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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—MARCH, 1965—PAGE 13 SHAPING EDUCATIONAL POLICY' Conant’s Recent Book Discusses Education [ James Bryant Conant’s latest book, Shaping Educational Policy, one of t he Carnegie Series in American Education published by McGraw- Hill, includes a section on “The Edu- ' cation of the Negro” in its chapter on “Policy Making for the Public Schools.” Here are major portions of the section (reprinted by permis sion) with subheads added: Until recently all concerned with shaping policy for elementary and sec ondary education have either ignored the subject of Negro education or ac cepted completely segregated schools as a matter of course. We have talked about our public school system and how it responds to and is conditioned by all types of groups and social classes ex cept the Negro. Consider for example, how all of us who have written in praise of the com prehensive high school have turned our backs on the obvious exception to the definition of such a school. A com prehensive high school is a school in which all the youth of an area attend the same school, or so we have often said. . . . But neither I nor anyone else, as far as I am aware, has underlined the fact that in the former Confederate States no comprehensive high schools have ever existed. . . . The members of the establishment have been as silent as any of us as to the limitation on the concept of the comprehensive high school as an in strument of democracy. . . . The state organizations of teachers in the former Confederate States have developed on ' the tacit assumption that the schools were segregated and would remain segregated for the foreseeable future. Only within the last few years have voices been raised within the NEA to question the complete separation of Negro and white teachers in profes sional organizations. Not even a mixed administrative group tries to develop a joint policy at the state capitals in the former Confederate States. Teacher Education In all the discussions of Negro educa tion that have appeared in the last ten years very little reference has been made to the edu cation of teachers in the Southern states. I was not fully aware of the complete separa tion of Negro and white teachers in these states until I visited Virginia, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, and Texas in con nection with my study of the education of American teachers. We spent a considerable amount of time visiting completely segregated Negro colleges of education or Negro liberal arts colleges from which a high percentage of the gradu ates became teachers. . . . The state 1 au thorities had provided excellent phy sical facilities for the most part, at least ® the state colleges I visited. The pro- lessors were dedicated educators keenly ( alive to the implication of the educa tional revolution. But the human limi tation because of the nature of the student body was discouraging. Boys ^d girls who had lived all their lives 111 a completely segregated small com munity in a society dominated by white People and had graduated from a seg- re gated Negro high school were ill pre pared to undertake college work. . . . ^he influence of the socio-economic situation, the lack of family and com- munity interest in reading books, mag- az * * ne s, and even papers, and above all I *he blocks to ambition, a consequence °f the segregated policy of society, had ! 80 handicapped these youngsters from start that only a very few could < re ach the levels of accomplishment in ac ademic subjects expected of students 111 a nonsegregated college. These few j Usua lly went North or West to a Uruver sity to do graduate work. The were graduated as teachers for ( e Negro elementary and secondary Jools. They returned with as much Lrun § as conscientious professors C ° Ul d provide but without the kind of l °mp. ehension of many fields of learn- T® which I, for one, would specify for On tea °^ ers ‘ Through no fault of any ( ^dividual, but as a consequence ^ the system, these less-than-satisfac- teachers returned to the far-less- ( 'Satisfactory school. The vicious ael continued to revolve. . . . There is no need to underline the tragedy of Negro education in a segre gated state. It is sufficient if the kind of information I have just given is realized both North and South. For too long discussion has been silenced by all educators and all state teachers organ izations, Negro and white alike. The reader will bear in mind I have been writing about the education of the Negro in the segregated states. And that such states exist and are different from the other states is a fact that needs underlining in any rational discussion of what is the most serious political- educational problem facing the United States today. Long-Range Solution Requires Analysis I am well aware that in recent years the leaders in the movement to create something like equal opportunities for Negroes have tended to blur the dis tinction between the Negro schools in segregated states and the all-Negro schools in states where some mixed schools do in fact exist. I venture to think that for the long-run solution of the problem this tendency is a mis take, because what is needed to solve the general problem—admittedly a na tional problem—of adequate education for the Negro is a state-by-state analy sis and a state-by-state decision. In terms of social prejudice, in terms of justice to an individual, in terms of social consequences the completely Negro school in a Northern or Western state may be as bad as a segregated school in a segregated state. But the approach to a long-range eradication of the two evils must depend on a realistic analysis of the factors involved, and they are as different as the histories of the two types of segregated schools. In the practically completely segregated Southern states, in which there are separate Negro and white state teachers associations, there have never been any mixed schools. In the states in which there are today what are called de facto segregated schools, all-Negro schools are a relatively recent development. In these states there are mixed schools and school systems with mixed staffs. The state authorities, with perhaps some exceptions, have declared that the schools should be open to all irrespec tive of color. Let us consider what is needed in such states to get forward with a mitigation of the present almost unbearable situation. The first matter to be attended to is the formulation of a state policy, The issue should be transferred from the THE REGION (Continued from Page 1) of school districts, were: Louisiana, 4 of 67; Mississippi, 22 of 150; South Carolina, 42 of 108; Virginia, 70 of 130. North Carolina was the only South ern state that did not report any count or estimate on the number of districts in compliance. State education officials said they had not counted the forms received. However, J. E. Miller, as sistant state superintendent of public instruction, said he was “not aware of any county or city board of education in North Carolina that does not plan to submit some type of document of compliance.” Districts Refusing The four districts refusing to sign compliance statements included one in Alabama that planned to file a suit testing the legality of the HEW regu lations and the compliance form. The Bessemer, Ala., school board announced it had retained an attorney for this purpose. The other districts rejecting future federal aid were Plaquemines and Vermilion parishes, La., and Wilkinson County, Miss. Gov. Paul B. Johnson of Mississippi reportedly had prepared plans for a test suit to be filed on behalf of an individual school district, but this could not be confirmed. These were the major points of con fusion that complicated the submission of compliance agreements: • Forms: The form signed by state agencies numbers eight pages in length and is called “Statement of Compli ance.” Individual districts had as one local level and the courts as far as possible. The state, by legislative reso lution or by the action of a powerful and respected state board, should de clare that the public schools as far as possible should be comprehensive schools. The chief state school officer should be directed to proceed to report what steps, however radical, would be required to reduce to a minimum the number of noncomprehensive schools, both elementary and secondary. A mo ment’s consideration makes it plain that whether or not a given school is mixed or essentially all-Negro depends on its neighborhood. A recognition of this basic fact, of course, has led in the past to the gerrymandering of attendance lines within a district by some local boards so that in fact some schools would be all-white, others all-Negro. Looked at from the point of view of those who wish to have the maximum number of truly comprehensive schools (i.e., mixed schools), a radical redis tricting in some sections of some states would be highly desirable. It could change the balance of Negro and white families in many school districts. Such a measure as the redrawing of district lines to insure a mixed popula tion within each district is perhaps too radical to be practical, but the possi bility should be faced square nonethe less. . . . School Districting Power Must be Examined Clearly Of course, any redistricting must carry with it proposals for financing and managing the schools, and the in herent difficulties are very great. Yet setting forth the consequences of such a radical approach, and also the failure to adopt such a recommendation, would do much to clarify a fundamental issue. For there can be no question that as long as families within a state are free to establish essentially segregated resi dential areas that may correspond to state-created school districts, it may be impossible to have mixed schools. I conclude therefore that one must recog nize that the power of the state to establish school districts is a funda mental fact that must be brought out into the open, and state policy in regard to the school districts therefore must be examined and clearly stated. Such an examination should be made state by state and debated in the legis lature eventually. Those who reject the radical proposal to redistrict the state to provide for the maximum number choice the signing of a one - page, standard form entitled “Assurance of Compliance,” which is the HEW-441. • Deadlines: Originally the U. S. Commissioner of Education, Francis Keppel, said in his memorandum to chief state school officers that their “Statement of Compliance” was to be completed, signed and returned to his office “no later than March 4, 1965.” The office later said that this date was not a final deadline but a “target date.” The federal agency has not set a dead line or “target date” for the submission of compliance plans by the individual districts. However, June 30 is the end of the fiscal year and presumably each district would have to decide before then in order to obtain federal aid for the fiscal year starting July 1. Office of Education officials were quoted as saying that aid money will be lost for good by a district if it fails to comply by the time the funds are distributed. • Compliance: Most segregated dis tricts apparently have signed the short “Assurance of Compliance” instead of submitting a voluntary plan as to how they would desegregate. Officials from the Office of Education later clarified their instructions to restrict this form for use only by school districts com pletely desegregated at the time of signing. Indications are that the form will be returned to segregated districts that signed them, and the districts will be asked to submit a desegregation plan. • Types of aid: The compliance agreement covers 12 federal aid pro of mixed schools might come up with an alternative state policy. It might be as follows: assuming the present school districts, the state should adopt the principle that every school within a given district should be a mixed school, the composition of which should cor respond to the composition of the entire district ( in terms of the percentage of Negroes and whites). Of course, the application of this principle would re sult in a great variety of mixed schools. I can think of some where all the schools would be 90 per cent white and others in which all the schools would be 90 per cent Negro. Yet if one is looking for a statewide principle and is an advocate of as many mixed schools as possible, such a principle has much to recommend it and could be relatively easily enforced by state au thorities. Transportation of Pupils Would Present Difficulty One difficulty with either of the two proposals I have just discussed is that in many areas, pupils would have to be transported some distance. Negro children and white children both would have to take buses, because the residential patterns would rarely cor respond to the pattern of the whole district; many present neighborhood schools would have to be transformed. Now the concept of the neighborhood school is almost as dear to most Ameri can public school people as the principle of the comprehensive high school. In both cases educational considerations be come mixed with political and sociolog ical arguments. The same kind of argu ments are used to support both public neighborhood schools and public com prehensive high schools. These are the arguments many of us have often used against the use of taxpayers’ money to support private schools. The children from different homes should go to school together. Separate schools based on religion or income or social standing of parents are a divisive force in our society. Neighborhood School Concept So the argument goes. But notice how the concept of the neighborhood school emerges: the school’s atmosphere feeds back to the families; the mingling of the children from different socio economic levels affects the spirit of the neighborhood. The community and the school interact together. If every neigh borhood were a cross section of the American population, the conflict of goals between neighborhood schools and mixed schools would not exist. As a matter of fact, neighborhoods corre- grams, involving equipment acquisi tion; guidance, counseling and testing; educational statistics service; several vocational training programs; work- study programs; Manpower Develop ment and Training programs; Area Redevelopment Act training programs; adult basic education programs; public library services and construction; and educational improvement for handi capped children and youth. Before a district in compliance can be approved to receive federal aid, the state agency concerned must have been approved for all the programs receiving money through the U.S. Of fice of Education. The exception is impacted-area aid, which is made di rectly to the district, and for this only the individual district need be in com pliance. Federal aid for school lunches is specifically excluded from the en forcement provisions, and this money can be granted to segregated schools. • Enforcement: Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act requires a complex procedure before any federal funds can be withheld from districts or institu tions not in compliance. The process includes public hearings, notification to Congress followed by a 30-day waiting period, review by the U. S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, and, finally, opportunities for a district to take legal action to appeal, the withholding of money. HEW of ficials have said, however, that this complicated procedure was needed only to “withdraw” money already granted, and that it would not be re quired when the agency decided not to renew grants. Survey Shows 2,015 Agreements of Negroes spond to residential patterns that re flect differences in the socio-economic level of the families, and in the case of Negroes reflect the prejudices of a vast number of white families. His torically the elementary public school has been a neighborhood school and there are strong arguments for its con tinuing to be a neighborhood school. ... Yet there can be no doubt that be cause of the segregated residential patterns in almost all cities and towns in all states, North and South, the neighborhood school is often either 100 per cent white or 100 per cent Negro. In terms of a cross section of the entire school district, the neighborhood school is thus often not a comprehensive school. What is to be done about such a situation if the present school dis tricts are to be maintained? This ques tion is critical in the large cities today. My own answer would be, as a last resort after all readjustment of attend ance lines had failed to provide enough mixed schools, to be prepared to bus high school students in such numbers and in such a way that each high school would be as comprehensive as the total school district. The elementary schools I should leave as neighborhood schools even if many were as a consequence essentially all-Negro. But ... I should advocate pouring money into such schools with the hope of overcoming the incredible handicaps under which children in the Negro slum schools now suffer. But my views on this subject are for the purposes of this book neither here nor there. The point is the state should adopt a clear-cut detailed policy at the highest level. If drastic district reorganization is out of the question (such as combining slum areas of a city with nearly suburban independent school districts), then the specifications to the school boards about attendance lines, busing pupils, and the composi tion of the school staffs should be made quite clear. Public Opinion Determines Ease of Developing Policy I have written about the development by public debate of a state policy in the nonsegregated states. I have done so because the problems in these states in theory are easiest to solve. For, theo retically, public opinion in the non segregated states would be ready to accept some such general principle as “the greater the number of mixed schools, the better.” The political re sistance in the segregated states pre sents another problem. Public opinion might well split on a fundamental issue, which I believe would finally come down to accepting the principle of the comprehensive school or abolish ing all public schools within the state. Although I shall not pursue this par ticular problem further, I should point out as a practical matter that if one of the present segregated states were to adopt the principle of the comprehen sive school, two important details would have to be examined in full. One would be the gradual integration of the present completely separate teaching staffs, the other the timing of the transformation of the schools in different school dis tricts. The discussion of the various alternative of resolving the conflict of aims between a comprehensive school and a neighborhood school in the pre ceding pages would be applicable to the segregated states once the state had accepted the principle of comprehen sion and worked out a time schedule for its adoption, district by district, over the next twenty years. Summing Up Discussion To sum up this discussion on policy for our public schools, it seems clear that so far neither the establishment nor the state educational administrative hierarchy has faced up to the problem of segregated schools. The educators alone cannot possibly formulate policy in this area, but they can help. State by state certain basic issues should be faced, state by state a policy should be hammered out, and lay opinion here would be far more important than the views of educators. Superficially an educational issue seems to be at stake. What is really involved, however, is a deep-seated pattern of racial discrimi nation as expressed in housing and in employment. An educational policy can either reinforce racial prejudice or try to mitigate its evil influence. The com prehensive high school is designed for the latter purpose; alone it cannot solve the basic problem, but each state that sets it up as an ideal and then strives toward it will be moving in the right direction. One cannot expect every state to set up in the same timetable, but each state ought to face the issue.