Word: stern
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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After he was appointed the first black superintendent of schools in Minneapolis in 1980, Richard Green earned a national reputation as a stern and innovative educator. He thus had high hopes of muscling New York City's chaotic school system into order when he became its first black chancellor 14 months ago. But the transition from guiding 40,000 Minneapolis students to dealing with 940,000 in New York was a rude jolt...
Beijing Mayor Chen Xitong listened, stern-faced, as a student questioner bore down on him and other local officials about the nepotism and corruption that now pervade the Chinese bureaucracy. As television viewers at home watched intently, Chen, an unpopular hard-liner, seized the microphone and answered defensively. "I'm a grade-twelve cadre with a monthly income slightly over 300 yuan (($80))," he protested. "None of my family members are high-ranking officials. My son is a junior cadre in the Beijing civil affairs bureau, and my daughter-in-law is an ordinary clerk...
...past three American presidential elections, it is unthinkable for an ambitious politician to call on the citizenry -- or any sizable subset of it -- to make the slightest sacrifice for the good of society or its own future prosperity. Thatcher, by contrast, positively delights in delivering bad news and stern sermons. "After almost any major operation, you feel worse before you convalesce. But you do not refuse the operation." That typical bit of Thatcher rhetoric is not the kind of metaphor that comes out of the Peggy Noonan poetical-presidential-puffery machine. Nor is it sheep-in- wolf's-clothing mock...
...forward." In England, Margaret Orr Deas, of the Movement for the Ordination of Women, complained that "the Roman Catholics are not giving anything away" in the negotiations, and she expects no concessions because John Paul is "an unrelenting man and firmly entrenched in his views." The Pope's stern letter by no means ends ecumenical discussions or such friendly contacts as Runcie's Vatican visit planned for next September. But reunification now seems far more remote than before -- if not downright impossible...
...from their intimate weekly individual discussions with the kids, only one boy has fathered a child. "This is not a value-free program," he explains. "We have a message that delaying sexual activity is good. We are taking a stand." This year the Childrens Aid Society is establishing the Stern National Training Center for Family Life Education in Manhattan, where Carrera will teach his techniques to others searching for ways to cope with adolescent pregnancy in their community...