. "A student has to have a good
concept of himself, some sense of
identity; he has to have a good self concept. If he can identify as being a Chicano
really well, and if he can see other Chicano students here and faculty with sim
ilar backgrounds; it can be very supportive in helping that student succeed.
Fresno School Board Defines Values
see CYC page 4
By Anthony Marquez
"My first reaction was positive. It's a
step in the right direction," responded Dr.
Sanford Reitman, Chairperson of the Teacher Education Department, to the
Fresno School Board's definitions of nine
values to be included in the local
classroom curriculum.
The nine "universal" values were
established by the School Board's
advisory committee on moral and civic
education. A plan to integrate the
education values into the classroom currc-
ulum will be created by school officials.
The definitions of the nine universal
values are: love, freedom, loyalty, respect, responsibility, integrity, justice, self-
worth, and helping others.
"I added some values to the list which I
feel make sense", said Dr. Reitman in a
recent interview. "These are self-reliance,
courage, and intellectual self-sufficiency".
According to Reitman, other values that
were not clearly stated by the School
Board include open-mindedness, respect
for excellence, optimism and aesthetic
sensitivity. "My own research indicates
that there are some values on the upswing.
A couple of these are public service and
looking toward the past", said Reitman.
Reitman is not in favor of integrating
these values into the classroom curriculum. "It's a conscious raiser. By just
stating them and putting them out front
we will arouse the public's consciousness.
The purpose of putting it on paper is to
remind us that we're striving for something", said Reitman.
Reitman said the School Board will
probably get a positive response from the
public. "Most people will agree with these
values", said Reitman, "For example, the
definition of justice, who's gonna argue"?
Reitman also said the action taken by
the School Board is part of a larger
movement aimed at returning to a
tradition of a past America. "But they
(values) are adaptable to the modern
times", he added.
Reitman does not think the action by
the board is related to the alleged conservative trend sweeping the country.
"Conservatives and liberals alike have
become concerned with this problem", he
Said.
"For a few years now there has been a
growing concern that the public schools
are devoid of a soul", said Reitman. He
said the interpretation by the public is that
the schools are irresponsible. "Numerous
breakdowns are perceived by the public",
he said. "I believe public schools ought to
be leaders in ethnics and morality", he
added.
Reitman said that we should remember that people have a right to differ. "I
don't want to see a narrow indoctrination
of one interpretation of a value, for
example, an instructor teaching the value
of responsibility. If this instructor said to
his students that the work ethic is the only
ethic worth discussing, that instructor is
doing a disservice"!
As proof of the need for educational
values, Reitman referred to a study
conducted at UCLA in the Fall of 1982.
Nearly 189,000 freshmen entering dif
ferent colleges were questioned; 73%
wanted to be well-off financially, 69.8%
said the ability to make more money was
the most important reason for going to
college (49.9% in 1967), and 21% were
interested in conSmunity involvement.
"A lot of Americans value materialism",
said Reitman. "That's not what this
society ever meant".
"I plan to develop a course as part of
this value's movement", said Reitman. "It
will help teachers think for themselves".
Dr. Reitman hopes to offer the course by
the Spring of 1984. "I discussed this issue
with a couple of my classes, and most
students' reactions were positive. But one
student commented that we have to be
careful of the possibility of indoctrination".
The Fresno School Board plans to pass
a resolution calling for community commitment to values. The spinoff will be that
more and more people will think of life
more seriously", said Reitman. "My hope
is that people will try to live up to some of
these values".
The Fresno Unified School District
Board recently endorsed nine "universal"
values. They are:
Love: Love is the supreme value. It is
an emotion growing out of inner peace, which
follows a decision to act in response to the
needs of others. It involves a commitment
to justice. It leads to suboridination of
personal desire in order to act with compassion on behalf of others.
see Values page 4