>>aëe 2 Portland Observer April 11, 1990
E ditorial I O pinion
IF YOU CAN READ THIS COLUMN, THANK
A TEACHER
By Ulysses Tucker, Jr
EDUCATION, PART III:
WHITHER SHALL WE TURN?
By Professor Burt McKinley
"M any o f you are in college and
many more in high school. I cannot
over-emphasize the importance o f these
years o f study. You must realize that
doors o f opportunity are opening now
that were not opened to your mothers
and fathers. The great challenge you
face is to be ready to enter these doors.
You must early discover what you are
made for, and must work indefatigably
to achieve excellence in your various
fields o f endeavor."
•Martin Luther King, Jr.
Strength to Love
I’m sure you’re right! But, just how
do you do that-m otivate, lead, inspire
or whatever else is needed to bring forth
the will and desire to succeed? Espe
cially when many of the target popula
tion are recalcitrant, disadvantaged,
sullen and often devoid of identity with
either self or with the mores of our
super-idealized society.
Every major newspaper of news
service supports a pantheon of “ guns-
for-hire” ...independent writers who
normally market their column special
ties in such areas as science, politics,
economics, space, environment, what
ever. But these days, more often than
not, they appear as a front page lead or
in the editorial section as specialists or
gurus in educational matters. They join
the shrill litany of those who claim to
have the “ final solution” for failing
school systems. Save-Heal-Rescue-
Restore-Reinforce-Innovate-Motivate-
Reform; even, Reach Out and Touch,
yet! Their admonitions and spiels are
smooth and quite believable until you
remember that 99% of these pedantic
adventurers have never taught in a class
room.
Others than this writer have ‘ ‘con
troversial plans” to put forth (at least
they are experience-based, in my case).
Does the nationwide move toward the
“ decentralization” of urban school
districts have within it a potential for
the same decades of litigation and bitter
conflict as occurred with the “ school
desegregation process” ? If there is a
particular area of this new structure
where a major operational disability
could soon surface, it is within that all-
powerful “ local committee” ~the key
administrative component of the new
structuring.
“ Under the Chicago Plan’, a local
committee governs each of the 540
schools in the district. Each committee
is made up of six parents, two teachers,
two community representatives and the
school principal-all elected by their
peers. High school councils also in
clude an elected student representative,
each elected member is serving a two-
year term.
“ Despite the long hours necessary
to fulfill such responsibilities as setting
goals forthe school, reviewing the prin
cipal’s contract, approving curricula and
motivating children, parent council
members are not paid.”
Schoo, reformers expect the new
program to save millions of dollars and
to channel more money into the schools
and less into middle management. Now,
that last optimistic assessment (among
others) is of express concern to me, for
I have experienced during my years in
industry similar hopeful-if naive-gam
bits in the direction of economy. If the
decentralization of big mainframe com
puter functions at a national office to a
system of scattered minicomputers at
branch locations has occurred to you as
a viable model for scaling down school
district bureaucracies-then consider this.
Highly trained personnel at these “ re
gional” enclaves punch in on their little
terminals the very same information
that was formerly forwarded to head
quarters for entry there at a later date.
The saving is in time, duplication and
the accuracy of a stream of data (when
they are lucky).
In the case at hand, the nation’s
school districts, we see that “ not-so
well-trained groups” composed of the
parents, teachers, and community-with
no prior experience of working together
as a team -are being thrust into an us-
ban maelstrom where the witches’ brew
is frenziedly stirred by politicians, ac
tivists, media, the ambitious, and the
frustrated. The dedicated and the com
petent may eventually persevere, but
note that in New York City, which
began a similar process twenty years
ago, it is only now that the people have
gained expectation of extricating them
selves from the web of corruption and
malfeasance that pervaded the poorly
controlled decentralized system.
I am reminded of nothing so much as
the “ economic opportunity” programs
to “ raise the quality oflifeofthe poor”
which were launched in the 1960s under
the “ Great Society” banner. Many
corporations were formed to employ
(and be directed by) the disadvantaged
residents of degenerating urban com
munities. It was only after95% of these
unrealistic exercises in entrepreneurship
had failed (with losses in the multi
billions) that the bureaucracy realized
it is impossible for any type of enter
prise to succeed without a well-trained
board of directors to guide the venture.
I wish those affected school districts
success, but, obviously, I have reserva
tions.
Continued next week.
V antage P oint
Articles and Essays by Ron Daniels
<«. *
î M
»5»'"
The National Malcolm Commemo
ration Commission is seeking to secure
the signatures of 100,00 African Ameri
cans on the Declaration which will be
used to officially proclaim May 19 as
National Malcolm X Day. May 19 is
the birthday of Malcolm X and 1990
marks his 65th birthday. National
Malcolm X Day will be celebrated
annually as a National African Ameri-
can Day of Commemoration. Plans are
well underway for the formal National
Proclamation Ceremony and Celebra
tion to be held in Omaha, Nebraska,
Malcolm’s birthplace, on May 19. Local
proclamation ceremonies will also lake
place in a host of cities including: New
York, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Ange
les, San Francisco and the Bay area,
Chicago and Cleveland, Ohio.
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e"i-
In addition to sponsoring local cere
monies Malcolm X Committees from
across the country will also be sending
delegations on the “ Pilgrimage to
Omaha” to be represented at the his
toric National Proclamation Ceremony.
Indeed, as of this writing busloads of
participants are preparing to make the
Pilgrimage to Omaha from Montgom
ery, Alabama, Chicago, and Cleveland:
and car caravans are being organized
from Indianapolis, Indiana, and Peoria,
Illinois.
The National Signature Drive, which
was offically launched on February 21
at the National We Remember Mal
colm observance held in Harlem at
Abyssinian Baptist Church, will be in
tensified with a series of “ Malcolm X
Saturdays” from April 21-May 12,1990.
These Malcolm X Saturdays will pro
vide a concentrated focus on the effort
to reach the goal of 100,000 charter ad
vocates by May 19. The Malcolm X
Saturdays will also serve to educate
people about the purpose of National
Malcolm X Day and would support for
the local and national efforts.
The National Prixlamation Ceremony
in Omaha will be the climactic event in
what the African American Progressive
Action Netowrk and the National Mal
colm X Commemoration commission
have designated “ 1990: The Year of
Malcolm X ” . Three days of activities
are planned beginning on Friday, May
18 with a National Malcolm X Forum.
Saturday’s schedule will include a pil
grimage to the homestead where Mal
colm spent his early childhood; a pa
rade through the African American com
munity; the proclamation ceremony and
celebration and a benefit fund-raiser.
On Sunday the National Commission
will host a meeting of representatives
of the various Malcolm X Commitees
to discuss plans for the future.
Persons seeking to participate in the
National Signature Drive, or persons
seeking information about the Pilgrim
age to Omaha should call (202) 722-
2694.
W riter’s Note: As an eleventh grader at
Roosevelt High School in Washington,
D.C., I turned in the following assign
ment to my English teacher, Ms. Con
stance Weaver. I found it in my grand
mother’s basement while going through
some old papers and photographs from
that period. The assignment was dated
March 24, 1974 and is printed in its
original form.
“ M e”
My name is Ulysses Tucker I was
bom under the sign of Leo. My height
is 6 foot 5 and I weigh 170 pounds. I
enjoy Dancing, Music, Reading, W rit
ing, Basketball, Track, Food, Girls, and
riding my bike. I like meeting and rap
ping with people, to find out where
their mind is. I like listening to people’s
problems and try to give advice if I can.
Most of the people who meet me, call
me crazy, but after awhile they get to
know me better and they would say, I
throught you were crazy but you’re al
right. I am myself at all times, I dont
put on fronts trying to impress people,
if they don’t like me the way I am they
don’t lave to like me at all because I’m
not going to change, I going to stay me.
I also like to be very true to people and
I hope they are very true to me. I hate
people who smile in our face and run
behind your back and talk about you,
the Backstabbers that’s what you call
them. The way I am, if I have some
thing to tell you I’ll tell you to your
face, I won’t run behind your back and
talk about you.
The reason for writing about this is,
there is so much of this going on around
the school. I ’am not involved in any of
this but a lot of my friends are very
much into it, I use the term friend
loosely because you can’t find a good
one. I don’t mess with a lot of people
around the school, because their are a
lot of phony’s. The people I deal with
have the same ideals that 1 have, I call
them associates not friends, friends are
people I just say Hello and Goodbye to.
I am a person that can be trusted and if
a person can’t trust theirself, I wont
trust them either. 1 am just realizing
that time is running out, I am getting
older each day. After Next year I ’ll be
going out into the world and I am not
prepared for it. I’ll have to start to get
very serious about things. If it weren’t
for this dream I had, I don’t think I
would feel this way because I was just
rolling along having all kinds of fun,
but now I feel there should be change in
my life style. I think if everyone felt
this way, we would have a better school
and better people. I myself, I am going
to be a much better person and every
one will notice this....”
As a reader, please check my gram
mar, spelling, and punctuation. By no
means is this the perfect English class
essay and yet, I received a perfect grade
for this assignment. At the time, I was
one confused, unfocused, and emotion
ally insecure individual. I also stayed
in trouble around school and consis
tently disrupted the classes I did attend.
Ms. Weaver’s class was no exception.
Being the type of person that I was, one
who hardly attended class after basket
ball season or completed assigned home
work, it must have come as a total
shock to Ms. Weaver. Better still, why
did she give me a perfect score? Was
she just being nice? Was she attempt
ing to boost my self-confidence and
esteem? Did she recognize that I had
potential as a student? Lastly, did she
see that I had a dream and wanted to be
successful in life? I asked myself all of
these questions while reflecting and
reading the essay sixteen years later. It
B I This Week in History
Quickly now, name a Black gover
nor, judge, surgeon, army commander,
or any other Black figurehead in Amer
ica.
This seems to pose a challenge to
mosL It would be easier-yet ignorant-
to presume Black people just do not
accomplish what their pale-faced breth
ren have. The disconcerting truth is,
however, that white society simply does
not want to acknowledge the accom
plishments of their Black counterparts.
History texts will intimate the former:
“ here’s good, white John Smith with
his good white wife and good white
kids. He grew a record-breaking cotton
crop in the nineteenth century.” The
story behind the story might sound rather
like: “ 'g o o d ’ John Smith made men of
a different color plant, grow, pick, and
separate cotton for him, payed them
five cents a week while making twenty
dollars, and was backed up fully by the
white lawyers, judges, and Congress.”
The following African Am ericans-
who died or were bom the week of
April 11-17-have had a positive effect
on Black history, and additionally have
served to remind people that the contri
butions of Blacks to society have not
been forgotten.
April 14,1842 is the date of birth for
Charles Burleigh Purvis. His father an
ardent abolitionist, his mother the founder
of the Anti-Slavery Society, Purvis ap
parently found inspiration in his up
bringing, and went on to crusade for
impoverished ex-slave health care. He
became assistant surgeon in Wahing-
ton, D.C. during the Civil War era (with
only five other Black physicians in the
city at the time). He served as the sec
ond Black teacher of medicine in an
American University, and was accred
ited with salvaging medical education
at Howard-University. Purvis was re
fused entry into the Medical Society of
the District of Columbia and, as the
U.S. Senate ignored his pleas to re
spond, he and several other African
Americans formed the National Medi
cal Society of the District of Columbia,
and proclaimed: “ Science knows no
race, color, or condition.”
April 16, 1864-This is the birthday of
the former lead singer of the Bergen
Star Concerts, Flora Batson. Though
never formally trained as a singer, Bat
son received local attention at the age
of nine, progressed to national recogni
tion within five years, and was noticed
internationally by the age of twenty.
Batson furthered the movement toward
equality not only with her talent, but
through her intelligence. Her interra
cial marriage caused a stir, but her
popularity still raged.even in the South.
April 12,1885 was the day slaves Jeff
and Jennie Walden had their son, Austin
Thomas Walden. He received a BA
degree and an LL.B., practiced law,
commanded Company 1,365th Infan
try in France, and served as a trial judge
advocate. Law seemed to hold his
interest, and as his firm prospered, so
didequality. He focused on civil rights
bills, and held a high success rate. Some
of the cases he fought and won were, for
example, a bill that gained equal pay
for Black public school teachers,and a
bill that allowed Blacks to qualify for
Democratic primaries. Walden was
also a victor in the battle for peaceful
desegregation of lunch counters in At
lanta. The first time African Ameri
cans were included in a Georgia Demo
was, indeed, the turning point in my life
and my best grade in high school to
date, outside of gym class. She could
have crushed me, my esteem, sense of
self, and more with a terrible grade.
Based on my performance in her class.
I’m very surprised that she didn’t crush
me. Ms.W eaversawsomethingchange
in me and pushed me in a positive direc
tion. I still wonder how she is doing or
if she is still teaching in Washington,
D.C. I owe her a loL
Teachers really take a bad rap. I do
not know a teacher that enters the pro
fession for the money because if thev
did, most would probably end up in
Computer Science, Engineering or as
Doctors and Lawyers. It’s not about
money. It’s about a committment to
helping young people. Teachers are
asked to be psychologist, social worker,
mother-father figure, disciplinarian, and
a host of other roles other skilled pro
fessionals are asked not to play. I say
ease up on the teachers and give them
what they are due. What do lawyers,
doctors, engineers, broadcasters, and a
host of other professionals have in com
mon? They all come from teachers. . .
I think that teachers have a right to eve
rything they have coming. If parents
gave the teachers more to work with in
terms of teaching their children self-
respect, respect for authority, values,
morals and discipline, then perhaps the
pressures, stress and demands of teach
ers won’t be so high.
As a professional, scholar, student,
or just an everyday working person,
I’m confident that there is a teacher you
credit for some of your success. On the
other hand, I’m sure that there are those
who blame past teachers or institutions
they attended for their shortcomings.
Well, to them I will only say one
thing--” teachers teach and students
le a m .. . “
jt
cratic Convention Delegation, none other'
than Walden was appointed as dele
gate. In the two years before his death,
Austin Thomas Walden accepted char
ity law cases free of charge.
A pril 12, 1913 is the date; Birming
ham Alabama is the place. The even
tual “ King of Vibes” , Lionel Hamp
ton, is bom. The vibraphonist has
“ jammed” with the likes of Louis
Armstrong, Paul Howard, Benny
Goodman, Teddy Wilson, and Gene
Krupa. Hampton recently appeared in
Portland at the Vintage and Vibes wine
tasting ceremony.
A pril 13, 1946-Reverend A1 Green is
bom into Forest City, Arkansas. As a
singer/songwriter, his hits include “ Let’s
Stay Together” , “ Back Up Train” ,
“ Tired of Being Alone” , and “ Your
Arms too Short to Box With God.”
Green sold 30 million records over a
five-year period.
A pril 1 4 ,1976-William Henry Hastie,
the first and youngest Black Federal
Appeals Judge and Spingam (NAACP
award) winner, dies. Hastie also was
the first Black governor for the Virgin
Islands, as well as civilian aide to the
secretary of war during World War II,
and was the first Black Chief Judge a
quarter of a century later. Chief of
Justice, Warren B urger, found Hastie to
be “ one of the ablest judges ever to sit
on our courts.”
* * * •
Next time you pick up a non-minority
newspaper, count the number of pic
tures of white people, as well as the
pictures of Blacks. African Americans
are assuredly equal contributers to
society...yet still do not receive equal
recognition.
On The Way: Equal Rights For People With Disabilities?
“I am a dental assistan t—I should
say. form er dental a s s is ta n t—who
is undergoing chem otherapy for
b reast cancer. I asked m y boss if I
could have flex tim e in order th a t
I could keep my chem otherapy a p
pointm ents. I w as tired!”
A w heelchair u ser interview ed
for a sta le governm ent position. Al
though the interview er said th a t
th is applicant had excellent cre
dentials, he did not th ink th a t he
would be able to get around to the
ru ra l area offices. He d id n ’t get the
job.
T hese are two of the 5,000 stories
th a t have been received bv a Con
gressional Task Force on the Hights
and Em pow erm ent of A m ericans
W ith D isabilities. C u rren tly , Con
gress is considering com prehensive
civil rights legislation for people
w ith disabilities.
It would prohibit discrim ination
on the basis of disability not only
w ithin the federal governm ent and
e n titie s who receive federal funds,
b u t by private in dustry and busi
ness establishm ents as well. The
bill covers em ploym ent, public ac
com m odations such as re sta u ra n ts,
stores and movie th e a te rs, in te r
sta te and in tra sta te tran sp o rtatio n
and com m unications.
G ran tin g civil rights to people
w ith disabilities is an integral part
of lessening th e ir dependence on
public funds Ja y Hochlin, Execu
tive D irector of the P resid en t’s
Committee on Employment of People
W ith D isabilities says, “Federal
program s which support depen-
. lii.
dence currently cost $57 billion,
while only $3 billion is allotted for
program s to prom ote independence
and self-reliance. The actual cost of
this dependence is m uch g reater
th a n $57 billion, since th a t figure
does not account for th e taxes th a t
people with disabilities who n re o u t
of the work force would pay if they
were w orking and the m any other
costs of dependency th a t a re now
paid for by taxpayers."
Ju stin D art, recently appointed
by President Bush as C hairm an of
the P resident’s C om m ittee says, “It
is only good business to engage in •
activities th a t will re tu rn money to
the American economy T here are
millions of A m ericans w ith dis
abilities who w ant to d o so . T h e y ’
ju st want the op p o rtu n ity ^.
1