UVCC College Times, 1990-10-17

              fTMl ess fn THIS WEEK Commentary Faculty Views Bike racks on UVCC campus. Where are they? Community Robert Smith runs for American Party in third district elections. Campus News Miss Utah addresses Miss UVCC contestants. Student Center's Students and Employee of the Month Entertainment Billy Joel's Stormfront reviewed Music Trivia Quiz Sports Ski team not funded by the school's Athletic Department Index Campus News 1.6-9, 11 Classifieds 6 Commentary ,.2-3 Community 4-5 ; Entertainment , 1213 : Mtsc ....,....,.,...,. 10 Sports 14-16 mnnies International Club initiates country Rob Buchert Staff Writer A different country every month that's the goal of the International Club, the sponsor of Japanese Week. The new club emphasizes the international nature of UVCC. For one week of the month, IC will highlight particular home lands of its members. The week will be organized by the nationals and include national pass-times, traditions and other elements of culture. The purpose is to bring awareness to the global face of the school. Japan Week, for example, has been organized by some of the more than 50 Japanese Only the diploma counts Students say hard work, grades When it comes to getting a good job, hard work in high school doesn't matter, many students say. Only the diploma counts. Now, experts admit the kids may be right. A growing chorus of educators and business leaders say there's no reason fornon-college-bound kids to get good grades or take tough courses. Businesses only care whether kids graduated, not how well they did. Most of the time they don't even ask to see a student's transcript. "The single biggest problem we have in education is student motivation," says Steve Palko, an oil company president in Fort Worth, Texas, who was elected to the school board on his concern for the lack of skills high school kids have. But now efforts are under way to create systems somewhat similar to those in Europe and Japan that will volume iy issue s 1 ocroper 1 yyyurqn vgieycommurcejie students here. The events they are displaying are the result of a way of life thousands of years older than that of the standard North American."It's to give them the students a little more of an understanding so if they ever see that again they'll be able to go 'hey, I know what that means and understand why a person might do a certain thing a certain way," said Gustavo Estrada, assistant to the director of International Studies. The events are worth the time to see them. They have been organized by people who actually live in the way displayed. let businesses tap into files of participating students and reward those who have the most skills with the best jobs. The American Business Conference, composed of executives at some of the USA's fastest-growing companies, has launched a project called Vital Link to develop databases that serve as computerized portfolios for students. Demonstration projects are beginning at schools in Fort Worth, Orange County, Calif., and several New Jersey districts. The Educational Testing Service is developing Wor-klink in Tampa, Fla., using a computerized resume that not only tells a student's grades, but even makes room for teachers to report how hard-working a student is. A California high school task force soon will announce similar pilot projects. tfOOWM .r.r , f . - --l '"Id Models show styles from the that was In conjunction with do not matter to "It's one of the hot new topics," says Carol Abbott, consultant with the California Department of Education. "You're going to see a lot more of these programs because businesses have been involved in partnerships a long time and still haven't come to see the fruits of their labors." The push for these programs has come largely from research by John Bishop, an associate professor at Cornell University, who has shown that students in Europe and Japan work much harder than U.S. students. The reason is that their societies reward them for it with better jobs. Few U.S. high school graduates even the ones who did well in school get good jobs: "They work at K mart-type places and gas stations," Bishop says. "This occurs because em of the week Photo by Thomas Epting Orient in Monday's fashion show Japanese Week. future employers ployers view high school graduates as an undifferentiated mass of people." The Worklink project in Tampa may be the best example of how these programs will make distinctions between the good andnot-so-good students. George Elford, director of the Washington, D.C., office of Educational Testing Service, says ETS in May surveyed jobs in the Tampa area to find common skills that high school graduates need. This will allow schools in the area to re-assess their curricula. Meanwhile, 400 students will be asked to complete the 90-minute Worklink assessment. These will include information on student achievement in some basic fields, including reading and business mathematics. Elford says such systems See DIPLOMA, page 1 1