Forum
Teachers Fear Physical Harm,
Seek Cultural Understanding
Approximately 37 percent of the Winston
Salem/Forsyth County Schools' population is
African- American, yet the number of minority
students disciplined in our schools, even
excluded from our regular school program, is
disproportionate to the total student popula
tion. As I personally wrestle with the reasons
for and possible solutions to this situation, a
lot of things tend ? - ? ^
and that the people who work there are not bad
people. On the contrary, most of our people
are highly competent and dedicated. School by
school, our staffs are doing more to try to bet
ter respond to the ever-gTOwing needs of all of
our students, including efforts toward multi
cultural understanding.
Speculation on my part suggests that the
to run together,
and the growing
complexities of
being in charge of
a large school dis
trict weigh heavily
on my shoulders.
GUEST COLUMN
By LARRY COBLE
It may be that the highest form of neglect
is to deny or even fail to recognize that there is
a problem when students have their education
interrupted because they can't make it in the
"regular" school program. Try as I might, I just
don't -see how the "establishment," in this case
the school system and the community,' can
deny that those being excluded are still chil
dren and that the grim reality is that the system
(all of us) are failing them.
It is our collective responsibility to take
the students where they are, and necessity dic
tates creative approaches to keeping the young
people in school. The student group faking the
"big hit" in this situation is the gtpup com
posed of black males. Our most severe critics
might suggest, when taken in the extreme, that
we are behaving as if the black male popula
tion is regarded as expendable. As a student in
a school in East St. Louis said, "It's like a terri
ble joke on history." This situation is particu
larly troubling to me because I know that our
schools are not extraordinarily unhappy places
absence of African-American male teachers in
significant numbers reinforces the problem of
too few strong role models. At the same time, I
suspect that many members of our white
teaching population find some of the actions
and theManguage of black males offensive as
these students attempt to demonstrate their
"maleness." I believe that we fear that which
we don't understand and frankly there is also,
in my judgement, an element of fear of physi
cal harm from students. Fear of losing control
of the classroom or the school, as well as try
ing to determine when one student's behavior
infringes upon the rights of others to learn, are
all factors that impact on discipliine issues.
Intuitively, I believe that we are making
-some progress and I know that if we pair
improved teacher-training programs with
smaller classes and caring environment, we
will make more progress.
(The writer is superintendent of the Win
ston-Salem/ Forsyth County schools.)
Gifted Programs Lead to
SeparationrElitist "Attitudes
As a parent of three girls in the Forsyth
County School System and as a participant in
a school PTA, I have learned thaj the subject
of race is an important factor in the politics of
school administration, the nurturing and the
lack of nurturing
^perpetrated these negative acts on African
American children. While this is an unfortu
nate difficulty, it is my impression that the
solution is in the hands of the teiclwrs. When
teachers learn that one of their own has
inside the class
room and the
perceived need
of African
American par
ents to protect
their young
from negative
attitudes. Through my personal experience, I
have met and discussezd the problems of black
children in two schools and have learned that
there are good teachers, parents and children
of all types.
Yet, there are certain fundamental trends
that cannot be ignored. Parents of black male
children in elementary school have consis
tently complained that their children have
been victims of suspect conduct by some
administrators and teachers that is unrelated to
the conduct of their children. This complaint is
not universal and does not apply to all admin
istrators or teachers who are not African
American.
Yet, African-American parents of male
children have consistently reported that their
children a*e demeaned, disparately treated
with respect to discipline, perceived to be
incapable of learning, perceived as having no
need to learn, perceived as having criminal
aspirations, perceived as dangerous and some
times demonized to the point where their
young men become so frustrated that they
fight back in language or anti -social behavior.
When anti-social behavior is observed, teach
ers with racially insensitive perspectives start
rumors among other like-minded teachers and
develop strategies to get those children out of
their classrooms. It is not unusual for these
male children to be expelled or sent to Petree
Middle School. Interestingly enough, the
majority of students at Petree are African
American.
Second-class citizenship is the second
most common complaint. Many of these par
ents have told me that the "so-called gifted
program" is designed to create by the third
grade a segregated environment within the
classroom. Students who are not in the pro
gram often say that they feel like second-class
citizens. Many African-American parents
believe that the gifted program is the first step
toward creating a sort of second-class citizen
ship from which students sometimes do not
recover. Some parents whose children are in
the program feel guilty when they are singled
out for meetings about the program. It is felt to
be an unnecessary form of segregation, albeit
well-intentioned. Because of these conditions,
many innocent white teachers and administra
tors have been wrongfully lumped into the
same categories as those who have willfully
GUEST COLUMN
By PHILLIPS. BANKS III
engaged in this type of conduct, they need to
report it to the principal for disciplinary pur
poses. African Americans do not want to have
adversarial relationships with teachers. These
parents have decided that they will not permit
this generation to be deprived of its education,
even if that means lawsuits and massive politi
cal action.
Some parents believe that this conflict
regarding race and learning is related to the
desire to keeping one group uneducated such
that the economic power of the community
will remain with the historically advantaged
group. They believe that the consistently better
statistics for othergroups is directly related to
the destruction of African-American pride in
academics at an early age. In order for Win
ston-Salem and Forsyth County to be success
ful, we need every citizen to be a strong tax
payer, feeding from the same community of
risks and opportunities. Until the educational
system and the people in it understand their
relationship to the creation of successul citi
zens or criminals, we are doomed to repeat
these problems.
The solutions are simple. As to discipli
nary matters, administrators should involve
parents in serious matters before the result is
imposed as to eliminate the need for after-the
fact misunderstood confrontations. As to pro
grams that achieve disparate participation,
they should be eliminated, modified or reclas
sified as not to teach the notion of second
class citizenship in elementary school. There
must be a greater attempt to prevent second
class thinking in people while they are young
so as not to hamper their desire to dream and
have high aspirations. The academically gifted
program adds to this perception.
Racism is like a cancer that eats a society
up from the inside out until it destroys the
body. It is curable if caught in its early stages.
We need to stop leaving in place the condi
tions that causes the cancer of racism to grow
in Forsyth County. While it has not been dis
cussed, there is a perception among many
white parents that disparate treatment occurs
among the economically disadvantaged people
of all races in the county. In the words of Rod
ney King. " Can we get along?"
(The writer is a lawyer and parent of
three elementary school children.)
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