St. Edward's University News (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 31, No. 3, Ed. 1 Sunday, January 1, 1989 Page: 4 of 10
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PAGE 4 ST. EDWARD'S UNIVERSITY NEWS
PRESIDENT'S CORNER
Dr. Patricia Hayes
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
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Dr. Anthony Chee, '66, on top of the Great Wall of China.
'66 ALUM SPENDS SUMMER
AS VISITING PROF IN CHINA
University of Texas Health
Science Center in Houston. Dr.
Chee and his wife, Ann, and their
two children live in Houston. •
were well attended by faculty
members and students, Dr. Chee
reports.
As well as lecturing at the
two universities, Dr. Chee visited
some renowned institutions of
higher learning in Xian, Beijing
and Tianjin, and had opportuni-
ties to observe, interact and
discuss curricular matters, educa-
tional issues and research priori-
ties with many professionals,
high officials and educational
leaders. His farewell banquet in
Tianjin was hosted by the Lt.
governor and the mayor.
This was the second visiting
professorship accorded to Dr.
Chee. He received a similar
invitation to lecture at Nanjing
University in 1985. Dr. Chee is
the chairman of the biology
department at the Houston
Community College System and
an adjunct professor of the
. 2-
Dr. Anthony Chee, '66,
spent thesummer as a visiting
professor in China, an honor
granted by the Chinese Ministry
of Education.
Dr. Chee spent two weeks
lecturing on molecular endocri-
nology at the prestigious Zhong-
shan University in Guangzhu
(formerly Canton). His audience
consisted of graduate students
who earned two credits for
attending and writing a report on
his full seminar program. He
taught the same seminar program
at Xiamen University, a well-
known institute of higher learn-
ing with an enrollment of more
than 8,000 undergraduate and
graduate students. The seminars
The condition of elementary and secondary education in this
country has been a national preoccupation at least since the publishing
of A Nation at Risk in 1983. In Texas, the focus of concern in recent
years has been on school dropouts, with dozens of solutions attempted
and only moderate success achieved.
Working with the Austin Chamber of Commerce this past year, I
spent a lot of time trying to figure out the roots of this dropout problem
and what the business community could do to help. The two conclu-
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sions that I reached are ultimately reflections on all of education and
certainly on what we are trying to do at St. Edward’s.
The first and most important key to educational success at the
elementary and secondary level, in my opinion, is parenting. Young
people of equal ability will achieve vastly different outcomes depending
on the interest and enthusiasm displayed by their parents. Parenting
means individual attention above and beyond what even the most gifted
teacher can give. And it is individuals who excel in school or choose to
drop out.
The second factor that I have come to believe is significant to
success is the local autonomy of the schools. I understand that we may
have needed statewide regulations to curb some historic abuses in some
elementary and secondary schools, but I am convinced that an overregu-
lated system demoralizes teachers and restricts the flexibility to respond
to the needs of individual students. We need more than money to attract
competent and dedicated people to teaching; we need a work environ-
ment that is creative and supportive.
As you can see, both of these factors—the importance of parent-
ing and the local autonomy of the school—go beyond the school as an
isolated entity. Support for parenting will require cooperation between
schools, businesses, social service agencies, neighborhoods and
churches. School management is a public policy issue statewide.
Understandably, given the enormous importance of education,
all of us would like to figure out how to “fix it quick.” Maybe the
quickest thing that we can really do is to build individual successes in
students, parents, teachers and schools. That may appear like an endless
task (and it probably is). But I think we can be satisfied if we see con-
stant, positive progress, and we will see positive progress if we affirm
students and teachers and create positive learning environments.
And while we are moving forward in specific program areas, we
can focus more clearly on the real challenge of all education—develop-
ing human potential. At all levels of education we can evaluate our
finances, tests, paperwork requirements and committees with a single
measure: Do they help human teachers and learners to be more enthusi-
astic, committed and creative?
Ultimately, we need to embrace improving education as a
lifelong task because education is more like life than it is like manufac-
turing. The horizon is growing even as we master today’s realities. •
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St. Edward's University News (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 31, No. 3, Ed. 1 Sunday, January 1, 1989, newspaper, January 1, 1989; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1528691/m1/4/?q=dallas+voice: accessed June 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting St. Edward’s University.