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Proficiency Exam Back on Roster
BY ANGELA ESANNASON
Panther Staff Writer
Clark College’s class of 1981
will have to take the English
Proficiency Exam as a
graduation requirement said
President Elias Blake Tues
day.
At the President’s forum
held on Clark’s campus, Blake
said that the English
Proficiency Exam will be
instituted again as a
graduation requirement for
students.
“Our young people have to
be able to write...if you have to
learn to write, you have to
write,” Blake said.
The English Proficiency
Exam was not being ad
ministered from the first
semester in 1979. The class of
1979 was not required to take it
as a graduation requirement
and the class of 1980 does not
need to take it in order to
graduate either, Blake
explained.
Blake also discussed some of
the different problems Clark is
now facing. Those that were
mentioned and discussed were:
*Housing space for students
entering Clark
*Classroom space for
students
*Late work study checks
■"Financial aid and the
*Phone answering system.
Blake told about 30 students
present that the Board of
Trustees will have an
engineering firm to review
space avalability, what
problems maybe developing in
existent space and what the
cost may be for possible
renovations.
Blake also said that classes
will be stretched out during the
day until 6 p.m. to alleviate the
classroom space problem. He
said that if one should tour the
classroom buildings after 3
p.m. there will hardly be any
classes in session during that
time.
Blake also mentioned that
he is aware of the students that
work late in the afternoon, but
said that “maybe something
can be worked out with those
studednts.”
In Janswer to a question
raised about why work study
checks were late getting to
students, Blake said that
although the checks should
have been delivered on time,
“the students do not have a
strong amount of knowledge
as to the ground rules of work
study, grants, Basic Education
Opportunity Grants (BEOG).
Blake said, “It is important
to know who runs the (finan
cial aid) programs because one
tune we might nave to fight for
these programs.” He added
that “there is a sense of
personal responsibility that
students must learn.”
Students will begin filling
out financial aid materials in
January during registration
for the fall of 1980, Blake said
and added that “a lot of work
has to be done to give students
a level of understanding of
how the system works.”
The phone answering
system has also been a major
problem. Blake said the
system might be “ripped out
and a new one might be put
in.” He also said that the
situation is a “very frustrating
thing” but the decision will be
made “in 30 days as to whether
a new system will be installed
or not.”
Blake discussed some of his
political views during the
forum on the Iranian
situation. “My view is that we
have to support policies that
are being follows now. We just
have to hang with it and
express views until it is over,”
Blake said. “It will be dias-
trous if most of the people (hos
tages) were killed, but we have
enough problems and we don’t
need another one.”
In addition to Blake, Curtis
Gillespie, dean of Student Af
fairs; Clifton Rawles, director
of Admissions; and Alfred
Wyatt, president of the
Student Government As
sociation (SGA) were present.
Good Luck on
Finals!
STATISTICS REVEAL #
Blacks Assisted in U.S. History
A major statistical report
tracing the experience of the
Black population in America
from 1790 up to 1978 was
published today by the Bureau
of the Census, U.S.
Department of Commerce.
The report presents a sweep
ing demographic perspective
of the Nation’s Black
population, unique in that it
assembles in one volume his
torical information about
Blacks previously published in
many different reports. Some
of the data are specifically
tabulated and presented for
the first time. The result
enables a better understan
ding of the experience of Black
Americans.
The report shows that in
almost every area, progress
has been noted. Some however,
such as income, employment,
and health have followed an
erratic pattern of development,
with significant interruptions
of upward mobility.
The ninth and longest in a
series on Blacks in America,
the report shows that while the
Nation’s largest minority
group shares a common his
tory with the American
mainstream, Blacks have
become a people whose
progress toward fulfillment of
the American dream has been
erratic and uneven.
The report shows that the
1790 Black population total
was about 757,000, of whom 92
percent were slaves; by 1978
the total was 25.4 million.
Blacks made up their highest
proportion of the United States
population in 1790 (19.3
percent), but then dropped
because of the impact of white
European immigration, the
end of slavery, and declining
fertility, to their lowest
proportion of 9.7 percent in
1930 and 1940.
Rapid Black population
growth occurred from 1790 un
til 1860, resulting from high
birth rates and the im
portation of slaves. This was
followed by a downward trend
from 1860 to 1940; then rapid
growth again took place after
World War II, peaking in the
1950’s. Finally, a declining
trend has occurred in the
1970’s.
The report shows that in the
mid-and late 1960’s, Blacks
made major social and
economic advances. Unlike
the upward mobility pattern of
the 1960’s, the 1970’s present a
mixed picture characterized by
lags in income and em
ployment, but progress in
some other areas such as
education.
The report is presented in
two parts - the first covering
statistics from the time fo the
first census in 1790 until 1975
and the second covering
developments from 1975 to
1978.
The unevenness of Black
progress is noted in economic
areas, the report shows. Blacks
have shared in the rise in in
come levels but progress has
not been steady. (Reliable data
on income became available
only after World War II.) Black
median family income more
than doubled from 1947 to
1974.
There is some evidence that
the most rapid rise in median
income for Blacks occurred in
1964-69, but they experienced
little or no progress during
1953-59 and 1969-74 after ac
counting for inflation. Also,
there has been no progress in
the most recent years (1974-77)
for Black families. By 1977,
median family income for
Blacks was $9,560; for Whites
it was $16,740.
Black advances in education
have been more impressive
than in most other areas of
their experience, according to
the report. Blacks have moved
from a highly illiterate to a
literate population, have made
steady improvement in school
attendance since 1890, and
even more impressive progress
isn oted inthe proportion com
pleting high school. Prior to
1890, only small numbers of
Blacks received any
educational instruction, and
illiteracy was widespread. In
the 1890 census, 61 percent of
all Blacks were found to be
illiterate (the measure then
was the ability toread and
write in some language); in
1969, only 4 percent of Blacks
(14 years and over) were
illiterate.
Single copies of the report,
The Social and Economic
Status of the Black
Population in the United
States: An Historical View,
1790-1978, P-23, No. 80, are
available for $4.50 from the
Superintendent of Documents,
U.s. Government Printing Of
fice, Washington, D.C. 20402,