Page 4 - The Michigan Daily - Saturday, August 13, 1983 Texas sixth graders may choose careers I HOUSTON (AP) - In an effort to .strengthen the American workforce, the head of the Texas school board wan- ts to make sixth-graders pick career "tracks" that will point them toward white-collar or blue-collar jobs. "If you study the curricula of our competitors - West Germany, Japan, Russia -we've gotten a little soft," said State Board of Education President Joe Kelly Butler. "We're not keeping up." BUT SOME other education officials said teachers have to be careful not to put children into tracks that could destroy their potential. Butler said he will submit the idea to the state board next month. Under the plan, students in the sixth grade would choose among academic, general and vocational courses of study. BUTLER SAID tests would help parents and students pick the right track, but they wouldn't hekused to for- ce a student into a particular program. The plan also calls for beefing up elementary school courses in basic skills such as mathematics, English and reading, Butler said. "If you don't learn it there, you don't learn it," he said. BUTLER presented the idea Wed- nesday to a meeting of the Select Com- mittee on Public Education in Tomball, a Houston suburb. He said some form of his idea is necessary if the United States is to con- tinue competing with other in- dustrialized nations. Students would be allowed to move between tracks, but if they wanted to join the academic program late they would have to delay graduating from high school, Butler said. "If you want six years of math or a foreign language, you have to start in the seventh grade," he said. Butler predicted that his program would be phased in starting in Septem- ber 1984. But board member H. Reginald McDaniel of Dallas said he expects the idea to meet stiff resistan- ce. "It's going to ruffle alot of feathers," said McDaniel, a physician. "There are a number of people who don't even want it discussed." Correction The Daily incorrectly reported Thur- sday that Judge James Krantz was hearing the AFSCME election objec- tions. Judge James Kurtz is hearing the case. DANIEL'S "USED BABY THINGS" BABY CRIBS, PLAYPENS, STROLLERS, CHANGING TABLES, TOYS, SWINGS, CLOTHING & MORE WE BUY, SELL & REPAIR OPEN: MON-SAT 10-6 557 S. MAPLE 761-9305 IN BRIEF Compiled from Associated Press and United Press International reports Paraquat sprayed on Georgia pot ATLANTA - Drug agents began spraying marijuana fields in northern Georgia with the herbicide paraquat yesterday in the federal government's first use of the chemical in this country. Gov. Joe Frank Harris said the operation would make it clear "that we're sickand tired of drug problems and we're going to do something about it." The location and times of the spraying were kept secret, but Harris described the fields as being in remote areas of federal forest lands in nor- thern Georgia. He said he had been assured the operation would not endanger human health or the environment. Paraquat can cause severe respiratory ailments and death if ingested by humans. Libyan planes bomb Chad N'DJAMENA, Chad - Libyan warplanes bombed President Hissene Habre's forces at two of Chad's northern outposts yesterday and Libyan reinforcement were pouring across the border to help the Chadian rebels, Western military sources reported. After recapturing Faya-Largeau, the chief oasis in northern Chad, for ex- President Goukouni Oueddei's rebels, the Libyans apparently were preparing to support him in a new drive on N'Djamena, the capital. Habre's Cabinet called for the "direct, massive and immediate interven- tion of the military forces of France and the United States." Information Minister Mahamat Soumaila said waves of Libyan aircraft dive-bombed Oum Chalouba, 200 miles southeast of Faya-Largeau on the north-south road down the eastern side of the country. Syrian paper attacks U.S. envoy A Syrian government-controlled newspaper yesterday accused U.S. presidential envoy Robert McFarlane of "provocations . . . lies and distor- tions" in his peace mission and told him to leave the Middle East. Druse militiamen, meanwhile, stopped shelling Beirut airport after two days of mountain fighting that left 27 dead and 66 wounded. Al-Baath, the newspaper of Syrian President Hafez Assad's ruling Socialist Baath Party, charged McFarlane had "lost his equilibrium" and should pack up and leave the Middle East, where he has been trying to get Israeli and Syrian forces to pull out of Lebanon. "He has changed his mission from one of dialogue to a campaign of provocations against Syria, a campaign of lies and distortion, blaming Syria for all that is happening in the area," the paper said. "Like all officials of the U.S. administration, McFarlane does not care about wars and destruction, and always wants to see more innocent blood spilled in the world," Al-Baath said. "He has not offered one single aspect to justify the continuation of his presence in the area." Germans arrest Hell's Angels HAMBURG, West Germany - A joint West German, Swiss, and U.S. police swoop netted 34 Hell's Angels suspected of running an international white slavery ring and drug and protection rackets, police said yesterday. Also seized was a cache of arms, including a crossbow and samurai sword. " More than 500 armed police converged on a Hamburg bar Wednesday, arresting 24 gang members in a top secret operation that "wiped out" a Hell's Angels chapter involved in kidnapping women and selling them as prostitutes in three European countries, a police spokesman said. Police in Zurich, Switzerland, followed suit Thursday, arresting nine members linked to the Hamburg group in an operation mounted by 100 heavily armed police. The Hamburg police seized drugs, cash and weapons from the Hell's Angels after searching 80 homes and brothels in the biggest police operation against organized crime in the north German city. "There's enough criminal material to fill two offices," a police spokesman said, adding police confiscated a samurai sword, shotguns, revolvers, a crossbow and steel projectiles. Large quantities of cocaine and marijuana also were seized. Opposition blames Chilean president for protest deaths SANTIAGO, Chile - Chilean opposition leaders and slum dwellers yester- day blamed President Augusto Pinochet's massive development of troops for the bloody outcome of anti-government demonstrations in which 17 other people were killed. Pinochet had deployed 18,000 troops and police in Santiago with "strict orders to crack down" before the protests began Thur- sday. Witnesses said eight of the dead were hit by bullets fired into their slum homes during a Thursday night curfew enforced by military patrols in San- tiago and Valparaiso to suppress the fourth monthly "Day of National Protest" against Pinochet's authoritarian government. Chilean news media said between 900 and 1,200 people were arrested, most youths who defied the curfew to set up flaming barricades of gasoline-soaked tires and throw rocks at police riot squads. In the three previous protests, eight people were killed and more than 3,000 arrested. But for the first time since the one-day protests started in May, there were widespread attacks against Chileans who stayed indoors to take part in the " main thrust of the massive demonstration - the clanging of pots and pans. Slum dwellers said bullets and tear gas were fired through their windows. i 4 I I THE UNIVERSITY ACTIVITIES CENTER U.A.C. IS ACCEPTING APPUCATIONS FOR THE POSITION OF VICE PRESIDENT OF: PROGRAMMING APPUCANTS MUST HAVE EXPERIENCE APPLICATIONS ARE AVAILABLE AT THE UAC OFFICES SECOND FLOOR OF THE UNION APPLICATIONS ARE DUE BY TUESDAY AUGUST 16,1983 QUALIFIED APPLICANTS WILL BE CONTACTED FOR INTERVIEWS FOR MORE INFO CALL UAC 763-1107