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January 30,1991—The Portland Observer-Page 5
Black Males Have Positive Attitude Toward Education
M ost black male high school stu
dents have positive attitudes about
academic accomplishment, according
to a study by a member o f the faculty o f
Transylvnia, U niversity in Lexington,
Kentucky.
Louis B. G allien, Jr., an assistant
professor o f education, says universi
ties and colleges need to do a belter job
in preparing w hite teachers to teach
and interact w ith black males.
“ L ittle attention is paid to an ex
amination o f the environment, history,
culture and learning styles o f black
youth, especially males,” Gallien said.
Noting that most teachers are white
females, he said, “ Institutions o f higher
learning must shoulder the responsibil
ity fo r adequately preparing their stu
dents fo r this population.”
G allien said black males are the
most at-risk segment o f the population.
I f current trends continue, he said, it ’ s
conceivable that by the year 2000, up to
70% o f the black men in this country
w ill be either dead, in prison or ad
dicted to drugs. He also said black
males suffer from debilitating health
problems to a greater degree than males
in other ethnic or racial groups.
G allien began the study when he
was on the faculty o f M illsaps College
in Jackson, M ississippi. He joined the
Transylvnia faculty in the fall o f 1969
and completed the study in the fa ll o f
1990. He surveyed black male students
at fiv e Jackson-area high schools with
d iffering backgrounds and approaches
to education.
An incident in a Jackson class
room helped inspire the project. Gal-
lien, w hile on the Milsaps faculty, was
observing a student teacher in a pre
dominantly black public school. When
the teacher asked the students, all o f
whom were black, to turn in their
homework assignments, all the females
did so. None o f th males turned in any
work, and were asked to go out to the
hall to complete the assignment. G al
lien examined that work, and discov
ered that their w ritin g had a great deal
o f potential. He then decided to study
the attitudes o f the males toward school,
their academic potential, and career as
pirations.
* ‘ I sensed that their attitudes about
the school were good, but they s till
weren’t getting involved academically,”
said Gallien. For his study, he chose
five Jackson-area high schools that
offered a very unusual variety o f envi
ronments:
-Bailey Alternative Secondary
School, an alternative magnet school
that emphasizes cooperation and group
learning;
-Piney Woods Country L ife , a
boarding school outside the city w ith a
strong history as a predominantly black
school;
-Lanier High, an inner city school;
-Murrah High, which was all-white
before desegregation and now is pre
dominantly black;
-St. Joseph’ s Catholic H igh, a ra
cially integrated suburban school.
He found that overall attitudes to
ward school were good; most black
male students felt they could do s ig n ifi
cantly better academically; and most
wanted to be known as men o f charac
ter and purpose, a finding Gallien says
was especially heartening in the midst
o f a lack o f economic and advanced
educational opportunity.
He also found that no one environ
ment was clearly best in promoting
academic success.” It is clear that many
different school cultures may w o rk ,”
he said. “ The issue is options. I f black
communities are not given the same
educational opportunities and diversity
in choice as their w hite counter parts,
then we w ill fa il in our attempts to
reach a ll black youth.”
Gallien hopes his study w ill serve
as a starting point fo r some construc
tive programs.
“ I want to get the research out
there and then do something about it
where we liv e ,” he said.
One project now under way is a
scholar/mentor program in which Tran
sylvnia students arc matched w ith ele
mentary school students in an e ffo rt to
promote academic progress.
Gallien supports the concept o f
peer tutoring, where a black male who
is doing w ell in school works w ith one
who isn’t
“ Research has shown tim e and
tim e again that a ll some students need
is a m odel,” Gallien said.
Gallien also advocates opening
schools in the summer and providing
more summer programs for youth.
“ You have to b uild a broad-based
coalition to address the problem ,” he
said. “ I tell white people ‘ unless you
get involved, we w ill have a national
catastrophe on our hands, and everyone
w ill be affected.”
Tektronix Employees Eligible For Trade Act Assistance
The U.S. Department o f Labor
announced today that approximately
100 employees o f Tektronix, Inc.’s
Waveform D ivision, C R T Operation,
and approximately 19 employees o f the
company’s Integrated C ircu it Opera
tions, both located in Beaverton, Ore.,
have been certified as eligible to apply
for assistance under the Trade A c t o f
1974.
Under the A ct, employees who are
adversely affected in employment due
to increased imports o f products may
petition the Secretary o f labor fo r certi
fication to apply for benefits,which may
include job search assistance, cash bene
fits and relocation allowances, among
others.
Employees in the W aveform D iv i
sion, CRT Operation, produce cathode
ray tubes and those in Integrated C ir
cuit Operations produce integrated c ir
cuits. The department’ s investigation
showed that Tektronix, Inc.’ s major
customers increased their purchases o f
imported cathode ray tubes and inte
grated circuits while decreasing pur
chases from the company, w hich con
tributed substantially to the total or
partial separation o f workers.
Employees o f Tektronix, In c .’s
W aveform D ivision, C R T Operation,
who became totally or partially sepa
rated from employment on or after July
24, 1989, and employees o f the com
pany’s Integrated C ircu it Operations
who became totally or partially sepa
rated from employment on or after
August 30, 1989, are e ligible to apply
for benefits.
Benefits are administered by the
Em ployment D ivision, State o f Ore
gon, w ith funds provided by the federal
governm ent
Need To Read Benefits Oregon Literacy
More than $40,000 was raised
during November and December for
the “ Need to Read” program to bene
fit Oregon Literacy, Inc., in its e ffo rt to
continue to reach people in Oregon and
Southwest Washington to read.
“ Our sponsors, Safeway, Inc., Coors
Brewing Company and KG O N Radio,
spearheaded the month-long drive to
increase awareness o f our program to
teach people to read and help fund our
programs,” said Shirley Randles, ex
ecutive director o f Oregon Literacy,
Inc.
“ There are more than 450,000
Oregon adults who cannot read, and we
call these people functionally illite r
ate,” said Randles. “ Tw enty-four per
cent o f adults in this state did not com
plete high school.
“ There is a real need out there to
reach these people and help them help
themselves by learning to read.
“ In November, phone calls to the
toll-free statewide hotline doubled,”
said Randles. About h alf o f the callers
volunteered to teach, and the others
asked fo r help in learning to read.
Funds raised w ill be given back to
the literacy councils in communities
across the state and in Southwest Wash
ington. Local councils w ill apply to
Oregon Literacy,Inc. fo r grants to meet
their local literacy needs.
In addition to the fundraising e f
forts by Safeway, Coors and K G O N ,
Security Pacific Bank offices statewide
hosted a book drive, gathering more
than 10,000 books to be distributed to
local literacy councils throughout the
area. James River Corporation also made
a donation o f $1,500 to O L I to help
support their programs.
For further inform ation regarding
Oregon Literacy, Inc. and it programs,
to volunteer to reach or to learn to read,
call (503) 244-3898 or 1-800-322-8715.
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<^zA/{zinoruaL> d z n t t ’i
128 NE RUSSELL
PROTLAND OREGON 97212
(503) 281-6930
Black Studies’ New Star To Speak In Portland
Dubbed “ Black Studies’ New Star”
by The New Y o rk Times Magazine,
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. addresses a
Portland Arts & Lectures audience
Wednesday, February 13,1991, at 7:30
pm. The evening w ith Gates is sup
ported by the Black Studies Depart
ment at Portland State University,
Catbird Seat Bookstore, the Collins
Foundation, Portland Public Schools,
the Rose E. Tucker Charitable Trust,
and the US West Foundation. Tickets
for the Special Event are $10 and avail
able at Catbird Seat Bookstore, or by
m ail through Portland Arts & Lectures
(812 SW Washington St., Suite 225,
Portland,OR 97205,241-0543). In his
lecture, Gates w ill talk about m ulticul
turalism in the humanities. Gates speaks
at the First Congregational Church, 1126
SW Park Avenue.
Professor o f African-Am erican
literature at Duke U niversity, editor,
scholar, writer, m ajor proponent o f
autonomous black studies programs,
Henry Louis “ S kip” Gates, Jr. has
risen to the top o f African-Am erican
Literature at Duke U niversity, editor,
scholar, w riter, m ajor proponent o f au
tonomous black studies programs, Henry
Louis “ Skip” Gates, Jr. has risen to the
top o f African-Am erican studies in
America. Controversial in his beliefs
as w ell as in his “ entrepreneurial P.T.
Bamum” style, this young, energetic
professor has done much to improve
the emerging discipline o f African-
American studies-on campus and in the
bookstores. General editor o f the 30-
volume The Schomburg Library o f
Nineteenth Century Black Women
W riters, Gates is also editor o f several
seminal resources: The O xford Com
panion to Afro-A m erican Literature,
co-edited w ith Houston A . Baker; A
D ictionary o f G lobal Literacy, and, he
is editing six volumes o f critica l essays
for Warner Books, and books for V in
tage and New Am erican Library. Gates
is also putting together The Norton
Anthology o f Afro-A m erican Litera
ture, the firs t o f its kind and destined to
be required reading in every black stud
ies department.
The reputation as an entrepreneur
is w ell earned. In addition to his pub
lishing credits, Gates has worked ex
haustively on the advancement o f black
studies and literature. He was partly
responsible fo r the h iring o f nine black
faculty members at Cornell, his place
o f employment before being lured to
Duke U niversity this fall.
W hile he is courted by prestigious
universities across the country, Gates
continues his many causes, largely un
fazed by those critical o f his methods
and beliefs. In his efforts to create a “
‘ revised canon,’ a broader representa
tion o f non-European cultures in the
basic university curriculum and a con
current emphasis on the contribution o f
women to Western c iv iliz a tio n ” (The
New Y o rk Times Magazine), he walks
a fine line between the staid conven
tions o f academia and the unchartered
territory o f a developing canon. But, as
he concedes, “ You have to have a
canon so the next generation can come
along and explode it.”
Bitter Fruits
from page two
school boards w ill use this decision to
void the im pact o f Brown, accelerating
educational inequality.
The way forw ard beyond the cur
rent impasse created by the Rehnquist
C ourt may be provided in a recent legal
suit file d on behalf o f 37 children in
state c irc u it court in Montgomery,
Alabama, against the Alabama Depart
ment o f Education and other agencies
supervising public schools. The suit
challenges the amount o f money given
per student allocated in Alabama ’ s 129
school districts. Litigants pointed out
that students in one w hite district re
ceive $4,302 per student, compared to
o nly $2,563 in a poor predominately
Black school district per child. Nearly
tw o thirds o f a ll local school district f i
nancing comes form the state govern
ment, and o n ly one sixth comes from
property taxes.
The suit charges that the state o f
Alabama’s form ula fo r allocating edu
cational funds i f inherently discrim ina
tory, and should be declared unconsti
tutional. Alabama is the fourteenth state
in the past four years which has been
sued concerning the issue o f school f i
nancing.
It is clear that the m ajority o f white
Americans no longer support busing
fo r school integration. In order to im
prove urban schools fo r m inority c h il
dren, our most effective means is the
unequal allocation o f financial resources
between districts, to upgrade the qual
ity o f schooling in low income areas.
This is the next challenge in the struggle
for educational equality
YMCA To Hold
N.E. Meeting
The Northeast Y M C A is hold
ing a com m unity meeting. Resdients o f
N.E. Portland are invited to attend and
make recommendation about how the
Y W C A may best serve our comm unity.
The N.E. Y W C A w ill also be recruiting
A dvisory Committee members. The
meeting w ill be held on Tuesday, Feb
ruary fifth from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. at the
N.E. Y W C A at 5630 N.E. M artin L u
ther K ing, Jr. Blvd. For more inform a
tion, call M ary Sanders-Miller at 223-
6281.
tlftpe, delicious
Bananas
Be Sure To Look
In Your
Bananas are arriving fresh from the tropic
breezes ready for any use you can dream
up for them. Go bananas over cereal, in a
nutty bread or luscious fruit compote.
Dress up a fruit salad, happy up a lunch
box, or freeze a chocolate covered snack.
But, go bananas! They’re ripe and ready.
MAGAZINE
for your Safeway
Shopping Guide for
a complete list of
specials on sale this
week at Safeway!
EXPECT THE BEST!
SAFEWAY
COPYRIGHT 1978, SAFEWAY INC
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