Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

-opinion, Educational leaders get shock from SAT An educational blow hit students, parents and educators when they learned South Carolina students scored lowest in the nation on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Although the state's average score was 10 puiiiid inguti lilet 11 iddi ycdi a, ouuui v^ai uiiuiciiid have a right to be shocked about the poor quality of education evidently received in this state. Several contributing factors may be blamed for our state's embarrassing averages on the SAT. Many of the large numbers of students taking the SAT have no intentions of attending college. High school administrators urge students to take the test "just in case." Administrators say taking the test is a good experience and allows students to see where they rank with their classmates. Students take the test because of peer pressure. Large numbers of students taking the SAT certainly will affect the scores, but the root of the problem lies deeper. DuKKn Vioi m Inni Anf in fVinit* X uuiit aciniuio na v c i^iucni 111 wicn teaching standards and graduation requirements. To graduate, a high school student needs only 18 credits, including four years of English and only two years of math. Although students are getting four years of English, they are not getting the basic skills needed for the SAT or for college. Less reading is required and careful, thoughtful writing is voluntary rather than mandatory. Despite a major emphasis on math on the SAT, state law requires only two years of high school math. Many students cannot learn basic algebra in two years. The requirements are too lenient in high school. Many students can easily complete 18 credits in three years, leaving only one English course for the senior year. Public schools need to return to the three R's: reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic. Schools are not solely to blame, since our cAninfir Vine r? nnn o rln/ilininrf i n f nt?nc f iri nao OCCM a uccuiung unci coi 111 education. Learning in the classroom has taken a crude back seat to learning from television. Perhaps more courses taught on educational television would interest students. Parents no longer strictly enforce studying in the home. Although learning at home was once the primary, if not sole, method of education, little is learned there today. Both parents are usually forced to work, leaving little time for athome instruction. School standards must be increased if education is to improve in South Carolina. Tests similar to the SAT should be given each year to determine whether a student should advance to the next grade. More homework and writing assipfnmpnte should hp tfivpn O o* * It's time to get tough. Students cannot expect to do well in college if they don't receive the basic skills in high school. When higher educations fails, the entire state suffers. Schools must now face a 4.6 percent budget reduction that will cut back on teachers and resources. While a healthy bank account is vital to all schools, perseverance and the will to improve are most needed in dealing with the educational standards of South Carolina. I ??Gamecock 1 Kditor-in-Chief Hichard Meyers Copy Desk Chief David DeWitt Opinion Page Kditor Viofei Jinnette News Kditor John Braun Wire Kditor Sydne Waller Asst. News Kditor Jeff Draine Photo Kditor Mike Fisher Asst. News Kditor. . . Forrest Brown General Manager Ron Emler Knt. Kditor John Vaughan Adviser Mark Ethridge, Jr. Asst. Knt. Kditor Chris Handal Ad Manager I.inda S. Haines Sports Kditor Johnny Bogus - [tusiness Manager . Jean Hatchell Asst. Sports Kditor . Dennis Switrer Production Manager Mark McEwan Newsroom 777-7181 Advertising 777 -4249 Business Office 777-3888 Production 777-2833 The Gamecock welcomes letters and guest editorials All letters and guest editorials must be typewritten, triple-spaced on a 65 space-line. Letters should be no longer than 300 words and guest editorials should he limited to one newsworthy subject no longer than four typed pages. Letters and guest editorials MUST be signed with the writer's name, telephone number, mailing address, class standing or faculty position and major. Pseudonyms are unacceptable, but the writer's name may be withheld upon request if the circumstances warrant. We reserve the right to edit guest editorials and letters. Address letters and columns to: Opinion Page Editor, Gamccock, Drawer A, USC, Columbia. S C. 29208. ?letters T..u:am :ma^a?? U. I UIUUII IIIUICCI56 Ul Editor : And university officials I feel that the suggestion of raising tuition next semester should be excluded from the list of solutions to dealing with the $4.6-million cut in state funding. This suggestion (raising tuition) is one in which USC students'and their parents' financial state seems to be of little concern. I, along with many other students, am working a minimum of 20 hours a week to cover only a small fraction of my educational cost. Let me give testimony to the fact that working 20 hours a week, attending classes and studying is not a task easily attained. I, as well as many other students, cannot afford academically to work more hours in order to subsidize this matter. With little hesitancy, I will say that many of you, as well as private businesses in South Carolina, have funds sitting in banks doing nothing but drawing interest. While you all see the need to educate South Carolinians, I'm sure that not one of you has offered to give from your own pocket in order to deal with this situation. ? _ _ Insurance hurts rtsim i By Dr. Phillip Jacobs ? ? Much public attention has been paid SIIJ0St 0( since the mid-l9G0s to the problem of ? rising hospital costs. Hospital ex- ... penses ? expressed in terms of per public pay different! patient admission ? have been rising DOCTORS ARE < rapidly in South Carolina. fee for service basis But this is only part of the concern. recognized that thei If expenses per admission increase, their patients, no ir so must rhareps npr admission in- thpm to pfnnnmi7p crease, to bring in sufficient their patients' behal revenues. A recent South Carolina Hospitals are re Hospital Association survey shows basis of formu that if patients are divided into groups retrospective in na according to where payment comes that they are reimb from, marked differences exist in of what they spend payments per admission received by ceded that hospii the hospitals. Patients with private business of provid insurance (Blue Cross and other) and and in their view tl those with no insurance (self-pay) do for patients ? tl who do not wind up as bad debt cases longer stays ? the pay full charges (the price actually patients. This drive i set). Patients with government care, then, is coupl< coverage (Medicare and Medicaid), mechanism which on the other hand, pay less than full does little to encour charges and, according to the In the midst of all association, less than their share of must be recognize costs. subsidization effect i Thus, while expenses are growing , a is taking place. Bi greater than proportional share of the shift the payment financial burden is paid by private private insurees j insurance and self-pay patients. This, than their share of < of course, eventually must mean should not blind u higher insurance premiums for portant point: the i privately insured individuals. Fur- all the while encoui ther, as charges rise, more and more system to continue" self-pay patients cannot pay their Regulations clan bills ; they must become bad-debt which do not alter ii patients. no solution. The expand ? incentiv IN THIS general context, recent do so from every events have magnified these such as caps on problems. Medicaid is cutting back on utilization review i hospital benefits paid out for the poor. which will only acl Coverage has fallen from 40 days specific aspect < annually to 12 days per beneficiary. complex system And, in the current recession, em- members have j ployees who lose their jobs also lose ingenuity and ei insurance coverage if they cannot cumventing piecem meet steep premium rates. The result . is a greater number of potential bad .. . , ' * debt payers, and a higher private urdens students No! I am not looking for a free ride; rather, a great deal of consideration. Students and their families should not be expected to sacrifice while those who might have the funds to give sit behind their desk and make such an inconsiderate proposal. You, as the officials of this university, surely cannot expect us (the students) to sit back and be passive about a matter in which we are most essential. If I'm not mistaken, we have just recently added a new section to the Williams-Brice Stadium. Where did the funding for this $12-million project come from? (from private contribution.) I am sure that just as these contributors were approached about this matter, it would not hurt to use this same strategy in dealing with a much more academically oriented matter. So to all such "patriotic South Carolinians" with large bank accounts giving to the education of fellow South Carolinians is an investment that will never depreciate. Stanley Davis Psychology sophomore g hospital expenses two forms. The government may mandate a change in the payment sucfpm en that ratoc npr corvinp are ????? paid by all payors uniformly and are ial. contained by some regulatory body. 11 should be noted that without ; While it must be uniform payment by all groups, cross ;fwT, i. . subsidization may continue. With icenfive exists' for such a Prospictive payment on their own or mechanism the hospital would be f given a predetermined payment to it which it must adjust as best it can. las which are Although th?s is a regulatory solution ture This moans as wel1' il does chan8e the incentive ?rcA ai i structure in that hospitals will be ursed on the basis ? . /U j e- * c i_ i ta. 4 , penalized (bv deficits) for heavv tals ire in thp spending. Such a system is not at all ing hospital care simple to imPlement- and a g?od be more that thov many Problems relating to payment ? bases, rates, appeals and other hotter off are tv^ matters must be settled before im.^ provide better P'^entation. Such schemes have ed with a financial "ork<:d T'tTl!S<JT f?tes,(.e g at the very least Maryland) but have faded in others ageeconomy. (e.g. Colorado). 1 of these factors it ?d that the cross An alternative solution might come treferred to above if companies themselves, as well as jt all this does is their employees, were given some L burden so that incentive to seek less costly forms of are paying more medical care (e.g. membership in 1 growing pie. This health maintenance organizations). s to the very im- Such an incentive might be inncentive system is troduced by changing income tax rflfinc th*> hncnifol Inu/C (a milrn hnnUK inpnrnnno ' "O C"> V..V- wuu^/liui ""? VVT lliuni^ I1V..UI111 IllOUl OUW expanding. premiums which are paid for by iped on the system employers as a taxable form of incentives will offer come. A wider range of health insystem wants to surance benefits would no longer be a es encourage it to free benefit to employees. If emside. Regulations ployees had to bear some financial total spending or burden when they received more merely act as lids generous insurance premium t to suppress some benefits, they might be willing to an extremely accept (less costly) policies which - a system whose incorporated a greater degree of cost a great deal of sharing. tperience in cireal regulations. itive system itself The author is an associate professor jred if growth is to in (JSC's College of Business Admay come in one of ministration.