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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 16, 1994                   TAG: 9402160067
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

FAMILIES URGED TO HELP STUDENTS

"We seem, as a nation, to be drifting toward a new concept of childhood, which says that a child can be brought into this world and allowed to fend for himself or herself," he said, addressing students and educators gathered in Georgetown University's Gaston Hall.

Ending his first year as education secretary, Riley spoke for an hour, laying out a campaign stressing a "new family involvement."

He encouraged parents, stepparents, grandparents, aunts and uncles to "take a special interest in the lives of our young people" by acting as mentors or tutors. He said the two "most powerful groups of adults" - teachers and family members - should work together.

"Teachers feel overwhelmed, frustrated and perplexed that parents are not hooked into the lives of their children," he said. "Parents, who feel a certain respect for the work of teachers, seem lost in the process of education reform."

He also called for improving education for alienated minority youth. He questioned the effect of special education programs.

"Could it be that in our attempt to do good - offering pull-out programs and over-labeling students into special-ed classes - that we have contributed in some significant way to a sense of classification and a sense of racial stereotyping that tells these young people early on that they will not make it in life, even if they try?" he asked.

Riley also responded to recent hearings about misuse of federal student aid by for-profit trade schools, abuses that total more than $3 billion a year. He pledged vigorous efforts "to protect the integrity of the Pell grant program and any breach of good faith."