5A
Overhauling
American
education
By Hugh B. Price
SPECIAL TO THE POST
We're not doing a very good
job of educating our children.
Yet a public debate has been
raging for years over such
questions as: “What should
our children learn in school?”
and “Should we have national
academic standards?”
On the surface, it would
seem that the answers would
be yes to both questions.
Some 80 percent of the
American public and teachers
reportedly think we should
m^e our schools stronger and
more equal with reforms.
But inside and outside the
educational establishment
there are entrenched bureau
cracies that resist change on
political or ethical grounds.
Meanwhile, our students lag
behind France, Germany,
Japan, Denmark and several
other countries in academic
achievement.
I attended the 1996 National
Education Summitt in upstate
New York hosted by governors
and corporate leaders who
sought to grapple with the
questions and problems of
establishing educational stan
dards.
The legislators were skepti
cal at attempts to set national
standards, but promised to set
higher goals for their students
over the next two years.
Corporate representatives
said they would give prefer
ence to states with the higher
academic standards when
making decisions on hiring,
expanding or relocating their
businesses. Governors and
corporate leaders are to
applauded for their efforts.
It makes good sense to have
corporations make it clear
what sort of general educa
tional proficiencies students
must have to make them
employable. The summit con
tributed to developing an
understanding of the need to
have some common state
ments of standards and profi-
ciences.
However, it did not get to
the critical question involved
in lifting people to those stan
dards. It's one thing to set
standards and design testing
mechanisms to see if students
can reach them. It's quite
another to organize schools
and to reach the parents so
they can provide students
with support in the homes so
they can meet those stan
dards.
The education of African
American children is of criti
cal importance to the National
Urban League. Children
growing up in the inner city
are being cheated of the edu
cation that will be so crucial to
their success. There's little
mystery about how to better
educate poor children. School
reformers and dedicated
teachers have shown it can be
done with high expectations,
challenging material and flex
ible. instructional techniques.
But this effective teaching
by motivated teachers occurs
mostly in isolated classrooms,
seldom permeating entire dis
tricts. That's because districts
aren't genuinely committed to
reform nor have they
equipped their principals and
teachers to meet the chal
lenges.
I believe that what is mssing
is not the way to change, but
the will. We need concerted
outside pressure from parents
and community groups to pre
vail on the school system to
improve the education of our
inner city children.
I see organizations such as
the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored
People, fraternities, sororities,
churches and other groups
joining with the Urban
League in mobilizing parents
and community leaders to
become more sophisticated
and insistent consumers of
education for their children.
Neighborhood by neighbor
hood, house by house we have
to help parents in inner city
communities understand, in
layman's terms, precisely
OPINIONS/ The Charlotte Post
May 2, 1996
A crusade to do what’s right and moral
By Michael Sessions
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
In an interview with radio
talk-show host Rush
Limbaugh, Larstella (Star)
Parker did not hesitate to con
demn community leaders for
their role in inciting their fol
lowers to be unlawful: “... I
have two girls, and I tell them
what it takes to be successful
in life. But after the L.A. riot,
they had to witness our legis
lators and some pastors com
ing out to protect the crimi
nals. They watched me strug
gle to piece my little business
back together. I had employ
ees - young men who go to
Bible study Wednesday
nights, who had never been in
a gang or taken drugs all their
lives - and I had to let them
go. My daughters watched me
have to fire them because I
could no longer keep them on,
while Congresswoman Maxine
Waters is running gangsters
out to Washington, patting
them on the back, telling them
how they're victims of society
... Jesse Jackson is saying
'desperate people do desperate
things' after they burned
down our neighbors. The
Koreans were supplying our
communities with goods and
services that no one else was.
Yet they burned them down,
and then justified it. What
message does this send to my
daughters? What education is
my teenager getting from this
madness?"
Shortly after these riots,
Parker foimded the Coalition
on Urban Affairs to inform,
impact and influence Black
America with a political,
social and economic agenda
rooted in moral absolutes.
Prior to becoming active in
her community, Parker lived
more than three years on
AFDC as a single mother in
Los Angeles, without a dime
in her pocket — refusing to
take any more income from
the local welfare office despite
being unemployed for three
months - Parker founded
N.F.T.A. Christian Magazine
in 1984 after returning to col
lege and receiving a B.S. in
Marketing from Woodbury
University. NFTA now works
with more than 100 pastors,
30,000 church members, and
500 local business owners in
the Los Angeles area
The 1992 Los Angeles riots
marked a watershed in the
emergence of new voices in the
black community. The evident
self-destruction of the riots
sparked many people to start
to speak out against those who
chose to riot and speak to the
concerns of small business
owners and everyday citizens
who seek protection from crim
inal activity. Moreover, these
new voices in the black com
munity put forth a new vision
on how the condition of our
inner cities has reached such a
crisis point. These new
leaders explain that the root
Overcoming fear not impossible
By Junious Ricardo Stanton
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
Freedom fighter and the first President of
Ghana Kwame Nkrumah once said, "The
secret to life is to know no fear." The
Dictionary of Psychology defines the word
"fear" as: "A strong emotional reaction involv
ing subjective feelings of unpleasant agitation
and desire to flee and hide and accompanied
by widespread sympathetic activity." Fear is a
reaction to a specific present danger, anxiety
to an anticipated danger. Phobia is a persis
tent irrational fear.
All of us at one time or another have been
paralyzed by fear and dread. Whether it was
stage freight, fear of a physical examination,
confronting an adversary, strange noises or
shadows on the wall at night. We all know
what it feels like to be petrified by fear on one
level or another. Suppose you are the type of
person that is afraid all the time. Afraid of
life, afraid to die, afraid of failure, afraid of
success. What makes you so fearful, full of
fear? How can you expect to accomplish any
thing great in life if you are afraid all the
time? Is there a cure for fear, trepidation and
timidity? Yes; the solution lies in controlling
your mind.
Remember the definition stated fear is an
emotional reaction. All emotions (energy in
motion) are the direct result of our thinking,
our cognitive processes that help us perceive
and define the world about us. Unlike years
ago, most situations Africans in America face
are not life threatening. Yes, there is a degree
of danger and uncertainty to Mving, especially
with the menticidal pathology rampant in our
communities. But it is nowhere near as bad
as during the holocaust of slavery or post
reconstruction!
There is no need for us to be in a constant
state of agitation, or in the fight or flight
mode. If things are not to our liking, we have
an obligation to change them by first chang
ing ourselves and our attitudes about them.
Notice also that the definition refers to sub
jective feelings of unpleasantness. Subjective
means individual interpretation. For exam
ple, when we were children, we might have
been afraid of a strange noise. The adults
knew it was only the wind causing the house
to creak, they weren't afraid. Their interpre
tation and understanding was different from
ours.
The point I'm attempting to make is this:
We have a choice. We can choose not to be
afraid. We can choose confidence; con mean
ing ‘with,’ fide meaning ‘faith.’ We can choose
to walk with faith - faith in our ability to see
and understand things right. Like the differ
ence between confident, knowing adults and
ignorant, fearful children.
Even when confronted with real danger (not
a perceived challenge to our egos or social sta
tus), our systems have the ability to prepare
us to confront the danger or flee. If we begin
to train ourselves not to panic, but wait and
examine the situation confidently, we will be
in a better position to deal with it. We can not
think or respond intelligently in a state of
panic or irrational fear. The greatest boost to
our confidence is the knowledge and assur
ance that we are not alone! There is a magnif
icent power within us that is greater than any
challenge we might face - a power wiser,
stronger and more resourceful than any situa
tion we will ever encounter, even a potentially
life threatening one. This is true, but you
must believe and have confidence in it.
Remember: Your perceptions are subjective.
Two people can experience the same situation
and respond in totally different ways because
of their perception of it, their personality and
other factors. I am not suggesting throwing
caution to the winds, so to speak, but I am
saring you don't have to be afraid. Many
people are anxious, upset and nervous about
anticipated events. We are "awfulizing" - pic
turing in our minds things that have not hap
pened. We're envisioning the worst. Stop it!
Use your mind and imagination to generate
confidence images of success, healing, and
prosperity.
Stop projecting your fears into every situa
tion. Project confidence instead. We all have
problems. Life is full of them. We must realize
we have the where-with-all to surmount and
transcend our problems when we use our
minds correctly. This is not a philosophy of
mind over matter! It is about focusing your
thoughts and concentrating so the resulting
emotions (energy in motion) are positive and
eustressful (the good kind of stress), instead
of fearful and distressing.
A wise man once admonished his followers
during a time of uncertainty: "Let not your
hearts be troubled neither be afraid. “All of us
have the power to eschew fear.”
JUNIOUS RICARDO STANTON is a syndi
cated columnist.
Egypt: The ancient homeland of man
By Conrad Worrill
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
Until recently, there had
been a scholarly debate among
European intellectuals, and
joined by some blacks, on
what they referred to as the
peopling of ancient Egypt.
What this question really
posed was this: Who were the
ancient Egyptians? Were they
black, white, mulatto, etc.?
This issue has been at the
core of European history or
better yet European historiog
raphy (the science of how his
tory is written) for more than
200 years. This framework of
European hegemony over the
history of the world has had a
devastating impact on African
people and the African mind.
It is in this context that we
understand the intellectual
devastating of thfe European
conceptualization of the world
order.
Let me use renown African
thinker and scholar Dr. Jacob
Carruthers in a paper he
wrote on the “Race of Ancient
Egyptians” in helping clarify
this subject. It gives us the
insights we need to under
stand in this regard.
Dr. Carruthers observes that
“The doctrine of white
supremacy was launched by
philosophers like David Hume
who asserted in 1749, ‘I am
apt to suspect the Negroes to
be naturally inferior to the
whites.’ This position was
expressed in a different con
text by Montesquieu about the
same time."
We are guided by Dr.
Carruthers when he explains,
"In the Spirit of Laws,
Montesquieu asserted it is
impossible for us to suppose
these creatures to be men,
because allowing them to be
men, a suspicion would follow
that we ourselves are not
causes of many social prob
lems in urban areas is attrib
utable to the absence of moral
examples and absolutes,
rather than just external fac
tors or material concerns such
as racism or poverty.
Emerging black leaders point
to the sad irony that during
past chapters in black
American history when racism
was more prevalent and black
family incomes much lower
than they are now, the cur
rent mayhem of pathology was
not as serious. Specifically,
the hew leadership points to
government policy as a culprit
in undermining Black
America’s traditional conserv
ative values of self-sufficiency,
self-restraint and marriage.
As spoken by community
activist Star Parker,
"Conservatism and liberalism
are the two ideologies vying to
define the causes and solu
tions for the devastating
pathologies plaguing our com
munities. Liberals respond
with affirmative action quotas
and job training programs,
while conservatives back
changing moral attitudes and
radically reforming welfare
and the public educational
system.”
Star continues: "There are
two main reasons I reject the
liberal argument that stricter
affirmative action laws and
government-subsidized job
training programs will remedy
the welfare crisis affecting
Black Americans. Number
one, I believe that affirmative
action has significantly hin
dered the economic potential
of Black Americans by de
emphasizing entrepreneurial
empowerment, which prevents
Black Americans from devel
oping a financial foundation.
Rather than just talk about
these problems. Star Parker is
doing something about them.
MICHAEL SESSIONS is a
syndicated columnist for the
National Newspaper
Publishers Association.
Christians. Montesquieu was
justifying the enslavement of
Africans, which was one of the
major reasons for inventing
the doctrine of white suprema
cy.”
Diop points out that
Herodotus “after relating his
eyewitness account informing
us that the Egyptians were
blacks, then demonstrated,
with rare honesty (for a
Greek), that Greece borrowed
from Egypt all elements of her
civilization even the cult of
gods, and that Egypt was the
cradle of civilization.”
Our scholars, thinkers and
researchers should never
again raise the question of
who were the ancient
Egyptians. Clearly they were
black people. This question
has been resolved.
CONRAD WORRILL is
chairman of the National
Black United Front in
Chicago.
Letters to The Post
Government won’t create equality for all
Racial parity is a worthy and noble goal, but your April 25 issue
was filled with articles on exactly how not to achieve it.
First, it is hypocrisy, not political astuteness, to declare Harvey
Gantt to be the black candidate while accusing whites of racism
when you imagine them anointing Charlie Sanders or Jesse
Helms as the white candidate. That is why Helms almost tied
the Republican record in a statewide election against Gantt in
1990. Blacks may be a large enough segment of Democrats to
influence a primary, but in a general election, no candidate can
win statewide by running as the black candidate. Black candi
dates can win, as Gantt did as mayor, in a predominately white
electorate, but only by convincing people that he represents
everyone, without regard to race.
Second, regardless of what Mel Watt or Maxine Waters say,
economic parity can and should never come by government fiat.
As long as black teenagers continue to reject educational
advancement, they will always be unprepared and unqualified for
the modem workplace. As long as two-thirds of black babies are
bom out of wedlock, no government program will ever salve the
black community's social ills. Affirmative action will never lift
black people out of those conditions that they create for them
selves. Only responsiblity for self as a community value will
change those things, and that can never be gained by confiscating
it from someone else.
This is the real harm of affirmative action. While it divides
communities and robs people of recognition for their personal
achievements, affirmative action is particularly destructive in
that it glosses over real problems thus sustaining them and cre
ates a mirage of success by confiscating it from someone else.
-Chris Cole
Charlotte
Taxpayers put up with government folly
We, the American taxpayers have gotten, are getting and will
continue to get screwed by the members of the United States
Senate and United States House by allowing them to lie to us, set
their own standards and morals and break the laws that other
citizens have to honor. Some recent examples are Strom
Thurmond and his assault of a flight attendant on an airplane.
Had this been the average citizen, they would have been met by
the FBI and charged immediately with a federal crime. But a
U.S. Senator can break the law and get away with it. Perhaps the
citizens of South Carolina will solve Thurmond’s ego for him and
send him home.
'The first of April, Rep Harold Ford of Tennessee anounced he
was leaving Congress after 22 years, clearing the way for his son,
who is still a law student in college to claim his father's position
as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Former House Speaker Rosty was convicted and is being sent to
jail for stealing taxpayers money. Hell, why should we feel sorry
for him, after all he is now a thief with an excellent pension he's
going to collect from the citizens of America while killing time in
a cell.
Americans should be really truthful with themselves and admit
why our Congressional leaders will not ever pass term limits,
why they will keep taking PAC money, why they abuse the laws
they make, why they lie to us and why they can state at re-elec
tion time "that they need 2 years more or 6 years more to finish
what they have started." Greed has now set in and they have
become legends within their own mind. They are now above the
law, not to be questioned as they now realize that the majority of
voters are so damn stupid that they won't questioned them.
Thus, they can pull a Jesse Helms and tell the News & Observer
newspaper that he is so busy in the Senate that he doesn't have
time to answer any questions. Jesse has been there too long as he
has now lost contact with the voters.
Yes America, our forefathers would turn over in their graves, if
they could see the clowns that are slowly but sure destroying the
Constitution and forcing us into their new world order that they
are leading us into. It's time for each of us to wake up, stop this
destruction of the United States and elect leaders that represent
us and not themselves.
-Vernon Hill
Atlantic Beach, N.C.
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