CONTENTS: TUESDAY, JULY 27, 1971' CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER OF WITNESSES Sizemore, Dr. Barbara A., Center for Inner City Studies, Northeastern Prepared statement of.. Haskins, Kenneth W., Washington, D.C‒‒‒‒‒ Prepared statement of____ THURSDAY, JULY 29, 1971 Page 5844 5848 5858 5866 Anthony, John, principal, Morgan Community School, Washington, D.C.-- Brown, Robert, chairman of the board, Morgan Community School, 5891 5894 5898 Holiday, Mrs. Jean, president, PTA, Morgan Community School, Washington, D.C__ 5902 Baxter, Mrs. Louise, member, PAC, Morgan Community School, Washington, D.C‒‒‒‒‒ 5903 THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 1971 Watson, Dr. Bernard C., professor of Urban Education, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa--- 5913 Thomas, Dr. Arthur E., director, Center for the Study of Student Citizenship, Rights, and Responsibilities, Dayton, Ohio- 5924 Prepared statement of___ 5933 Smith, Dr. Donald H., director of educational development, Bernard IV Appendix 2. Articles of interest: The Washington Post: Page July 6, 1971: Morgan Experiment Fades-School Returns to 6096 July 14, 1971: U.S. Charges City's Schools Misspent Much of 6100 Racism in Educators-A Barrier to Quality Education‒‒‒‒‒ 6115 Position Statement-Five State Organizing Committees for Community Control__ 6126 The Dixie Schools Charade_. 6128 Excerpts from: On the Way to School-Community Control-Some 6133 Resistance to Community Control Is 6135 Public Schools of Choice__. 6138 Education for Black Humanism: A Way of Approaching It--- An Alternative to Mis-education for the Afro-American People_ 6145 6153 6168 6173 U.S. SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON EQUAL EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY Washington, DC. The Select Committee met at 10:05 a.m., in room 1224, New Senate Office Building, the Honorable Walter F. Mondale, chairman of the committee, presiding. Present: Senators Mondale and Stevenson. Staff members present: William C. Smith, staff director and general counsel; and Donald S. Harris, professional staff. Senator MONDALE. The committee will come to order. This morning we will hear from Mrs. Barbara A. Sizemore, instructor in education, Northeastern Illinois State College, who is formerly director of the Woodlawn School project in Chicago, Ill.; and Mr. Kenneth Haskins, formerly dean of the Howard University School of Social Work. I see by the morning paper, you are dean of the Harvard School, as well. Prior to that, he was an Alfred North Whitehead Fellow at Harvard, and prior to that the principal of the Morgan Community School of Washington, D.C. If the two of you will come to the witness table, please. Dr. Sizemore, if you will begin. Senator STEVENSON. Mr. Chairman, this morning I would like to welcome to our hearings, Dr. Barbara Sizemore from my home State of Illinois. I share with Dr. Sizemore concern for better education and recognize the need for greater community involvement in our educational institutions. Dr. Sizemore is now with the Center for Inner City Studies at Northeastern Illinois State College and was former director of the Woodlawn Experimental Schools project in Chicago. I am certain that her testimony will be both informative and helpful, and deserving of your attention. Dr. Sizemore, welcome. (5843) STATEMENT OF DR. BARBARA A. SIZEMORE, CENTER FOR INNER CITY STUDIES, NORTHEASTERN ILLINOIS STATE COLLEGE, CHICAGO, ILL. Dr. SIZEMORE. Thank you, Senator Mondale. And I thank you for this opportunity to discuss the condition of the educational programs in the schools today. My concern is in the field of education, and today the schools are in trouble, as exhibited by the many chaotic conditions in some places in the high schools. And the study "Crisis in the Classroom," that Silberman made addresses itself to this issue. The point that Silberman makes so well is that education is a product of American society and culture and is the deliberate or purposeful creation, or transmission of knowledge, abilities, skills, and values. I feel that the mistake that he makes is citing mindlessness as the cause of what is wrong with the public schools. He defines mindlessness as the failure or refusal to think seriously about educational purpose, the reluctance to question established practice. This analysis completely avoids the discussion of purposeful action, thereby eliminating consideration of forceful cultural imperatives such as racism. Consequently, Silberman falls victim to a classic educational error, the inaccurate definition of the problem. Such inaccurate definitions lead to the wrong solutions. This statement will attempt to discuss two of these solutions: Integration and community control. I feel that the definitional level is the most important since most solutions are designed to solve problems as they are defined. In the 1954 Brown decision, it was indicated that segregation of the schools was undesirable and that integration would be a national imperative. The 1971 U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing courtordered busing to speed integration of Southern schools is an attempt to facilitate enforcement of the 1954 Brown decision of that same court. The fact that such an act is necessary indicates the magnitude of the problem in my opinion. True integration demands an end to racism, the problem, a diagnosis which most white European Americans reject. Racism is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce the inherent superiority of a particular race. In this country, most institutions promote and protect the value of white European superiority, and this support precludes possibilities for true integration, because the schools in the total social order cannot be divorced therefrom and any programs for improving the school cannot be enforced in that total social order. DEFINITIONS OF INTEGRATION Oscar Handlin gives two definitions for integration. One, is that it is that condition which affords an open society wherein any individual can make. has the opportunity to make, a multitude of voluntary or involuntary contacts with any other human being based on his own. preference, taste, and ability. |