
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, June 25, 1990                   TAG: 9006250109
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER SOUTHWEST BUREAU
DATELINE: SEVEN MILE FORD                                LENGTH: Medium

INDUSTRY, EDUCATION LINKED, SAYS BEYER

Lt. Gov. Don Beyer, who spoke at eight high school graduations in the past week, says that seven of the valedictorians were Asian-Americans born in other countries.

It is not that they were smarter than native-born U.S. citizens, he said, but that their parents realized the importance of education and pushed it at home.

On Saturday, Beyer addressed the Smyth County Conference for Industry and Education, sponsored by the county's Educational Foundation and Chamber of Commerce. He called on business leaders to give school lectures, to sponsor visiting artist programs to stimulate student interest in things other than drugs and alcohol, and to help with mentor programs for potential dropouts.

He said it is important to identify parents who did not complete high school and persuade them to do so as examples to their children. A future goal might be to raise scholarship money, as five school systems in Norfolk did, to make sure financial problems do not keep graduates from going on to college.

Galax already is working toward such a program. Superintendents from Galax and the counties of Carroll and Grayson met Tuesday with chamber officials in a similar effort to build bridges between education and industry.

"I hope we'll see conferences like this throughout Southwest Virginia in the years ahead," Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, told about 100 people attending the Smyth session. "Vocational education is fundamental to the progress of Southwest Virginia."

Boucher said legislation passed by the U.S. Senate and House and now being worked on by a joint conference committee would raise federal vocational funding from $930 million to $1.5 billion per year and begin a "Two Plus Two" program combining the last two years of vocational school with the next two years at a community college.

W.L. "Bill" Lemmon, chairman of the governor's study commission on educational disparities, said industry recruiters seldom ask about grades or courses when hiring a graduate. They are more interested in communication and learning skills, which do not show up on report cards.

That is because industries train their employees themselves and mainly want people who have mastered the old reading, writing and arithmetic basics, said Mel Kent of Brunswick Corp. But they still want high school graduates.

Beyer, speaking Friday night at a Smyth County Democratic Party dinner, said economic development is the state's greatest need, especially in Southwest Virginia, which has lower literacy and graduation rates.

Interviewed afterward, Beyer said he would be active in a state program to build economic bridges between Southwest Virginia and his home area of Northern Virginia.

"The wealthy jurisdictions have to share resources with the less wealthy jurisdictions, or the gap just gets wider and wider. You can have a vicious spiral downward or you can have a serendipitous spiral upward if you turn it around," he said.

by CNB