Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / July 7, 1977, edition 1 / Page 2
Part of The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
cdiKwij t commcnu Educational Quality Declines By Hoyle H. Martin, Sr. Post Executive Editor In this column last week we noted that some knowledgeable observers believe that the quality of public education has declined considerab ly, some school boards are ineffect ive, some teachers and some pare nts ate apathetic and “social promo tion” has dampened the motivation of too many youths to learn. A partial result of this, we concluded, is that teachers don’t teach and students don’t learn. Part of the evidence that someth ing is not quite right in public education arises from the outcry of employers and parents in the state of Florida who reportedly are com plaining that high school graduates haven’t learned very much with little discipline and the so-called modern curricula. The Post agrees that there is an element of truth in these charges, however, we believe that there are a number of circum stances that contribute to these problems that have not been adequ ately noted. Fore example, last week we said that teacher apathy was in part justified. Part of the justification arises from the fact that too many parents fool themsel ves into believing that not only can their little Johnny read and wri te but also that Johnny’s the smarte st student in the school. Couple that with the strains and tensions of school integration over the past decade, when many teachers and administrators, both black and whi te, were reluctant to fail students out of a fear of charges of bias and finally, the still questionable value of a single shot comprehensive test, is there any wonder that an increas ing number of students are not being promoted? Public Concern Furthermore, public concern abo ut students being held back in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools sys tem did not surface until the Florida schools’ failure rate problem begun to gain national attention. A local school official said, “data on promo tion and retention rates were not released in news release form last year because no one asked for it.” Does this mean that as a communi ty, as parents, we too are apathetic about our schools? While no racial breakdown is available on the 4,489 local youth who were not promoted at the end of the 1976-77 school year, the problem, particularly when related to stand ardized-comprehensive examinat ion, continues to plague blacks right through four years of college. Recent data released by the State Department of Public Instruction indicated that during the period 1972-77 the graduating seniors at the states five predominately black col leges scored 231 points lower on the National Teachers’ Examination than did white students. On the other hand, 96 percent of the black students at predominately white stated supported colleges and unive rsities did as well as the whites. What does this five year NTE survey mean? It means that given an equal educational opportunity to that of whites some, and we emphas ize some, blacks can do as well as any whites on comprehensive exam inations. This was undoubtedly a part of the thinking behind the new U.S. Department of HEW guidelines requiring that the consolidated Uni versity system increase the number of white students enrolling in tradi tionally black state colleges and giving priority to placing more new degree programs in predominately black colleges. We stressed that “some” blacks can do as well as some whites and better than others on comprehensive examinations because many blacks neither have or desire the white middleclass view point of how the American system works. This diffe rence in view point has been stated in a research paper by two Antioch Law School administrators. They argue that “the bar examination does not test for lawyering compete ncy. At best, it tests for certain limited aspects of a limited number of basic lawyering skills; at worst, it merely tests exam-taking facility.” These administrators contend that bar examination competency for minorities requires the adaption of a white middle-class view of how the system works. In more meaningful terms, bar examinations have a built in cultural bias that can be detrimental to blacks even when they get an education equal to that of whites. wnat we are trying to convey is that our national, our state and our community’s educational quality is and will continue to decline until adults as parents, teachers, school administrators, law makers and taxpayers begin to recognize the need to fully develop all of our human resources if the quality of life we are accustomed to is to be maintained and enhanced. That means in some instances changing our atttmtes about high ter taxes, in others helping every child to develop to Us full potential and in others putting rthrnHm ahead of personal and political coatedaration. Education for ear jrsnth is after all, our hope not Jost ter teaserrow, but for today. King DriveAQialaye The Rev. James Barnette, chairman of the Martin Luther King Memorial Statue Committee, has said that many white churches and business es have indicated a sincere willing ness to financially support the fund ing effort. However, these organiza tions’ final degree of suDoort will be based on the extent of black giving. TUE POWER O the Cfc GLORY By Or. G.E.A. Toote Social Benefits For Aliens When a person applies to an American Embassy or Consulate for permission to come to the United States to live, it is necessary that they provide the name of a responsi ble American who will give financial assistance if needed after entry. The American citizen must file financial support consent before the foreign applicant is admitted. Re cently the Department of Immigra tion acknowledged that the commi tment of financial assistance is rarely enforced by the federal gove rnment. Many aliens soon after arriving apply for and receive wel fare assistance. _ The Department of Immigration contends that a federal court ruling requires legal action by municipal or state government, with court a judication of dependency and financ ial burden upon the tax of support. Accordingly, states hard pressed to meet the social needs of its must also assume the wel of its new immigrant Ite Dawtaat of Immigration further acknoerMlam that their files contain the names of dtimN, many of whom are naturalised, mete a profit after sponsoring immtgr— by becoming their landlords and receiving payment from local wel fare departments for rent. Aliens who have lived and worked abroad and never paid American taxes can receive federally provided pensions and free medical care. The cost of these pensions is in excess of a half billion dollars yearly. Under the Supplementary Security Income Act, one hundred ^nd eighty thousand aliens, who are sixty five years of age or older, disabled or blind, receive pensions and free medical care. Only thirty days United States residency is required. Maximum benefits for an alien who lives alone is $260 a month. Aliens who live with relatives can receive $220. The federal Supplementary Secur ity Income Act makes no distinction between citizens and aliens. Since 1974, aliens upon application have received benefits. At a time when the federal gover nment complains that there is inad equate money to fund job programs, it seems that congress has lost sight of American priorities. There are too many elderly black people trudging to work daily, beca use in their early years of employ ment they were not covered by social security. Too proud to seek relief, they are paying their price for dignity. TO BE EQUAL Hy^: risy On Social Issues Increasingly, there is a shocking trend for social issues to be discussed in a hypocritical way, with a huge gap between enunciated principles and reality as it affects poor people. A good example of this is the latest Supreme Court Blunder - the decision that states and local hospitals can refuse to perform or even to permit elective abortions with federal funds. In 1973 the Court ruled state prohibition of abortion unconstitutional. How then, can it turn around only four years later and deliver a decision that makes abortion impossible for poor people? By doing so the Court has supplanted equal protection of the laws as a constitutional standard and replaced it with a new standard - personal affluence. The effect of its ruling is to place abortion beyond the reach of poor women, wno cannot afford private doctor’s fees and hospital costs. It also creates a two-tier health system, whereby people who can afford to do so may choose to have abortions while poor people are denied access to the same health choice. Just a day later, the Senate jumped on to the same hypocritical bandwagon to ban use of Medicaid funds for most abortions. What makes the whole exercise an obscene lesson in hypocri sy is that if the Court and the Congress really believe abortions to be wrong, they should act ... DOWN TO BUSINESS The Price Of Power By Berkeley G. Burrell President. National Business League President Carter's energy proposals are now under con sideration by the Congress. As the nation debates the pro spect of extensive government controls on the energy con sumption of individuals, busi ness and industry, there is no better time than the present to review what the energy crisis is all about. In future columns we will comment specifically on the President's proposal as it relates to the minority com munity. For now, we must under* stand that only with a know ledge of the facts behind the crisis, can we grasp the impli cations for minority enter prise of both the energy pro blem and the energy policy proposed to deal with it. President Carter and his experts contend that there is a critical shortage of natural gas and particularly petrol eum, from which we make gasoline, healing oil, and gen erate much of our electricity In addition, the manufacture of suet) it«ns as records, tires, batteri^ and carperting de pendvdn oil based chemicals According to government estimates, the principle oil exporting countries will not be able to satisfy all the increas es in demand for oil expected to occur in the U S and other industrialized nations throughout the 1980’s. At an oil consumption rate of 5 percent, the world's present recoverab le oil reserves would be ex hausted by 2010. According to the President, this fundamen tal fact is clear: within about four generations, the bulk of the world's oil supply will have been substantially con sumed. And the administration's projections for natural gas are not heartening. By 1985, gas from existing reservoirs will be able to satisfy only 55 percent of demand. Supplies for the residential and com mercial sector will have to be obtained by diverting gas from electric utilities. However, other "qualified'' experts disagree about an ac tual physical shortage of natu ral gas and petroleum They believe that given the right incentives higher prices - the oil companies will go out to those remote, dangerous, ex pensive to drill in places like the North Sea and find more oil. Perhaps enough oil to meet our needs for some years beyond the mid 80 s deadline projected by the administra tion as the likely beginning of real belt tightening Obtaining correct, credible information concerning how much oil we have, and how much we can expect to obtain in the future, is one of the President's first objectives So it will be some time before we know with certainty what all of us are really talking about But for business and the consumers upon which busi ness depends, one fact is clear. Whether through actual physical shortages of petrole um and natural gas or because of higher costs in drilling and bringing to market new gas and oil, prices will be going up and up And that means not only paying more to drive your car and heat your home. it means paying extra for all those products whose manu facture depends on petroleum based chemicals, the records, batteries, plastics, carpeting, fabrics and paints, etc., to which I alluded previously. Increased costs for these products and raw energy itself will make the cost of doing business much greater. The minority operator will have to increase his prices according ly. Minority consumers, cur rently willing to pay a little extra for the convenience of using neighborhood retailers, may be forced to deal with majority outlets whose vol ume purchasing - even given stiffer energy induced operat ing costs • might keep price increases lower than those of minority businesses. But what about energy sub stitutes for increasingly ex pensive oil and natural gas? Can substitutes help keep down the cost of doing busi ness and consequently the price to consumers'’ There is no substitute for oil when making many of today's plas tics and chemicals, nor as yet a practical alternative to gas oline for propelling your cars. But electricity can be pro duced by nuclear power, though not at a rate "too cheap to meter," as propo nents of nuclear power believ ed in the 60 s. Today 63 very expensive nuclear plants pro vide about 10 percent of our electrical power at rates simi lar to those of utilities using oil. By IMS an additional 75 nuclear facilities planned or already under coMtruction could be in operation, contri buting to as much as 30 percent of our electrical sup ply. But the prospect for addi tional electricity generated by atomic energy is dim. Nuclear power brings fear of accidental explosion and contamination by radioactivi ty. the possibility of deliberate sabotage or the diversion of nuclear material for use by terrorist groups How best to store nuclear waste is still being debated and the long lead time needed to build U.S. nuclear reactors has not been reduced by shortening the licensing process. Coal is the only form of energy definitely known to be in large supply, enough to produce the electricity atomic power cannot But coal-burn ing electrical generating plants will present costly air pollution problems and the extensive strip mining of sur face coal deposits will require expensive land restoration ef -forts. Moat prohibiting to the use of coal as a cheap source of electricity is that electrical generating plants have only recently completed a year long conversion from burning coal to burning oil. Now they must reconvert back to coal burning operation. The pro cess isn’t cheaply done, so electricity made from burning coal will be no bargain. Solar, wind and other forms of ener gy are not yet completely dependable nor economical. Clearly there is no inexpen *ive, readily-at-hand substi tute to the high cost energies of oil and natural gas, no single reliable source upon which we can depend to stm tain continued economic grow th. Reliance upon the combined u«age of various energy re sources and conservation ef forts on the part of individuals and industry must be conside red as well as the possibility of rebates and subsidies to small businesses that may be put at *n unfair advantage Above ■H, in evaluating President Carter’s proposals, the Con pess must remember that increasinlgy high energy costs must not become a burden upon any single group, espe cially minorities who are get ting down to business ( DR. RL'RRELJ. dgduiai 11 in principle ana noi aeny 10 poor people what others may freely do. The issue here isn’t abortion, it’s the double standard that enforces certain aspects of middle class morality for poor people while exempting the more affluent. That hypocrisy becomes even more blatant when people endorse cutting off the availability of abortions to the poor while at the same time denying poor families with children the day care centers, the quality schools, and the work and income maintenance they so desperately need to lead independent lives. "" ’^ It’s not enough to impose one’s own morality on other people when it comes to the death of a fetus; there’s also the moral obligation to accept other people’s needs to meaningful, not just biological, life. A similar hypocrisy is at work in the actions against affirmative action programs, described by code words such as “reverse discrimination” or “quotas.” Congress has been adamant about stopping federal pressure on institutions to have affirmative action programs with numerical goals. But at the same time the Congress has passed a law providing that medical schools receiving federal funds have to reserve classroom spaces for American students who enrolled in foreign medical schools before last fall. How can it sanction a quota system of sorts for Americans studying abroad while refusing to sanction a similar system for traditionally discriminated-against minorities? If a student has the financial ability to pursue a medical education in another country, what pressing' social purpose is served by forcing American medical schools to accommodate him or bear at the expense of others trying to gain admiminn? THE CHARLOTTE POST “THE PEOPLES NEWSPAPER” Established 1918 Published Every Thursday By The Charlotte Post Publishing Co., Inc. 2606-B West Blvd.-Charlotte, N.C. 28206 Telephones (704) 392-1306,392-1307 Circulation, 7,185 58 YEARS OF CONTINUOUS SERVICE Bill Johnson..Editor-Publisher Hoyle H. Martin Sr.Executive Editor Bemard Reeves.General Manager .Circulation Director Albert Campbell Advertising Director Second Class Postage No. 965500 Paid At Charlotte, N.C. under the Act of March 3,1878 Member National Newspaper Publishers Association _• North Carolina Black Publishers Association Deadline for all news copy and photos is 5 p m. Monday. All photos and copy submitted becomes the property of the Post, and will not be returned. ■ —mmmmrnm j National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc. 46 W. 5th Suite 1403 2400 S. Michigan Ave. I New York, N Y 10036 Chicago, 111. 60616 (212 ) 489-1220Calumet 5 0200 BLACK BUSINESS IS SUFFERING FROM THE EFFECTS OF CRIME ON AN UNPRECEDENTED SCALE. IT 15 STRUGGLING TO MEET THE HIGH COST OF THEFT INSURANCE% VANDALISM, SHOP-LIFTING, ROBBERY AND BAD CHECKS. THE PROBLEM CENTERS AROUND NARCOTICS AND DRUG RELATED CRIMES. ^ *“ MKW6AN CHRONICLE ThtojIRUte Vernon E. Jordan Jr. | u ■ .. /# m A Challenge To Black Leadership_
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
July 7, 1977, edition 1
2
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75