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PAGE • - PLAIN DEALER - I r/iuE. • «• ruiinuMLE "Activist" PTA moves forward with participation from many A When you you may visualize mobs, even| violence- Yet, one of America's' strongest activist organizations: has been persistently and effec-j tively pressing rights for almost 100 years--never with more' success than today--and never a bruise or policeman involved! The National PTA is really a two-fold activist: • As a national organization advocating for children's educa­ tion and well-being, it acts as a forceful pressure group, having the means to focus national at­ tention on the most serious prob­ lems affecting our youth and public education; • As a unified body of more than six million memberships at the state, district and local levels, PTA Carries the clout to lobby in Washington, and in the States and local communities to influence legislation for im­ provement of education, while preventing action that would have negative effects on public schools and our children. Activating a "youth move­ ment," while urging earnest parent involvement in schools and communities, is a major PTA role, according to National PTA President Virginia Sparl­ ing. "We have encouraged youth to speak out and affect decisions on issues that directly influence their lives . . . that previously were made for them without benefit of their input ... on school problems, nutrition, sexuality, and drug and alcohol abuse. Parent . . . people . . . citizen power woiks; it can and has brought change." One of the National PTA's primary concerns is saving and improving the quality of public education for all children, in­ cluding the gifted and hand­ icapped. BASIC CHECKLIST " FOR STARTING SCHOOL TOPS BOTTOMS OUTERWEAR SHOES ACCESSORIES OTHER Colorful T-shirts, turtle necks Denim or corduroy Raincoat, poncho or Rubbers or boots Backpack or nylon B O Y Short-sleeve knit shirt Oxford cloth button-down shirt jeans Chino pant slicker with hood Sweatshirt-- "locker room gray" is a popular color Light-weight jacket Sneakers Oxfords gym bag Belt-- adjustable elastic style S Long-sleeve pullover Sweater in new textured terry, velour, chenille slicker with hood Sweatshirt-- "locker room gray" is a popular color Light-weight jacket G 1 R L S Colorful T-shirts, turtle necks Oxford cloth shirt Frilly blouse Classic Shetland or Fair Isle pullover Denim or corduroy jeans Work pant or painters' pant Classic pleated skirt Raincoat Sweatshirt-- maybe in a bright solid color or print Light-weight jacket Rubbers or boots Sneakers Oxfords Umbrella Backpack Gym bag or tote Belt-- adjustable elastic style Jumper-- in corduroy or denim Mtfuwtfy 1 LOT G§LLSFP^KELSON BR ATHLETIC 0L SOCKS W MM *IN SCHOOI WW COLORS FaS ATHLETIC^ SOCKS AVAILABLE I with School I Logos!! WW COLORS •WHILE SUPPLY LASTS ALSO IN STOCK ALL OTHER A GYM BAGS |A PLAIN DF \ & WITH SCHOOL NEEDSI SCHOOL LOGOS McHENRY S MOST COMPLETE SPORTS STORE!! McHenry's Favorite Sport Center 1210N. Green St. / McHenry. IL mm HOURS:MuTbirŝ 9-HO,Fri,MJO ____ •SUM Sit, s-sa, So., in* 385-1000 FRIDAY, AUGUST a, 1M0 Activities in this area cover a broad sfrctrom, from extensive research tiKo the problems of discipline and indiscriminate use of standardized testing in the schools--to forming a coalition to successfully defeat tuition tax credit legislation, which would divert millions of tax dollars from the public school system. The newly established sepa­ rate Department of Education in the President's Cabinet, for which the PTA has long pres­ sured, will give education a much needed priority position. Three viable programs have developed through nation-wide volunteer research and plan de­ velopment. An Urban Task Force, directing its attention at the most crucial problems fac­ ing urban education, has pro­ duced the PTA's "Urban Ac­ tion Plan." Addressing inadequate financing and lack of parental or community involvement in schools and youth unemploy­ ment, the Plan calls for coalition-building between business leaders, service or­ ganizations, and the schools as the vehicle for problem-solving. HEW funds have provided for gathering data, conducting demonstration projects, and holding youth forums and showcases throughout the coun­ try to increase public awareness and promote support and train personnel in order to bring com­ prehensive health education into schools and communities. Also, a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture has funded a 20-State Nutrition Pro­ ject, for which the findings are to be used to help upgrade school food services. The National PTA has re­ ceived the most publicity re­ cently for its attack on gratu­ itous violence on TV. Armed with findings that TV does »f feet children's behavior, it es­ tablished the TV Action Center, with a toll-free hot-line, to coordinate the campaign against violence while promoting gen­ eral improvement in the quality and diversity of programming. Credited as the most effective organization in upgrading TV shows and their advertising, the PTA is currently developing a curriculum in TV viewing skills for use in classrooms and homes. Other programs with PTA priority are Parenting -- education for parenthood-- which is being undertaken in cooperation with the March of Dimes Birth Defects Founda­ tion. A continuing concern, the goal is to make parenthood edu­ cation ap integral p^rt of .school curriculum. f \s | ?f To promote tlje arts as an im­ portant facet of total education, the National PTA offers a "Re­ flections Project." The creative efforts of thousands of children and young people throughout the country are showcased here in visual arts, literature and music. To maintain "activist people-power" the PTA needs and welcomes everyone; single ?or married parents . . . con­ cerned citizens . . . youth . . . senior citizens ... everyone who cares about kids and their future . . . which is everyone's future. Nothing happens with­ out involvement and PTA is people participation! For information on joining the PTA, contact your local PTA or write: National PTA, 700 Rush Street, Chicago, IL 60611. tissues SUPERMAN FACIAL TISSUES will make any child feel super when he has to blow his note. They are also a fun present to give to kids. The attractively packaged facial tissues, manufac • tured and distributed by Oh Dawn! Inc., can be found in major department and specialty stores. Reading for entertainment What pursuit is relaxing and exciting at once? What activity can engross people of varying interests for hours on end, tak­ ing them deep inside themselves and other people, or across the globe and even to other planets? The answer is reading. Emily Dickinson wrote that ' 'There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away." Indeed, there is no other pursuit which allows its habitues the wide- ranging pleasures which are af­ forded by reading. A wall lined with books con­ tains the promise of endless „ hours of delight. Whether you Study in style PREPPY PLAIDS, left, a red plaid knit skirt ($19) k shown with a red erewneck sweater ($11) and white oxford shirt ($11). Right, a blue and ginger plaid skirt ($17) features a white woven blouse ($15), with elastidaed cuffs, rises 7-14. ^^O. simaar sty'es .re available at laager Sear, fashion enjoy fictidh or fact, poetry or prose, the vast selection of read­ ing matter that has accumulated over the centuries is staggering. And, no matter how old, a classic, by definition, never goes out of date. King Lear is as awe-inspiring today as it was when it was first performed at the Globe Theatre in Shakes­ peare's day. Boccaccio's Decameron, which dates from medieval Florence, is as true today as a portrait of human nature as was 600 years ago--how fre­ quently the reader feels twinges of recognition is proof of that. 17th century poems such as John Donne's "No Man is an Is­ land," Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress," and John Milton's sonnet "On His Blind­ ness," to name just a few, echo their truths down the corridor of years to belie the twentieth cen­ tury's sense of "how far we've come." If you enjoy reading purely for entertainment, you may perhaps want to skirt these elder statesmen of literature. But what author is more amusing than Dickens? Who draws his characters with a finer pen, delineating their false pre­ tensions, their hopes, their comic and tragic selves, their downright humanity, than that 19th centuiy author, who wrote for the mass of people, not the elite? And so on. Whether your tastes run to adventure, mys­ tery, comedy, melodrama or tragedy--the selection of books from which you can choose is endless, the joys and rewards of reading, infinite. Books, we are told, propose to instruct or to amuse. Indeed! . . . The true antithesis to knowledge, in this case, is not pleasure, but power. All that is literature seeks to com­ municate power; all that is not literature, to communi­ cate knowledge. •V/ --Thomas De Quincey > » / 11 •