May 16, 1982

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, once almost impervious to challenges from the trucking industry and from internal opponents, is being confronted by major difficulties. Dissident teamsters say that the leadership is distracted by legal battles, including criminal charges against the international president, and that its organizing efforts are lagging. Moreover, critics say the union has done little to fight for the job security and safety issues that are important to its members. The union's problems come at a time of ferment in the trucking industry, which is in the throes of Government deregulation and faces lower profits because of the nationwide recession. It was in this context that the teamsters accepted contract concessions earlier this year, concessions that a large number of unionized companies now have reportedly rejected as insufficient.

ALTHOUGH increasingly selective and expensive, private day schools in this area are becoming increasingly popular. Enrollment is rising even as the student population at both public and parochial schools in the county is declining, and despite an uncertain economy. While the county continues to attract young families drawn by the promise of good public schools, there is growing evidence that some families are choosing a community for its proximity to good private day schools. Figures released by the state's Department of Education show public school enrollment in the county is down 4.4 percent from last year, and parochial school enrollment dropped 3.4 percent. At the county's nonpublic schools, however, which include schools with some relgious affiliation and independent institutions, enrollments have increased by 8.8 percent this year. Measured in real numbers, the increase is small, representing an enrollment jump of 619 students. However, the trend has been steady for the last several years and was particularly evident this year.

British troops returned in force to the Falkland Islands for the first time in six weeks Friday night, destroying Argentine aircraft and military installations in a remote part of the archipelago, the Ministry of Defense disclosed today. The ministry described the action as ''a raid, not an invasion.'' It said that several Argentine turboprop Pucara warplanes were destroyed on a grass airstrip. Unofficial reports put the number at about 10 and said British frigates and destroyers bombarded the area while the raid was taking place.

DURING the years of protest against the building of the Shoreham nuclear power plant, one concern in particular has haunted the people who live in the East End. As picket signs have put it: ''Evacuate - But How?'' Many critics of the plant maintain to this day that in the event of a nuclear accident at the plant, the orderly evacuation of the surrounding population would be impossible. But last week, the Long Island Lighting Company asked the New York State Disaster Preparedness Commission to approve an emergency response plan for Shoreham that not only says orderly evacuation is possible, but also states how long it would take. This document asserts that 159,959 persons - the estimated summer population in 1985 of an area within 10 miles of the plant -can be evacuated in poor weather in 6.7 hours. The plan acknowledges that in the case of a winter snow or ice storm, evacuation would be impossible, and that the population would have to be advised to stay indoors until the emergency at the nuclear plant had passed. The plan is silent on the health consequences of such a situation.

Another round of hefty tuition increases at colleges and universities around the country has ushered in the era of the $50,000 bachelor's degree. It has also suggested that educators and legislators are moving to shift a greater percentage of the cost of higher education onto students. Private colleges are typically raising tuition and fees for the 1982-83 academic year by 12 to 16 percent. This is slightly below last year's record increases but still about twice the current rate of inflation. The major reasons cited for the increases include efforts to catch up in the areas of faculty salaries and maintenance, where spending has lagged behind the inflation rate in recent years, and the need to cover the gaps left by the Reagan Administration's cuts in Federal tuition assistance.