, IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII THE CITIES ONLY BURN IN THE SUMMER A CRITICISM OF AMERICAN PUBLIC EDUCATION Dissertation for the Degree of Ph. D. MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY MICHAEL J. BUKOWSKI 1976 This is to certify that the thesis entitled THE CITIES ONLY BURN IN‘THE SUMMER A CRITICISM OF AMERICAN PUBLIC EDUCATION presented by Michael J. Bukowski has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for L degree in Eflcjt—IQLGI Administration Major professor Date 1 Q2176 ABSTRACT THE CITIES ONLY BURN IN THE SUMMER A CRITICISM OF AMERICAN PUBLIC EDUCATION By Michael J . Bukowski The purpose of this research paper is to examine the role of the American public school in relationship to conditions presently facing maior metropolitan areas in the country. The thesis is that the schools must be held partially accountable for the potential urban tragedy of the nation. The summer of I967 was not a pleasant one for the nation. Riot, pillage, death and destruction were among conditions experienced by many cities. As a consequence of that summer, a presidential commission (The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders) was established to investigate the reasons behind the nightmare of that unpleasant time and a maior document was produced. The com- mission report called for significant reform in many areas, including reform in education, in order to prevent additional national discomfort. It is the writer's apinion that little has happened since T967 to prevent additional tragic summers. Indeed, social and economic conditions seem to have worsened for many in the urban setting and the potential for civil strife looms larger than it did nine years ago. The condition of the economy, recession, inflation, high unemployment, crisis in government and big business, and a host of issues relating Michael J . Bukowski to the future of the nation, all combine together for a very tense time. And among the crucial issues of these times is the state of public education. Rumblings from South Boston to Detroit sound an educational alarm. Educational concerns-- from busing to textbook selection to teacher strikes-~as well as other emotion laden matters, add fuel to another potential national tragedy. Reform in education has seemingly always been a headline maker. Since the nation's schools have been broadly established, someone, somewhere, has found something wrong with them. And yet, regardless of all the calls, little seems to have changed to make a significant difference in the direction of the schools and in the lives of many people. Certainly the needs of many have been met by the public school system, but millions of others have been abandoned or neglected by the system which claims to be of service to all. This study is not an empirical piece of research. Rather, it is a socio- psychalogical and philosophical look at some issues which must be addressed prior to genuine educational reform. Chief among these issues is the matter of value education or the lack of value education in the nation's schools. It is the writer's opinion that science and technology have consumed the schools and have pushed ethical and moral education into a quiet corner of the schoolhouse. The research of this study extends to an examination of a wide variety of documents in search of appropriate facts, feelings, beliefs, and attitudes to support the writer's notion that the cities are in very deep trouble and that the system of public education is partially at fault. Quotations from the great, near-great, and not-so-great comprise two chapters of the dissertation and have been carefully Michael J . Bukowski selected to provide support for the thesis. The quotations reflect the writer's bias and this fact should be kept in mind when reading the pqaer. The findings of this study substantiate the writer's opinions as well as the Opinions held by others. During the past summer, some minor disturbances took place in some maior cities. In 1966, there were also minor disturbances which exploded into major civil strife in l967. There is fear, then, an the part of some that this past summer may portend what is to come in the warm months of 1976 . This research effort concludes with a call for concerted leadership by American educators to stave off potential national calamity. It asks that the schools honestly face the realization that they are not providing for many of the less than tangible needs of people. It asks that the schools implement a philosOphy of education and direction which will allow for equal Opportunity for all Americans regardless of color, creed, or socio-economic background. It asks that educators take a dynamic and forceful role in providing the moral leadership needed to once again move the state of the union into harmony with the ideals upon which it was founded. Will the cities burn again in the summer? There is great hope that they will not. However, unless institutions, especially the schools, begin to address those issues which continue to separate the "haves" from the "have-nots, " which continue to divide the nation , hape diminishes. No better Bi-centennial present could be given the nation than a start in the direction of improving the public school system so that the needs of all people who are part of it will be genuinely met. THE CITIES ONLY BURN IN THE SUMMER A CRITICISM OF AMERICAN PUBLIC EDUCATION By Michael J 2 Bukowski A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Administration and Higher Education 1976 FOREWARD AND DEDICATION To many peOpIe--family and friends--my thanks and gratitude for years of understanding and support. To the members of my committee--John Suehr, Stan Hecker, Dale Alam, and Jim McKee--a Special thanks for wisdom shared. To Robert N . Hammer--friend, always--everlasting appreciation. To Shirley-~typist and editor--a very special person deserving very special thanks. To all who have helped me--SHALOMI I I I I I I I TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWARD AND DEDICATION . INTRODUCTION CHAPTER I A Parting Shot - Chapter One CHAPTER II . A Parting Shot - Chapter Two CHAPTER THREE . . . . . A Parting Shot - Chapter Three CHAPTER IV . A Parting Shot - Chapter Four CHAPTER V . A Parting Shot - Chapter Five CHAPTER VI . I A Statement of Educational Philosophy and Direction for Contemporary American Society Tenets Goals Accountability A Parting Shot - Chapter Six LIST OF FOOTNOTES . BIBLIOGRAPHY . iv .33 .56 .61 .66 . 76 .84 INTRODUCTION This paper is written in _h_o_p_e_. Because the author has chosen to single out the education industry as being, in large part, responsible for the difficulties of I976, he knows that he takes on a considerable challenge. The chapters of this paper will attempt to state the case for indicting the schools and for placing blame on the system of education which has brought America close to the brink of disaster. The paper is written in hope that soon the education industry will reform itself, so that, in the future, the cities will not burn at all. CHAPTER I The opening chqater of this volume is intended to start a conversation. This conversation is, of course, personal and subiective at the outset as it presents the author's views. Chapters Two and Three deal with the views of other people. The entire volume is intended to be a small piece attempting to support a theory that American public education can be subiect to criticism for its temerity and recklessness in approaching the problems of contemporary society and especially current urban conditions . In Chapters Two and Three I have attempted to interweave quotations re- flecting a wide range of feelings and facts. At first glance, some of the quotes may seem disiointed and unrelated. However, all of the commentators speak to the premise of this paper, i.e. , unless some radical revision of priorities takes place, unless those responsible for the education of American youth begin to face honest fact, the nation faces difficulty unparalleled in modern times. A host of quotes about education, unemployment, racism, civil strife, law, peace, war, values, and the nature of the humm condition constitute the second and third chapters. In order to understand the latter part of this paper, the quotes must be read with deliberateness. For all of those who speak ultimately address themselves to the issue of the paper--the future of the city and the state of the education industry . 2 Chapter Four presents the author's own views regarding the crux of the problem in education, as he sees it. It calls for a return to some sense of value education in the nation's schools. A lack of concern for the individual, for differ- ing value systems, for any values at all, has caused public education to crumble to a state of homogeneous indifference to the crucial issues of modern and urban America. The pleasure principle seems to have become the predominant feature of the education enterprise with both those in positions of power and those subiect to that power rather comfortably passing time while the nation continues to lean and limp toward a common condition of self-centeredness. That condition, based on a system of greed and power, or "gettin' while the gettin' is good," seems to make sense when one looks at the demands of teachers, of students, of parents, and others who are the central figures in the educational system. Even more, when one stops to consider the industrial and business climate of the present, with corporate profits zooming and, personal income being eaten away by inflation, with the sale of luxury automobiles increasing and the unemployment rate approaching depression era statistics, then doubts and questions must arise. To what can one attribute such widespread differences in a country committed to equality? Can the business of education be a factor in the nation's seemingly paradoxical position of great wealth and destitute poverty? The author thinks so and Chapter Four attempts to explain it. The last chapter attempts to set forth a resolution to the problem. If the schools carefully practiced the contents of Chapter Six, the present state of the nation would be significantly different. And Chapter Six also asks that each indi— vidual begin to examine the problems which divide and separate us. 3 We are at the beginning of America's Bi-centennial celebration. The year 1976 has been proclaimed as a year of ioy and celebration as it well should be. Some difficult issues and complex problems must be resolved, however, before 1976 really can be a celebration for all. Political, social, and religious institutions have begun to make preparation for the great event, but the schools have been mostly silent. Is it that they have too little to celebrate? Is it that same school officials recognize that the education industry has failed to keep its promise of Opportunity and chance for all? I think so! It is impossible to separate each institution of a given society from another All come together in a blaze of glory or agony. American politics has been radic- alized by Watergate. The institutional church has been forced to adapt to twentieth century needs. Has education really kept pace? Has it gotten Off the hook by simulating change while really remaining the some; by divorcing itself from any sense Of qapreciation for basic values because of its fear of criticism and its need to perpetuate the melting pot myth which means mindless conformity to a valueless society? Perhaps so . "Relevance" in schools is the key word today and with relevance has come a diminution of academic standards and value systems. Hence, American public education has failed in its mission; failed to bring genuine community to the nation; failed to bring to the people of the present and the past a decent appreciation for the value and dignity of the individual. The "rip-Off" has become commonplace. Crime increases (in New York alone, iuvenile crime increased l600°/o in I974). Death by violence becomes Detroit's fourth factor in premature departure and maior 4 American cities face the prospect Of bankruptcy and economic catastrOphe. TO celebrate in I976? Will the cities burn again? Should the schools stand free of blame? Little about this first chapter comes close to being an altogether "friendly ' It has been wide-ranging in its criticism. But friendliness does not conversation . ' mean agreement with or compliance with everyday Opinion. Those who are true friends are able to look at each other with critical review. TO love something or someone does not mean to agree at all times with that thing or person. To love is to appreciate, understand, and help if possible. This Opening chapter is intended to begin to address some problems and not merely attack without reason. It is based on some years of experience and on hops. Hope that the experience of the past is not altogether the the of the future; that the hope of the future is not altogether the eXperience of the past. What is here is calculated. I intend to provoke a thought or two. I wish to contribute to the conversation which is necessary to bring about change where change is needed so that those institutions which are accountable for our way Of life become more responsive to the evident and presently tragic conditions of urban life. If the schools cannot accomplish the challenge of immediate and significant reform, hope diminishes. But they can and the cities need not burn again in the summer . A Parting Shot - Chapter One Values adaptive to the era of abundance must rest on fact rather than fancy, whether dismal or hilarious. For the full flowering of human life we need demythifi cation , including for example emancipation from the residue of sun worship embodied in our almost automatic association of good and evil reSpec- tively with light and dark. We need forthright recognition that man's health 5 derives from zestful involvement of self in resolute efforts to surmount successive Obstacles to human understanding and mastery, not from panicky or petulant demands for immediate satisfaction. And we need to foster the kind of personality which prospectantly surveys its page Of the human agenda, and lovingly sets about raising human life to new levels of consciousness and ioy while maintaining the grace and courage to live without final certainty. Roderic Gorney The_liuman Agenda I968 CHAPTER II Student, I6, Dies in Shooting Outside MacKenzie High.2 Headline Detroit Free Press December I2 , I974 Americans are going hungry, can't find iobs, and can barely afford sugar. Yet, President Ford partied around the world in a trumped-up quest for peace. I doubt if the thousands Of laid-off workers believe detente with Russia demands a higher priority than detente with the sugar industry. Or that it was morg important to reach a decision to control nuclear arms than to stop runaway prices. Chuck Stone Detroit Free Press December 5, I974 Brotherhood--a little more 'brother,’ and a lot less 'hood.’4 Ann Ellenbogen Detroit, Michigan December, I974 The emphasis of the present system--on production of narrow predeter- mined ends, on efficiency as a primary value criterion, and on obiectives pre- determined by curriculum experts, written guides, and/or teachers--all combine into a design which is totally unsatisfactory. We favor a model which emphasizes value and processes that are consistent with a commitment to an explicit humanistic ethical concept. This commitment is in igreconcilable Opposition to the current technical-production focus of schooling. "Reschooling Society: A Conceptual Model" Association for Super- vision and Curriculum Development James B. MacDonald Bernice J. Wolfson Esther Zaret I973 7 Conceivably the nation could continue its present failing efforts toward an integrated society, including the present proportion Of its resources devoted to social and economic programs; or it could abandon integration as a goal and commit increased resources to enrichment of life in the ghetto--thug presumably mdcing it bearable without producing violence against white society. Tom Wicker "Introduction" Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders March, 1968 I ,000 Riot at School in Boston BOSTON (AP): Decoy buses and lines of charging policemen were used Wednesday to spirit black students out of South Boston High School as about 1,000 angry whites hurled missles. Headline Detroit Free Press December I2, I974 Today, despite the fact that comwlsory education is low in 49 states, there are about two million young people between the ages of seven and seventeen who don't go to school. According to a newly released study by the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), many of them never will go again. Their problems range from poverty to pregnancy, bed-wetting to bellig- erency. But whatever is the force behind each of those two million cases, 'schools make it more likely that these children will grow up illigerate, unemployed, delin- quent, rebellious, and dependent,‘ the CDF study says. ' 7"". Gary Blonston Detroit Free Press Washington Staff December 22, I974 For the first eleven months of I974, crime reported to the police rose I5.5 percent overall compared with the same period of I973. Again, all categories showed increases, with homicides up 6.7 percent and ropes 8.6 percent. News Article Detroit Free Press December I, I974 8 The world will go on somehow, and more crises will follow. It will go best, however, if among us there are men who have stood apart, who refused to be anxious or too much concerned, who were cool and intriguing, and had their eyes on a longer post and a longer future. Walter Lippman I934 Speech The American high school has become a beleagured institution . . . our large city school systems are on the verge of complete collapse. Two decades ago, the cities Operated the best school system in the United States. Today, these schools are at the bottom of academic accomplishment. The Reform of Secondary Education: A Report of the National Commission on the Reform of Second- ary Education B. Frank Brown, Chairman Established by the Charles F. Kettering Foundation I973 This should be a society without abiect poverty, without social outcasts, without racial tensions, without the terrible strains imposed by the specters Of un- employment, disease, eviction, and other stigmas and tragedies which accompany economic upheaval. There is enough here for everyone. There should be a worthy place and a sense of belonging for every American. That there isn't is an indict- ment which shames us in the advent of another Christmas. Judd Arnett Columnist Detroit Free Press December I5 , I974 Guns don't belong in schools. The senseless shooting deaths of two 0 I O O 0 13 Detrort high school students l'l‘llS past week underscores that paint wuth tragedy. Editorial Detroit Free Press December 15 , I974 We found that if a child is not white, or is white but not middle class, does not speak English, is poor, needs special help with seeing, hearing, walking, reading, learning, adiusting, growing up, is pregnant at age I5, is not smart enough or is too smart, then, in too many places, school officials decide school is not the place for that child. 9 In sum, out-Of-school children share a common characteristic of different- ness . . . They are, for the most part, out of school not by choice,'but because they have been excluded. It is as if many school Officials have decided that certain groups Of children are beyond their responsibility and are eXpendable. l4 Children's Defense Report Washington, D. C. I974 Crime is the privilege Of the poor. The affluent--economic or political-- are fewer in number and prefer to manipulate a bank for their enrichment rather than to stick it up. In this decade, crime has soared with inflation and unemployment. Racially--one can only guess--black unemployment ranges between II percent and I5 percent. The cold figures of the F.B.|. files depict the Negro as the biggest risk in armed robbery, automobile thefts, and house burglaries. l5 Jim Bishop Syndicated Columnist December I0, I974 The cybernetic age is coming rapidly--the age when we must redefine the worth of man in terms other than the nature of his work and the size of his income. Making such a redefinition will not be easy, for it will require a complete change in our concepts and our phiIOSOphy Of life, as well as in our activities. When our life situation becomes transformed by the cybernetic revolution, it may well be that the mountaineer will already have the concept of life and work fit for the new age. Jack E. Weller Yesterday's People - Life in Contemporary Appalcfihia University of Kentucky Press I965 Our future may lie beyond our vision, but it is not completely beyond our control. It is the shaping impulse of America that neither fate nor nature nor the irresistible tides of history, but the work Of our own hands, matched to reason and principle, that will determine destiny. There is pride in that, even arrogance, but there is also experience and truth. In any event, it is the only way we can Iive.‘7 Robert F. Kennedy To Seek A Newer World November, I967 I0 The public schools of America have indeed been a powerful and benefi- cient force for the democratizing of a great mixed population. But we must be careful to keep reassessing them when, with changing conditions they become a universal trap and democracy begins to look like regimentation. ' Paul Goodman ComPu lsory Mid-Edu cation and the Community of Scholars I962 Change is coming. We will either be a part Of that change, or change will be forced upon us. We cannot sit here and agonize over our 'relevance' in fatuous intellectual exercises and still eXpect to be supported. If we do not know what our relevance is, who does? We must face the realities squarely and set about the hard task of re- ordering our priorities, Of demonstrating our capacity to conduct our own affairs, or providing honest measure in turn for the public's support, and of rebuilding a foun- dation Of respect for our processes and faith in our institutions. Clifton R. Wharton, Jr. President Michigan State University February I5, I97I Sometimes late when things are real and people share the gift of gab between themselves Some are quick to take the bait and catch the perfect prize that waits among the shelves. But Oz never did give nothing to the tin man that he didn't already have And 'cause never was a reason for the evening or the tropic of Sir Galahad. II So please believe in me when I say I'm spinning round, round, round Smoke glass stain bright color Image going down, down, down, down Soap suds green like bubbles.20 Dewey Bunnel I "Tin Man" I974 With all its warts Detroit is still a town where a lot of folks--some from southern Ohio, some from Alpena, some from little towns in Mississippi and Arkansas, some from ancestral homes beyond the ocean--are struggling to make a better life. In the most real sense, they are in this together. If Detroit goes down, then a big chunk of the American dream goes down. And a lot Of us--including a lot Of people Who think community doesn't matter--go down too. Joe H . Stroud Editor Detroit Free Press December 22, I974 The area's hostility to blacks is reflected in the language. Not since the South of two decades ago have people in such a situation so openly talked of their hatred of 'niggers.’ 'Here come the boneheads,‘ shout the South Boston crowds daily as buses arrive from Roxbury with the 400 blocks assigned to the 2,000 student tan-bri ck South Boston High School. Signs proclaim, 'This is South Boston, not Africa.‘22 News article Detroit Free Press by William Grant Free Press Education Writer December 22, I974 Public education is the'growth industry' of the nation today. Next to defense, education is the single largest enterprise in our political economy and, I2 unlike even defense, it is the one American activity that in some way or at some time directly involves every single citizen. Charles J. Brauner Hobert W. Burns Problems in Education and Philosophy I965 Business and industry are our last hope. They are the most realistic elements of our society. Other areas in our society--government, education, churches, Iabor--have defaulted with Negro problems.2 Kenneth B. Clark January, I968 . . . The only genuine, long-range solution for what has happened lies in an attack--mounted at every Ievel--upon the conditions that breed despair and violence. All Of us know what those conditions are: ignorance, discrimination, slums, poverty, disease, not enough iobs. We should attack these conditions--not because we are frightened by conflict, but because we are fired by conscience. We should attack them because there is simply no other way to achieve a decent and orderly society in America. Lyndon B. Johnson "Address to the Nation" July, I967 Crime and violence in central city schools are growing at unprecedented rates. In the higher schools of some cities there are literally thousands of students who have no interest in education, who roam the corridors, disrupt the classes, constantly look for trouble and foment it. Parade Magazine ; June I6, I974 Public schools, since they have a monopoly of the time of youngsters, carry the 'potential for creating cultural uniformity, destroying diversity in points of view, in standards of taste, and in underlying value commitments.‘ Fred Newmann Donald Oliver Harvard Educational Review I968 I3 The individual is not born with prejudices any more than he is born with sociological understanding. The way he thinks as a member of a group, especially about other groups, is at bottom the result of social indoctrination, in both its direct and its indirect forms, indoctrination that inculcates beliefs and attitudes, which easily take firm hold in his life through the process of habituation. 28 Robert M. Maclver Charles H. Page Society: An Introductory Anal is I949 Fifty thousand Indian families live in unsanitary, dilqaidated dwellings; many in huts, shanties, even abandoned automobiles. The unemployment rate among Indians is nearly 40 percent--more than ten times the national average. Forty-two percent of Indian school children--almost double the national average--drop out before completing high school. The problems of Indian education are le ion. Ten percent of American Indians over age I4 have had no schooling at all. The Official Associated Press Almanac I974 Dan Perkins Editorial Coordinator Laurence Urdang Editor in Chief Today, any reference to the weaknesses Of our society is seen in the context of our international rivalries of the moment. But long, long before such rivalries were formed we were committed, as free men, to the arduous task of build- ing a great society--not iust a strong one, not iust a rich one, but a great society. This is a pact we made with ourselves. DeTocqueville was not speaking rhetorically when he said, ' . . . there is nothing more arduous than the apprenticeship of liberty.' And he might have added that the apprenticeship is unending--the unchanging requirement of a free society's survival is that each generation rediscover this truth. As Chestelson put it, 'The world will never be safe for democracy-~it is a dangerous trade.‘ But who ever supposed that it would be easy? 30 John W. Gardner Excellence--Can We Be Equal anTExcelrent TOO? I961 I4 For over 300 years we have perpetuated a system of education organized by and for the white middle class. The 'melting pot myth' is now being exposed as iust that when blacks and poor people are concerned. The large percentage of high-income whites who control most of the nation's goods and services have histor- ically sent their children to private schools and colleges where the white superiority myth has been unchallenged and perpetuated. Clare A. Broadhead "Chapter 3: Overcoming Racism - The Alternatives Before Us. " Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development I974 Yearbook Committee The magic word is relevance; but fortunate?! there is no single relevance, no one and only one way in which things can relate.3 Warren |. Susman The Reconstruction of an American College October, I968 As civilized human beings, we are the inherited, neither of an inquiry about ourselves and the world, nor of an accumulating body of information, but of conversation begun in the primeval forest and extended and made more articulate in the course of centuries. It is a conversation which goes on both in public and within each of ourselves. Of course, there is argument and inquiry and information, but wherever these are profitable they are recognized as passages in conversation. . . . Conversation is not an enterprise designed to yield an extrinsic profit, a contest where the winner gets a prize, nor is it an activity of exegesis; it is an unrehearsed intellectual adventure. Education properly speaking, is an initiation into the skill and partnership of this conversation in which we learn to recognize the voices, to distinguish the proper occasions of utterance, and in which we all acquire the in- tellectual and moral habits appropriate to conversation. And it is this conversation which, in the end, gives place and character to every human activity and utterance. . ' I.“ ‘ Michael Oakeshott Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays I962 NO man, no matter how smart or skillful, can stand in one place and see the Eiffel Tower in the round. Sometimes, one man, working alone, can solve a problem. Sometimes it takes two, working from Opposite ends. Often, it calls for the multiple vision of a group, whose collective intelligence is greater than the sum of its parts. I5 Every permanently successful institution or organization needs to main- tain a delicate and sophisticated equilibrium between the individual and the col- lectivity, between the Genius and the Group. The Genius may be able to tie the greatest knot in the world, but it takes the Group to untie it. Or the other way around. There is always something each of them cannot do that the other can. Sydney J. Harris Syndicated Columnist September 25, I974 I have been among those predicting that the high schools would follow the colleges and blow sky high in the I970's. My crystal ball may be cloudy, but the situation remains explosive. Perhaps my angle Of vision is too subjective. Let's hope 50.35 Roy P. Fairfield "Can We Save the Public High Schools?" The Humanist May/June, I97I. Many of the out-Of-school children had one thing in common: poverty. In Floyd County, Kentucky, for example, 2I% of the children C.D.F. interviewed said that their parents could not afford to buy books or pay the required school fees. There was a wide racial and ethnic mix among the children. In the predominantly white Riverton Housing Project in Portland, Maine, II% of all school age children were not attending school. In one census tract in New Bedford, Massachusetts, 73% of all children of Portuguese descent were out of class. In the Northgate Housing Project in Montgomery, Alabama, 27% of all I6 and I7—year-old blacks had not been in school for at least 45 days during the semester.:36 Time Magazine January 6, I975 9 av m-Mm—'—71 n... r 3. ~41 '. . I' We didn't come over on the same ship together, but I'll be doggoned if r... we're not sinking on the same boat. Blacks and whites are fighting for the same thing. Rev. Ralph Abernathy December, I974 Of the four million youngsters who end their schooling early, more than half have no salable skill or training with which to earn a living. About one fourth of these drOp out of elementary or high school. Another third graduate from a 'go nowhere' general high school course of watered down math, science, and hist- ory that prepares them neither for a job nor for further education. Of those who go on to college, only half graduate with a bachelor's degree. The money invested in I6 inadequate schooling comes to some $28 billion a 73%" (We spend about $90 billion on education.) But the schools won't learn. Lester Velie "The $32 Billion Mis- understanding" Reader's Digest January, I974 The American high school is facing a crisis. Thoughtful observers of the educational scene have documented this fact time and again in recent years. Un- fortunately, their Observations have been dismissed by many in positions to make changes as merely the sentimental outcries of incurable romantics. I shall not detail the dimensions Of the crisis; rather, I shall deal with the question: 'Can we move fast enough to set and implement some new directions to save the high school?‘ Paul R. Klohr "A Greening of the High School" The Humanist May/June, I97I I am convinced that the high school can, and will, be saved, although it will be very much different from the high school as we know it. I agree with Norman Cousins who, in making his case for IE3, asserts that there is hope so long as men's faces are not frozen when they look into the eyes Of their young. Paul R. Klohr I97] As modern industrial society has become more complex, our schools have become almost hopelessly submerged in the minutiae of providing services for their students and in training them for the variety of occupations we have deveIOped. Such training is important, Of course. But it is the school's unique function to help each new generation make some sense out of the complexity and diversity of society. Schools are therefore obliged, in addition to passing on our backlog of knowledge, skills, and attitudes, to ask the humanistic questions. We cannot act as if we be- lieve the unexamined life is worth living. William L. Griffen "A Needed Dialogue-- Schools and Values" Controversy in American Education I967 ‘l-Q’AMQ- ‘ .O .u’ u.‘ ' '1" I7 There is hope that man can begin to use what he knows to live a better life. There is hope, if he learns to apply the enduring measures of man to his existence. Once man measures himself against the only ideals worthy of his aspira- tion--truth, beauty, justice, love, and faith-~he will be on the road to completion of his agenda. And if he lives according to his agenda, he will become, in the words of Dog Hammarskjold, 'truer, stronger, kinder, warmer, simpler, and gentler.""2 Paul F. Brandwein The Permanent Agenda of Man: The Humanities I97I The Student 'In America,‘ began the lecturer, 'everyone must have a degree. The French do not think that all can have it, they don't say everyone must go to college.’ We incline to feel that although it may be unnecessary to know fifteen languages, one degree is not too much. With us, a school-~like the singing tree of which F the leaves were mouths singing in concert-- is both a tree of knowledge and of liberty-- seen in the unanimity Of college 4‘“ ”J “6-83mi as'. : mottoes, Lux et veritas, Christa et ecclesiae, Sapient felici. TFmay be that we -~- have not knowledge, just Opinions, that we are undergraduates, not students; we know we have been told with smiles, by expatriates of whom we had asked, 'When will your experiment be finished?‘ 'Science is never finished.‘ Seculuded from domestic strife, Jack Bookworm led a college life, says Goldsmith; and here also as in France or Oxford study is beset with I8 dangers-~with bookworms, mildews, and complaisancies. But someone in New Englcnd has known enough to say the student is patience personified, is a variety of hero, 'patient of neglect and Of reproach'--who can 'hold by himself.‘ You can't beat hens to make them lay. Wolf's wool is the best wool, but it cannot be sheared because the wolf will not comply. With knowledge as with the wolf's surliness, the student studies voluntarily, refusing to be less than individual. He 'gives his Opinion and then rests on it'; he renders service when there is no reward, and is too reclusive for some things to seem to touch him, not because he has no feeling but because he has so much. 43 Marianne Moore I95I MICHIGAN Michigan, world's largest producer of automobiles and among the most papulous of the states, extends across two peninsulas and consistes of two land regions: the Great Lakes Plain that makes up all . . . National recessions of the late I950's and I960's had a damaging effect on the state's economy and its government financial stability. These had been off- set by the I970's by renewed prosperity, governmental financial belt-tightening and enactment of a fl at-rate tax on personal and corporate income, the latter under a new constitution adapted in I963. Social reforms, including Open housing, have occurred in a number of Michigan communities in recent years did the new constitution created an inde- pendent Civil Rights Commission with police powers. But Detroit was the scene in I967 of the nation's worst race riot in histo2l4, with 43 deaths, scores of injuries and millions of dollars in property damage. The Official Associated Press Almanac I977. Fan PEkins Editorial Coordinator Laurence Urdang Editor in Chief I9 I am my brother . . . and my brother is me. 45 Ralph Waldo Emerson I803-I882 Peace between countries must rest on the solid foundation of love between individuals. Mahatma Ghandi I948 I have sought to create a set of anxious thoughts in the minds of the con- scientious citizens who may read these pages and who, while living in the suburbs, may work in the city. To improve the work of the slum school requires an improve- ment in the lives of the families who inhabit the slums, but without a drastic change in the employment prospects for urban Negro youth, relatively little can be accom- plished. Therefore, I close by urging that our large city educational problems be analyzed in far more detail than in the past andwith a far greater degree of frank- ness. Neighborhood by neighborhood we need to know the facts, and when these facts indicate a dangerous social situation the American people should be prepared to take prompt action before it is too late. 7 James B. Conant Slums and Suburbs I96I Study Challenges U. S. Economic System Washington (NC): The Campaign for Human Development (CHD), the U.S. bishops' anti-poverty agency, has released a massive study charging that the economic system in the United States is filled with injustice and may threaten the country's democratic form Of government. Developed by the educational arm of the CHD, the report details a gross maldistribution of wealth and income in the United States over the past 60 years. The study claims that more than half of all Americans are 'essentially dependent' upon social institutions over which they have no control. 'Economic resourcelessness' and 'political powerlessness' affect more than 50 percent of the American people, the report says. It adds that in today's economy 'the average American can no longer afford the average American home.’ One of the root causes of poverty is powerlessness, a condition that not only violates social justice but actually erodes political democracy, the study says. The Catholic WeelflI January 3, I975 20 If I am really deeply and genuinely concerned for others and I am going out and taking the needs and seizing the Opportunities and I am working to change at least a portion of the world in which I live, if I'm deeply concerned for other peOple, what's happening, the very redirecting of my consciousness and my affec- tivity, the very redirecting which is my redemption is actually going on.4 Bernard CoOke, S.J. Christian Involvement I 966 God Is A Good Hideout . . . Psalm 46 God is a good hideout, He is stronger than the weightlifter at the Y. He helps you out even when you got trouble, So what have you got to worry about even if there's a floor, And the streets go caving in, and bridges get washed out? When the creek is low it's easy to see how pretty it is And that God is there. But he is there when the creek's mad too. When the going gets rough, just remember that God is with us Like he was with guys of old. So take a look around--there's nice things-- As well as dirty empty lots and wrecked buildings. Sometimes it's quiet-like at the end of a rumble. So take time to think and you'll know about God-- And that he is here most of the time .50 Carl F. Burke God Is For Real, Man I965 Someday, maybe, there will exist a well-informed, well-considered, and yet fervent public conviction that the most deadly of all possible sins is the mutilation of a child's spirit; for such mutilation undercuts the life principle Of trust, without which every human act, may it feel ever so good and seem ever so right, is prone to perversion by destructive forms of conscientiousness. Erik Erikson I963 (mm- urcrz— , 1. 2I It has always seemed reasonable to look to the school as the primary in- strument for shaping the citizen. It is the most nearly universal of all social institutions; it is in fact the sole social institution which seeks contacts with all young persons. Further, it reaches them during those periods of their lives when they are most susceptible to influence. And its very purpose is to help them deveIOp. By the time the child reaches school age, however, many basic attitudes have taken firm hold. And in general, he continues to Spend much more time out- side school than in it. The role of the community, and of the home in particular, in deveIOping character can hardly be over-stated. If parents do not provide the personal security on which healthy social attitudes are based and do not set examples for children to live by, the school's ability to develop the citizen is sharply cur- tailed, but its share of the responsibility for doing so rises. Another limitation of the ability of the school is the existence in the bulture Of many citizens, some of them in responsible and respected positions, who show a decided lack of social responsibility . "Social Responsibility in a Free Society" Educational Policies Commission National Education Associatio n I963 According to the study there is even greater disparity in control of assests: 'The tap I.2 percent Of American families hold 32.5 times more invest- ment assets than the bottom 60 percent of American households.‘ Moreover, it adds, I.6 percent of American corporations control 75 percent Of all manufactur- ing assets--a phenomenon which the study says is growing worse with time. Charging that America's economic system does not create a sufficient number of adequate jobs, the report states that 'productive capability and benef- fitting from society's wealth are not primarily tied to work, but to ownership of productive resources. But the majority of American citizens have only their labor as their primary resource.‘ News Article The Catholfleekly January 5, T975 22 Small wonder that we in this country have a deeply ingrained faith in human regeneration. We believe that, given a chance, even the degraded and the apparently worthless are capable of constructive work and great deeds. It is a faith founded on experience, not on some idealistic theory. And no matter what some anthropologists, sociologists, and geneticists may tell us, we shall go on believing that man, unlike other forms of life, is not a captive Of his past--of his heredity and habits--but is possessed of infinite plasticity, and his potentialities for good and for evil are never wholly exhausted. Eric Hoffer The Ordeal of Change I952 55 The main thing in life is not to be afraid to be human. Pablo Casals I942 Ballad of the Landlord Landlord, landlord, My roof has sprung a leak. Don't you 'member I told you about it Way last week? Landlord, landlord, These steps is broken down. When you come up yourself It's a wonder you don't fall down. Ten bucks you say I owe you? Ten bucks you say is due? Well, that's ten bucks more'n I'll pay you Till you fix this house up new. What? You gonna get eviction orders? You gonna cut off my heat? You gonna take my furniture and Throw it in the street? Um-huhl You talking high and mighty. Talk on--till you get through. You ain't gonna be able to say a word If I land my fist on you. Police! Police! Come and get this man! He's trying to ruin the government and overturn the land! 23 Copper's whistle! Patrol bell I Arrest . Precinct station. Iron cell. Headlines in press: MAN THREATENS LANDLORD TENANT HELD NO BAIL JUDGE GIVES NEGRO 90 DAYS IN COUNTY JAIL 5‘5 Langston Hughes I959 H e is a critical virtue‘ in these days, critical in the sense that it is rare, and critical in the sense that it points to what can be and criticizes those who desperately cling simply to what is. H e moves us out of status, and status quo, into a cgtinuing pilgrimage toward thfi-romises God has set at the horizon of VIsIon. Charles E. Irvin "New Year Signs of Hope" January, I975 The basic problem posed by Watergate and all its attendant horrors is neither constitutional nor political: it is moral. Henry Steele Commager "Watergate and the Schools Today's Education Journal of the National Education Association Sept ./Oct . , I974 Education: Mexican-Americans lag considerably behind the vast major- ity of the population. In I960 Mexican-Americans in the Southwest completed an average of 7.I years of school, while the rest of the whites in that region completed I2.I years. Of 22,000 I969 graduates from five major universities in the Southwest, 600 were Mexican-Americans. An example of the educational plight of Mexican- Americans can be found in Crystal City, Texas, where the educational level of Mexican-Americans 25 years or older showed an increase of only half a grade (from 1.8 to 2.3 years) between I950 and I960. 59 The Official Associated Press Almanac I974 24 They're in a golden world, Jesus. They're having a party in a hotel suite which is elegant and located in the best hotel in the heart of the city. There's music, jewelry, glamor, gin, V.I.P. status, and POWER, Lord. But nobody's having any fun. They're too busy sparring with one another in the POWER game which, tonight, is also the sex-and-booze tournament. Everybody looks slick and, underneath tons and wigs, somewhat lonely. I mean, they're not relating, Jesus. They're only observing the stiff protocol of small talk and ground rules. This informal gathering is as rigid as the court of Louis XIV, only the accents here are of Detroit, Houston, and Los Angeles. The masks are on parade tonight, Jesus. The masks are smiling and laughing to cover up status anxieties and bleeding ulcers. Tell us about freedom, Jesus.60 Malcolm Boyd Are You Running With Me, Jesus ? I 965 . . . liberty is to be free from restraint and violence from others, which cannot be where there is no law. 6' John Locke I700 Last summer more than fifty cities experienced some form of civil dis- order. Most remained minor disturbances, effectively controlled by the local police and civil authorities. In some cities similar incidents led to serious disorder. Why? 62 Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders I968 In one of his most beautiful essays, Bertrand Russell said that if he were to be asked what he considered to be the most important single answer to the solu- tion of human problems--personal, social, and international--he would be embar- rassed to give the answer because it is so simple. It is kindness. Kindness is not a lazy tolerance. Kindness requires courage; the courage to express and accept love; the courage to reSist the blandness, passivity, or condescensions which betray a basic indifference to the positive capacity of others; and kindness demands the 25 courage to believe in and accept the totality of another and to help a human being dare to be that which is good within him. This is Age kindness that I believe could save the world from mindless, tragic nothingness. Kenneth 8. Clark Pathos of Power I974 To look back across history and try to comprehend the great cyclin move- ments of the past is difficult enough; but to understand what is going on right now is infinitely harder. No one can be altogether sure that he is reading the signs per- ceptively enough to predict what is coming. Yet we who are responsible . . are speaking out because we see signs--signs indicating that an essential part of our American heritage is being eroded away. The foundation of our nation is its supreme commitment to the individual human being. Its first great document declared that he has certain unalienable rights and that he is the source of all government. The young nation fashioned its government to cherish those rights and to do his bidding. It shaped its economy to give free play to his ideas, his energy, and his drives. Very soon it began building a universal school system dedicated to the full development of his unique personal powers. Now this foundation is threatened, not because the American people have consciously changed their mind, but because increasing massiveness and com- plexity have led in many subtle ways toward a great cultural shift. Individuality tends to be submerged in gigantic organizations, in chainbelt production, in mono- lithic economic enterprise, and in the complex cultural interdependence of our society. "A Climate for Individuality" Statement of the Joint Pro'ect on the Individual and the Scfiol I965 The birth of new nations, the impact of new inventions and discoveries, the threat of new weapons, the stirring Of new ideas, and even the ascent into a new dimension of the universe--everywhere the accent falls on the new. Education is challenged as never before to move forward in philosophy and program to meet the challenge of change and the demand for better quality. Life in this exciting and uncertain period will be influenced significantly by actions and attitudes the American people take toward . . . tasks facing D 'I' ‘ tl'j-‘I;.- was r- . -_. . . "Es. —. H——__ I 26 public education--tasks rooted in educational values and social forces and trends. Successful response to these tasks will depend upon how well teachers understand what is to be done and pass on this understanding to future citizens. Richard I. Miller Education in a Changing Society I963 There is hope, and a great deal Of hope, because young people are concerned with beirTgTrTore rather than simplymng more. There is hope because human dignity is found in what a person simply is rather than what a p_e-rs_on produces or what salary he or she generates. This is the challenge of youth and it rings in the ears of the prOphets of gloom and doom. Charles E. Irvin I975 Freedom is nothing else but a chance to do better.67 Camus I9I3-I960 Who Am I? I am Negro-- I am bad. I am poor white trash-- r“ I am bad. I My mother whips me to make me good-- i I am bad. My preacher says the devil will get me-- I am bad. Jesus don't love me-- I am bad. i I don't know what that teacher says-- "i" I am bad. I don't understand her so I don't listen-- I am bad. I don't know them funny black marks in my book-- I am bad. I can't make them marks stay on the lines-- I am bad. My teacher puts a paper on my desk-- I don't know what to do-- I do nothin'-- I am bad. 27 I make pretty colored marks on the paper (I like my crayons)-- It makes me feel good-- I want to show it to the kid next to me and tell him about it-- I talked-- I marked up my paper-- I am very, very bad. That kid next to me--he is good-- The teacher likes his paper-- He went to play with some trucks and blocks-- I want to play with blocks and trucks-- No: I am bad. I marked up my paper-- Blocks and trucks are good for kids-- Bad boys put their heads on their desks-- I am very bad. I don't feel good-- I made marks on that kid's paper and threw it on the floor-- It made me feel good-- Now I am very, very bad. The bell rings-- I can go. I run-- I shout-- I hit that kid next to me-- I am Negr -- I am poor white trash-- I don't know nothin'-- I don't listen-- I am lazy-- I don't sit still-- I mark on my papers-- I mark on other kids' papers-- I hit kids-- I know who I am-- I am that bad-est kid in the room-- Everybody know it-- I am so bad-- . Today the teacher smiled at me. 'HelIo--I like that red shirt' . I don't say nothin'-- I see some trucks-- 28 I'd like to roll them on the rug-- She don't care-- I roll them and roll them-- That makes me feel real good. I'll take them blocks and make me a garage for my trucks-- I make me a good garage and put my trucks in it-- I lie on the rug and look at it-- I feel good. My teacher says, 'Tony, you make a good garage. You used some red blocks. Let's count together and see how many red blocks you used. I - 2 - 3 - 4. Let's see how many wheels are on the truck. I - 2 - 3 - 4. Tony, you are a smart boy! You can count! I feel very, very good! That kid next to me-- He wanted to make a garage too-- I helped him-- We made a garage-- It was a big garage-- We put a big truck in it-- That boy said we had 2 garages and 2 trucks-- We used some green blocks-- That boy and me counted-- He helped me count 8 green blocks-- I feel good! We got some paper-- A big stack is over there where we can get it anytime we want it-- We made big colored marks all over our papers-- It looked pretty! My teacher said, 'Tony and Jeff, you made some pretty pictures! Get that roll of tape and we'll put them up. I'll write your names with my big black pencil so everyone can see! We have 2 pretty pictures! I feel good! Them funny marks says my name-- I believe I can make one of them funny marks-- 29 I made one on the board-- I feel good. My teacher said, 'My that is good! Some of these days you can write all your name. You are a smart boy. I'm glad you are in my room!‘ She likes me! I say, 'I'II make you 'nuther good picture, better'n thatI' Me and that kid next to me went out to play. He likes me! Who am I? I am a boy-- I am good! I am Tony-- I am good! I made a good garage-- I am good! I counted—- I am good! I know this is a red shirt-- I am good! That kid likes me-- I am good! The teacher likes me-- I am good! I made a pretty picture-- I am good! I know them funny marks says my name-- I am good! I made one of them marks-- I am very, very good! The kid next to me is good too-- We're 2 good boys-- I'm glad I'm me.68 Theron Jacobson I970 There may be another factor which is common to all three areas. It may be that as adults we really don't want our children to feel secure; we don't want our children to have values; we don't want our children to be good thinkers. Perhaps such children constitute a threat to us. Many of us are not very secure. Many of 30 us do not have clear values. Some of us are not very good at thinking. We do, however, have power. We are able to coerce and dominate children. With greater feelings of security, with values of their own, with skill and practice in their think- ing processes, children might threaten some of the power that we have. Is it pos- sible that we are fearful of possible consequences if children were to develop in these ways ?69 Louis E. Raths Merrill Harmin Sidney B. Simon Values and Teaching I 966 To whom can I speak today? The gentle man has perished The violent man has access to everybody. TO whom can I speak today? The iniquity that smites the land It has no end. To whom can I speak today? There are no righteous men 7 The earth is surrendered tO criminals. 0 H . Frankfort Ancient Egyptian Religion I948 It is evident that every school gives its children a moral and religious orientation. No teacher can say, for example, 'I believe that man is good,’ without teaching, exalicitly or implicitly, what he means by 'man' and what he understands by ' good' . Virgil C. Blum Education: Freedom and Commtition I967 It's OK, Mark, What you held was your's to grasp What you chose to release was your's to free. It's OK, Mark. 3I It's OK, Mark, When fragmentation becomes permanent quicksilver, When what seems like non-direction brings you to provide direction, it's OK, Mark. It's OK, Mark, TO create a peace to end fighting To become quiet to silence a hell it's OK, Mark. It's OK, Mark, When crippled by gentleness and introspection, to choose to crash rather than not to fly. When too gentle to live among the wolves, to leave in quiet solitude it's OK, Mark. It's OK, Mark, Words you could not hear while you struggled Now become words you can't hear as I struggle. Gene Shepherd " Edu cational Leadership " Journal, American Assoc- iation for quervision and Curriculum Deve Igpment I974 Aristotle begins his thinking about education by asking what sort of being a man is and what sort of societies he lives in. From this inquiry he reaches his con- clusions about the way children should be educated. Because man is 'born for citizenship', and because the state comes into existence for 'the sake of life' but exists for 'the sake of the good life' he decides that the citizens should be educated to suit the way of life Of the state in which they live. Citizens in a democracy, for instance, should develop those qualities of character that will nourish and sus- tain the democratic way of life. From this argument will follow two requirements: first, education should be 'one and the same for all'; secondly, children should be trained to be good persons as well as good citizens. Thus, Aristotle regards educa- tion as too important to leave to the whim of parents or to the resources Of private enterprise, and he closely associates training in citizenship with the moral qualities of the good individual. 32 In the Magna Morlia Aristotle again emphasizes this important aspect of education. In his careful observation of men's motives and actions he had noted, what most teachers now know, that reason is not 'the principle and guide to virtue.’ He asks us to observe 'children and those who live without reason' and to note that 'if they have received from reason the principle that leads to right, the feelings do not necessarily follow and consent thereto, but often Oppose it.‘ He therefore can- cludes that 'a right disposition of the feelings seems tO be the principle that leads to virtue rather than the reason.’ How true it is! And how much closer to knowledge of children has Aristotle come than his master Plato. Yet how much more subtle be- comes the task of parent and teacher, who are now faced not by the simple exercise of making children behave properly so that they learn by enforced habit to be good, but by the subtler task of making them good by nourishing those feelings that per- suade them to want to be good. Suggestion, not compulsion, is at least part of Aristotle's method. E. B. Castle Ancient Education and Today, I96I In short, the nuturing Of values that maintain society's moral tone--or allow that moral tone to slacken--is going on every day, for good or ill. It is not the dull exercise in ancestral piety that some adults make it seem. It goes on in the dust and clamor of the market place, the daily press, the classroom and the play- ground, the urban apartment and the suburban ranch house, and it communicates itself more vividly through what men do than through what they say. The moral order is not something static, it is not something enshrined in historic documents, or stored away like the family silver, or lodged in the minds of pious and somewhat elderly moralists. It is an attribute of a functioning social system. As such it is a living, changing thing, liable to decay and disintegration as well as to revitalizing I‘— and reinforcement, and never any better than the generation that holds it in trust. .43.. Men and women who understand this truth and accept its implications will be well fitted to renew the moral order--and to renew their society as well. They will understand that the tasks of renewal are endless. They will understand that their society is not like a machine that is created at some point in time and then main- , tained with a minimum of effort; a society is being continuously recreated, for good or ill, by its members. This will7erike some as a burdensome responsibility, but it will summon others to greatness. John W. Gardner Self-Renewal: The Indi- vidual and the Innovative Society, I963 A Parting Shot - Chapter Two The show must go on.75 Milton Cross Metropolitan Opera Commentator, I974 CHAPTER III The Michigan Education Association, which is leading its local affiliates into a chest-beating display of pow/er, must be called to task for acting irrespon- sibly and quite probably illegally. 6 Editorial Detroit Free Press January 4, I975 Three Down Last year was one of the most calamitous and scandal-ridden in modern history for the leaders of World Powers. Richard Nixon was compelled to resign from the government of the United States because of almost inevitable impeachment and conviction, the result Of his gigantic abuse of power. fiarade Magazine Editedby Lloyd Shearer January 5, I975 We Americans have always understood business better than religion or sex and have been more comfortable with it. As Otto Bremer put it in an article in the Harvard Business Review, 'Business is today the most significant force shaping American life and the strongest influence in determining the everyday values of the average citizen. The Operative values in the management of a corporate enter- prise tend to become the Operative values in the daily life of society. 8 William A. Emerson, Jr. Sin and the New Amer- ican Conscience I 974 . . The power Of being is identified with virtue, and virtue consistently with essential nature. Virtue is the power of acting exclusively according to one's true nature. Paul Tillich The Courage To Be I952 33 34 As Buckminster Fuller observed, 'The idea that corporations have any moral- ity is entirely wrong. They were developed with the idea of limited ability, and it has permeated all their thinking. So they limit their morality.‘ Fuller also noted that college grads who come into corporations under the impression they could do the job and remain moral are cruelly disappointed. Said Fuller, 'Among the administrations of vast companies, I now find a beautiful bunch of men who would really like to do things in a fantastically moral way. But they've inherited the momentum of corrupt practices and there isn't much they can do about it. William A. Emerson, Jr. I 974 We seem to assume that the more perfect we appear--the more flawless--the more we will be loved. Actually, the reverse is more apt to be true. The more willing we are to admit our weaknesses as human beings, the more lovable we are. Nevertheless, love is an achievement not easy to attain, and thus the alternate that the manipulator has is a desperate one-~that of complete ower over the other person, the power that makes him do what we want, feel what we want, think what we want, and wih ch transforms him into a thn9, ou___r_ thing. 8 Everett L. Shostrorn Man, The Manipulator I967 Endless Power Struggle Shakes City's Legal Department In most large American cities the corporation counsel is one of the most werful figures in city government. But that has not been the case in Detroit recently and that is why the fourth head or acting head of the law department in I3 months will be sworn in later this month. Through a combination of tradition, state law, and city charter provision, there is almost nothing of importance that ggn happen in a city hall without the approval of the city's chief legal counsel. News article Detroit Free Press Dave Anderson Staff Writer January 6, I975 Question: Is it true that the late J. Edgar Hoover used to blackmail various U.S. Presidents, which is why they all were afraid of him? Dennis McLean, New York City. Answer: It is true, according to evidence given FBI agents on May I0, I973, by ‘H- a _n.-. c 1' 35 Robert Mardian, former assistant attorney general and once a high official in the Nixon Committee to Re-Elect the President. According to Mardian, William Sullivan, Hoover's deputy at the FBI came to him in July, I97l and said he wanted to give Mardian wiretaps ordered by Henry Kissinger after news had leaked out about the U.S. position on SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks). 'Mr. Sullivan,’ Mardian revealed, 'continued the conversation, saying that Mr. Hoover had used wiretap information to blackmail other Presidents of the United States and was afraid that he could blackmail Mr. Nixon with this information.’ The Sullivan-Mardian story is available in five volumes of evi- dence published by the House Judiciary Committee relative to Nixon's conduct in Office. Since Mr. Hoover's death, Attorney General Saxbe has shed new light on Hoover's repeated violations Of the law in his directorship Of the FBI.83 Parade Magazine "Personality Parade" Walter Scott January 5, I975 34 A fanatic is one who redoubles his efforts when he has forgotten his ends. George Santayana I900 The Constitution of the United States is a law for rulers and people, equally in war and peace, and covers with the shield of its protection all classes of men, at all times, and under all circumstances. NO doctrine, involving more pernicious consequences, was ever invented by the wit of man than that any of its provisions can be suspended during any of the great exigencies of 5.government Such a doc- trine leads directly to anarchy and despotism. . . .85 Supreme Court Justice Davis I866 Americans are not more intelligent than other people. Yet human factors-- the ability to adapt easily, flexibility of organizations, the creative power of teamwork--are the key to their success. Beyond any single explanation, each of which has an element of truth, the secret lies in the confidence of the society in its citizens. This confidence often seems rather naive to Europeans, but America A] v‘ I ' f? — _J 't; ' E .I/I \ M l I 36 places it both in the ability of its citizens to decide for themselves, and in the capacity of their intelligence. J.-J. Servan Schreiber The American Challenge I968 Negroes cannot solve their problem of identity, therefore--they cannot achieve their manhood--until they are in a position to make or to influence the decisions that affect them, until, in a word, they have powe . For in the last analysis, self-hate stems more from Negroes' unequal position relative to power than from any lack of knowledge of self. The Negro's problem, that is to say, is not one Of 'acculturation,‘ nor even of identity in the usual sense, but of ower. As Professor Dan W. Dodson of New York University has said, it is 'impossi e for a . . . member of a group which is powerless in the community to grow to maturity without some trauma to his perception of himself.‘ Thus, the principal solution to the problem of Negro personality and identity is the acquisition of power: political, social, and economic. The fact that Negroes constitute so large, and so rapidly growing, a proportion of the population Of large cities pro- vides an opportunity for the acquisition of political ower no other ethnic group ever had, except in isolated instances--for example, t e Irish in Boston.87 Charles E. Silberman Crisis in Black and White I964 Only he deserves power who every day justifies “.88 Dag Hammarskjold ’11—. Marking ”a _;__ The Student As Nigger Students are niggers. When you get that straight, our schools begin to make . sense. It's important, though ,tO understand why they're niggers. If we follow t... that question seriously enough, it will lead us past the zone of academic bullshit, where dedicated teachers pass their knowledge on to a new generation, and into the nitty-gritty of human needs and hang-ups. And from there we can go on to consider whether it might ever be possible for students to come up from slavery. Students, like black people, have immense unused ower. They could, theoretically insist on participating in their own education. They could make academic freedom bilateral. They could teach their teachers to thrive on love and admiration, rather than fear and respect, and to lay down their weqaons. Students could discover community. And they could learn to dance by dancing on the IBM cards. They could make coloring books out of the catalogues and they 37 could put the grading system in a museum. They could raze another set of walls and let education flow out and flood the streets. They could turn the classroom into where it's at--a 'field of action,‘ as Peter Marin described it. And, believe it or not, they could study eagerlv and learn prodigiously for the best of all pos- sible reasons--their own reasons. Jerry Farber L. A. Free Press (UPS) I965 nig-ger - p. (alter. of earlier neger, fr. MF negre, fr. Sp or PG negro, fr. negro black, fr. L niger) I: NEGRO - usu. taken to be Offensive 2: a member of any darkskinned race - usu. taken to be offensive. Webster's I 965 What can I do about war and peace? I mean, how can I do anything which will affect the power structures which hold the key to basic decisions about waging war or maintaining peace? I've marched in peace demonstrations, fasted in protest against nuclear experiments, signed petitions, and tried seriously to study the issues involved. But what have I been able to accomplish? I know we can't pass over this situation, yet we are somehow supposed to live with the outrage of doing exactly that. I see the beauty of your creation, and am grateful, but then I see in my mind's eye the very real possibility of its destruction. How can I stand this, Jesus? What is prayer supposed to mean if I am passively accepting a peril which it is sinful to accept? I don't want to misuse prayer to lull me about this crisis, Lord. I want to accept my responsibility Of cooperating with you in the continuing and present act of creation. How can I do it? Malcolm Boyd I965 This is the most enormous extension of vision of which life is capable--the projection of itself into other lives. This is the lonely, magnificent power of humanity. It is, far more than any spatial adventure, the supreme epitome of the reaching out. . Loren Eisley The Immense Journey I962 38 Power is amoral; it can be used, as can physical energy and nuclear power, for good or bad ends, but in itself it cannot determine value. J5 may be rational or irrational, constructive or destructive, in its consequences. Kenneth B. Clark I974 Dostoevsky once wrote: 'Whoever has eXperienced the power, the comflete ability to humiliate another human being with the most extreme humiliation, willy-nilly loses power over his own sensations. Tyranny is a habit, it has a cap- acity for development, it develops finally into a disease. I insist that the habit can dull and coarsen the very best man to the level of a beast. Blood and power are intoxicating. . . . The man and the citizen dies within the tyrant forever; to return to human dignity, to repentance, to regeneration, becomes almost im- possible.‘ The tyranny that schools and school people exercise over the young is milder than the tyranny about which Doestoevsky was speaking. Schools do not have the power of life and death over children. But they do have the power to cause them mental and physical pain, to threaten, frighten, and humiliate them, and to destroy their future lives. This power has been enough to corrupt deeply many schools and school people, to turn into a cruel and petty tyrant many a teacher who did not start out to be one and may even now not want to be one. If there were no other reasons to rid ourselves of this pgwer, this would be enough: only by doing so can the schools save their own souls .94 John Holt Freedom and Beyond I972 The experience of the Jewish prophets culminating in the experience of Jesus of Nazareth was that life lived in the highest intensity did not negate the divine but affirmed it. It is neither strength nor weakness that leads to God but an experience Of weakness that is recognized as man's ultimate strength and a kind of strength that chooses weakness or dependence upon others. In reaction to a 'god of the gaps' who attacks man in his weakness and fills up his need, there has been much talk about a god who meets man in his strength. But man strong and confident is just as much a distortion as man weak and anxious. The true man is revealed only when one experiences simultaneously weakness and strength: then one can meet a god who is so powerful that he can be powerless. Both strength and weakness can lead away from God when one is separated from the other; both strength and weakness can be the way to God when one is of a kind that leads to the other. 95 Gabriel Moran 1'13 New Community I970 ‘~ -_.- .- 39 Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all per- sons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things Of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the uni- verse is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy. 96 Anon . I692 The so-called Christians have rejected her, Jesus. She is a school teacher, living in a large Northern city. In her experience, the church is a series of segregated private clubs rather than really your body on earth. She wants to worship with whites but has always been made to feel unwel- come by them. The white Christians, she has learned, want to live in segregated white neighborhoods. When she has looked for an apartment, they have insulted her, lied to her, or politely told her they don't want Negro tenants. 40 She has tried very hard to live in a society as a person who is Negro, rather than a Negro who is not really considered a person. What kind of Christianity, trading on your name, can deny her human rights and her full membership in your body on earth? 97 Malcolm Boyd I965 Preamble We, professional educators Of the United States of America, affirm our be- lief in the worth and dignity of man . . 8 "Code of Ethics of the Education Profession " Michigan Education Association I965 Worry and responsibility are part of the price of power. Real power does not lie in documents and memos outlining your terms of reference and area Of jurisdiction: it lies in what you can achieve in practice. . . . Power lies in the acceptance of your authority by others, their knowledge that if they try to resist you they will fall and you will succeed. There seems to be a wonderful power of self-deception latent in mankind and adversity brings it to the surface in weak leaders. Antony Jay jr Management and " Machiavelli T967_—__ It seems to me that the morale of any given association is an indicator of the presence or absence Of democracy. Because morale and ower are two terms Of central importance . . . , allow me to define each of them for you. ' " ‘nm'nfitnt din—A so ~ Morale may be defined as the extent to which the members of the associa- tion feel that they are participating in developing the tasks, goals, and values of the association. Therefore, when I say that the morale is low what I mean is that many students, many faculty, many administrators, many people . . . feel that they have little or no control over establishing the tasks, goals, and values of the association. By ower I mean the number of peOple affected by a decision and the length of time that t ey are affected. Let me give you examples of a non-powerful and a powerful decision. A non-powerful decision is when I deny my son an ice cream 4I cone on Saturday morning. This decision affects one person for only a few hours. His mother will give him the cone when she gets home from shopping. A owerful decision is when a few men decide that all students in a given university will take a series of basic courses . . . At this point let me say that I do not subscribe to any evil man theory of power. I don't think the man has ever existed who perceived himself as an evil person. By centralizing control Of money and control of information, one can build unwanted power into a large association. I feel that students, faculty, ad- ministration, and staff are equally discontented with our authoritarian system.l00 Clyde Morris The Bulletin Of the Honors College Michigan State Univer- sit , May, I970 . . . With an eye to masses rather than to individuals, the schools are departing from their unique historic character by manipulating pupils and teachers into organizational patterns and by leaning on administrative and mechanical devices that tend to destroy the very quality which has made them great. l0! "A Climate for Individ- uality" Statement of the Joint Project on the Individual and the School I965 . . . The real pleasure of power is the pleasure Of freedom, and it goes '5 right back to one of man's most primitive needs, the need to control his environ- , ment. You get no sense of freedom if you are liable at any time to starve or E freeze or be devoured by wolves or speared by a neighboring tribe, and so you set ' about securing a supply of food, shelter, warmth, and defensive weapons.'02 i Antony Jay .' I967 #— To educate a child perfectly requires profounder thought, greater wisdom, than to govern a state. I W. E. Channing I780-I842 Students don't ask that order make sense. They give up expecting things to make sense long before they leave elementary school. Thing are true because the teacher says they're true. At a very early age, we all learn to accept 'two truths,' as did certain medieval churchmen. Outside of class, things are true to 42 your tongue, your fingers, your stomach, your heart. Inside class, things are true by reason of authority. And that's just fine because you don't care anyway. Miss Widdemeyer tells you a noun is a person, place, or thing. So let it be. You don't give a rat's ass; she doesn't give a rat's ass. The important thing is to please her. Back in kindergarten, you found out that teachers only love children who stand in nice straight lines. And that's where its been ever since. Nothing changles except to get worse. School becomes more and more Obviously a prison . . . 04 Jerry Farber I965 Then said a teacher, 'Speak to us of Teaching.‘ And he said: 'NO man can reveal to you ought but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge. The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his Iovingness. If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind. The astronomer may speak to you of his understanding of space, but he cannot give you his understanding. The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in all space, but he cannot give you the ear which arrests the rhythm nor the voice that echoes it. And he who is versed in the science of numbers can tell of the regions of weight and measure, but he cannot conduct you thither. For the vision of one man lends not its wing to another man. And even as each one of you stands alone in God's knowledge, so must each one of you be alone in his knowledge of God and in his understanding Of the earth.‘ '05 Kahil Gibran The Prophet I923 Fuckin' is easy. Lovin' is hard."06 Paul Saltman I 969 43 PeOpIe who need people are the luckiest peOpIe in the world. '07 Barbra Streisand Funny Girl I967 The enormity of the human culpability of Watergate could not have occurred without the acquiescence of significant groups of American citizenry. Watergate must be understood in the context Of a society in which a vast majority of the American middle class, working class, and economic, social, and intellectual elites have knowingly bargained away their fundamental values, ideals, rights, and liberties, to political officials who promised to reward their greed and pondered to their primitive passions and prejudices . . . Euphemistic distortions Of the fundamental moral concerns of man must be understood as a consequence of pervasive failures of our educational system to prepare human beings to use reason and intelligence as an integral part of ethical standards. Educational institutions, under the guise of realism, continue to act as if their role and function is to reflect prevailing immoralities and to train human minds to accept and understand euphemistic verbal covers for effective social and political immorality and their inequities. They seem, for the most part, to place a high intellectual value on moral relativism, on moral detachment, and on those virtues which are empirically validated by personal success andprestige. In spite of the Watergates of the past, in spite of extreme barbarity of Nazism, in spite of the mindless cruelty of Vietnam, most prestigious intellectuals and educational institutions still dare to justify their abrogation of moral Obligation and leadership on the grounds of intellectual sophistication. It is my judgment that this is a rationalization which seeks to obscure the fact that the pose Of moral detachment provides for alleged intellectual social scientists a safe and protective haven and the necessary flexibility for the use of intelligence and training in the service of ower and tyranny; or, at best provides acceptance of flagrant forms Of inequality and Injustice in their society."0 Kenneth B . Clark I974 *- Kissinger's Oil Warnings Cheapen the United States Henry Kissinger's warning that there are circumstances in which the United States might use military force to secure Mideastern Oil was supposedly carefully worded and carefully considered , which makes it all the worse. Stripped of all the qualifiers, what the Secretary of State is saying is that the United States would use military ower to protect its economic interest in the resources of another country. It is a sa er-rattling, jingositic position to take, however understated it may be. 44 How, really, is this different from the economic justifications offered by Adolph Hitler for his acts of aggression? What gives the industrial states the right to lay claim to the resources of another country to spare ourselves 'economic strangulation' ? And what, pray tell, gives the secretary any basis for believing that such an intervention would do anything other than start us down the slide to world holocaust? Moreover, the veiled threat--now reinforced by the acquiescence of the President--seems unlikely to prove helpful to Mr. Kissinger as he attempts to play the honest broker in the Middle East. Threats, implied or specific, do not have a place in diplomacy. This does not, however, seem one of them. Our Oil supply problems are ours, to solve as best we can. We are forced to 1'33 that the oil producing countries will respond to sweet reason md to their own economic interest by selling Oil to us at a reasonable price. But they are not bound to do so, and the best defense we can build for ourselves is a reasonable conservation policy. To suggest, even remotely, that we would act in such an unprincipled way cheapens our country. It may also tend to make some Americans think there are cheap and short-cut ways for us to solve our oil problems. There aren't. We must develop our own resources, and we must reduce the appalling level of waste in our society, or we will ultimately have to suffer a permanent reduction in our standard of living. The alternative of plunging the world into war is no alternative at all, and Congress ought to act to make sure the President and the Secretary realize the need for restraint both in talk and action.'09 Editorial Detroit Free Press January 7, I975 What was Hiroshima like, Jesus, when the bomb fell? What went through the minds of mothers, what happened to the lives of children, what stabbed at the hearts of men when they were caught up in a sea of flames? What was Auschwitz like, Jesus, when the crematoriums belched the stink- ing smoke from the burned bodies of people? When families were separated, the weak perished, the strong faced inhuman tortures of the spirit and body. What was the concentration camp like, Jesus? Tell us, Lord, that we, the living, are capable Of the same cruelty, the same horror, if we turn our back on you, our brother, and our other brothers. 45 Save us from ourselves; spare us the evils of our hearts' good intentions, unbridled and mad. Turn us from our perversions of love, especially when these are perpetu- ated in your name. Speak to us about war, and about peace, and about the pos- sibilities for both in our very human hearts. Malcolm Boyd I965 In classic times heroes were god-men; in the Middle Ages, God's men; in the Renaissance, universal men; in the eighteenth century, gentlemen; in the nineteenth, self-made men. Our century has seen the common man and the out- sider become heroic. In keeping with the times they have reacted to our social and scientific revolutions. Some of them now go where once only gods could dwell--in outer space. Heroes must act their ages. History is not meaningful without people, and people are ineffective without leaders. The search for para- gons is inherent in human nature. In remote areas of the world men are still deified in their own lifetimes. The idea of aloofness in super-human power comes late in history. Every hero mirrors the time and place in which he lives. He must reflect men's innermost hOpes and beliefs in a public way. No easy task this. First he will benefit from excess adulation then fall prey to hysteria of depreciation. The rise and fall of heroes is closely tied in with a culture's ultimate purposes. The hero is always a barometer to the national 'climate of Opinion. Marshall Fishwick The Hero, American Style I969 School authorities can no longer deny basic human rights to pupils and staff on the ground that if the rights were granted it would become impossible to oper- ate the schools. There is simply no evidence tO indicate that those school systems which have adopted pupil codes and implemented human rights programs have suffered disorder. On the contrary, there is mounting evidence to the contrary. Pupils and staff help a school function effectively and pleasantly when they are accorded human dignity and human rights. William G. Zimmer- man, Jr. "Human Rights and Administrative Respon- sibility" Phi Delta Kap on December, I974 46 The first half of the seventies will be a period of transition and experimenta- tion, a search for new fixed points of orientation. It will be a period of uncer- tainty as to the role the American public wishes the United States to play in the world, the amount Of influence it wants to preserve. The intellectuals, when President Nixon came to ower, withdrew to their ivory towers to contemplate the mistakes of the past and t e essons to be drawn from them for the future. And the indications are that the foreign policy elite, having found overseas affairs their undoing, are now turning inward and are more interested in becoming a domestic policy elite, under the impulse of the overriding problems that any American gov- ernment will be facing at home in the seventies. EurOpeans and the Japanese tend to underestimate these problems; Americans perhaps tend to overestimate them. The new generation of Americans is coming to ower with a different experi- ence and a different outlook. It is hardly aware of t e Community coup in Czech- oslovakia in I947, it has no memory of the Berlin blockade, the invasion of Korea or the suppression of Hungary. Uppermost in its mind is the catastrophe of Vietnam. The poison from that war will circulate in the American body and the American conscience for some time to come; the war's character and conduct are bound to remain part of the American experience and may leave an imprint as lasting as that of the Civil War. To this new generation it is damning evidence that the far-flung responsibilities of the United States have been executed in a reckless manner, that the limitations of American ower have been incorrectly assessed and that American domestic needs have been badly neglected. The aim of this new generation will be to change the priorities of the past. Between those who do not understand the game of world ower politics and those who exaggerate the need for overkill capacity, a great politica struggle in deveIOping in the seventies. There are many eloquent spokesman among this new generation for the urgent American domestic needs, but as yet none for internationalism who can command the respect of this generation as well as Of Congress. . . . "3 Henry Brandon The Retreat of American Power I 972 First, it became clear that future shock is no longer a distantly potential danger, but a real sickness from which increasingly large numbers already suffer. This psycho-biological condition can be described in medical and psychiatric terms. It is the disease of change. Second, I gradually came to be appalled by how little is actually known about adaptivity, either by those who call for and create vast changes in our society, or by those who supposedly prepare us to cope with those changes. Earn- est intellectuals talk bravely about 'educating for change' or 'preparing peOple for s..Z-« ‘.A ' 1 - n‘h' 47 the future.‘ But we know virtually nothing about how to do it. In the most rapidly changing environment to which man has ever been exposed, we remain pitifully ignorant of how the human animal copes. I '4 Alvin Toffler Future Shock I970 We were sitting in Mr. Truman's office at the library during one of the inter- minable waits for film to be changed in a camera. It was after lunch, and I believe he had had a 'ibation' or two. His eyes were a little brighter than usual, his com- plexion a little pinker. In any case, without warning, he said, 'Do you want to know what I think causes the ruination of a lot of men?‘ I said that I most certainly did. The question is one that has occurred to me now and again. 'Well,' Mr. Truman said, 'I've made a great, long study Of these things, as you can see up there if you've Iooked.‘ He pointed to the bookshelves, which, as I've said, mostly contained biographies and histories. 'Three things ruin a man, if you want to know what I believe. One's power, one's money, and one's women.‘ 'If a man can accept a situation in a place of power with the thought that it's only temporary, he comes out all right. But when he thinks that he is the cause of the power, that can be his ruination.‘ 'And when a man has too much money too soon, that has the same effect on him. He just never gets to understanding that getting enough money to eat and getting a roof over his head is the thing that throughout history most people have spent their lives trying to do and haven't succeeded . . . If you've got too much money too soon, it ruins you by setting you too far apart from most of the human race.‘ 'And a man who is not loyal to his family, to his wife, and his mother and his sisters can be ruined if he has a cornplex in that direction. If he has the right woman as a partner, he never has any trouble. But if he has the wrong one or if he's mixed up with a bunch of whores, why, then he's in a hell of a fix. And I can name them to you, the ones that got mixed up in that way. But we won't do it now.‘ 48 'Those three things, though, in my Opinion, power, money, and women in that order, are what most often contribute to the ruination of man. You read your history and you'll find out.‘ "5 Merle Miller Plain Speaking: An Oral Biografl’ty of Harry S. Truman I973 In education surely lies some of the best help of the present and the great hie of the future. Yet we must admit that much of education at all levels is stulifying and in fact Operates as an assembly line producing not varied human personalities eager to exPlore and implement the human agenda, but conformist products that simply perpetuate the post into the future. Students are assiduously discouraged from fundamental examination Of the need for adaptive change, and are led to believe that the greatest need lies in fixation Of the present. It is perplexing how so many of our high school principals have come to care more about the preservation of traditional barbering than the elimination of traditional barbarism. '16 Roderic Garney, M.D. The Human Agenda I968 rm This land is your land, this land is my land, from California to the New York Island. "7 Woody Guthrie "This Land is Your Land" I956 With its massive and concentrated ower, the Corporate State seems in- vulnerable to reform or revolution. Nevertheless, in the last few years the State has been beset by deep troubles from within, from many different groups of angry and dissatisfied peOple. How is this possible, when the State's position is so unchallengeable, and its critics are so weak, divided, and lacking in a plan or theory Of how to proceed? It is our theory that the State itself is now bringing about its own destruction. The machine itself has begun to do the work of revolu- tion. The State is now generating forces that will accomplish what no 49 revolutionaries could accomplish by themselves. And there is nothing the State can do, by repression or power, to prevent these forces from bringing it down. '8 Charles A. Reich The Greening of America I970 Education - Level of schooling is strongly related to participation. Those with some high school education were more likely to riot than those who had only finished grade school. In the Detroit survey 93 percent of the self-reported rioters had gone beyond grade school, compared with 72.I percent of the uninvolved. In the Newark survey the comparable figures are 98.I percent and 85.7 percent. The majority of self-reported rioters are not, however, high school graduates. Education and income are the only factors which distinguish the counter- rioter from the non-involved. Apparently, high levels of education and income not only prevent rioting but are more likely to lead to active, responsible Opposi- tion to rioting. Report Of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders I968 None of us can escape the consequences of the continuing economic and social decay of the central city and the closely related problem Of rural poverty. The convergence of these conditions in the racial ghetto and the resulting discon- tent and disruotion threaten democratic values fundamental to our progress as a free society. Report Of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders I968 Mayor Urges Police Guard for Schools”! Headline Detroit Free Press January 8, I975 The essential fact is that neither existing conditions nor the garrison state offer acceptable alternatives for the future of this country. Only a greatly en- larged commitment tO national action--compassionate, massive, and sustained, 50 backed by the will and resources of the most powerful and the richest nation of this earth--can shape a future that is compatible with the historic ideals Of Amer- ican society. . . '22 Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders I968 The health level of the American Indian is among the lowest of any major population group in the United States. The infant mortality rate is 30.9 for l,000 live births for Indians and Alaskan natives as contrasted with 2l .8 for all other races in the United States. The incidence of new active cases of tuberculosis among Indians and Alaskan natives outstrips the national average seven times. Twenty-nine percent of Indian homes rely an unsatisfactory sources of water and more than 50 percent of all Indian homes have inadequate facilities for sanitary waste disposal. Viral infections, pneumonia and malnutrition--all Of which contribute to chronic ill health and mental retardation--are common among Indian children. The plight Of the Indians gives grim testimony to the devastqtfi’gg effects of unemployment on the individual, the family, and the community. The Official Associated Press Almanac I974 It is said that our schools are geared to 'middle class values,‘ but this is a false and misleading use of terms. The schools less and less represent any human values, but simply adjustment to a mechanical system.'24 Paul Goodman Compulsory Mis-educa- tion and the Community of Schofars I962 Come on peOple now, Smile on your brother. Everybody get together Try to love one another right now. '25 Chet Powers The Youngbloods I967 5I Today's Grim World Disillusions Kids I wrote something Monday that bothered me. It's been knocking around my mind for weeks. Monday it came out this way: I'm not exactly sure why, but I have this feeling that it would be very dif- ficult to be a kid growing up today. I guess growing up in my era is difficult on the surface. The physical and emotional changes of a kid-into-adulthood are sort of universal. Puppy loves. Peer-group pressures. Parental rejection. Social politics. Identity problems. We all go through these things. We always have, I guess, in any generation, any time segment throughout history. But what's bothering me is the startling fact that I, personally, don't think I could hack it as a kid today. And I think that if the rest of my generation was honest and reflective, this feeling runs through us all. I'm 38, born before World War II in a country that spoiled me. Totally. I've been comforted and assured that since today is so good, tomorrow will be even better. The cornerstone of the American dream. My country would take care of us all because we are the biggest, the best. What a security blanket! I never doubted a thing about the American might and the American might and the American stand on the side Of everything that is right and just. Why should I have doubted it? Born in I936, my impressionable years were the years America was saving the world, weren't we? I believed, with some justification, that not only did the free world admire and respect the United States, most of the free world owed us. A debt, we imagined, that would last forever. Since the United States had the might, we called all the shots. The world revolves around the United States. We had the technological power and bought the glory. 52 We had not only the military might as our muscle but also the natural resources to buy whatever we couldn't flex a bicep and get. When I was I0 years old, World War II was over and we were the king Of the world and our kingdom was forever. Young peOple fought and won that war. Grew up fast, they said. Young peOple, the youth of the country, are the answer, they said. Young peOple ruled the roost. The world was our oyster with two pearls in every shell. When I started high school, we had ceased becoming just young peOple. We were full-blown consumers, and we had enormous clout as a group. Marketing and merchandising was directed right at us. You could buy youth two ways. You could buy youth as a market if you had the right item and you could buy a hunk Of youth yourself by adopting their fashions and fads. As young people we spent money as we chose to spend it. We went where and with whom we chose. We become our own authority as the nuclear family began to mushroom. The I950's were the Golden Age of the Teenagers' . We started having our own children and rushed them through their childhood and gave them a double- dose of that uncurbed freedom we enjoyed. We filled them with great eXpectations because of our innocent faith in the ability Of the United States to influence the world and keep the affluence at home. It worked for us and it'll work for you, too, kids. But the kids come to their senses and recognized the Great EXpectation Gap long before we did. Realism set in. Youth began to realize that maybe the only two things we really did well were wage war and spend money. My generation, and the generations that raised us, are just now catching up to reality. Cold facts that for all our worth and might, a Middle East cartel is now the center of world power because of its stranglehold on the world's Iifeblood--oil . We are no longer the favored or favorite nation. In fact, nobody really likes or cares about us as much as our National Ego has led us to believe. 53 Our security blanket is in shreds. I don't know whether my generation could make it today if we had to start all over again as kids because we lived for the tomorrows and took the todays for granted. '26 Bob Talbert Detroit Free Press January 8, I975 During this period of recession, inflation, unemployment, and crime, we are led into apathy and depression and must try to find some peace of mind, happiness and hope for a better tomorrow. I grasp glimpses of light from reading Joe Stroud and Louis Cook's columns. Unlike the discouraging front page headlines, they write to somehow save us. There is something that compels some of us to remain in Detroit like Cook said. It is a struggle and it is dangerous. There are countless thefts and murders in Detroit, further there are deplorable living conditions in some areas. But there are the sensational stories which instigate fear and escapism. What concerns some of us is the fact that for some residents there are no choices to live else- where. There are countless numbers of people working for peace and brotherhood who never make the headlines. They are the truly beautiful peOple with a rich- ness of love in their inner selves which is projected through various channels to lighten the burden of the disadvantaged. The middle schools of Detroit, which are voluntarily integrated, are filled with dedicated teachers and students with parents whose values reflect an interest in our city. These peOple are inspiring our youth with that hppp for brotherhood and are learning to strive together for a better tomorrow. We ought to learn to emphasize the good rather than the evil and to en- courage rather than discourage. Thinking positively is the first step toward a peaceful mind, a peaceful community, a peaceful world, and a healthy society. '27 Carol Jachim Letter to the Editor Detroit Free Press January I2, I975 The need for caring has gone out Of America. Everything is governed by power and money, which are the biggest evils of our time. PeOple talk to each other with money. '28 Marlene Dietrich January, I975 54 I think you Americans would have been better if you hadn't invested the chief executive power and magic in one person. It's dangerous for one man to be the chief executive, chief head of his party and to have the reverence accorded to royalty. C. P. Snow January, I975 Teacher-Union Priorities Ignore Pupil's Plight Albert M. Shanker, president Of the American Federation of Teachers, places the welfare Of teachers above that of school pupils by seeking to increase teacher salaries even when pupils' reading scores are declining. He appears to believe that labor union organizing takes precedent over improving teacher skills. Figures from an eighteen-month study show that 4.8 percent of the coun- try's school pupils (over two million) are being systematically 'excluded' from school while the average annual salary for teachers has doubled in ten years. The figures, released by the Children's Defense Fund . . .I30 Chuck Stone Detroit Free Press January II, I975 Detroit: Isn't the acquisition of power a sort of natural tendency in humans and in the evolution of cultures--the striving for more energy and dominance and so forth? Mendenhall: Oh, yes, we ran into that kind of thinking way, way back: 'greater ower is the goal of social revolution.' But those ideas are really a thorough y pagan rationalization for amoral conduct. It took me a while to catch on that power was not the cause of human behavior, but a result of it, and not always a good one either. Values are what produce human behavior and the ultimate course of a society. And when I look around today at some of the futile efforts Of the powers that be trying to cope with our mounting problems . . . you see that coercive power is never qoing to be the solution to problems any- more. It's really the source of them. 3' George Mendenhall Detroit Magazine January 26, I975 55 A PARTING SHOT - CHAPTER III: Her Heart Bleeds for Flint PeOple In recent months I have become terribly concerned about our economic problems. January 4, as I was coming home from the grocery store, I heard on the radio about the President's 'Blue Ribbon Citizen Unit.‘ When I heard it, it made me sick to my stomach, because of Flint and other similar cities; the massive un- employment, high prices and crimes. It makes me wonder if the President or any of our elected Officials are concerned about the peOple. My heart bleeds for the peOple in this city, who for years have been will- ing to work and be independent and now have to depend on unemployment or welfare. My point is I'm tired of hearing about who is spying on whom and hOpe that Mr. President and the rest of the government will start to put people back to work and stop inflation. '32 Rosaline Brawn Letter to the Editor The Flint Journal January 8, I975 CHAPTER IV Unemployment, violence, crime, recession/depression, and conflict are words very much on the minds of peOple today. South Boston High School , New York, Crestwood, Washington, D.C.--cities, places with explosive issues--all make evident the problem with which we are faced. The divisions, real and per- ceived, between young and old, liberals and conservatives, left and right, blacks and whites, President and Congress, add an additional dimension to the quandary-- I976. Significant numbers of social commentators, many of those quoted in chapters of this volume, seem to share the country's concern. Back in October, I968, in an issue of Christian Century, Peter L. Berger, a theologian and social- ogist, published an article entitled: "Between Tyranny and Chaos, " in which he stated: The chaos rumbling behind the sleek facades Of American life today is not just a nervous fantasy of the middle-aged; it is a sinister reality and the propensity Of the 'Ieft' to deny or, alternatively, to welcome it is just as pernicious as the mindless call for repression on the 'right.' Arthur Schlesinger speaks somewhere of the 'thin membrane of civility that holds a society together.’ The membrane has become frighteningly thin in more ways than one . . . , and the plunge into anarchy that its final wearing I away would entail is a possibility to be considered with very great serious- ness. I It is the schools and educational institutions of America which have taken upon themselves the task Of keeping the "thin membrane of civility" a reality. 56 57 What home and church preserved in the past, institutions of learning hold together today. But is the violence and disruption which have happened in South Boston, West Virginia, Detroit, and elsewhere an assertion that this social institution is not equal to the task? Certainly there are definite reasons for the violence currently surrounding so much of school-related life today. Some Of the difficulty stems from the denial of the modern American school system to encourage idealism, to teach any sem- blance Of a value system. In the life of the public schools, those concerned with ideals are put down or dismissed as dreamers and speculators. The public schools have ruled out of the main stream of intelligent discourse the encouragement of thought based on the ideals of universal love, peace between nations and men, and belief in the potential and worth of 9_|_l_ human beings. In place, the schools have substituted "career education, " vocational education," and "relevant courses of instruction. " Violence, strife, and crime--all these stem from certain rationalizations and assumptions. One assumption of one of these, violence, is to treat man as a thing rather than as a human being. As we know--all of us--things do not dream, or smile, or laugh, or hOpe, or love. Man as an object is an easy victim of vio- lence; he does not really respond. As is all too often the case, when the school deals with students as an Object, it creates in those students a view of man and the world that has little to constrain it. It is dehumanizing to deal with man only as an Object--as an assimilator and transmitter of fact, as a creature bound by fixed definitions that are exemplified by the behavioral-modifi cation and/or stimulus- response schools of psychology. 58 Will the cities burn again in future summers? History, facts, figures, statistics, would support the hypothesis. Very little, indeed, has happened since I967 to really change the course of direction of the cities. Lip service has been paid. The schools have imitated and have attempted to become "relevant." In fact, little has changed at all. If history repeats itself, the summer of I976 or one or two beyond may play a role and have an impact on the nation which will make the summer Of I967 a "holiday" in comparison. What, then, do we do? Where do we go? What is the mission of the schools if the nation is to survive? The need is clear. The need is for an immediate examination Of the cur- riculum of the schools with a view toward including in it the kinds Of eXperiences that bring human values into focus. The need is for recognition that America "doesn't have it made." The need is for us to reexamine what schools and educa- tion are all about. Without saying anything new, without a distinct or original solution to the problems of the cities--of the schools--Iet me restate what others have long called for. It is time for the schools to include in the curriculum those areas of study, courses , experiences, opportunities, for students to develop their affective as well as cognitive potentials. It is important for students to know about the world of work. But knowing about the world of work does little when the unemployment rate in a state, Michigan, for example, reaches I0 or I2%. The world of work is meaningless for a good segment of the pOpulation of America. In addition to the foregoing task, it is necessary for the school to reaffirm the nation, the belief, in the Objective demands of ethical imperatives. Watergate 59 cannot happen again! Vietnam cannot happen again! The nation must come to- gether. And as the little girl outside the airport in Cleveland, Ohio said with her home-made banner, as Richard Nixon campaigned in I968: "Bring us together." But he didn't. All of us must! After all, it is in man, and not in the animal world, that one finds a sense of Objective order of human and natural events. As we lose our sense of social order, as alienation and anomie increase, we become more like animals. The schools do not face an easy task. It will not be simple. In the past, the pendulum in education has swung rather readily back and forth. Should, can it continue? Can the schools jump on to each and every bandwagon proposed by each and every individual who thinks he or she has the solution to the problems of contemporary society? I think not. It is my thesis that the educational institutions of America, especially the public schools, hold the key to the American dream. If the dream is to come true, radical change must be effected. Whether the American dream will be the shortest on record (the Bi-centennial is just around the corner) depends, in large measure, on how the schools Of our nation choose to treat man. Will they--can they--survive the promise they have thrust into our society or shall their hppeihave to pass to another phylum of human ingenuity? I believe public education will survive and oneltppfi of keeping alive that "thin membrane of civility" lies in allowing ethics and science to be equal part- ners in the curriculum of the schools. When the schools have established this alliance and when they are, moreover, as concerned with the development of fully-functioning, self-directing man as they are with man as assimilator of fact, 60 lover of thing and machines, over people, over God, the violence and conflict which are an outgrowth of dehumanization will begin to fade and men who are now at arms and at arm's length will be free to embrace one another. A PARTING SHOT - CHAPTER IV There is not any haunt of prOphecy, Nor any old chimera of the grave, Neither the golden underground, nor isle Melodious, where spirits got them home, Nor visionary south, nor cloudy palm Remote on Heaven's hill, that has endureril34 As April's green endures; or will endure. Wallace Stevens I874-I955 CHAPTER V There are not many words used as frequently today as the word community. It is a word used with some degree of scientific precision in sociology. It is also a term tossed about with casual abandonment in international affairs. Community sometimes seems to be put forward as the answer to all problems of the disaffected youth in the nation. Most strikingly at present, community has become a rallying cry Of educational reform. Gabriel Moran I970 Gabriel Moran spoke Of the frequency of the use of the word "community" back in I970. Since that time, the word has come into even more common usage and schools have indeed caught hold of it. In recent years, many school districts have changed their public identification from "X Public Schools," to "X Community Schools." But one must seriously question whether the schools actually know what the word "community" is all about. If the spirit of community was genuinely prac- ticed and whole-heartedly embraced by those who staff our schools, would the nation, would the cities face the crisis Of I976? If the schools which have incor- porated the word "community" into their identities really were about the business Of building community, all those who spoke in Chapters Two and Three would have been able to say more positive things than what they did say. But it is not so. The schools have failed to build community as the community, in turn, has failed to "build" schools. Monuments in brick and stone--bigger, better, brighter--dot the country and more are planned and erected each year. The American fascination 6I 62 with bigness is reflected in the bigness of our schools. Bigger is better? Perhaps. Conant said something about the size Of schools back in the I950's. '36 Then, it became fashionable for school districts to consolidate; for small high schools to merge with bigger high schools; for "smallness" to become outmoded. Only the large, comprehensive high school could meet the needs of young people. And it has? Schooling has replaced education. . The system, which must account for the training of millions of young peOple, has lost hold Of itself. Some would even contend that the American education system has flunked. The system has become industry and its failure to provide for all is tied to its priorities. Many young people, particularly those from non-middle class society, are not being educated-- in any meaningful sense--they are being shunted aside, ignored, and screened-out, treated as second class and second rate by a system which says that they are part Of the school community. The over two million young people of school age who are not in school today provide adequate proof of the failure of the system. As I have reread Chapters Two and Three often, I am somewhat disturbed that the bringing together Of the critics Of society and education in those chapters seems to paint an altogether bleak picture. Quotation after quotation point to the ills of the system rather than the good the system has accomplished. As a social diagnostician, I may have run the risk Of preoccupation with only the negatives in human affairs and in the schools. However, if the negatives are the realities and the determinants of the future, and only the negatives alone, there is little purpose in attempting to communicate with others about problems of social justice and social morality and social responsibility. If negatives alone are to determine what happens in education, what happens to the cities, this piece of writing is a futile gesture. 63 From the negatives, however, some good can follow. Without doubt, there is not a school system on the face of the earth that can match the American system. The Opportunities afforded millions of peOple over the years have far surpassed the failures the system has experienced. But the failures are those issues to which this paper is addressed because it is in them that the American school system can find needed new directions. American education does provide for many of the needs of American society. However, it does not provide for the needs of 9_l_l_ elements of society and it must begin to do so. In large part, the tangible needs of middle class society are quite well met in the public schools. But genuine community demands that schools also provide for the less tangible needs of man and for those who do not seem to "fit" neatly into the system. Genuine community means providing education which takes as its primary goal the strengthening of man's feeling capacity, his ability to identify with the human needs of his fellow man. Educa- tion must free man to test the wide range of his imagination and intellect. Education must prepare man for creative and meaningful work which will con- tribute to the needs of others and society at large. Education must prepare man for constructive and creative human relationships. It is in these areas where I believe the American public school has primarily failed. Other critics point to surveys and studies which show that there are millions of Americans who cannot read or write upon graduation from the public high schools as the primary failure of the system. However, I believe the real issues are more complex than the declining scores of students on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. The issues relate to respect for human rights, for life, for equal Opportunity for all Americans. And 64 as long as respect for human rights and for life is not clear in the schools, it will be impossible to create a iust society. In American society today, many peOple accept the iniustices of life inflicted on others as a given. They spend their time in isolated peace and personal success, acquiring more, giving less, accepting an identity which disavows the dignity and worth of the individual. Massive education has produced massive thinking. If it were otherwise, could our society tolerate slums and ghettos to exist when they are correctable? Could people permit other peOple to live in abiect poverty, filth, and ugliness, which are correctable? Could people permit generation after generation to perpetuate inner-city violence and conflict? If the schools were more serious about the business of ethics and morality, rather than the pace of technology, perhaps the differences raging between the "haves" and the "have-nots" would not loom so large today. The critics of Chapters Two and Three, deliberately selected, as well as my own comments, have not painted an altogether rosy picture of the nation or the state of education. But painting such a picture does not necessarily lead to despair or total pessimism. Indeed, the picture which has been painted can lead to ex- citement and challenge, to a m that the schools and society can adapt and change to meet the needs of an increasingly complex and difficult time. Because I do h_op_e, because I firmly believe the system of American public education can meet the needs of the times ,. because I think schools can be genuinely humane in- stitutions--places where people can grow, in warmth and dignity, without being places where people are torn and crippled, discarded and dismissed--| submit the 65 next chapter as one basis for correction of some of our present difficulties. A PARTING SHOT - CHAPTER V The ower of new communities is still as small as a hand against the horizon, ut the ower is growing in the streets. Those who are critical of the sometimes pathetic attempts at new communities will have to come forward with alternatives that are better.I Gabriel Moran I970 CHAPTER VI As noted in the previous chapter, the findings of this research effort paint a rather dismal picture of life for millions of Americans and especially those who inhabit the cities. The high rate of unemployment in inner-cities, the illiteracy rate among minority groups, the racism still practiced by institutions, the greed and corruption which seems to consume so much of government and big business, the hedonism of modern American society and the need for immediate gratification of all wants, all these issues pervade life and extend to the schools. In Chapters Two and Three, I attempted to interweave many things into one and perhaps have caused confusion in the process. Because the school is not an entity unto itself, because the church is not so, or the family, or government-- because our lives are not segmented by each and every institution--but because all institutions blend and influence the course of our ship of state, it is necessary to relate all that is happening in the world to what happens to the individual. The system of American public education cannot itself shoulder the entire burden of responsibility for what the future holds. Neither church, state, nor family can. All combine into a haze of neither black or white but of gray. As no individual is perfect, no institution can be. But in striving to become, each individual and each institution has the responsibility to look closely at what it is, what she or he is, and ask the question--what can I do differently, do better, to make life better for myself and my institution, my state, than what I (we) have done in the past? 66 67 Reference has been made a number of times to the need for practicing genuine community in society and in our schools. Since I believe the practice of community to be of crucial importance in a world where anomie and alienation continue to increase, my recommendation for change in the system of American public education is based on a phi losOphy of education which has as its central focus the notion of community. The philosOphy of education which follows if sincerely implemented and practiced, would go some way toward reducing many of the critical issues the schools face. Certainly, this statement of direction is not the only solution to the problems of contemporary society or the problems of the schools. However, it is a move in the direction of greater respect and apprecia- tion for the less tangible needs of American society as noted in Chapters Four and Five. Joseph K. Hart, an American educator, once stated: The democratic problem in education is not primarily a problem of training children; it is a problem of making a community in which children cannot help growing up to be democratic, intelligent, disciplined to freedom, reverent of the goods of life, eager to share in the tasks of the age. A school cannot produce this result; nothing but a community can do so. I believe Hart speaks to an issue the schools must face. Indeed, probably the only chance contemporary man has is to discover how to use his intelligence in the service of love and kindness to himself and others. In community schools, some way must be found to assist people, to train people in moral sensitivity, to give all who come to the schools the assurance of love and respect, the security of kindness, and the integrity required to be fully-functioning human beings. Regardless of color, creed, socio-economic background, brightness or dullness, all those who enter the schools must be given these basic assurances. 68 As previously noted, it was the home and church which traditionally fostered social morality. Today, however, the task of producing human beings with trained morally sensitive intelligence must be assumed by educators. Some of the critics cited in this paper seem to say that education has ignored the need to teach social and moral responsibility. Educators in turn, assert that moral values are determined by society and culture and that the prevailing social norms determine what a person believes and how he behaves and treats his fellow man. Both the critics and the educators may be scapegoating. Whatever the case may be, it is time for American educators to provide stronger morally sensitive leadership for our society than what they have in the past. Implementa- tion of the following philosoPhy of education, in every state, in every school, would be one way for American educators to provide leadership and to make a difference in the lives of every individual for whom they are responsible. Again the central theme of this statement of educational philosOphy and direction focuses on "community." Since I believe community is what education is all about, the following definition of the word should be kept in mind when reading the statement. Community is defined here as an ordering of human life that unites, that brings out the capacities of each individual, and that forges a band out of differences. Community means a meeting together, sharing life in its fullest, so that people can become more wholly themselves. A STATEMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND DIRECTION FOR CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN SOCIETY Tenets We, the people, believe in a philosophy which deals with each individual and recognizes the many differences among people of the same age. 69 THEREFORE, we the peOple support educational programs which place primary emphasis on the individual and which allow flexibility in school programs and activities. We, the people, believe that the central purpose of education is to devel0p a habit of inquiry; to deveIOp self-educating individuals. THEREFORE, we the people support school programs which encourage critical thought and independent study. We, the peOple, believe schools should be caring, sensitive, disciplined, and friendly places. THEREFORE, we the people wish our schools to be places where learner and teacher can come to know each other well. We, the peOple, believe in life-long education. THEREFORE, we the people wish our schools to provide programs for all people. We, the peOple, believe the good citizen has responsibilities not only toward his own affairs, but also toward those of others. THEREFORE, we the people encourage programs of study designed to help individuals accept responsibility toward society and self, recognizing that acceptance of responsibility often requires certain sacrifices of self. We, the peOple, believe each individual has a right to seek his own future. THEREFORE, we the peOple wish our schools to provide a wide variety of experiences which allow for attainment of differing career goals . 70 We, the peOple, believe the entire community should be involved in and be part of the educational process. THEREFORE, we the peOple encourage a partnership between school and home and the other institutions of the community. We, the peOple, believe in continuous evaluation and assessment of our schools. THEREFORE, we the people encourage the active participation of gll_pe0ple in the community in analysis of school programs. We, the people, believe schools must provide for the physical as well as mental well-being of young people. THEREFORE, we the peOple support programs which assist the individual to develop his whole self--physical, spiritual, social, emotional, as well as mental. We, the peOple, believe schools must prepare individuals for a changing society, ever more complex society. THEREFORE, we the peOple encourage an examination of the world through both academic and practical eXperience programs. Goals In the final analysis, the purpose of the schools is to assure equal access to educational opportunity for every individual-white, brown, red, black, or yellow. All must have access to programs which will allow them to develop to the maximum of their potential. And while the potential of each individual varies, the schools help the individual move toward certain goals. 7l We, the people, desire our young men and women to: ACOUIRE habits of living which provide for maximum mental, physical, social, emotional, and moral well-being. ACOUIRE a critical-thinking capacity leading toward increased self-awareness, self-direction, and self-motivation. ACOUIRE an appropriate command of basic skills necessary for functioning in modern society. ACCEPT responsibility for individual actions. ACCEPT self as well as others as worthy of dignity, respect, and understanding . LEARN to appreciate and enioy the world, its natural and God-made resources. ACQUIRE an awareness of society, careers, use of leisure time, and opportunities in continued education and/or employment. UNDERSTAND the importance of group and personal effort and sacrifice needed to achieve success. APPRECIATE the opportunities available to the individual who has pride in himself, his family, his work, his church, and his community. DEVELOP an appreciation of learning for its own sake. Accountability All those who are part of the educational process must accept responsibility for a portion of the enterprise, i.e. , each constituent group--boards of education, administrators, teachers, parents, students-"must be held accountable for its role. III III ii Ill-ll Ill; til 72 However, if the foregoing statement of philosophy and direction is to be fully im- plemented, it will fall to the professional educators to take the leadership role. For purposes of this statement of philosophy and direction, accountability takes on great importance. Accountability is here defined as a cooperative process. It is, in simple terms, a way of using information about education to improve educa- tion. And accountability is not for professional educators alone. It is a method of allowing for improved education by any individual or group articulating the need for that improvement. It is a sharing of common concerns and an addressing of them. The concerns relating to education and to contemporary society have been articulated in previous chapters. The challenges the American public school system must face and meet head-on are quite obvious. As a nation committed to equal opportunity for all, we cannot ignore the plight of those who have been subiect to poverty, racism, discrimination and the condition of being something other than white and middle class. In particular, the concerns of education as they relate to life in the nation's cities must receive immediate attention. The cities must be transformed from places of despair to places that are responsive to and stimulate the human spirit and the human quest for love, kindness, and understanding. The cities of the future must become places where the beauty of man rather than the beast in man flourishes. And the schools can help transform the cities from chaotic and lawless environments into genuinely rich communities which reflect man's respect for himself, his fellow man, and for life. The schools can help the cities to once again dream. They can plant in the young people of the cities the seed from which will blossom a better society. If the schools carefully and systematically incorpor- ate every aspect of the statement of philosophy and direction set forth here, in time 73 to come, the cities will be transformed from their present state of anguish to a condition of enduring ioy. If the schools of the cities can become communities where respect for self and others once again becomes paramount, where people can learn to live, think and feel, to share and en ioy the good, there is [123 that the cities will not burn again in summers to come. There is both myth and magic about American public education. The magic is the good it has done and the opportunity it has afforded millions of people. The myth is that it has done the iob for g_I_I_. The facts and figures in previous chap- ters burst the bubble that all is well. What is recommended in this chapter is but one step toward resolution of the problems American education faces. If it can begin with an examination of what is the real situation, if it can begin to place more than a band-aid on the problems of city schools in particular, there will be reason for reioicing. The findings of this study have not been altogether pleasant. The realities of I976 are in accord with the findings. Unless there is significant change in the course of American public education and in other institutions, the violence which engulfed the cities in I967 most likely will be repeated. The recommendations made in this study call for a genuine commitment on the part of educators, on the part of the system, to provide strong moral leadership. The task is not an easy one and it will require concerted effort to effect necessary change. But the lives of too many people hang in the balance and what education does to help adiust the wrongs of society may make the difference between national survival and national disaster. 74 In concluding this last chapter, I again reaffirm the hope that I have for the future. Regardless of the anguish expressed by others and myself, there is every reason to believe that American public education can save itself and help save the nation. The summer of I976 fast approaches. What happens to the cities will affect all of us. Perhaps, if we begin now to examine the real issues of life, we wiII--all of us--be able to do something to prevent the violence which has begun to rear its ugly neck in the lives of so many people. Let Gary, Indiana; Detroit, Michigan; Newark, New Jersey; Atlanta, Georgia; San Francisco, California; Flint, Michigan; and cities across the nation live! A PARTING SHOT - CHAPTER VI The world will go on somehow, and more crises will follow. It will go best, however, if among us there are men who have stood apart, who refused to be' anxious or too much concerned, who were cool and intriguing and had their eyes on a longer past and a longer future. Walter Lippmann I934 FOOTNOTES LIST OF FOOTNOTES I. Roderic Gorney, The Human Agenda (New York: I968), p. 66I . 2. "Student, I6, Dies in Shooting Outside MacKenzie High," Detroit Free Press, December 12, I974, p. 3A. 3. Chuck Stone, "Ford Indifference Revives Black Militancy, " Detroit Free Press, December 5, I974, p. IOA. 4. Ann Ellenbogen in Bob Talbert's "Quotebag Full," Detroit Free Press, December 8, I974, p. 9A. 5. J. B. MacDonald, B. J. Wolfson, and E. Zaret, "Reschooling Society: A Conceptual Model, " Association for Supervision and Curriculum DeveIOpment (Washington, D.C.: I973), p. l. 6. Tom Wicker, "Introduction, " Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (New Yoi'k: I968), p. vii. 7. "I,OOO Riot at School in Boston, " Detroit Free Press, December I2, I974, p. IA. 8. Gary Blonston, "U. 5. School System Forces Out Children Who Are 'Different',‘I Detroit Free Press, December 22, I974, p. I5C. 9. "All Crimes Increased Last Month, " Detroit Free Press, December I, 1974, p. 2A. IO. Walter Lippman, I934 (Source not known). II . The Reform of Secondary Education: A Report of the National Commission on the Refbrm of Secondary Education (New York?l9j73), p. 8. l2. Judd Arnett, "True Spirit of Christmas Can Thrive Best in Adversity, " Detroit Free Press, December I5, I974, p. SB. I3. "Getting Guns Out of School ," Detroit Free Press, December I5, I974, p. 28. I4. Gary Blonston, op. cit., p. l5C (Article on the study of The Chil- dren's Defense Fund). 76 I5. I6. I7. I8. I9. 20. 2I. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 77 Jim BISI‘OP: "Poverty, Joblessness, and Rising Crime Rate, " Detroit Free Press, December IO, I974, p. IIA. Jack E. Weller, Yesterday's People - Life in Contemporary Appalachia (Lexington, Kentucky: I966), p. I60. Robert F. Kennedy, To Seek a Newer World (New York: I967), p. 98. Paul Goodman, Compulsory Mid-education and the Community of Scholars (New York: I962), p. I8. Clifton R. Wharton, "Continuity and Change: Academic Greatness Under Stress (East Lansing, Michigan: I97I), p. I9. Dewey Bunnell, "Tin Man, " I974 (Transcription of pOpular song). Joe H. Stroud, "Community ls Heart of City's Strength, " Detroit Free Press, December 22, I974, p. 2C. William Grant, "Out of 80 Schools, 4 Hotbeds of Violence, " Detroit Free Press, December 22, I974, p. 4C. C. J. Brauner and H. W. Burns, Problems in Education and Phil- osophy (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: I965), Preface. Kenneth B. Clark, Pathos of Power (Evanston, Illinois: I974), p. 50. Lyndon Baines Johnson, "Address to the Nation,‘ in Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (New York: I968), Preface. "Education - Too Little, Too Late, " Parade Magazine, June I6, I974, p. 5. F. Newmann and D. Oliver, Harvard Education Review (Boston: 1968), p. 42. R. M. Maclver and C. H. Page, Society: An Introductory Analysis (New York: I949), p. 62. The Official Associated Press Almanac, I974 (Maplewood, New Jersey: I973), p. 24I. John W. Gardner, Excellence--Can We Be Equal and Excellent Too? (New York: I96I). p. I6I. 3I. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 4I. 42. 43. 45. 46. 47. 78 Clare A. Broadhead, "Chapter 3: Overcoming Racism - The Alternatives Before Us, " Association for Supervision and Curriculum Devel- opment (Washington, D.C.: I974), p. 83. Warren l. Susman, The Reconstruction of an American College (Somerset, New Jersey: I968), p. IIT. Michael Oakeshott, Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays (New York: I962), p. I03. Sydney J. Harris, "Model Logic IndorsesVirtues of Democracy, " Detroit Free Press, September 25, I974, p. I5A. R. P. Fairfield, " Can We Save the Public High Schools?" The Humanist (New York: I97I), p. 7. "Education," Time Magazine, January 6, I975, p. 92. Ralph Abernathy in "Small Mercies, " Time Magazine, December 30, I974, p. 6. Lester Velie, "The $32-Billion Misunderstanding, " Reader's Digest, January, I974, p. I35. Paul R. Klohr, "A Greening of the High School," The Humanist, New York: I97I, p. I0. |bid., p. 10. William L. Griffen, "A Needed Dialogue--Schools and Values," Controversy in American Education (New York: I967), p. 39. Paul F. Brandwein, The Permanent Agenda of Man: The Humanities New York: I97I), pp. 48-49. Marianne Moore, "The Student," I95I (Source not known). The Official Associated Press Almanac, I974, op. cit., p. 377. Ralph Waldo Emerson, The American Tradition in Literature (New York, I956), p. I006. Mahatma Ghandi, I948 (Source not known). James B. Conant, Slums and Suburbs (New York: I964) , pp. I27- I28. 48. 49. 50. SI. 52. 53. 55. 57. 58. 59. 60. 6I. 62. 63. 65. 79 "Study Challenges U.S. Economic System," The Catholic Weekly, January 3, I975, p. 8. Bernard J. Cooke, Christian Involvement (Chicago: I966), p. 27. Carl F. Burke, God is For Real, Man (New York: I966), p. 40. Erik Erikson, I963 (Source not known). "Social Responsibility in a Free Society, " The Educational Policies Commission of the National Education Association (Washington, D.C.: I963), p. I3. "Study Challenges U.S. Economic System," op. cit., p. 8. Eric Hoffer, The Ordeal of Change (New York: I952), p. I20. Pablo Casals, I942 (Argus Communications poster). Langston Hughes, "Ballad of the Landlord,‘I (New York: I959), p. 63. Charles E. Irvin, "New Year Signs of Hape, " The Catholic Weekly, January 3, I975, p. 2. Henry Steele Commager, "Watergate and the Schools," Today's Education, September/October, I974, p. 22. The Official Associated Press Almanac, I974, fl. cit., p. 24I . Malcolm Boyd, Are You Running With Me, Jesus (New York: I965), p. 67. John Locke, I700 (Source not known). Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, E‘ cit., p. 410. Kenneth B. Clark, op. cit., p. xiv. "A Climate for Individuality, " Statement of the Joint Proiect on the Individual and the School (Washington, D.C.: I965), p. 30. Richard I. Miller, Education in a Changing Society (Washington, D.C.: I963), p. I22. Charles E. Irvin, op. cit., p. 2. 67. 68. 69. 70. 7]. 72 . 73. 74 . 75. 76. 78. 79. 80. 8I. 82. 83. 85. 80 Camus, I960 (Argus Communications Poster). Theron Jacobson, "Who Am I?" I970 (Unpublished Poem). L. E. Raths, M. Harmin, and S. Simon, Values and Teaching, (Columbus, Ohio: I966), p. 204. H. Frankfort, Ancient Egyptian Religion (New York: I948), p. 72. Virgil C. Blum, Education: Freedom and Competition (Chicago: I967), p. 48. Gene Shepherd, "Goodbye," Educational Leadership (May, I974). p. 676. E. B. Castle, Ancient Education and Today (Baltimore: I96I), p. 93. John W. Gardner, Self-Renewal: The Individual and the Innovative Society (Evanston, Illinois: I963), p. I56. Milton Cross, I974 (Part of radio eulogy delivered after his death). "MEA's Power Display--A Disregard of Education," Detroit Free Press, January 4, I975, p. 6A. "Three Down, " Parade Magazine, January 5: I975: P° 6' William A. Emerson, Sin and the New American Conscience (New York: I974) in Parade Magazine, January 5, I975, p. 5. Paul Tillich, The Courage To Be (New Haven, I952, p. I3. William A. Emerson, op. cit., p. 5. Everett L. Shostrom, Man, the Manipulator (New York: I967), p. I5. Dave Anderson, "Endless Power Struggle Shakes City's Legal De- partment, " Detroit Free Press, January 6, I975, p. 5A. "Personality Parade, " Parade Magazine, January 5, I975, p. 2. George Santayana in Concerning Dissent and Civil Disobedience, Abe Fortas (New York: I968), p. 57. Justice Davis, 3. cit., p. 44. J. - J. Servan-Schreiber, The American Challenge (New York: I968, p. 25I . 87. 88. 89. 90. 9I. 92. 93. 94. 95. 96. 97. 98. 99. I00. IOI. I02. I03. I04. I05. 106. 8I Charles E. Silberman, Crisis in Black and White (New York: I964), p. I9 . Dag Hammarskjold, Markings (New York: I966), p. 65. Jerry Farber, "The Student As Nigger, " Los Angeles Free Press, I965 (No page number). Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (Springfield, Massachusetts: I965), p. 570. Malcolm Boyd, op. cit., p. 45. Loren Eisley, The Immense Journey (New York: I962), p. I3. Kenneth B. Clark, cp. cit., p. 77. John Holt, Freedom and Beyond (New York: I972), p. 265. Gabriel Moran, The New Community (New York: I970), p. 26. "Desiderata," in Bulletin (East Lansing, Michigan: The Honors College, Michigan State University, I969), p. I. Malcolm Boyd, 0p. cit., p. 59. "Code of Ethics of the Education Profession, " (East Lansing, Michigan: n.d.) Preamble. Antony Jay, Management and Machiavelli (Chicago: I967), p. I39. Clyde Morris, in Bulletin (East Lansing, Michigan: The Honors College, Michigan State University, I970), p. I. "A Climate for Individuality, " M” p. 9. Antony Jay, M” p. 38. W. E. Channing, I842 (Argus Communications poster). Jerry Faber, 2p_._s_i_t. , (No page number). Kahil Gibran, The Prophet (New York: I966), p. 56. Paul Saltman, Provost Lecture Series (East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University, I969), (Oral presentation). I07. I08. I09. IIO. III. II2. II3. II4. II5. II6. II7. II8. II9. I20. I21. I22. 123. I24. 82 Barbra Streisand, "Funny Girl, " I967 (Transcription of popular song). Kenneth B. Clark, Op. cit., p. I23. "Kissinger's Oil Warnings Cheapen the United States," Detroit Free Press (January 7, I975), p. 6A. Malcolm Boyd, Op. cit., p. 37. Marshall Fishwick, The Hero, American Style (New York: I969), William G. Zimmerman, "Human Rights and Administrative Responsibility," Phi Delta Kappan (December, I974), p. 243. Henry Brandon, The Retreat of American Power (New York: I972) p. 344. Toffler, Future Shock (New York: I970), p. 2. Merle Miller, Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography Of Harry S. Truman (New York: I973), p. 384. Roderic Gorney, op. cit., p. 549. Woody Guthrie, "This Land Is Your Land, " I956 (Transcription of pOpular song). Charles A. Reich, The Greening Of America (New York: I970), p. 204. Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, op. cit., p. I32. lbid., p. 4I0. "Mayor Urges Police Guard for Schools, " Detroit Free Press , January 8, I975, p. IA. Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, Op. cit., p. 4IO. The Official Associated Press Almanac, I974, g). cit., p. 24I . Paul Goodman, Op. cit., p. 2I. Ill!!! 125. 126. 127. 128. I29. I30. 131. 132. 133. 134. I35. I36. I37. 138. 139. 83 Chet Powers, "The Youngbloods, " I967 (Transcription of pOpuIar song). Bob Talbert, "Today's Grim World Disillusions Kids," Detroit Free Press, January 8, 1975, p. 9A. Carol Jachim, "Letter to the Editor," Detroit Free Press, January 12, 1975, p. 8A. Marlene Ditrich in Bob Talbert's "Quotebag Full," Detroit Free Press, January 5, 1975, p. 103. c. P. Snow, lbid., p. roe. "Teacher-Union Priorities Ignore Pupil's Plight," Detroit Free Press, January 11, 1975, p. 10A. George Mendenhall, Detroit Magazine, January 26, 1975, p. 11. Rosaline Brown, "Letter to the Editor," The Flint Journal, January 8, 1975, p. 14. Peter Berger, "Between Tyranny and Chaos, " Christian Century, October, 1968, p. 31. Wallace Stevens, 1945 (Source not known). Gabriel Moran, Op. cit., p. 35. James B. Conant, Op. cit. Gabriel Moran, 99;..5'1." p. 134. Joseph K. Hart in Education and Social Integration (New York: 1953), p. 53. Walter Lippman, op. cit. BIBLIOGRAPHY BIBLIOGRAPHY Barndon, Henry. The Retreat of American Power. New York: Dell Publishing Company, 1972. Berger, Peter L. Christian Centug. October, 1968. Blum, Virgil C. Education: Freedom and Competition. Chicago: Argus Commun- ications-Co., I967. Boyd, Malcolm. Are You Running With Me, Jesus? New York: Holt, Rinehart &Winston, Inc., 1965. Brandwein, Paul F. The Permanent Agenda of Man: The Humanities. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1971. Brauner, Charles J. , and Burns, Robert W. Problems in Education and PhiIOSOphy. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1965. Burke, Carl F. God Is For Real, Man. New York: Association Press, 1966. Castle, E. B. Ancient Education and Today. Baltimore: Penguine Books, 1961. Clark, Kenneth B. Pathos Of Power. Evanston: Harper & Row Publishers, 1974. A Climate for Individuality. Statement of the Joint Proiect on the Individual and the School. Washington, D.C.: I965. Code Of Ethics of the Education Profession. East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan Education Association (undated). Commager, Henry Steele. "Watergate and the Schools." Today's Education. National Education Association Of the United States. Washington, D.C.: September-October, 1974. Conant, James B. Slums and Suburbs. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1961. Cooke, Bernard. Christian Involvement. Chicago: Argus Communications ' Company, 1966. 85 I .I l 31 .I I'll 86 Declaration of Human Rights. United Nations. Article 23, I948. Detroit Free Press. Detroit, Michigan: Various Issues. Education for an Open Society. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. 1974 Yearbook Committee. Edited by Delmo Della-Dora and James E. House. Washington, D.C.: I974. Eisley, Loren. The Immense Journey. New York: Time Incorporated, I962. Evans, Rowland, and Novak, Robert. Lyndon B. Johnson: The Exercise of Power. New York: The New American Library, 1966. Fairfield, Roy P. "Can We Save the Public High Schools?" The Humanist. American Humanist Association and the American Ethical Union. New York: Hoffman Printing CO., 1971. Farber, Larry. The Student As A Nigger Los Angeles: Los Angeles Free Press (undated). Fishwick, Marshall. The Hero, American Style. New York: David McKay Company, Inc., 1969. The Flint Journal. Flint, Michigan: Various Issues. Fortas, Abe. Concerning Dissent and Civil Disobedience. New York: Signet Books, 7968. Full, Harold. Controversey in American Education: An Anthology of Crucial Issues. London: The MacMilIan CO., 1967. Gardner, John W. Excellence: Can We Be Excellent and Equal Too? New York: Harper and Row, PuTlishers, 1961. Gardner, John W. Self Renewal: The Individual and the Innovative Society. Evanston: Harper and Row, Pubrishers, 1963. Gibran, Kahil. The PrOphet. New York: Alfred A. KnOpf, I966. Goodman, Paul. Compulsory Mis-Education and the Community of Scholars. New York: Random House, Inc., 1962. Gorney, Roderic. The Human Agenda. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1968. Hammarskiold, Dag. Markings. New York: Alfred A. KnOpf, I966. 87 Hoffer, Eric. The Ordeal Of Change. New York: Harper 8. Row, Publishers, 1952. Holt, John. Freedom and Beyond. New York: E. P. Dutton 8. CO., Inc., 1972. Jay, Antony. Management and Machiavelli. Chicago: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1967. Jersild, Arthur T. When Teachers Face Themselves. New York: Teachers College Press, 1955. Kennedy, Robert F. To Seek A Newer World. Garden City, New York: Double- day, 1967. Kozol, Jonathan. Death at an Early Age. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1967. MacDonald, James B. ; Wolfson, Bernice J.; and Zaret, Esther. Reschooling Staciety: A Conceptual Model; Washington, D.C.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1973. The Michigan Catholic. Detroit, Michigan: Various Issues. Miller, Merle. Plain Speaking: An Oral Biograph Of Harry S. Truman. New York: Berkley Publishing Company, 1 . Miller, Richard I. Education in a Changing Society. Washington, D.C.: National Education Association, 1963. Moran, Gabriel. The New Community: Religious Life In an Era of Change. New York: Herder and Herder, 1970. Morris, Clyde. _'_T_l_r_e_ Bulletin of the Honors College. East Lansing, Michigan: May, 1970. The Official Associated Press Almanac 1974. Dan Perkins, Editorial Coordinator. Laurence Urdang, Editor In Chief. Maplewood, N.J.: Hammond Almanac, Inc. , 1973. Parade Magazine. New York: Various Issues. Raths, Louis E.; Harmin, Merrill; and Simon, Sidney. Values and Teaching. Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Company, 1966. The Reform of Secondary Education. The National Commission of the Reform of Secondary Education. B. Frank Brown, Chairman. New York: McGraw- Hill Book Company, I973. Illa-l7, 1‘1 Ill-ll 88 Reich, Charles A. The Greening of America. New York: Random House, Inc., 1970. Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders. New York: E. P. Dutton and CO. , I968. Servan-Schreiber, J.-J. The American Challenge. New York: Atheneum, I968. Shostrom, Everett L. Man, The Manipulator. New York: Bantam Books, 1967. Shepard, Gene. Educational Leadership. Journal, American Association for SupervisiOn and Curriculum DeveIOpment, 1974. Silberman, Charles E. Crisis in Black and White. New York: Random House, 1964. Social Responsibility in a Free Society. Educational Policies Commission. National Education Association of the United States, 1963. Susman, Warren I. The Reconstruction of an American College. Somerset, New Jersey: 5 8. SgPrinting, 1968. Tillich, Paul. The Courage TO Be. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1952. Time Magazine. Chicago, Illinois: Various Issues. Toffler, Alvin. Future Shock. New York: Random House, Inc., 1970. Velie, Lester. "The $32 Billion Misunderstanding." The Reader's Digest. January 1974. Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary. Springfield, Mass.: G.& C. Merriam CMpany, I965. Weller, Jack E. _Y_esterday's PeOple: Life in Contemporary Appalachia. Lexington, Kentucky Press, 1966. Wharton, Clifton R. , Jr. Continuity and Change: Academic Greatness Under Stress. East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University, 1971. Whitehead, Alfred North. The Aims of Education. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1929. Zimmerman, William G., Jr. Human Rights and Administrative Responsibility. Phi Delta Kappa Journal. December, 1974. I- '1“ Il‘llllllll“ I' I'll. u“‘.lllll"!lt1'1‘1 III\ I- I‘I'.’ III!!!