Summertime--and the Learning May Get Easier

Something’s got to give, if colleges are to make room for the bumper crop of students expected to show up in coming years.

A top contender for sacrifice: the summer-long break.

California’s public colleges and universities are thinking about year-round operations, following the example of crowded elementary and high schools.

Chancellor Charles B. Reed sees that as the best way to accommodate the incoming horde on the 22 California State University campuses. University of California officials are also talking about the concept.

The idea has suddenly gained momentum in Sacramento. Gov. Gray Davis’ budget calls for greater use of classrooms at night, on weekends and over the summer.

And the Legislature is considering a bill to provide subsidies for summer school classes, as it does for fall and winter terms. If approved, the measure would end a peculiar situation at most Cal State and UC campuses: A summer school class costs up to twice as much as it would during the regular academic year.

The bill’s author, Assemblyman George Runner (R-Lancaster), also says changes are needed in state grants, scholarships and the types of courses offered during the summer--all to encourage more year-round participation.

So, if he’s successful, will he be pilloried as the man who robbed students of their cherished summer break?

“I would like to be remembered,” he said, “as the man who made it possible for them to graduate in three years.”

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Love him or loathe him, Ward Connerly deserves credit for courage. Or is it masochism?

In his tireless campaign to rid America of racial preferences, the UC regent has been booed and hissed off college stages from New York to Atlanta to Madison, Wis.

He even recently went mano a mano with Chris Rock, the irreverent funnyman with his own HBO comedy show.

In a mock debate over affirmative action, Rock was merciless, as usual. He poked fun at Connerly for being black, for being old and bald.

“Let me get this straight,” Rock said. “You’ve devoted your life to making sure the white man gets a fair shake?”

Connerly insists that his crusade does not stem from masochism, but a belief that affirmative action is discriminatory and wrong.

He takes encouragement from the little victories, as in an off-the-air exchange with Rock after the show. According to Connerly, it went like this:

“He walked up and said, ‘You are half right.’ ”

“And I said, ‘Which half?’ ”

“He said, ‘About not lowering the standards for anybody. We all perform at the level that’s expected of us. If the home run record was 34, Mark McGwire would have hit 40. But it was 61, and so he hit 70. We shouldn’t lower the standards for black people or anybody else.”

“I said, ‘Why didn’t you say that on the air?’ ”

“He said, ‘That ain’t funny.’ ”

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They may be the best and brightest teens in America, but four out of five college-bound teenagers admit that they cheat in school because it’s “no big deal” and they need good grades.

The 29th survey conducted by Who’s Who Among American High School Students reports that 83% of teens say cheating is common in their schools.

And they don’t lay the blame on someone else. A record 80% cop to it themselves.

It’s not as if teens can’t tell right from wrong: 46% point to “declining social and moral values” as the biggest problem facing their generation. But cheating seems to be gaining wider acceptance. More than half--57%--say that cheating is not very difficult and that 95% of cheaters never get caught.

For all the talk about using the Internet to crib an essay, only 13% own up to plagiarism. By contrast, 67% admit to copying someone else’s homework, 40% to cheating on a test, and 29% to using Cliff Notes to avoid reading a book.

Who’s Who publishers worry about lackadaisical parents: About a third of 3,123 teens surveyed said they never heard anything from their parents about cheating.

“If the folks in charge of moral guidance don’t make a bigger fuss about ethical behavior,” said associate publisher Joe Krouse, “it won’t be a big deal.”

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‘I would like to be remembered as the man who made it possible for them to graduate in three years.’

GEORGE RUNNER, Assemblyman and author of a bill to extend state subsidy of California’s public colleges and universities to summer sessions