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Conference Discusses School Issue
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(Continued From Page 1)
period of the next 10 years,” the at
torney general said.
Sterling M. McMurrin, commissioner
of education for the Department of
Health, Education and Welfare, also
emphasized the importance of desegre
gation but opposed withholding federal
educational funds from segregated
schools. The proposal, he said, “is at
best a last resort.”
Every Section
Approximately 80 educators and lay
leaders from every section of the coun
try appeared on the three panels or
participated in the general discussion of
desegregation problems. The sessions
were held in the new main conference
room at the U.S. State Department.
A panel on “Education Problems of
Segregation in and Desegregation of
Public Schols” featured Dr. John H.
Fischer, dean, Teachers College, Co
lumbia University, New York; Dr.
Houston R. Jackson, assistant superin
tendent, staff services, Baltimore, Md.,
public schools; and Dr. J. B. White,
dean, College of Education, University
of Florida, Gainesville. It was Dr.
Fischer who, in opposing “social engi
neering,” first introduced the issue of
how much desegregation is required by
the Supreme Court decision.
Two Northerners and two Southern
ers discussed “Factors to be Considered
in Planning Desegregation”: Dr. Ewald
B. Nyquist, deputy commissioner of
Education for the State of New York;
Dr. Horace Mann Bond, chairman, De
partment of Education, Atlanta Univer
sity; Dr. Richard M. Peters, member
Chapel Hill, N.C., Board of Education;
and Dr. Oscar M. Chute, superintendent,
Evanston, Illinois, public schools.
At the second day’s session, “Prepara
tion for Desegregation” was discussed in
papers by Dr. Dan Dodson, director,
Center of Human Relations and Com
munity Studies, New York University,
New York; Sam R. Bloom, member,
Dallas, Tex., Citizens Council (a local
civic group of business leaders); Dr.
John W. Letson, superintendent, At
lanta, Ga., public schools; and Dr. Ben
jamin E. Carmichael, superintendent,
Chattanooga, Tenn., public schools.
National Concern
The chairman of the commission,
John A. Hannah, said in his concluding
remarks that ending unequal opportu
nities in education is a national concern.
Hannah, who is president of Michigan
State University, continued:
“The problem is not exclusively re
gional, racial, ethnic nor religious. And
closing the gaps which give rise to the
inequalities will call for vastly increased
energies, thought and money. . .
The other commission members are
Robert G. Storey, vice chairman, presi
dent of the Southwestern Legal Foun
dation and former dean of Southern
Methodist University law school; Robert
S. Rankin, chairman of the Political
‘Irrelevant and Improper’
Conference Highlights
President John F. Kennedy said
that school desegregation efforts
must be redoubled.
The U.S. commissioner of educa
tion opposed withholding federal aid
to segregated schools.
The dean of Columbia Univer
sity’s Teachers College said educa
tion values alone, not racial factors,
should be considered in the schools.
Dr. Dan Dodson of New York
University reported evidence is
growing that segregation in fact is
as inherently inferior as segregation
by law.
The chairman of the Civil Rights
Commission said the cause of segre
gation is unimportant, the harmful
effects are the same.
Science Department, Duke University;
Spottswood W. Robinson IH, dean and
professor of law at Howard University
law school, Washington, D. C.; Erwin
N. Griswold, dean and professor of law,
Harvard University law school; and the
Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C.,
president of Notre Dame University.
Sitting with the commission were Berl
I. Bernhard, the staff director, and Mrs.
Elizabeth Cole, chief of the commis
sion’s Public Education Section.
This fourth annual conference was
the first to be national in the scope of
its discussions. Previous conferences
held in Nashville, and Gatlinburg,
Term., and Williamsburg, Va., had con
centrated on school desegregation prob
lems in the 17 Southern and border
states, plus the District of Columbia.
Kennedy Questioned
On Race Problems
During World Tour
Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy
reported that he was questioned about
the U.S. race problem in every place he
visited during his recent trip around
the world.
“I don’t think there is any doubt that
this is the paramount question in their
minds,” he said. The attorney general
said that more effort in the field of civil
rights is necessary over the next 10
years.
“We shouldn’t be doing this just to
assume leadership of the world. We
should be doing it because it is right
and because we are living up to our
ideals,” he said.
Kennedy praised Southern communi
ties that had desegregated or expanded
desegregation peacefully, mentioning
‘Social Engineering’ Scored
By Columbia’s Dean Fischer
Dean John H. Fischer of Columbia
University’s Teachers College spoke
strongly against “social engineering” to
achieve a racial balance in the schools.
“In organizing education many con
siderations are important, many char
acteristics are relevant,” he said, “but
racial differences in themselves are not.
In the administration of schools,
therefore, the manipulation of pupils on
purely racial grounds is irrelevant and
improper.”
The educator’s opposition to such ra
cial considerations was one of four
guides he offered for educational prob
lems of desegregating schools. The other
three were:
• “The focus of sound teaching is
always on the individual, for education
is an intensely personal matter, having
its principal effect always within the
person.”
• “If we are to achieve good educa
tion, we must respect the individuality
of each student, relating his instruction
to his background, his needs, his pos
sibilities.”
• “To achieve equality of opportunity
within the whole of our culture, it may
be necessary to offer those who are
handicapped by their history or their
current situation not merely equal, but
compensatory educational opportunity.”
The Columbia dean said the term “so
cial engineering” is inconsistent with
the purposes and values of democracy.
He added:
“. . . I am disturbed about the grow
ing pressure to locate schools, draw
district lines, and organize curricula in
order to achieve a predetermined racial
pattern of enrollment. By no means am
I opposing the desirability of having in
the same school children of different
racial backgrounds. Quite the contrary!
But decisions about school organization
based entirely or primarily on racial
criteria seem to me to violate the prin
ciple of non-discrimination.”
Fischer continued:
“The most offensive aspect of the
engineered approach is the assumption
that any group can be improved if
members of another race are introduced
into it. ... We cannot have it both
ways: we cannot say that race per se
makes no difference and then argue
that important decisions should be
based on this inconsequential factor.”
Fischer was questioned extensively on
this point of his paper. A Negro
participant asked, “Do you think we
should not unengineer what has been
engineered?” And a lawyer for a school
board asked what effect the Supreme
Court decision had on this subject since
the court had found desegregation
harmful to the Negro child.
A member of the rights commission,
Harvard’s Dean Griswold, observed:
“What the court was dealing with was
legally required segregation and not
what has been referred to as de facto
segregation. ... We ought not to worry
to much about de facto segregation un
til we have gone further than we have
with the legally required segregation.”
j specifically Atlanta, Dallas, Memphis
| and Little Rock.
The head of the Justice Department
said the problem is “not just focused
on the Southern part of the United
States” but also occurs in Northern
communities, where it is far “more
subtle and, in our judgment, sometimes
far more sinister.”
Kennedy said he considered as one of
the greatest problems the closed public
schools in Prince Edward County, Va.,
where some 1,300 Negro children have
not gone to school for the past three
years. He expressed the hope that local
authorities would take the initiative in
reopening the schools.
Slow Progress Seen
In Desegregation
School desegregation is hampered in
many Southern schools by the refusal
of the two races to work out their prob
lems together, Dr. J. B. White told the
conference.
Dr. White, dean of the University of
Florida College of Education, said the
U.S. Supreme Court decision of 1954
was “right and necessary” but that it
has created “among many a feeling of
resentment and hostility.”
“Obviously,” he said, “there must be
some pressure from the courts and from
public opinion to insist that progress be
made. Too strong pressure or too great
insistence on speed can retard progress
rather than promote it.”
The Florida educator said that some
boards are taking the initiative in school
desegregation but that he felt sure
“many school boards throughout the
South will not move until required to
do so specifically by a court ruling.”
In place of court pressure, Dr. White
suggested that the South’s political and
educational leaders seek to solve the
problem co-operatively with all groups
concerned. “Until this is done,” he said,
“progress will continue to be slow.”
Racial Census Held
In New York Schools
About four per cent of the elementary
school districts and five per cent of the
elementary schools in New York State,
outside of New York City, have serious
problems of high percentages of Ne
groes.
Preliminary figures on a recent racial
census were presented by Dr. Ewald B.
Nyquist, deputy commissioner of edu
cation for the State of New York. He
said the survey covered more than 880
districts and 2,700 schools outside New
York City, and included grades one
through six and special classes at that
level.
Dr. Nyquist also reported these statis
tics from the survey: 67 per cent of all
the districts are biracial, with some
multiracial; 58 per cent of the districts
had Negroes attending; and 46 per cent
of all schools were biracial.
The deputy commissioner gave the
conference four recommendations for
handling the school desegregation prob
lem: Conducting a racial census sev
eral years apart; reviewing school site
sideration; arranging conference to cor-
sidering; arranging conference to cor
rect programs in schools with a large
racial predominance; and increasing
consultative services.
After the conference session, Dr.
Theron Johnson, director of intercul-
Closing Summary
tural relations for the New York State
Department of Education, said the
survey had found roughly 100 elemen
tary schools and 35 or more elementary
districts outside New York City to have
a serious racial imbalance.
Segregation Called
Inherently Inferior
Evidence is growing that segregation
in fact is as inherently inferior as seg
regation by law, Dr. Dan Dodson wrote
in a paper prepared for the conference.
Dodson based his observation on
studies made of desegregation problems
in several communities by his Center
for Human Relations and Community
Studies, New York University. The di
rector was unable to attend the con
ference and his paper was read by Dr.
Jean L. Noble, an assistant professor of
education at N.Y.U.
His paper declared:
“. . . there is little, if any, evidence
to indicate that a de facto segregated
school can be made equal in its educa
tional program. If the entire culture
conceives a ‘Jim Crow’ school as in
ferior, does this in fact make it so? If it
does, does not the requirement that a
youth attend it violate his civil rights? I
believe it does.”
Dr. Dodson said all-Negro schools
tend to be older and the staffs, mar
ginal. Academic standards fall and
morale is lost as the school approaches
all-Negro proportions, he said, adding:
“. . . it seems easier for judges to see
these limitations of racially segregated
experiences than is it for educators. It
would help if educators possessed more
clarity about these basic factors of
Prefers Other Methods
The U.S. commissioner of education
told the conference he believed there
are more effective ways of encouraging
school desegregation than by withhold
ing federal aid to segregated schools.
School desegregation and the im
provement of educational quality are
related processes, but it would be a
mistake to confuse them, Commissioner
Sterling M. McMurrin said.
“Winning integrated schools that are
inadequate educationally would be a
questionable victory; while improving
the quality of the schools yet maintain
ing segregation is still a negation of
some of the most profound values of
a democratic society,” he stated.
The commissioner noted that the
Commission on Civil Rights and others
had recommended withholding federal
educational funds, in whole or part,
from schools practicing segregation.
“Quite apart from the question of
whether administrative officials have the
authority, in individual programs, to
exercise that power, I would in some
ways question the wisdom and effec
tiveness of such an approach,” McMur
rin said.
Commissioner McMurrin cited ways
he considered more direct and not in
terfering with the improvement of the
quality of education: the recent Justice
Department announcement that it is ex
ploring the possibility of litigation to
desegregate “impacted area” schools;
and bills now pending in Congress that
would directly require compliance with
growth and development.”
Dr. Dodson’s other observations J
school desegregation include:
• “There is very little preparatkj
made ordinarily for desegregation ^ '
less and until a community is brougj. (
to confrontation with the issue. Most :
the time this involves conflict in sote
degree.” I'
• “Professional school leadership J
rarely instrumental in determining ^ ■
policy of who is going to school wjJ
whom. This is largely a political scietic,! i
matter. It is usually settled by lawyer
judges, politicians, or non-school codl
munity leadership. Power, rather that
educational merit usually determine
the outcome.”
® “Because the initial stages of de.
segregation involve power groups whi^
do not include the professional staff, j
is highly important that there be j S
clear, concise statement of policy on de. j
segregation, and that it be rooted firmly
in the authority of the community.” L
• “Although professional educate, ■
are usually not key persons so far as v
responsibility for decision making j, ,
concerned, their responsibility for in-
terpretation of educational matters to J
power figures, is important. In this role
they could help enormously if they * *
were clear about what they believe "
good education to be.”
After reading of Dodson’s paper, Dr ^
Noble was asked if Dodson would agree f
with Dr. Fischer’s argument against
“social engineering” to achieve a racial
balance. “He would not take this posi.
tion,” she replied. “Nor would many
professors at New York University,"
Dr. Noble said it was necessary to “ag-
gressively structure the composition of j
a school” so that it had representation ,
from all racial, ethnic, religious and (
economic groups.
the Supreme Court decision. j
McMurrin announced five changes to |
the programs administered by his of
fice: |
1) As announced earlier by HEW
Secretary Abraham Ribicoff, segre- ’
gated schools will not be deemed suit- ;
able for dependents of military oi |
civilian personnel living on federal
property, beginning in the fall of 1963. ,
The federally impacted area funds will
be withdrawn, and steps will be made
to provide education for these children. '
2) All colleges and universities
participating in the institutes for im
proving high school teachers and guid-
ance counselors have agreed by contract
to conduct the 1962-63 program on a
non-discriminatory basis. The institu
tions include many in the Southern
states.
3) A study is to be made of discrim
inatory practices in libraries supported
by funds from the Library Services Ad
of 1956.
4) The annual review of state voca
tional education programs supported
with federal funds will include for the
first time an inquiry about the courses
in predominantly Negro or predomi'
nantly white schools.
5) Steps are being taken to unite the
Future Farmers of America and the Fu
ture Homemakers of America with theto
respective Negro counterparts in the
South, the New Farmers of America
and the New Homemakers of America-
Commissioner of Education
Opposes Ban on Federal Aid
Any Segregation Called Harmful
The harmful affects of segregation are
the same, whether the segregation is
due to law, custom or residential pat
terns, Dr. John Hannah told the con
ference participants.
In his closing summary, the chairman
of the Commission on Civil Rights said:
“The adverse effect of segregation
upon the pupils segregated in terms of
development of their full potential as
useful citizens has been emphasized.
Since the damage is said to arise from
segregation itself, the cause of the seg
regation loses its importance. The toll
in human terms is the same. . .
Racial segregation problems in
schools, Dr. Hannah said, are part of a
larger educational problem—the un
equal educational opportunities for
those with rural origins, language
handicaps, lack of economic resources,
disorganized family life.
“Eradication of inequalities in oppor
tunity for education, when thus broadly
viewed, become a matter for national
concern,” he said. “The problem is not
exclusively regional, racial, ethnic nor
religious. And closing the gaps which
give rise to the inequalities will call for
vastly increased energies, thought and
money, if we are soon to make good on
that cherished ideal of America, equal
ity of opportunity.”
Dr. Hannah noted what he considered
three main educational problems:
“1. A generally lower scholastic
achievement of Negro children as a
whole as compared with white children.
“2. An inferior learning situation in
Negro and predominantly Negro schools
in many large cities. For schools in
rural areas the problem has been one of
long standing. The general movement
from rural areas has tended to trans
plant the education problem to urban
school systems where further problems
have emerged in the form of over'
crowding, excessively high p u P^'
teacher ratio.
“3. Less competent teaching in Nef? 0
and predominantly Negro schools. So®*
Negro teachers, themselves the produ c
of segregated education, cannot me 6 '
the prevailing standards for certificab 0
of white teachers and yet teach in 0
schools. In some of the cities of
North and West poor teaching resbj
from the assignment of the least |
and experienced white teachers !
largely Negro schools.”
Dr. Hannah said school authorib^
have shown ingenuity in wor “f.
around various plans for achieving ”
segregation. “Judged by the resbf
free choice of schools, free transi^
open enrollment, bussing, seem t°
mere palliatives, not permanent so ,
tions,” the chairman said. #