Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / July 21, 1983, edition 1 / Page 2
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editorials comments Wanted: A National Agenda! As each of the past few years have approached their end, there has been much talk about a Black agenda for the year to follow as if to give Black Ameri cans some real hoDe that some kind of a consensus agenda was about to be developed. The presumed idea behind all this was that a conscious-raising consensus agenda might be an intellectual guide for Blacks generally to guide their political thinking and their economic be havior in such a manner that Black economic and political in fluence or power would force politicians and economic institu tions to respond in a more positive way to the needs of Black Americans. bad to say, no such Black agenda has really been de veloped. However, as little as it may be recognized, the absence of such an agenda is increas ingly being shown to be the collective fault of the Black in telligencia. For example, too many Blacks have been led to being preoccupied with the color of the presidential candidate with too little thought being given to the competency, pri mary issues, and platform of the candidate or candidates regard less of their race or color. This kind of quasi-stupid thinking now has some talking about a Black candidate for governor of North Carolina. Turning to economic issues, we can see even more clearly why we have put the finger on the Black intelligencia for clodd ing the minds and misdirecting the thinking of Black Ameri cans. Sam Fulwood III of The Char lotte Observer noted recently that relatively few black news reporters at the NAACP conven tion held in New Orleans last week were interested in news conference announcements by major corporations about busi ness and job opportunities for Black firms or workers. Little Disturbing Significantly, there was little interest by the Black press in “Fair Share” economic pro grams but considerable interest in “gossipy quotes on the NAACP’s internal problems of tracking the six Democratic pre sidential hopefules “who ap peared and spoke before the convention. Ben Hooks said ‘Black people just don’t seem as willing to be involved with any thing’.” . It is more than a little dis turbing to'observe this kind of apathy when Black unemploy ment is at 20 percent, nearly 50 percent for jobless Black youth, and even when economic condi tions are good these jobless figures for Blacks don’t change. Another interesting economic fact to affect Black people is in the recent announcement that the Social Security retirement age will rise from 65 to 67 by the year 2027 to help the system remain solvent. That does not sound so startling until it is revealed by a report that the higher retirement age will directly affect Blacks. Black Economics In effect, raising the Social Security retirement age will mean Black workers, who have a lower life expectancy, will end up being shortchanged on bene fits. Thus, with the average Black workers having a life expectancy of only 65 years fewer Blacks will live long enough to receive reitrement benefits under the new rules. This issue, Black unemploy ment, limited Black economic business opportunities and the eroding of Black civil rights progress are the key issues facing Black Americans in 1983. Thus, black voters, churchmen, parents, students, small busi ness people, neighborhood lead ers and other civic minded folk need to begin to let the so called Black leadership know that Blacks are concerned about substantive issues of jobs, gen eral economic progress, housing, urban decay and service to the needy. That is, the grassroots Black American, Hispanics, women, the elderly and other generally overlooked groups need to clear ly advise, remind and threaten with the power of their vote rill candidates, Black, White, Demo crat, Republican or Indepen dent, that they the workers, taxpayeis and backbone of this nation will no longer be naively led by the empty rhetoric or forgotten promises. Mr. John Q. American is say ing stop spouting political rhe toric to get my vote and start talking about the real issues facing the American people. A national agenda for Black Ame ricans will undoubtedly be an agenda addressing all Ameri cans’ needs in 1984. : ^ ynf 'Mil *BLACKS'RETICENCE TO SEIZE THE INITIATIVE TO ORGANIZ'E'ihldlfr 'J COMMUNITIES0 SAID DOUGLAS G. GLASGOW, DEAN OF HOWARD '{WES*7* XWOL OF SOCIAL WORK, ISA MAJOR FACTOR AND AN IMPORTANT FACTOR CONTRIBUTING TO OUR COMMUNITIES" > *• ' UNDEVELOPED STATUS" POUTKAN BUSINESS MAN DOCTORS LAWYERS ARTISTS TEACHERS MINISTERS WORKERS COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS* SOCIAL WORKERS FRATERNAL CROUPS FINANCE COMPUTER SCIENCE INSTITUTION ADMINISTRATION ENGINEERING PLANNING ARCHITECTURE J BLACK PRESS l 2^rt: k Voucher System A Must For Quality Education Dear Sir: ..Black communities across North Carolina are concerned with quality education. School closings in Black neighborhoods and few options other th»p the public school system have been very frustrating. Hie promise of quality education through inte gration has slowly faded as Black parents became aware that busing, for the most part, has meant bus ing Black kids to white schools. Hie Black community in Winston-Salem is currently debating the merits of a bond referendum that re organises the Forsyth County School System. In exchange for supporting a plan which disproportion ately closes Black schools; the community may see several Blacks promoted to senior high school princi pals. These hard choices have been faced before by Black communities else where. Unfortunately, quality education is not a function of which color the admin istrator happens to be. If this was the case, majority Black school systems with Black school boards and Black administrators would be islands of educa tional excellence in a na tional sea of mediocrity. More Black principals will not appreciably impact on the problems with primary and secondary education. The problems with edu cation facing the Black community are three fold. Low quality as indicated by test scores and other mea sures of performance. Lack of control exempli fied by school closings ab sorbed by Black commun ities across the state. Finally, lack of choice in a system which decides where you will attend school based on where you live. It may surprise some readers that the above pro blems basically are the same ones faced by white parents. What would you do if I told you that a monopoly existed whose service con tinued to decline, whose rates continued to go up and if you refused to pay this high price, you would be sent to jail. The mono poly I am describing is the government’s monopoly of public education. The pro blems discussed above are a result of this monopoly. A few Black educators in the current system cannot im prove on the system’s in herent failures. The government mono poly on primary and se condary education hurts your kids in several ways. The system inefficiently al locates resources. Have you ever wondered why the total cost of education goes up while the number of students and teachers have gone down? The total cost has gone up because the number of supervisors and support personnel has sub stantially increased. Every dollar spent here cannot be spent on books, lab equip ment and teachers’ sa laries. The monopoly has cre ated a system that forces good teachers to either become administrators, to remain in the classroom at substandard salary or leave education altogether Once becoming an admin istrator, ofttimes for the wrong reasons, our former stellar teacher is reward ed with higher salaries for pushing papers and for not “rocking the boat” instead of managing inept teachers out of the profession. u This monopoly also con trols mot of the teaching positions in education and can arbitrarily set teach ers’ salaries lower than market value. However, the assertion that teachers are underpaid is only half true. Many good teachers are grossly underpaid, while many poor teachers are grossly overpaid. The monopoly establishes a perverse average salary based on seniority which kills initiative and assures that most bright educators will, of necessity, leave the profession. V. L. Robinson TO- ■ [■ WITH SABRINA JOHNSON Sabrina ' No Kg Bucks; No Oscar8: Summer is here and what better way to spend a hot afternoon than in a cool movie! theater spellbound by the images on the big screen. However this summer’s films have proved to be disappointing at the box office and for audience approval. “Return of the Jedi’ - The third and final sequel in the “Star Wars” adventure is the only true blockbuster coming in first at $165 million. “Flash Dance” has assumed the number two position with $57 million, “Superman III” follows with $47 million and “Trading Places” occupies the fourth sport with $46 million. “Octopussy,” “War Games,” “Blue Thunder,” “Psycho II,’« “Porkey’s II” and “Twilight Zone” occupy the fifth through tenth positions, respec tively. The problem in the industry is the lack o* breakout’ films such as last summer’s “An Officer and a Gentleman” “Rocky III” and “Star Trek II.” These were the films with staying power which appears to be lacking in this year’s forum: The warm side of films is missing this year. For films such as “Blue Thunder” budged at $20 million and “Superman III”, budgeted at $35 million to prove profitable, both must do well at the box office week after week to show margin al profits. This is unlikely to happen at this point since the warm, sensitive element is not to be found in either of these movies. This year’s hit, “Return of the Jedi” (20th Century-Fox) may not surpass “E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial” because it does not • possess the crossover element-a film that appeals to all audiences, young and old. Opening week “Jedi” earned $41 million, almost doubling “E.T.’s” $21 million. Howi ever, since then its weekly figures are dropping more rapidly than “E.T.’s.” “Superman III” has not proved to be the smash hit that one and two were. Its opening week went well but has gone down; hill since. The ‘bad news’ films are “The Twilight Zone” and “The Man With Two Brains” - both doing poorly at the box office with no reasonable amount of salvage in sight. Launching a film in today’s industry is very expensive even if the film is pulled out of the theatre quickly. “Strocker Ace” was once such movie. Most films premiere in approximately 700-800 theaters and each print of the film costs $1,200: This is just to release the film. Parallel with the film’fe release, major advertising campaigns muJf come, thus commanding huge advertising budgets. Good marketing strategy may not save : bad film but can make a good film perform better in the industry. For example, “War: Games” was originally scheduled to open in July, however the release date was moved up to early June. This change in plans allowed MGM-VA to build a positive word-, of-mouth reaction about the film. Paramount used good marketing strategy by revamping the ad campaign from “High Tech” commercials to softer mood spots which appeal to older, mature audience^. “Trading Places” is proving to be a surprise hit for Paramount because its commercials show both the funny and serious sides of the film. The film to watch out for may be “Staying Alive” - another Paramount release. The unpredictable swing in the film industry may reflect the idealism to come: possibly a return to times when life in the movies was precious and looked upon with adornment. Hits such as “An Officer and a Gentleman”, “E.T.,” and “Trading Places” are films that carry a great deal of meaning and redefine words such as friendship, love and money. There is a trend towards the emotion or mood a film leaves instead of the action it brings. Will film producers realize this fact and capitalize upon it or will cold angular movies continue to surface and bomb? Heubleins Promotes Harper *1 . Farmington. Conn. - Mi chelle A. Harper has been promoted to the position of director, human resourc es, for the Heublein Spirits k Wine Company. Harper joined the com pany in 1982 as manager, management staffing. She most recently held the po sition of manager, human resources. In her new position, Harper will be responsible for affirmative action ac tivities within the Heublein Spirits 4 Wine Company, and human resources ac tivities related to the company’s unite indudii* Heublein Spirits, Heublein Wines, Heublein Interna tional, Beaulieu Vineyard * and International Vintage Wines. A native of Washington, n.C. Harper graduated from Yale University with a degree in sociology and Afro-American Studies. . Heublin Spirits ft Wine Company Is a company of R. J. Reynolds Industrie*, Inc., Winston-Salem, N,C£ emrnmmT* the charlotte post “THE PEOPLE’S NEWSPAPER” Established 1*18 Published Every Thursday by The Charlotte Post Publishing Co., Inc. Subscription Rate $17.68 Per Year Second Class Postage No. 965500 . Postmaster Send 3576s To: 1531 Camden Rd., Charlotte, N.C. 28203 Telephone: 704-376-0496 Circulation 11,623 106 Years of Continuous Service Bill Johnson Editor, Publisher Bernard Reeves General Manager Fran Farrer Advertising Director Dannette Gaither Office Manager Second Class Postage No. M5500 Paid at - Charlotte, North Carolina _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 become the property of TTie Post and will not be returned. National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers. Inc. 24M 8. Michigan Avs. «W.4ltl St.. Swtto 1488 Chicago. III. 88814 Now York. Now York 1888S Columct S-8288 212-488-1188 From Capitol Hill Reagan’s Education Campaign Issue Alfreds L. Madison Special To The Poet In spite of the heralded economic recovery, the average citizen is finding no reduced prices for food, shelter, clothes and utili ties. This coupled with re cord-breaking overall un employment; Black unem ployment twice as high as whites, His panics only slightly lower than Blacks, over all youth around 20 percent and Black youth more than 50 percent, add also the nuclear freeze cry increasing, it is highly probable that President Reagan is using education as a campaign smoke screen to get the other issues off the front page. It could certainly be a scheme for placating the conservatives whom he promised that he could cut out the Education Depart ment. The National Commis sion on Excellence in Edu cation states, "America’s position in the world may once have been reasonably secure with only a few exceptionally well-trained men and women. It is no longer." Blacks have been telling the country’s leaders for several decades, that it could not continue to pro vide them inferior educa tion and remain a leading world power. The whites are late in talking about excellence in education, Jesse Jackson has set up Alfreds L. Madison and has been advocating an education-excel program for over six years. This is just another example of how whites, being so Ailed with racism, are caus ing the country to fall behind, some of the other industrialized nations. The President’s Educa tional Task Force recom mends higher pay for meritorious teachers long er school days and a long er school year, limited class size. It also calls for expanded opportunities for students who are unserved and underserved. This in clude women and minority students, particularly In math and science, the gift ed, handicapped children, the underserved students tend to be concentrated in schools with limited re sources. The education report on excellence says high school graduation requirements should be strengthened. There must be stricter course requirements in math, science, English, social studies and com puter science. The NEA agrees with these, but says, “a well-educated person needs more than core courses; music and art are also important.” The commission sug gests that foreign language should be taught In the elementary grades. It also states that institutions of higher learning must raise admission standards, with standardised achieve ment tests, and an updat ing and upgrading of text books are recommended. The NEA endorses upgrad ed textbooks, but takes issue with the recommend ed college admissions. It objects to a nationwide standardized test for en trace, Instead of variety of dianoetic measures should be used. The report say* teachers should be paid higher sa laries; made professional ly comparable to those em ployed in accounting, and that teachers should be evaluated by peers. The NEA believes that educa tors should do the evalu ating and it also urges evaluation of all educators and governing boards. The commission’s re commendations if imple mented will greatly in crease the present educa tion cost. The textbook cost which is approximately •700 million at present, will it increase to $5 billion. In structional cost for school year 1979-80 was $53.2 billion. The commission ob jectives will cost an ad ditional $8.6 billion. The President is cam paigning for implement ation of the commission report, while cutting fe deral support to education. If states adopt the com mission plan, it will re quire their revenues for schools to increase from $58 billion to $65.1 billion. The states’ school finance comes from personal and corporate income tax and sales tax. Their taxes will increase by around 12 per cent President Reagan stated that federal funds for education have increased, while test scores have de clined. He seems confused over Scholastic Aptitude Test scores. Teat scores for elementary school children have risen. Title I funded programs show that Black scores in reading and math improved greatly. These gains had the positive ef fects of closing the edu cational gap between whites and blacks. The President infers that the solution of putting more money in high schools has failed. He ignores the fact that the bulk of federal funds have gone into ele mentary and higher educa tion.
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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July 21, 1983, edition 1
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