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FORIM I Reading opens a world of wonder Nigel Alston I Motivational Moments { A room without books is like | a body without a soul. ! -Cicero "You are today the same you'll be five years from now, except for two things: the people you meet and the books you t read." . | These words written by J Charles T. Jones in the forward t of "Motivational Classics." t The small volume contains 2 three works that could change ? your life - "Acres of Diamonds," t "The Kingship of Self-Control" ! and "As A Man Thinketh." "The people you meet can't > .always be with you," Jones ; writes, "but what you read in ? books can remain with you a ? lifetime." ' I love to read, write and - my J wife would add - surf the net. But reading really is my I favorite. [ It is an intimate conversation | between the reader and the ? author. t When I read, I reflect on ? what the author is saying to me. > I take it personally. I keep a pen > or marker in hand to underline ""and highlight things that impact me. ? ' And sometimes, I laugh out loud. I laughed aloud when I read the story "Reason vs. 'Rith metic" by William Pickens. I couldn't help it. The story is one of many in another of my favorite books, "The African American Book of V Values: Classic Moral Stories." In the story, Pickens rewrites arithmetic in this fable about the power of common sense. "There should be four R's: Reading, 'Riting, 'Rithmetic, and Reason," Pickens writes. "In life, a person needs a solid foun dation of common sense. With out it, book learning may be ren dered useless." The tale begins with two young black boys sitting on a fence testing their knowledge. One of the boys poses a problem to the other. "If three birds are sitting on a limb and I take a gun and shoot one, how many will be left?" "None," said the other boy. "You don't know nothing," the first boy says. "Don't you know what three minus one equals?" . "Yes, but I also have enough sense to know that if you shoot one of those birds with a gun, the other two won't be such fools as to keep sitting on that limb." Common sense at its finest. A good story is a key to hold ing your interest. Knowing something about the author and reading with a purpose in mind can make a difference. I did both when I read "Acres of Diamonds" by Russell H. Conwell. Conwell delivered this famous lecture more than 6,000 times during his life. His message is simple: Begin where you are with what you have to make a difference. Your "acres of diamonds" are in your own back yard. Conwell was an avowed athe ist who became a Christian after a young man died in battle try ing to save his life. As the young soldier lay dying, he spoke of his Christian faith. Conwell later Reading opens doors. joined the ministry and eventu ally led Great Baptist Temple Church in Philadelphia. . From the church basement, he conducted a night school that later became Temple University. To raise money for the school, he became a prominent lecturer. He started where he was with what he had. The rest is history. James V. Schall, a professor * at Georgetown University, knows the importance of read ing. "The important thing about a book is to know what it says; it is a living path to an author who is not here, who may, in fact, have lived centuries before you did but who can still teach you," Schall said. Another book that teaches an important lesson is "Man's Search for Meaning." Written by Victor Frankl in 1939, the book details Frankl's experience in a Nazi concentra tion camp. Frankl loved this quote by Nietzche: "He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how." Frankl survived the concen tration camp experience because he had a "why" to live. What alone remains is "the last of human freedoms" - the ability to "choose one's attitude in a given set of circumstances," he wrote. Books can touch an impor tant part of your life and shape your attitude. "The important thing is not to read," says Schall, "but to understand." Nigel Alston is an executive with Integon Insurance and can be reached at PO Box 722, Win ston-Salem, N.C. 27102 or e mailed at nalston237@aol.com Should black leaders rethink school vouchers? Earl Ofari Hutchinson Guest Columnist The instant it appeared that 'Florida Gov. Jeb Bush would succeed in pushing a school voucher program through the state legislature this term, the NAACP announced that it would file suit to stop it. The NAACP ticked off the standard arguments that vouch ers are a scheme by conserva tives to obliterate public educa tion, would leave the poorest of poor students behind in even poorer and more racially isolat ed schools, and would perpetu ate the cycle of educational neglect. Yet in a national survey the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a black Washington, D.C., think tank, found that a majority of black parents want vouchers. And a near whopping 90 percent of blacks aged 26 to 35, who are piost likely to have children attending public schools, want {hem the most.. The gaping gulf among J blacks on education is yet ?another example of how main stream black leaders often J march to a far different tune ?than poor and working-class ? blacks. These leaders are mostly ! liberal, middle-class business J and professionals. Their kids are ?iafely nestled in private schools ? and escape the ravages of bad ? public schools. Poor and working-class blacks have no such luxury. So, when the mostly black Milwaukee public schools in 1990 became the first school dis trict in the nation to authorize vouchers for private schools, the stampede by black parents to grab the money and dash their children into private or parochial schools was so great officials had to have a lottery to decide who received a voucher. To the shock of black leaders, many black activists, instead of denouncing vouchers as a right wing threat to public schools, denounced black leaders for opposing them. The activists saw vouchers as a weapon against an insensitive, stagnant, often racist education al bureaucracy that systemati cally victimizes black children, and as a steppingstone toward community empowerment. The pro-voucher sentiment among many blacks is so strong that several black congressional Democrats have broken ranks with the NAACP, Urban League and their own Congressional Black Caucus to publicly sup port the Republican-backed national school voucher pro gram. But black parents don't snatch at vouchers because of the racially and politically stacked agendas of politicians and black militants. They are fed up with decaying, crime-rid den schools, terrible teachers and indifferent administrators. They are desperate to put their children into schools that teach them how to read, write, spell, add and subtract. They want their sons and daughters to have a decent chance at a career or profession and not become prison fodder or candidates for early graves. The only thing they ask is whether vouchers will improve their children's educa- v tion. That answer is still pretty fuzzy. . Conservatives and black leaders trot out-,.a handful of studies and experts to prove that vouchers are a smashing Success or abject failure. But neither side has mustered a convincing case for or against them. Mostly because voucher programs are still not widespread enough in school districts nationally and there aren't enough children in the programs that do exist to tell whether they work or not. EVep in Milwaukee, limited funds, accessibility and classroom space ip private schools enable only a tiny percentage of the school district's low-income stu dents to use vouchers to attend private schools. The best that the voucher combatants can do is fall back on such anecdotal homilies as "the parents love them" or "the schools are get ting better." Even the doomsday predic tions that vouchers bankrupt public schools and further squash achievement standards have so far been false fears. Mil waukee public schools actually got a spending boost this year and reading scores increased. Ironically that improvement almost certainly can be traced to the pressure, competition and the attention from the voucher controversy that forced teachers and administrators to do a betr*? ter job in the classroom. While the arguments of black leaders against vouchers seem sound on paper, many black parents will ignore them until public schools perform better. V ?? This means they must have more funds, better texts, equip ment, teacher training pro grams, huge increases in cultural diversity programs, an expan sion of charter and magnet schools, far greater parental involvement in decision-making on curriculum, texts and staffing. Apd most importantly, local school districts must insti tute an equitable system that permits them of get rid of bad teachers and administrators. It also means that many black leaders must face the hard fact that as long as many inner city public schools disgracefully underperform, black parents must have the right to pick and choose the schools that offer the best deal in education for their Children. And for now that choice for many means vouch ers. 4 Earl Ofari Hutchinson is the author of " The Crisis in Black and Black." His e-mail address is: ehutchi344@aol.com f. * joel coliseum SATURDAY, MAY 22 ? ^ 7:30 PM ? m yxl ggg vMk. SterV # d7c. curry montana 'st HOSTED BY: EPWONPA WHITE Reserved Seats: $16.50, $20.00, $23.50 available at the Coliseum Box Office and Ticket Centers Hechfs. Peaches. Waves. To order by phone call (336) 722-6400. For more information, call (336) 725-5635. L-???^??? Injuries from car accidents can lead to pain, stiffness, numbness, headaches and even arthritis. We can help. Dr. Gentle is specially trained to understand and treat whiplash injuries. Call today for a FREE information [package on how we can help you recover. Gentle Chiropractic 659-9859 (available 24 hrs a day) 9 e. Clemmonsville Rd, Winston-Salem (SALVAGE MARTTI , II? SIPEIH? SAIL! 5?% OFF SELECTED LADIES CLOTHING Hurry In - Sale Will End Soon i * Ladies Designer Fashions ? TV Shopping Club Clothes ? 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