Student Citzenship "Ain't Good"
On May 30 the local newspaper presented
an article on the soundness and effectiveness of
the Superintendent's Strategic Plan. The title of
the article was "Off-Target" It made us aware
of the waste and time-consuming policies and
jobs we have or are perpetuating in the name of
education for our children. If the system's
Strategic Plan calls for additional responsibili
ties beyond teaching for teachers and principals,
then I am afraid that the job of educating chil
dren will not be done effectively. Teaching chil
dren means teaching them to read, write, com-"
pute, how to use knowledge and how to interact
with others in the
process.
dren are not bom with the ideas of these groups.
They are indoctrinated and nourished in these
ideas. Our Strategic Plan does not truly target
the real needs of our schools, particularly the
needs of teachers, students and parents.
There is a desperate need to target sound
teaching for the 80 percent group of students
who are in the average range. Parents of A.G.
students certified by biased tests need noi worry.
Their children will always have challenges as a
result of organized advocacy group work. The
80 percent have no such support. Our failure to
address the needs of this group helps perpetuate
We need to wake
up as a school system
and board of educa
tion. The results are =
in, in the form of stu- I
dent violence and |
death in our streets. ?
GENEVA SAYS
By GENEVA BROWN
While all kinds of committees are meeting to
suggest many tasks for teachers, the real issues
of improved discipline and better teaching of
children remain unsolved. The issues surround
ing how people treat each other should be
important aspects of what we do in schools.
It is time for the superintendent, staff and
school board to make a commitment to deal
with the issue of diversity. How many more
deaths of young people will we have to endure
in this community to make us realize the impor
tance of training teachers to better work with
minorities and other children who arc different
from the teachers who teach them?
Have we stopped and countcd the number
of r.hilrirpn, nvrx lh<? last 10 yrnrs, who havp.
died from acts of violence? Have we stud.ed
where they come from and their last stop in our
education setting? Are the schools we have
designed to take in the most disruptive and dis
connected been successful? So far, death has not
been kind to any particular racc. They have been
either black or white males.
The sad story is that we do not give schools
arid teachers enough help with children in the.
K-5 years. We find out in the early years those
who will be disruptive and those who will try a
life of crime. Again, every school needs at least
a group of three, whose job would be to work
with students who need special attention.
Our schools set the tone or reinforce the
attitudes of the community. What has been
reported so far has not been good. Hate groups
are rising in our community and schools. Chil
crimes that are taking place in our country. Our
young people under the age of 20 are commit
ting these crimes.
We reatty nectf to focuron four issues. One
is the teaching and modeling of respect for
authority and others, which could lead to better
citizenship. The others involve strengthening
our focus on consequences of behavior and
effective teaching. If, as I read in the local
newspaper, we need "a task force to define
specifically what we want students to know, to
do, and be like when they leave school,** then,
folks, we really do not know what schooling is
about. If we do not already know these things,
then we are in serious trouble.
All the money spent nn "School Work Is
Our Work** and the Strategic Plan may have
been better spent on a better discipline plan arc
on training teachers about diversity. Then these
teachers can in turn teach their students how tc
? get along better with others. Our children begin,
at early ages and early stages, to deal with hate
If we do not put in programs to counter-act this,
we will see crime by our young escalate more. .
Again, I call on this school system and
board to look and study the real issues. I ask
them to make a commitment to bring in pro
grams that will deal with teaching teachers, and
all who work with children, on how to work
with minorities and those who are different.
Only then can we begin to turn violence and
crime around and instill better citizenship values
in our students.
Symbols and Signs of the Times
Symbols with a special meaning. Think
about the signs you encounter on a trip. They
guide you to make the right turns and also pro
vide information that leads you to your destina
tion. We, too, are like signs ? we provide infor
mation and guidance to others as they travel
along life's highways.
Take stop signs for instance. They frustrate
and help us. They stop us cold in our tracks,
making sure we look around before we proceed.
People help us this way by causing us to stop
where we are to think about what wc arc doing
before we continue.
like Joe Dudley who have influenced my life ?
people I have listened to, looked at and spent
time with. I remember my grandfather's pro
found, yet simple, to-thc-point comments. I
recall him saying he was not surprised at my
accomplishments but would be surprised if I
were not successful. On another occasion, I
asked his advice on getting church members to
attend Sunday School. He responded by saying,
"Nig, you go and do what you are supposed to
and when people are ready, they will come."
These points are etched vividly in my mind and
continue to guide me today.
Coach Fletcher Jones at Livingstone Col
lege in Salisbury, my defensive football coach,
said, "Do something, even if it is wrong. At least
you can be corrected." After all the preparation
for a game, studying film and reviewing assign
Caution signs tell us to procccd slowly.
Sometimes, in this microwavc socicty of ours,
we are moving too fast through life and some
one ? a friend, family member or mentor ?
gives us advice that
enables us to avoid
injury, emotional or
physical, to our
selves or others.
Signs also pro
vide the distance to
our destination, the
direction we should
GUEST COLUMN
By NIGEL D. ALSTON .
follow and the milestones along the way to mea
sure our progress. We all need someone who has
the knowledge to lead us step by step, tell us
how far we've come and the distance to go to
reach our goal, and how we will know if we are
on track.
Take Joe Dudley Sr., president of Dudley
Products Inc. in Greensboro, for example. He is
the epitome of a human sign ? a sign leading
the way for others. He recently was the keynote
speaker for the statewide basketball tournament
and dnig-prevention conference hosted by the
Housing Authority of Winston-Salem. He
inspired young and old and challenged all to
think, never give up and have hope.
He proved to be a human sign of an even
more personal nature to me that day. And it all
began with a conversation about our mutual love
and respect for reading.
? Talking to him was like getting tips from a
professional athlete who has taken his game to a
higher level. His response to my questions about
various books untangled the cobwebs in my
mind. He emphasized reading with a purpose
and studying what you read. His insightful com
ments challenged me to reach the next milestone
in my personal development. I was ready for
immediate action.
There have been many other human signs
merits, you must act Life is the same way. All
the books we have read and the lessons learned
mean nothing if we don't take action. Coach
Jones encouraged us to act. Do something!
Make a decision! Someone once said, "When
the student is ready, the teacher will appear." A
sign will provide the direction; just take action.
Vincent Harding records an incident in
"Hope and History" that illustrates the impor
tance of signs in our life. Upon asking a young
leader why youths find themselves so deeply
enmeshed in the traps and deadly valves of the
world, he said something like this: "You know,
out on those streets its like being on a dark,
country road at midnight, with no moon and no
lights to guide you; and you can't see any sign
posts at all. So they're lost, don't know where to
go, and they can be pulled down into any hole."
"What we need," he said, "are signposts to
help us find the way. I don't mean no regular
signposts. I mean like live, human signposts ?
people, people we can look at, be with, listen to
? that's what we need. Signposts."
Human signs. Maybe not as quickly recog
nizable as "Stop" or "Caution" but symbols with
a much more special meeting. Stop, look and
listen to them. The impression they will make
will last a lifetime.
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DAVID, BARBARA ANN BOQP
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HR.PRE9PENT*
DO VOU HAVE- A
MOMENT?
NOT
REALM,
DAW.
SIR, THIS IS IMPORTANT. UJE
HAVB TO STOP TUG UNBROKEN
SUCCESSION OF GAFFES, BLUN
DERS AND MISCALCULATIONS.
CUE NEED A GOOD
IF iUB COUUPHAVE
JUST ONE COMPLETELY
ERROR- FREE WEEK, AGREED.
UJZ MIGHT BE ABLE TO GOT
TURN THINGS AROUND. ONE ?
BUT WE NEED A
YES, SIR. FIRST, HMMM... I
YOU GO ON DUNNO. THAT
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