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THE COMPASS
December. iq?c
Born To Excellence?
By James Finch
The excellence of blacks in athletics is said to be the sequel
of inherent traits of superior rhymth, agility, balance and
coordination in the Negroid race. To what degree this is true, I
can not say, but I must repute any statement which supports
the ideal that excellence is biological. The belief that the
higher IQ scores of whites is the sequel of the inherent trait to
think abstractly in the causacian race must be doubly reputed.
Excellence in any field, by either race, is something that is
scientific. We excell in that which we do most. Black babies
are not bom playing basketball. They are bred to play the
sport. In the words of the Reverend Jessie Jackson, “All black
people can’t dance, rhytmn ain’t all we got and we play
basketball well because we do it most.” Basketball, being a
sport that does not require expensive equipment, is played
extensively by blacks. After school, children have been known
to play the sport through the dinner hour and late into the
ni^t. Their white counterpart, however, is involved in more
academic pursuits.
Blacks complain that it is their social background, racial
practices and unfair ratings by the WASP establishment that
impedes their academic achievement. The fact of the matter
is that excellence comes out of burning midnight oil, going
over and beyond mediocrity. Today, opportunities for blacks is
greater than readiness. There is to much mediocrity. -We go to
sleep when we should stay up another hour. Excellence is
produced through diligence.
Excellence can overcome racial barriers. No system can
suppress excellence, nor can excellence be manacled. The
Rev. Jackson has said that “Slaves and ignorance are co
partners” and “Knowledge is the master key.”
No race is bom to excellence. Excellence is the result of
diligent, systematic and progressive study. And it is
something that no barrier can cage and no race can for long
monopolize.
It is time that we find ourselves and plant our feet in a
progressive direction. Excellence doesn’t mean losing one’s
ethnicity, rather it means securing it.
STAFF
1976-77
Editor-in-Chief James Finch
Associate Editor Harold Renfrew
Feature Editor Joyce Terrell
Managing Editor Sylvia Peele
Photographers Terry McCarty
Cherri Spain
Reporters Evelyn Williams
Elizabeth Wooten
Thomas Graves
Anthony Rahming
Lazarus Simons
Jasper Richardson
William Hartley
Elaine Mangum
Wendy Jones
Lawrence Wiggens
Humphrey Igwilo
Secreatary
Typist . .
Patricia Pickett
Janet Graham
Janice Fields
Lovan Briggs
Jerilyn King
Faculty
J. T. Williams
J. Worsham
FORUM:
For Academic
Hawkers
By Humphrey Osita Igwilo
Contd. From Page 3
October, 1976 Issue.
At this stage of the child’s
life, he will be able to acquire
some knowledge of where his
boat of interest is carrying
him. Nevertheless, it is also
at this period that the child
requires guidance. The
guidance should be external.
It should be sensitive to the
type of companionship and
environment the child is
being exposed to. At this
stage of his life, the child is
expected to attend kin
dergarten in order to obtain a
childhood education. Since he
has had good guidance at
home, he will not find it
difficult to join a school which
has children from different
families and places. In this
school, he is exposed to the
pictures of creative and
destructive ambition, and
will be instructed on which
choice to make in life. For the
school to achieve its goals it
must have a good en
vironment and teachers
trained in childhood
education. This is necessary
because initially all the things
in the new environment,
including the teacher, will
seem strange to the child. It is
therefore the responsibility
of the teacher to help the
child adapt to the new en
vironment. The child will be
homesick, since the only
mother and father the child
sees is the teacher, who is
very new to him. For
example, some children who
are not use to drinking water
from someone else’s hand
will always say “take me
home to my daddy and
mummy whenever they are
thirsty or hungry. At this time
it will be observed that the
child has developed some
sense of discriminatory at
titude. This type of attitude is
not desired in the modern
world. Since the child is
confined to the teacher and
the environment, he has no
other alternative than to
subject himself to the teacher
and the environmental
conditions. This will destroy
the discriminatory attitude
that the child had already
started developing. Also, it is
at the school, that the child
will be given instructions on
Christian morals, which I
think is one of the basic
principles of life. This school
will also provide the child
with self-reliance and deceny.
Furthermore, with constant
communication or as
sociation between the
parents and the teacher, the
Time To Perforin
By James Finch
James Earl Carter has
become our 38th President.
There has been some con
troversy as to whether the
black vote won the
presidential election for the
President-elect. A study
conducted by the Joint Center
for Political Studies showed
that 6.6 million blacks had
voted for Carter. This was 70
per cent of the registered
blacks. Of this 70 per cent, 90
per cent voted for Carter.
Whether the black vote was
more valuable than that of
any of the other hyphenated
Americans of labor groups is
irrevelant.
What is relevant is
whether, Georgian, peanut
farmer, engineer. Deep
Southerner, Baptist, and
Democrat will live up to the
promises that he has made to
the black people and
America. The poUisters had
predicted a defeat for Carter.
According to them the an
tipathy of the American
people would cause a low turn
out which would be
detrimental to his election
Defying all polls, the
American people turned out
on election day in unan
ticipated numbers. The
nationwide turn out of 55 per
cent was unexpected.
Although there have been
many reasons given for this
phenomenon it can not be
overlooked that the prime
reason was a dislike for the
Ford Administration.
The American people are
ready for a change. Carter is
seen as energetic, full of new
ideas and intelligent. Ford, on
the other hand is deplictedas
slow, clumsy, dull-witted and
status quo. The American
people cast their votes for a
change, not necessarily for
Carter, but against Ford.
The question before us now
is who is Carter? “Trust me”
he told the American people
and “I need your help”, to
black America. We have icept
our part of the bargain. Black
America has performed, it is
now Carter’s turn. Will he live
up to his half of the bargain?
Letter To The Editor
By Terry McCarty
The death of Professor
Edward Earl Manley, gave
me a chance to see that
Elizabeth City State
University wasn’t a close
family. Students shouldn’t
have had to go to the
University to ask for a bus to
provide transportation for
those students who didn’t
have transportation to the
funeral. The administration
didn’t take time off to go to a
fellow educator’s funeral. It
was sad to see that most of
the departments at the
university didn’t show up nor
send a representative.
How can they call them
selves educators or a
university family? Like the
old saying goes “Your true
friends and family will follow
you to your grave”. The
administrators who went
didn’t even bother to check as
to where Mr. Manley was put
to rest. They didn’t know until
they were told the following
day that he was lain to rest in
a place where I wouldn’t even
put the people who killed him.'
A Christmas Prayer
Let us pray that strength and courage abundant be given to all
who work for a world of reason and understanding; that the good
that lies in every man’s heart may day by day be magnified; that
men will come to see more clearly not that which divides them, but
that which unites them; that each hour may bring us closer to a final
victory, not of nation over nation, but of man over his own evils and
weakness; that the true spirit of this Christmas Season—its joy, its
beauty, its hope, and above all its abiding faith—may live among
us; that the blessing of peace be ours— the peace to build and grow,
to live in^ harmony and sympathy with others, and to plan for the
future with confidence.
child will be well advised on
his future goals, when it is
time to enter high school.
Therefore, the school acts as
an industry for the production
of minor materials required
for the production of the
major commodity which will
be sold in the world market or
forum; hence the high
productivity of professionals
depend on the efficiency of
childhood educators.
To Be Contd...
**•
Both tennis and golf-
those two popular American
sports—were hardly heard o
a hundred years ago. Tenni®
was brought to the U”'*
States in 1874, and the fits
golf course in America w
laid out in 1888. ^