Campus/Area
University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, October 30, 1990
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Mayor, governor greet Japanese visitors
International relationship multifaceted
Kansan staff writer
By Elicia Hill
Kansan staff writer
Kvoichi ishikawa, mayor of Hiratsuka, Japan, accepts a Kansas flag, held by Gov. Mike Hayden and Mayor Shirley Martin-Smith.
Lawrence is being visited this week by 15 delegates from one of its sister cities, Hiratsuka, Japan.
The delegates, members of the Hiratsuka City Council and Hiratsuka International Friendship Committee, were welcomed to Kansas by Mayor Shirely Martin-Smith, Gov Mike Hayden, a pop band from the University of Kansas and an audience of about 50.
Martin-Smith thanked the Hiratsuka mayor, Kyochi Ishikawa, for forming the relationship with Lawrence.
Ishikawa, speaking through translator Fumio Kuriabayashi, KU graduate student, said, "Today is the starting point of our real relationship. The exchange of education, culture, economics and youth is a very important part of our friendship. Please feel free to come to Hiratsuka any time because you are family now."
Ishikawa thanked the residents of Lawrence as he presented a watercolor painting gift valued at $30,000 to Kuroi. Kuroi, a professor of art in Tokyo,
Hiratsuka, which has about 245.000 residents, is about 31 miles south of Tokyo. The city is an industrial one with many pharmaceutical, electrical and automobile factories.
Gary Toebben, president of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, said after the meeting that the city's relationship were numerous.
"Lawrence residents have an opportunity to learn about other cultures," he said. "We are tortured by our culture and Hiratsuka because they are much
larger and weatherier than us. There have been discussions of forming a joint partnership with a pharmacist who would be located in Lawrence that would be located in Lawrence.
Rhebelo Samuel, director of the Lawrence Office of Human Relations, said after the meeting that it was important that the world was shrinking every day and
that Lawrence was not an isolated community any longer.
"With this sharing of cultures, education and other types of exposures it is good for people to be learning about other people," he said. "We are bringing the many races that make up the world population together and it will improve the quality of life for us all."
As of 1909, 868 cities in the United States have sister cities. Sixteen Kansas cities have sister-city relationships.
Lawrence has one other sister city relationship, with Eutin, Germany.
The sister-city concept was conceived by former President Eisenhower in 1956.
Course offers insight into Japanese education
By Tatsuva Shimizu
Kansan staff writer
KU students can learn why many Japanese students do well in mathematics and sciences in a new class offered by the department of East Asian languages and cultures next semester.
Elaine Gerbert, assistant professor of East Asian languages and cultures, will teach EALC 590, Japanese Education.
She said U.S. citizens were more interested in Japan and its education system than ever before.
"Schools reflect what's going on in the society." she said.
Also, Japan's technological achievements have focused more attention on the Japanese education system.
"The Japanese education system is doing something right," she said.
is doing something right," she said. One of the important differences between American and Japanese education systems is their different social approaches to education, Gerbert said.
In the United States, students learn individual rights in schools.
while Japanese students learn individual duties.
She said that strong discipline in the Japanese education system had worked well to raise the level of average students' achievement.
Besides the academic aspect, the Japanese schools teach responsibilities to the society, she said.
bers of society, she said.
For example, Japanese grade school and high school students clean up classrooms as a part of school work. That discourages students from littering and scribbling and teaches them to act as mem-
However, the Japanese education system puts too much emphasis on memorizing many facts and not allowing student opinions, Gerbert said.
"Children are not given latitude to explain ideas." she said.
Also, the Japanese system emphasizes conformity and does not tolerate individual differences.
Students are eager to conform with their friends, she said. The Japanese culture often opposes the expression of differing opinions in
classrooms.
Audrey Seo, a Littleton, Colo. graduate student enrolled in advanced modern Japanese, said Westerners needed to learn more about Japan and other Asian countries.
U. S. college students should not take their education for granted, she said. Students enrolled in Gerbert's course will understand more about the value of education after they learn about the Japanese education system, which is highly competitive.
Candidates debate education financing, admissions
Kansan staff writer
Local candidates running for U.S. and state representative positions due a chance to take office in the United States.
Candidates for the 44th, 45th, 46th and U.S. Representative-2nd districts debated issues that ranged from financing for state education to resolving the state's fiscal problems.
spending freeze to pull the government out of debt.
The candidates for the 43rd District in Eudora and for Douglas County Commissioner also spoke to 30 people at the forum of Lawrence Chamber of Commerce at City Hall.
Scott Morgan, Republican candidate for U.S. Representative, said he supported a federal
Dan Watkins, a spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Jim Slattery, D-2nd District, said Morgan's proposal to halt spending in Washington was unrealistic.
"Jim Shatter introduced that in Congress a few years back," Watkins said. "There isn't the support in Congress. You won't get the votes to do that."
Morgan said he thought there could be Congressional support.
"This is a new kind of thinking," he said. "It means getting in there and making a difference."
Rep. John Solbach, Democrat 45th District
incumbent, and Martha Parker, Republican candidate for the 16th District, debated the role
"I don't think a representative should go up there and set their own agenda," Parker said. Solbach he wanted to represent everyone's views, including minority views.
"I believe a legislator should gather information from every available source," he said. "I don't think a legislator is elected to represent only the mayor view."
Sean Williams, Republican candidate for the 46th District, said he thought the Legislature should provide for the State Board of Education and the Board of Regents in the state constitution.
"I think it is important to protect education from the whim of the Legislature," he said.
Rep. Betty Jo Charlton, Democratic 46th District incumbent, said she was pleased with her vote in the last legislative session in which she attempted to prevent a constitutional amendment from getting on the Nom. to bail the states that have changed the structure of state education.
"I have been criticized in the past by people who say I have voted against letting issues get on the ballot," she said. "I didn't hear much criticism this time. We cannot leave the formation of educational policy up to 150 legislators, a governor and the general public."
Inoculation for measles mandatory
By Courtney Eblen
Kansan staff writer
More than 700 KU students face rejection at the Enrollment Center if they do not update their immunization records, KU officials said yester-
The enrollment holds were placed on more than 1,000 students who had not received vaccinations for meauses, mumps and rubella. The inoculations have been required since Spring 1989, when the first of several measles outbreaks threatened the KU population.
Charles Yockey, chief of staff at Watkins Memorial Health Center, said no measles cases had been confirmed at the University of Kansas this semester. Several cases reported in early September turned out to be viruses with measles-like skin rashes but were not measles.
He said that because measles was considered one of the most contagious diseases in the world, Watkins officials were taking no chances.
Watkins officials mailed letters in mid-Septer to students who had no proof of adequate MNR incubation. Students were warned that they should not be on their enrollment sheets if they did not update Watkins records.
Diane Hendry, supervisor of the radiology department and immunization clinic at Watkins, said that only 323 of the 1,031 students had come to Watkins to get their MMR vaccinations and to get the enrollment cards from their cards. She said that yesterday one student arrived too late.
"One girl came in here this morning at a quarter to 11 wanting to know why an enrolment hold was on her side. She said she had supposed to have enrolled at 10:30."
Hendry said she was surprised that students did not mob Watkins for immunizations after Watkins mailed the letters in September.
She said last year was a mob scene.
"I think what's been happening is students are getting the letters and throwing them in the garbage without even opening them," Hendry said.
Rich Morrell, University registrar,
said students would be turned away at the door to the Enrollment Center because of their illness. There are no exceptions, be said.
"What we have right now are a number of students who are pretty savvy about the system," Morrell said.
Jim Strobel, director of student health services at Watkins, said that last spring more than 300 students in Watkins to update their inoculations.
He said that students might have gone to other clinics to get their shots but that the most likely explanation was that some of those students were a part of the usual slight decrease in enrolment.
"There's always a bigger drop in enrollment during the spring." Strobl said.
Residence halls scare up safe, fun Halloween for Stouffer Place children
By Tracey Chalpin
Kansan staff writer
KU students living in the residence halls along Engel Road have been organizing activities to ensure that children who live at home or dormitories have a fun-filled and safe Halloween.
On Sunday, McCollum Hall sponsored a Halloween party for Stouffer children and students.
McCain, McCollum Hall president.
Stouffer Place is family housing for married students with children and single parents.
"It was very successful," he said. "It's a good community service project. It was a good way to get good results with minimal effort."
He said he planned the event after Stouffer Place residents asked whether McColm had any Halloween activities planned for their children this year.
McCain said that 50 to 60 children were there, many of them with their parents.
Kristi Ortiz, resident assistant at McCollum, said that tomorrow night residents would transform the seventh floor lobby into a kindergarten and would distribute candy to Stouffer children.
probably would not attend residence hall Halloween activities with her children but that she noticed an increased effort from the halls this year.
Kim Kelly, Stouffer resident, said that she
Kelly said parents would prefer indoor to outdoor trick or treating.
Blair Burton, Templin Hall resident, said Templin and Lewis Hall residents received filers yesterday asking them to hand out candy to Stoffer children.
Burton said the filers included a picture of the cartoon characters Calvin and Hobbes, which residents could hang on their doors to children they were participating in the program.
Burton began planning the event in late September. He said he thought it would be a good way for foreign students who lived at home to become familiar with Halloween traditions.