Minority panel on task

Deseret Morning News editorial
Published: Monday, June 20, 2005 9:37 p.m. MDT
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John Maestas, one of the true gurus of minority education, once pointed out the best way to help American Indian children do well in school. He said all you had to do was show them a practical application for the information they were getting. Many of them were "doers." Abstract knowledge just didn't kindle their fires.

The thought came back last week as Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s Working Group on Student Achievement held its first of six meeting on ways to help minority students close the education gap. Among other suggestions of the 30-person panel were getting more minority teachers and counselors, doing more to combat racism and creating classes that featured topics that appealed to children from ethnic cultures. One provocative thought would have minority children coached before going to kindergarten. The task force, made up of community and minority leaders, hopes to present the best ideas to the legislature for consideration.

We applaud the group for the initiative it is showing. Thoughts "out of the box" abound. But we also caution, along with Tim Bridgewater, the governor's deputy of education, that official recommendations for state lawmakers should have proven cachet and a measurable track record. Tossing new programs into the moat just to see if they float will only lead to delay, frustration and wasted funds.

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To its credit, the Working Group is boldly questioning everything at this point — even its own name. The challenge will be to slowly reign in the freewheeling atmosphere and focus on concrete solutions. For adjustments do need to made. In its makeup and culture, the state of Utah is not the state it was in 1975 — or even 1995. Staying on the crest of change will be vital if the state's institutions are to churn ahead without stalling. Task forces, like the governor's Working Group on Student Achievement, are necessary and forward thinking. The key will be for leadership to sift through that thinking and find workable solutions.

In every culture and every clime — from Asian and Anglo to Hispanic and Native American — talk will always be cheap. The key, as those American Indian students of Maestas understand well, is in carrying out the plans. As the old expression has it, what you do is never as important as what you get done.

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