Opinion Page
THE BRU\ISWICK#BEACOM
^ ...
Crystal-Ball Talk Is Powerful Stuff
Edward M. Su-eatt and C'nrolyn H. Sweat! PubUshen
Edward M. Swcalt Ed^for
Susan Usher Editor
Marjorie Me^\ ern A»9ociMte Editor
Etta Smith Writer
Johnny Crnift Sportt Editor
. Mary I'olts Office Manager
Cecelia Gore idveriining Hepreaentativo
Tnmmie Galloway A Dorothy Brennan Typeavttera
Bill ^IcCowan Presaman
Brenda Clemmons Photo Technician
Clyde and Mattie Stout* Photrbe Clemmons Circulation
Page 4*A
Thursday. January* 8,1987
Teach Them For Life,
Not Just For A Job
There’s a great cuniiiiution right now among those In
terested in pnbiic education over a recommendation from the
Research Triangle Institute.
This private nonprofit group was commissioned by a state
legislative study sub-committee on vocational education to
study vocational education in public schools.
After talking to about educators, business people and
college professors, and poring over studies from other states,
the RTI group suggested phasing out job-specific courses in
public schools, leaving the teaching of these to community col
leges. High schools would teach only a general overview of
vocations in clusters that students would select in the 9th
grade.
The uproar that greeted this proposal has been something
like ihe reaction to a tax increase or insults to motherhood.
“Lots of kids will drop out if they can’t take auto mechanics!”
“Community colleges aren’t equipped to handle that load!”
and “How can young people in every' county get to a communi
ty college?” are samples of the outcries.
And an unspoken wail was surely this: “What will happen
to the vocational teachers?”
In response, let’s think a minute about the purpose of
public education and the realities of the working world.
It’s always been an assumption among educated folk that
public schools exist to prepare youngsters to live in the world;
not to make a living, but to communicate through reading and
writing, understand other people and ihe world around them,
do day-by-day computations, and perhaps learn and ap
preciate creativity. The best gift the schools could make was
to teach thinking skills.
Somehow, the current generation of youngsters have not
come out of 12 years of schooling with all the above, or with
very much of it. They are totally unaware of geography and
history, just for starters. They have trouble making cliange.
Forget Beethoven and basic physics.
But they have picked up some skills. They (and we use the
average young person) can drive a car, drink of beer, smoke
assorted substances, and be thoroughly assertive with
teachers and parents.
They may also have learned a specific trade, such as hair
dressing or carpentry, and that’s really wliat kept many of
them in school at all.
Now, what kind of life can we foresee for this composite
student? He or she can presumably get a job performing that
one task learned in high school.
But how about continuing to learn through reading? How
about participating in community life or government, even by
i^ormed voting? How about enjoying symphonies, conversa
tion, travel among other cultures? How about an understan
ding of his/her world through a knowledge of history and
religion?
Then, the day comes when this vocational graduate loses
that one job. Perhaps there’s a glut on the market for
carpenters. Can he/she do anything else?
These are some of the reflections that prompted the study
group to make its proposal. It felt, first of all, that high schools
had their hands full teaching students to read, write, compute
and think at any adequate level. To push for specific job train
ing in addition was to the detriment of those basic skills kids
would need all their lives at every moment.
Then, they believe a more general education in a voca
tional cluster would be of far greater benefit in the
marketplace. Learning building trades instead of carpentry
would mean several options for employment.
There are all sorts of problems associated with this kind of
change, should it come about. Vocationalteachers would have
10 be retrained io ieaeij tiic* clusters; community colleges ^*sUed arou.".d s
might need time and more equipment to prepare for the quan
tities of students they’d have; and some kind of transportation
plan might need to be worked out to enable young people who
wanted job-specific courses to attend commimity colleges.
But solutions could be found for all these problems, as well
as the drop-out question, obviously the most worrisome of all.
George Kahdy, technical adviser to the sul>committee
now considering this proposal, said there’s Uttle chance the
whole recommendation will be passed. It’s politically con
troversial, and it does need work.
But he said it promises the hope oi a closer look at present
vocational education courses, some of which may be obsolete.
And an even more valuable look may be taken at the present
high school graduate who stayed in school only to take "shop.”
A study of that young person’s life through several years
following graduation could be instructive.
It is, indeed, important that every youngster stay in
school. But it’s just as important to ask and answer the ques
tion, “Why?”
The psychics arc in the limelight
right now, predicting strange ami
wonderful things for 1S87.
A Fayetteville woman, for in
stance, said in a radio intcn'icw this
morning mat last week’s flooding
would continue. Ugh! Bad news!
I Can foretell the future as well as
these self-proclaimed psychics: I
think ril take a crack at it. After all.
no one really chocks up on such pro
nouncements. do they? It's just un
entertaining way to start a new year.
How about a look at Brunswick
County, 1987? I found a ncarly-roumi
rock alongside Highway 17 that is
almost clear as cr>stal. although
scrat-hed and dirt>*. Let me stare at
it and think a little. Here we go!
Aha! My first vision is that of n
man in a bed. writing furiously. It’.s
Billy Carter, our county manager,
whose doctors sentenced him to a
year of convalescence.
While he writes his memoirs.
mor/or/e
Meqivern
David Clegg is momentarily running
thing.s, but what’s this? Clegg Is tap
ped for u role in the movie. "King
Kong tiocs To Bolivia.” and the coun
ty will be turnetl over to Benny
I.iidlum.
Meanwhile. I see agriculturo turn
ed topsy-turvy during the year.
Milton Coleman will introduce rub
ber plants as an alternative crop to
tob;icco farmers, prompting tire
maiuifacturing throughout the coun
ty, and exasperating Congressman
Charlie Rose, who liad finally wangl
ed a tobacco export embargo.
ine Ultra iiae
BY FORREST WHITLEY
The raging waves of the Ultra Tide,
boosted by the gusting wind,
Crashes the coastline’s sandy shores,
too powerful to comprehend.
She splinters docks and piers alike,
and tosses vessels as children’s toys.
She pounds the bulkheads and claims the dunes,
with a fearful thunderous noise.
Helplessly we watch as she surges inland,
and shatters all that's in her path.
Never has a weapon been built by man.
with such a devastating wrath.
Now, after a while, the water recedes,
leaving its spoils behind.
We shudder to think of the damage she’s done,
and of the destruction we'll find.
But after a while, we’ll clean it up.
and the structures will be replaced.
And a stranger here a year from now
won’t knovj we’ve been defaced.
He’ll bask in the sun by a mirror-calm sea,
and take pleasure in the gentle wind.
He’ll give no thought to the Ultra Tide,
but we know that she’ll come again.
It Was A Cireat
Little American Car
Tuesday a week ago. the last of the
Chevettes rolled off a GM production
line, and for me it was almost a time
of mourning.
The Chevette was a spunky little
car: it handled well, accelerated
pretty well for a 4-cylinder compact
car and was one of the easiest cars on
today’s market to service and main
tain.
When it was first marketed, the
Chevette was the first of the •‘small”
cars produced by an American co^^
pany and it became an instant suc
cess, a best-seller so to speak.
But soon the market was flooded
with competition; too much, I guess,
for a simple little car with a simple
price tag.
Seventeen months ago—it .seems
almost like last week—I reluctantly
sold my little Chevette.
I’d bought it in Morganton after my
Pontiac, which had only 70,000 miles
on it, died on the road and couldn’t l)c
rescuscitated. I borrowed a vehicle
from work, drove to the nearest car
lot, asked to see their cheapest car.
The salesman .said what I wanted
was a Chevette or its even cheaper
cousin, the Scooter or some such
thing that barely had wheels.
The only Chevette on the lot,
however, was loaded with gadgets
and carried too high a price tag. He
r\A %4\/
w**«fc* «t| I
about 150 miles away. It was
delivered the next day.
I’d never driven a straight-shift,
but the salesman said it wa.s easy.
After a jerky SO-minute ride around a
county that had more than its share
of hills and railroad crossings. I had
to agree. With the Chevette at least,
it was easy.
Still testKlriving, I .scooted around
the comer to the bank where the
chairman of my board of directors
was vice-president. With a check
from him for 13,800 and the balance
of my savings account, I paid the
.sale.sman and drove off the lot .smil
ing. A beautiful relationship had
begun that would last for more than
five years.
You may remember the car. It wa.s
a bright metallic blue four-door hat
chback. By last summer the trim was
peeling off the front door .side panels.
Driving home froni Bolivui one after-
Wluit are these dieei ing crowds?
Ah. it's IjiDnnc ami Odell, but
tlEcy’re not in Ocean Isle Bcacti. No.
it’s Washington. D.C.. and Ihey'v’c
just announced their entries in the
race for national office. By-passing
state goveniment. Mayor Hullington
will decide to run for President. wiUi
her dad as niimiiig mrito. The plat
form of the Bullington-Williamson
ticket will be “Four-luning 17 will br
ing prosperity to the entire nation.”
Wluit's with the public school .scene
in early 1987? Ever>' school building
is dark, parking lots empty I
sec . .. everyone's at the hospital.
Kids and teachers and ad
ministrators arc lined up for several
city blocks around the Bnm.swick
Hospital, getting their monthly drug
tests. By the lime one is complete,
it's time for the next, so school lia.s
been cancelled (or the time being.
However, education is not being
neglectcii. Dot Wurtii will serve as
roving leadier. giving itLstracUon
along the Hue in Christian lx)vc,
followed closely by Kate Brooks who
adds the mlmonilioii. ‘‘JustSay No!”
Kids an* understandably confused.
My p.s.ocliic energies are fading.
Now, I see only brief
gli!np.:es . . . Alan Holden hasting a
beach party for day visitors, a hur
ricane cra.sirig Bald Head Island,
“Butch” Kedwinc incorporating
Grissettovsii, and the county commis
sioners all appearing on the Today
show, explaining how they
eliminnted tlie property Uix.
This last vision so blinds me, I've
drop|M.*d my rock. cr. my cr>*sUu bull.
Gosh, Uiis is powerful stuff! 1 woiitd
never have itiuigincd such dninuitic
happenings all in one year.
Make a note of i!, folks. Clip tills
column. But in December, don’t try
getting in touch with me. I’m plann
ing an exlen.sive xviK-h! tour.
A Display Of Power
Susan
Usher
noon, I .saw strips flapping in the
wind from both sides of the car and
stopped to sec if the Chevette had
finally begun to fall apart.
About two months earlier, the
knobs iLsed to roll the front windows
down had both popped off the .same
day. each striking a thigh wiUi a solid
lliuinp and half .scaring the daylights
out of me.
It wa.s time; the littlq blue Chevette
luid given years of reliable service.
Tliat, of course, excludes the five-
month period back in early 19B1 when
the battery had to be disconnected
each time the car was parked. Other
wise, the lights came on by
themselves and sapped all the juice.
Working nights at tlie time was a
real adventure, with a choice of
games: take a chance on getting
mugged while reconnecting the bat
tery at 2 a.m. on a downtown street in
Raleigh or gambling on whether the
car would have any juice. After six
trips to two different mechanics'
shops and about $300. they fixed it
with a $4 pan, having overlooked me
obvious.
In July 1985, though, our journey
together ended. I’d been putting off a
decision for months, letting
maintenanre and repairs ride while I
debated whether to buy a new car or
somehow find the money to get the
Chevette rebuilt. Three times in one
month I’d had to be towed and sn this
businc.ss. a reliable vehicle is an ab
solute must. Tlie Chevette no longer
lit the bill.
With more than 150,000 miles on it,
it was I>eginning to show some age. It
needed brakes and tires, plus some
other stuff I wasn’t so sure about and
wouldn’t have understood if someone
liad explained it. later on, I learned
(Sec GREAT CAR, Page 5-A)
By now I’m sure everyone of us is
aware of the astronomicai high tides
and the storm damage of New Year’s
Day. Some have said damage was
the most severe since Hurricane
Hazel in 1954. In front of our house at
Holden Beach, emsinn was the worst
I've seen and our steps over the
du.nes gave way after 1! years and
having withstood two hurricanes and
several other winter storms.
We watched the 10- to 12-foot waves
breaking as far out as we could see
through the driving rain. White caps
were on the horizon and waves were
crashing itard against the dunes.
Each time a wave came in some .sand
would move out with it and the face of
the dune would cnimblc a little more.
The next wave would take (he loose
sand and more would cnimble. At
about 6:30 that morning, which was
supposed to be high tide, we were far
ing prett)’ well, having lost some
dune but no damage to steps, decks
and walkways.
We went in for dr>* shoes and
clothes and decided to put on rain
suits and stay on the deck to watch
the tide recede. The promised wind
had begun tc blow front the east and
the water increa.scd its fury. Steps
broke loose ea.st of us on the beach
and came rushing by as if on a con
veyor belt.
Suddenly we heard another crack
among the sound of crashing waves
and rain beating on slickers. A near
by deck gave way where the suppor
ting 4x4s were standing free of the
washed away dune. Another crack
and a thump as the dock broke loose
and moved toward us.
A surge from a big wave drove it
into the steps next to us where it
rested momentarily. Another wave
or two and those steps began to
Bill
Fnwckr
move. Two more power-filled waves
lore them loose. The deck flouted
free and sailed on by. The steps
crashed into our steps and it took 10
to 12 iviiiiute.s before the force pulled
them along toward (he we.st.
The same thing happened for the
next four ur five houses until the
beach was clean and the dunes clip
ped hack as if a huge bulldozer had
come along and sheared off the dune.
It all lasted about an hour and a half
and the wind shifted to ease the poun
ding.
With the cliange in the wind, the
gulls, pelicans and terns returned to
fish in the debris. Water was still too
high for the sandpipers and wiliets.
But around 1 o’clock when the tide
moved out and the iumber-strewn
beach appeared, the smaller birds
were in a feeding frenzy .searching
for small crustaccu, worms, and
other life expased by the rough
water.
Holden Beach was lucky in relation
to some other places in our area. The
display of power reminds u.s that the
sea claims what it wants and there’s
not much stopping it! Perhaps this
can help us realize wr riced to give
the ocean its space and place our
homes and activities far enough
away to allow dunes to erode and
build and erode again. The power is
there.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
How Much Is A Life Worth?
To the editor:
How much is a life worth? To be
brutally frank, astronauts arc going
for approximately $750,000;
hostages, almast any price up to an
including a possible national scan
dal: but military people are a real
bargain, a ”regret-to-inform”
telegtam plus six montlis pay is tlicir
worth.
All these people are taking overt
actions which could put their lives at
risk, so why should there be such a
disparity when death or capture oc
curs?
I do not take issue with the govern
ment guaranteeing benefits for the
astronaut families, but the same
guarantees are not being afforded
the children of marines who died in
l^cbanon. There is no question that all
efforts should be made to free the
hostages, but ransom should not be
paid for civilians unless the same
payments are available for military
prisoners.
A sailor was murdered in Bierut
and a plane load of soiiders were kiii-
ed near Iceland, and what a price, a
•‘regret-te-inform-you’’ telegram
and six months pay. Oh, there was a
wringing of hands and statements
about heroes, but then we dropped
the subject—almost as quickly as we
forgot the marines in Lebanon.
But, what the hell—these grunts,
doggies and swabbies knew what
they were getting into when liiey
enli.sted. Now all you guys knock that
crap off because Uiose telegraiiLS arc
expensive, but to your country, your
death is a real bargain.
These words, ideas and statements
are all mine. I accept responsibility
for them, but adniil Uiai I probably
would not liavc taken such action had
it not been for a number of calls and
conversations over Uie past few mon
ths. The one most memorable was a
teen-age marine widow who was ex
pressing concern for the future
welfare of her two children.
Jess Parker
Bruaswick County
Veteran Serice Officer
Thanks For Coring
To the editor:
On Christmas day Mr. and Mrs,
Norwood Ezzcll opened their
restaurant in Wilmington to senior
citizens. This was done in memory of
Mr. Ezzell’s mether auu daddy.
This was a very kind and generous
deed and made us realize that these
are people who care for the older
generation. The food was delicious,
ihe entertainment was delightful, but
most of all their kindness and
generosity were greatly appreciated.
aa — m M i
• tvifv IMIVC BIU lailiU/
to .snare Christma.s with, it was a
joyous occasion. Thank you, Mr. and
Mrs. Ezzcll, for caring.
Mary and Frank RicliBJfdson
Boiling Spring Lakes
Thanks, Neighbors
To the editor:
I would publicly like to thank all of
my neightMrs in Sunset Lakes whoso
graciously gave their Ume and
money to *ncip repair our dam which
completely washed out on Christmas
Eve night.
A special thank,s to OdcU William
son, who not only gave us his time
and money, but who let us use his
road through private property, our
only exit and entrance to our proper
ty during Uiis emergency.
Glenda Crook
Board Memlior. .Sunset
i^akes I lumcowners Assn.