Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Sept. 20, 1979, edition 1 / Page 2
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amis c oramcnu Public Education - A New Perspective _ ■»__A • * uua iviiiuiue 10 indicate a decline in confidence in government, busi ness, labor organizations, the judi cial system and the media. “Each has earned our contempt from time to time,” writes RRich Oppel of the Charlotte Observer, “but they are merely things compos ed of human beings.” A major institution “composed of human beings” and caught up in this sweeping crisis of confidence is pub lic education, particularly at the elementary and secondary school level. The 1979 Gallup Poll on atti tudes toward public schools reflects this decline in confidence. The poll shows that 34 percent of 1,514 adults surveyed in May gave the public schools an A or B rating, however, this rating was down from 36 percent in 1978 and 48 percent in 1974. While 30 percent rated the schools C as they did a year ago, the D and F rat ings declined from 19 to 18 percent from 1978 to 1979. The poll also notes that discipline continues to be the school’s largest perceived problem. These conclusions reflect nothing that is new nor any change in the perceived reasons for the declining confidence in the schools, that is, administrative stagnation, student and teacher apathy and parental mistrust. What is new is largely in a growing awareness of some of the heretofore little mentioned issues or problems that underscore the crisis of confi dence in public education. Undoubtedly, a major new aware ness is in the decline role and influ ence of the church and the family upon school age children. Church affairs or listening in more than a superficial way to youth oriented problems. Greater Impact An even greater impact upon the blems of the public schools has a n from the changing condition of American family. Increasingly erican homes have become two -irent working families resulting in i quest for substitute means of care ‘or children. This condition, whether brought on by women’s desire for [independence or self-development and self identity or by the inflation ary need to supplement the hus band’s income, has resulted in the schools being looked upon as a major substitute parent. — ~ 4 ViltMiV OVU 4 ■«■■■ ■■■ ment or coping with inflation are only a part of the American families’ need for substitute parents. This is what psychologist Dr. Joyce bro thers said is the problems in the marriages of “quiet hell.” In an ad dress to the American Hospital As sociation, Dr.Brothers said marri age is a “quiet hell” for half of the American couples. According to her own survey, 25 percent of all mam ages are ending in divorce while another 50 percent are loveless “util itarian” relationships to protect children,property, shared careers and other goals. The pressure on the schools is in tensified by the fact that these “utili tarian” relationships cannot pro vide the day-by-day loving care that children have a right to expect from their parents. In the words of journ alist R.C. Smith,” in the quantity as well as the quality of the care of love will determine their children’s future stability in society and conse quent happiness.’’The schools should be a support institution to the parent’s quest for the child’s stabili ty and happiness, not the primary source of the child’s stability and happiness. U/a VifiwA iU.i -_ei _ __ " v »v iivwu umu uuia uuuai j pressures may be the reason a wife and young mother works. Therefore, in relating to the child or partially attempting to fill the absent parent’s role teachers need to know more about the world of work first be cause their students will someday become working adults and secondly because the psychological impact of the world of work or the two-parent working family may be transferred to the child in a positive or neagative way. Non-Academic World One attempt to deal with this prob lem was inpart the outgrowth of a program developed by the Green ville (S.C.) County school district and Furman University. High school teachers spent the summer of 1979 in entry-level jobs in local business and industry. The real aim was to provide the teachers with an appre ciation for an renewed understand ing of the non-academic world of work. Ironically, Judith Gatlin, director of the program reports that an English teacher was surprised that the newspaper where he was em ployed demands accurate spelling and correct punctuation and an art teacher found a television station required considerable imagination an technical ability. If these examples are any indication of what teachers know about the real world then crit icism of public education is certainly justified. Another little reported problem that hampers public school effective ness is the continued sex bias that denies women equal job opportun ities. A study of sex discrimination in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools reveal that women hold 22 percent of the administrative jobs although they comprise 75 percent of the work force. This problem of course is not limited to the local school system it is nation wide. THE CHARLOTTE POST Second Class Postage No. 965500 “THE PEOPLES NEWSPAPER" Established 1918 Published Every Thursday By The Charlotte Post Publishing Co., Inc 1524 West Blvd.-Charlotte, N.C. 28208 Telephones (704)376-0496-376-0497 Circulation, 9,915 60 YEARS OF C0NTIN0US SERVICE JOHNSON...Editor Publisher BERNARD REEVES...General Manager LAWRENCE ROBINSON...Advertising Director Second Class Postage No 965500 Paid Af Charlotte, N.C. under the Act of March 3. 1878 by Alfreda L. Madison Special to the Poet In the midst of soaring infla tion, unemployment, SALT, energy ind other problems, congres seems to always find time to act on racial issues, that even the proponents of these bills and amendments will yell loudly they are not perpetuating racism, but only a mere glance will show that the opposite is the case. Senator Jesse Helms, who seems to be bitterly opposed to ntegration of schools, ap pears to concentrate intensely on pr oposals to again return to legalised segregated schools While he does not openly intro duce provisions calling for re peal of desegregation laws, he nrATVMiac I/Oei/UIB J states reasons that will again set the country on the road to separate black and white schools. A few months back he at tached an anti busing amend ment to the energy bill, in which he strongly emphasized that busing was costly to the energy program He blamed black children, who have been denied a fair and just educa tion down through the years Notwithstanding the fact that busing does afford them an op portunity to have equal educa tion opportunities, he places blame on them for the energy shortage Why doesn't he 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 become the property of the POST, and will not be returned. National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers. Inc 45 W 5th Suite 14m 2400 S Michigan Ave New York, N \ . 10036 Chicago. Ill 606ir, (212) *°.j-1220 Calumet 5-02')<. »V emon E. Jordan, Jr —55-53—— TO BE EQUAL An Agenda For The 1980’s Years ago, at the dawn of the 1900s, the great & black scholor and activist W.E.B. DuBois wrote that “the probelm of the Twentieth Century is the probelm of the color line.” As our nation enters the 1980s the color line is ' still with us. The challenge of the coming decade is to dismantle the color line that places a ceiling on black opportunities while removing the floor from the black security. That implies an _■ _ P _ _ A* A _ 1 * _• A _ A . dftcuua iui a^uuu w ui tug cilnjui a ^lctuci measure of equality for all Americans. While blacks and other minorities are most in need of major domestic reforms, all poor people would benefit from them. And since fully two-thirds of the poor are white, the “Black agenda” is also one that crosses racial and regional lines. The core of the black agenda includes a handful of major issues. Prime among them is a national full employment policy. That takes on added significance as the nation slides into still another recession that will mean escalating unemployment. Black jobless rates are now well over double the white rates. Current unemployment levels are intolerable for blacks and too high for everyone. So the coming decade ought to see a national commitment to decent jobs for all as a matter of right- in the private sector wherever possible, in the public sector if industry can’t absorb all of AIIW lirAtllFAMA ----- UMH*. An Aroused Leadership Team 1 . Black Political Campaign Organizations by Gerald O. Johnson Special to the Post Running for political offices is an expensive and time consuming endeavor. Few people in this area know how to run an effective campaign. Blacks in particular fail to organize their campaigns e ffectively enough to win. Here is a typical way black political hopefuls go about their duties in running for office. Initially the person decides to run or is asked to run by some friends. Once the decis ion has been made to run, the candidate makes a public an nouncement to that effect. Then friends and relatives are asked to volunteer their services helping with the cam paign. Random appointments are made as to individual assignments. Then workers are recruited. Haphazardly, the campaign goes on its merry way. Fundraising events, public appearances, and new forums are set up. Then comes the time for the elections and the candidate loses. In reality, the candidate had lost from the beginning. In politics it is not the candidate that wins elections, but rather the organization behind the candidate. Consequently, the key to winning elections is organization. The above typ ical example shows how not to start a campaign. The first big mistake was allowing relatives and friends to get Involved. The Black community of Charlotte is a very social animal and moot up ana ena. This is not how it has tobe. If you want to run for office you ' must decide far enough in advance to be able to organize an effective campaign. Then . you must structure campaign positions. _ The structure should be something like this: DStrategist-responsible for the overall program. Must be a strong planner, good leader, and very responsible. 2) Statistician-responsibIe for research, fact gathering, and reporting. Must have • strong math background, good leader and capable ot transforming raw data into meaningful reports. 3) Public Relations-respon sible for presenting the can didate to the public. Must be familiar with media, person able, extroverted, and know the current issues. 4) Fundraiser-responsible for setting up programs that will raise money. Must be imaginative and capable of turning ideas into reality. 5) Accountant-responsible for the receiving and paying of all funds and the reporting of all financial manners. 6) Operatlons Manager-re sponsible for managing volun teer office workers. These six positions are es sential to any successful cam paign. They can’t be volun teer positions. Each position must be filled by a qualified individual and this will re quire recruiting people. You can’t have a person not used to See BLACK on page 5 And an indispensable feature of a full employ ment policy has to be a national commitment to affirmative action. This is necessary if blacks are to achieve full parity in employment and educational opportunities. A vigorous affirma tive action thrust in the 1980’s will mean no furth er need for special affirmative action efforts by 1990, because its goals will have been met. In addition to jobs, the agenda for the 1980s in cludes an income maintenance system to re place the rotting welfare system. Current ^ welfare reform proposals should be just the first W step toward development of a comprehensive, federally administered income maintenance systemtfree of punitive elements and available to all in need. Another key item is a national youth develop ment program that assures young people, espe cially disadvantaged youth, of the skills, school ing and services they need participate fully * in our society. There are nearly ten million black and white poor children in America, and neglect of their needs can only perpetuate poverty. neairn is a major pari oi me agenda, especial ly for black people who have higher incidence of bad health and less access to quality health care. The widespread closing of public hospitals and clinics in the minority neighborhoods of many cities for budgetary reasons shamefully worsens an already serious health care crisis for the poor. The current debate over health insurance proposals has been personalized and limited. The 1960s ought to see passage of a national health system that is unified, comprehensive consumer-oriented, and guarantees total qual-’ I tv hAAlfh PO 1*0 ■AMrlAAe fnil * Gerald O. Johnson Blacks get involved with cam paign from the social aspects involved. The status, the parties, and the exposure indi viduals get from being behind the scenes of a candidate make:- it relatively easy to recruit volunteers. The second mistake is not getting qualified individuals in key posts. Ultimately this will lead to dissensions and defec tions within the ranks of the campaign. The poorly oranlx ed campaign will have a few people attempting to do all the work and another lew trying to get all the credit. Friends and relatives will ■tart realizing that campaign ing is a lot of work and not as much glory as they thought. Because the campaign is poorly organized workers can not see the direction that the whole thing is going. Conse quently, they start defecting. Soon everybody is hoping that the whole thing will hurry From Capitol Hill Racism Seems To Bar Senate Action In “Best Public Interest” come up with a remedy for North Carolina’s all time in justice to the black school children? Recently, in the senate dis cussion on some I960 approp riation measures, Jesse Helms introduced an amend ment to call a one-year mora torium on all efforts of the In ternal .Revenue to deny tax exemption to private schools. Internal Revenue procedures 75-50 set forth requirements for private schools to be tax exempted. Jesse is calling a halt to all of these, making the sky the limit for one year. He said that he is not asking for change in the Internal Reven ue procedures, but Just that congress should be given more time for debating the matter. According to past debates on issues for racial justice and equality, much racism is gen erated, and more drastic un reasonable amendments are r* Mr Helms often injects into his arguments some ideas allegedly attributed to blacks He often expresses some mi nority opinion. In his anti-bus ing stand he stated that blacks shared his views This time he stated that the Black Youth Coalition was asking black parents not to send their chil dren to private schools, be cause this would be a back- • lash to their roots Mr Helms Said 1 ' ’ -*r • -"-»tro it the people not to misuse the funds, that if any problems do arise the senate would act. He said that he shed no tears over clipoina the wings of the IRS where private schools are concerned. The senator ex tolled the kind of North Caro lina people who operate pri vate schools, he says their only aim is to give their children quality education. He stated that these people do not like drug trafficking, vio lence, and teacher assault In the public schools. These things also occur, perhaps to a lesser degree, in private schools. The reason being these schools usually have smaller classes and even min or offenders are thrown out. inn* isciiig uic tase uioh; schools do not seek to prepare all of the children, but just a few. So Senator Helms and those who joined with him in passing this amendment, seem to have lost sight of the fact that they are elected public officials, who must effect legislation that is in the best interest of the public and not for uphold ing special interests of private groups Why couldn't these senators work on measures that would improve public education which certainly takes care of the majority of the children of their states? Why don’t Mr. Helms and his fellow private school tax exemption sena tors, concentrate on elimina tion of drug trafficking, by organized crime into this country, and taking into full account why discipline in the schools is a problem? litis Helm’s amendment action is an example of these elected taxpald leaders, by-passing the problems for which they were elected to find the answers and a failure in properly leading their constit uent* iM. Education Gagfe Continue To blame North Carolina s 145 local school units spent over one and a half billion dollars to educate their students during the 1977-7* school year. That is tne most recent year dur ing which the total expend! ture figures are available. The figure, $1,541,965,418.62, includes money provided by state, federal and local gov ernments. The figures are compiled annually by the Div ision of Management Informa tion Systems of the Depart ment of Education The one and a half billion dollar figure represents an increase of over $200 million dollars over the 1976-77 school year. The state share of the total budget was $960,481,656. 25, or 63 6 per cent. The federal share of the budget was $188,688,911.15, or 12.2 per cent, and the local share was $372,784,852.22 or 24.2 per cent. The budget for the year represented a $100 million dollar increase in the local share and $96 million in the state share of funds The per pupil expenditure for youngsters in the North Carolina public schools incre ased from 91,209.65 in 1976-77 to 11,313.09 in 1977-78. Ten years ago. during the 196649 school year, $501.87 was spent to educate each child in the state The state share, 63.6 per cent, is the lowest over the past ten years. The federal shared, 12.2 percent, is also as low as it nas oeen in the past ten years. The local share at 24 2 per cent is almost four percent higher than during the previous year and almost 8 percent higher than ten years ago Still, the North Carolina state share of public school support is much higher than the national average, which is under 50 percent. r~ I / 'VI • 4 Alfreds L. Madison impossible for private schools to have sufficient number of blacks to prove, according to the IRS code, that they are not discrrriminating. The sena tor’s argument would carry more weight if he consulted with the majority of blacks, black leaders, or black organi zations. instead of a mere few. Senator • Metzenbaum ar gued that the Helms amend ment would allow tax exemp tion for private school funds even if they were used for lobbying, and that it locks in tax exempt status for private schools for perpetuity Jesse Helms stated that his amendment was just to tax exempt private schools for one ... *»,«» h* ha* faith jn
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Sept. 20, 1979, edition 1
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