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i We Fear Competency Tests
By Hoyle H. Martin Sr.
Poet Editorial Writer
1 Two years ago an 18-year-old
.midwestern white youth from a
smiddleclass family was rejected for
; military service because he was
Itasted and found to be functionlly
illiterate. The young man’s parents
were outraged and protested that
was not the case because their son
jttSd recently graduated from one of
Me best secondary schools in their
pTThis incident points out the dile
- fena that schools, particularly pub
lic schools, face in the utilization of
Competency tests. Lake “Career
Education,” the ‘‘New Math” and
■e ^Open School” before it, com
ffetency testing has become a con
troversial issue because it treads in
tthknown waters..
^Competency testing in particular
m controversial because it is one
pseasure of the skills and abilities of
Ajdents, thus its difficult to deny
Meir use. On the other hand,
Mwever, competency testing is ap
Arently disliked by teachers be
(jgkuse high failure rates may raise
(feestions about their level of com
petency. It is disliked by school
tipards and school administrators
tpcause of possible charges of racial
income level discrimination if
percentages of poor and or
ick youths fail, suggesting that
are prepared only to teach
and upper income white
pts disliked by civil rights organiz
ations and minority group members
because of fears that any extended
period of high failure rates for
blacks may contribute to the myth
of genetic inferiority.
r- Finally, we believe that support
ers of public education fear a poor
ldyel of performance based on com
petency tests results will undermine
tlfe credibility of public education
cfedits^ndother ii^^^ves to those
who use private-usually church re
lated schools to educate their
children.
• r
Ample Evidence
There is ample evidence to sup
port our belief about these fears of
competency testing. First, the ma
jor focus of concern with the compet
ency tests given to the nearly 6,000
Charlotte-Mecklenburg 10th graders
in November of 1977 appears to be
the number and rate of failures by
blocks. Furthermore, 10 Piedmont
North Carolina School Systems that
also used the Charlotte-Mecklen
burg competency test in November
found it necessary to say they had
not yet analyzed the test results
based on race. They added, how
ever, that most students in their high
school remedial programs are black
and poor performance on the test is
a major criteria for admission to
such programs.
This apparent pre-occupation with
black failure rates reflects our
observations about who fears com
petency tests and why. Specifically
we wonder why so litue attentionhas
been given todate to the root causes
of the overall 21,240 Chariot te-Meck
lenburg students who failed in read
ing and math or the fact that only 36
percent of the reported 5,869 in the
local schools who took the math test
passed. Fortunately, school Supt.
Jay Robinson puts the issue in clear
perspective when he noted last week
that the problem stems partly from
the fact that school administrators
have been unwilling to seek out the
real reasons for student failures.
Black Failure
The kind of probing for reasons
that Dr. Robinson mentions has led
some local school administrators to
admit, that black competency test
failure rates relate to the schools’
inability to meet some of the com
plex needs of some black and
economically poor students. As we
have noted, this raises the question
of why our schools and teachers
have not been prepared to meet such
complex needs.
‘Another reason for the relatively
high competency test failure rate
among blacks is that * ‘some educa
tors seem to have lower expecta
tions for black children or any
minority group and as a result I’m
sure they don’t get a fair deal,” said
Robinson
These observations from Dr. Rob
inson’s objective and unbiased
initial analysis of the problem point
out thgt desegregating schools have
not yet brought about integrated
quality education for all youths.Al
luding to this overall problem, the
.^■Council for Basic Education said as
^arlyAsJW5 “Thelalunt truth is that
Irtlf‘schools Hire failing miserably,
scandalously, outrageously, at least
20 percent of our young people.”
Fortunately, while many educa
tors can justifably argue that there
are many non-school related factors
that contribute to poor school perfor
mance, some teachers will accept
the poor competency test scores as a
new challenge to do a better job.
Likewise, parents, ministers and
other adults who interact with you
ths need to put more stress on the
value of pursuit of excellence in all
aspects of life.
Thus, black youths must be direct
ed and led to believe that the spector
of racism, sexism or age discrimin
ation should not be a deterent to the
pursuit of excellence. We can, in the
final analysis, only be equal if we
are individually and collectively in
pursuit of excellence.
Martin Luther King’s Dream
By Bayard Rustin
Special to the Post
Last week, I was talking to a
young man who - at the time
of Dr. King’s assasination in
1968 - was in 10th grade. He
recalled that evening in early
April when the shocking news
of Dr. King’s murder was
broadcast to the world. But be
had a few, if any, meaningful
recollections of the great civil
rights struggles of the 1950’s
and the 1960’s. Names and
places like James Meredith,
Birmingham, “Bull” Connor,
and Little Rock, were blurred
in his mind, vaguely rememb
ered but not fully comprehen
ded. He was, qnllke his par
ents and older neighbors, un
touched^ bjtter.xeaJUty at
racial segregatfoiv, fa hiiu,
the very concept of. sfflrwgat
ion seemed alien anapectumr,
indeed unthinkable.
Hie attitudes of this young
man, I think, testify to Dr.
King'8 greatest accomplish
ment: racial segregation,
whether de jure or de facto,
has become politically and
normally untenable in modern
America. He showed Amer
ica, through the beauty of
non-violent witness, the true
face of racism, a face which
was hideous and inhuman.
But Dr. King's social dream
consisted of two intimately
linked components: first, the
realization of civil and politi
cal rights (an area in which
we have made substantial pro
gress); and. secondly, the
achievement of economic and
social equality by black Amer
icans. In short, Dr. King pro
posed what might be called “a
package deal" for black liber
ation. Freedom, according to
Dr. King, would not and could
not - come piecemeal; nor
would it come through the
sheer benevolence of the white
power centers. It would come
only as the result of a social
revolution, non-viloent to be
sure, but a revolution, never
the less, in the true sense of
the word.
During the ten years Dr.
King’s death, phase II of the
civil rights movement - the
economic phase — has produc
ed a spotty and somewhat
disappointing record. Altho
ugh most blacks have improv
ed their economic position, at
least marginally, since the
1960’s recent years have seen
repeated setbacks for black
people.
After years of slow, but
steady, narrowing of the
wit :e-black " i
gap is now
And unemplo. . _j
among black workers remain
at intolerably high levels. For
certain categories of Mack
workers, teenagers for exam
ple, the unemployment rate is
double that of white workers.
But perhaps even worse, the
labor force participation rate
for black men of prime work
ing age has fallen drastically
since 1958 - from 96 percent to
88.5 percent. This bleak statis
tic indicates that thousands of
black workers have abandon
ed all hope of “Makipg it” in
contemporary America
These disheartening trends
are easily traced to the disast
rous economic policies so stu
bbornly pursued by the Nixon
and Ford Adminstrations. And
now even with a Democratic
president elected with the
overwhelming support of
black voters, the situation
looks only slightly better.
Many politicians - and here 1
include some liberals - fail to
•
* grasp the concept that econo
mic policy has become, in a
very real way, the civil rights
policy of the 1970*8.
There are, however, viable
and time-proven strategies for
attacking the economic afflict
ions which continue to tor
ment the black community.
For one thing, Dr. King -
who died while aiding a union
of sanitation men - recognized
the necessity of uniting black
workers and white workers in
their common struggle for
economic security and advan
cement. But black workers no
matter how well organized,
cannot resume the slow march
toward economic and social
equality within the context of
a chronically ill economy. We
must continue to fifestf for a
-.flrmccanmilfiAmWtffi^:
ploymehf fQie recenlHouse
vote on the (Humphrey-Hawk
ins bill is an encouraging
sign). We must move ahead in
‘‘the uphill battle for quality
integrated education. And we
must reaffirm our support for
America’s urban centers, so
often the depressing havens of
America’s poorest and most
dejected people.
No, Dr. King’s dream has
not been realized after ten
long and sometimes cruel
years. Nor do I really think
that he expected to see the
dream fulfilled in ten, twenty,
or even fifty years. He knew
that endurance and perserve
rance are the distinguishing
marks of any worthwhile
movement for justice. “The
hard truth,” be told us in 1967,
“is that neither Negro nor
white has done enough to
expect the dawn of a new day.
While much has been done, it
has been accomplished by too
few and on a scale too limited
for the breadth of Jhe goal.
Vernon E. Jordan Jr.s^SSSSSS
? • V.. J
TO
BE
EQUAL
Crime-Control Or Cure?
Concern about crime and violence has spawn
ed many “solutions” to the problem, but
virtually all of them would leave the amount of
crime in our society virtaully intact while
giving the illusion of dealing >vith it.
It seems that every year brings a new spurious
solution to the crime problem. Some time ago,
New York State put through a drastic tough drug
law that was supposed to end narcotics sales for
good. It didn’t. Today there are more drugs and
pushers on the streets than ever before.
The Nixon Administration’s plan to choke off
drug imports from Turkey also failed. True, ~m
Turkish heroin imports declined, but imports ^
from other^coun tries flooded the market and
drugs such as cocain and others grew in
popularity during the brief period of tight heroin
supplies. The result, more and more varied
illegal drugs are available than before the
“get-tough” drive. _
Preventive detention made no dent in the
crime rate.
But the search for the big fix on crime
continues. The new fad is “Swift punishment.”
The courts are bottlenecked, the argument
goes,and other cases stack up a long time so
prosecutors plea-bargain and some cases are
dropped.
The result supposedly is to encourage law-bre
akers to believe they can get away without a
, prison sentence if they get caught. A corollary of
this argument usually is that court decisions on *
rights of accused persons have handcuffed the
police and allowed many guilty people to escape
the penalties of the law.
Many ppeople have seized on this new fad and
are riding it hard. Adopt what we say, they
imply, and crime rates will plummet. But there’s
no reason to assume that this new approach will
be any better answer to the problems of crime
than others that have been tried and failed.
Study after study shows that criminal cases
are dropped or charges reduced because prose
cutors don’t have enough evidence to convict,
witnesses move away or complainants drop
charges^’ s. •(j i «•»
Even poflQertfffldals adgift thatepu^dd^giftnsf1-1®^
on the rights of the accused haven’t prevented
them from dealing with crime and we ought to
remember that back in the days of the third
degree, long before the court decisions of the
i_____1 a._ _ 4.1_4 if
avwo, pvuvv i vpi Mviivau v uocu iu viami uiav u
the courts took away the third degree, the police
migfht as well just go out of business.
The “swift punishment” crowd also forgets
that people don’t commit crimes with the
expectations of getting caught, and for those who
are bent on illegal activity, a prison sentence is a
business risk that doesn’t stop them.
It is clear that for the foreseeable future people
will commit crimes for which they’ll be sent to
prison, but we also have to remember that nine
out of ten will eventually return to society and
punishment without rehabilitation will just
ensure their swift return to jail.
It is easy to advocate the current “lock ‘em
up” answers since they give the illusion of action *
and of dealing with a serious social problem. But -
those who back such answers ought to be
prepared for the dismal fact that stress on ' -
enforcement and imprisonment is no more ’ J
likely to work now than in the past.
THE CHARLOTTE POST
“THE PEOPLES NEWSPAPER’’
Established 1918
Published Every Thursday
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ay i yac c
Athletes And The Hardship Cases
I am sure many of you read
a hour the hardships a great
athlete is now facing. I am
talking about the bankruptcy
Joe Caldwell,former Carolina
Cougar standout, is currently
going through.Although the
entire situation is bad there is
some good that can come out
of Joe's hardships. The good is
the lesson to be learned from
all of this.
The circumstances that sur
rounds Joe’s downfall, two
points stand out in my mind.
First, Joe left college as a
hardship case thereby never
completing his education. Sec
ond, Joe is no longer a young
man.
These two points are the
reasons Joe is in the trouble he
is in.
To the aspiring young athl
ete. it is important to realize
that athletic ability is a tempo
rary assest Its instrinsic val
ue depreciates as your age
appreciates Therefore, it is
not enough to be athletically
inclined to be successful in our
society You must have some
thing else to offer to society
once your auueuc anility is
valueless.
That something else more
often than not can be gained
through a college education.
With a degree you can reshape
your lifestyle and still mske it.
Joe Caldwell has no degree.
It is obvious that he could at
least make a valuable contri
bution to a school’s stheltic
program. But he can’t get a
degree. He is a wasted resour
ce. Ironically, it la his own
fault.
14 is cases like Joe’s that
cause me to be opposed to the
hardship draft.
The hardship draft exploits
the poverty situation a hard
ship athlete has been exposed
to.
A poverty' stricken youth
sees the opportunity to leave
the ghetto environment thro
ugh athletics. He will play a
few years in college, make a
name for himself, and wait to
be drafted as a hardship case,
fivemight he finds that he has
become a rich man More
often than not his mental
maturity has not grown as
rapidly as his wealth Conseq
uently, hie wealth vanishes
almost as rapidly as it appear
ed. Some people have suggest
ed that if they were in this
situation, that they would go
with the hardship case and
return to finish their education
later. Not a bad Idea, but one
that the facta will not boar out.
Once a hardship athlete sta
rts drawing a paycheck, that’s
It. He feels that since he is
making more money than
most people make with a
degree, why bother. Moreov
er, he is spending too much
time living the life of glamor.
Consequently, he will never
return . Yet year after year
atheltes continue to file bank
ruptcy.
A simple calculation can
show that being a great athl
ete will leave you with nothing
but memories if you can’t
carry on in something else.
Let us take an athlete at age lg
and barring any Injuries of the
like, let us say he will last until
38; Two unlikely hypotheses.
Let us further assume that
through this 20-year career
that our athlete averages $100,
000 a year; another unlikely
hypothesis. If our athlete lives
to be 88 he would have made
enough money to have an
average yearly Income of 142,
863.20. Not badIBut it is not
bad if our athlete realizes this
and lives 20-year career based
on a yearly income of $42,863.
20 Instead, making $100,000 a
year he will live like a king on
a yearly based income of
$100,000. Consequently, when
he reaches sge 40 his glamor
years are over and so is his
financial stability. Note, that
our example was extremely
generous. Most athletes will
last only to years at most
.|L
Most will not earn $100,000 p
year. Therefore, our figures
will change drastically. On a
ten year career leaving every
thing else constant our athlete
will only earn $21,276.60 a year
based on age 65.
Lou Hudson of the Atlanta
Hawkk laid it beat when team
mates ridiculed him about
being cheap. Lou replied "I
live a lifestyle that I can
sustain and maintain.” Lou
lives in a modest home, drive
simple cars, and dressed mod
estly. Lou Is an intelligent
athlete.
Hence, if you are a young
aspiring athlete and you are
going to use your athletic
ability to lift you out of the
poverty stricken environment
you are now in, remember
these points :1 ) Athletic abil
ity Is not forever.
2( A college education is for
ever.
3< Budget you earnings while
being an athlete on age 65.
4( Hire a good firm to manage
your money.
It is not much that can be
done or said to make Joe
Caldwell's situation any easi
er to bear. But Joe Caldwell’s,
hardship can be used to Wfy
others gain success.
Vernon Jordan has recently. 9
attacked President Jimmy
Carter on unfulfilled promis
es the President has made to
black people. Jordan has said
this adminstratton Is more
concerned with balance bud
gets than balanced lives. •
Carter is not God and his
wants are not automatically
turned into action, Jordan
knows this Moreover, Jimmy
Carter is President of the
entire U. S not just the black \
folk. I think the man is doing
one heck of a job and I take
personal offense to attacks on
how he Is doing his job. Yes. I *
have found some Carter decis
ions questionable, but Carter
has the facts and I only can
go on he resay and what I read.
But I pay close attention to
little subtle points that go
unnoticed by most. For inst
ance, Carter’s press conferen- '
ceses are filled with black 9
reporters I never once saw a
black face in a Ford or Ntxsn * !
press conference, let alone a
chance to ask a question.