Newspaper Page Text
April, 1979
Vol. XXXII No. V Atlanta, Georgia
Ishmael Reed — writer, teacher, publisher.
White Males Dominate
American Society
Spelman’s Purpose Unclear
by Pamela Denise Moore
“All of American culture is
merely controlled or dominated by
white males who promote or
inflate the egos of other white
males,” said Ishmael Reed, a
partner in the two-leading Afro-
American printing companies—
Y’Bird and Reed and Cannon.
Reed, writer-in-residence at
Spelman during this semester, sees
himself as a writer first, teacher
second, and as a publisher, third.
Publishing is “just a service for
me,” he said. “I mean this is a sen-
vice to the community. I am pub
lishing books that can never be
published anywhere else—that
need to be published—to break up
this white male vanity show.”
According to Reed, the small
group of people who control the
wealth in America dwell in a fan
tasy world “where they say King
Tut is white. They have to rear
range history, lie about history to
flatter themselves.”
Because of this, he publishes
those points-of-view that are called
“subversive.” Reed said, “They feel
black males are intellectually
threatening to them...So we pub
lish people like William Denby
who are uppity. We publish uppity
niggers—Immamu Baraka-
uppity, upcompromising.”
Reed believes that the number
one political problem in this coun
try is distribution. “How can peo
ple make intelligent decisions when
they don’t have all the information,
when it’s all wrapped up in one
monopoly—the white male
monopoly.”
It is the purpose of his compan
ies, he said, “to break up this
monopoly of decision-making, of
who controls the images and the
political and cultural power” in
this country by building black
institutions. “There is power in
low-budget operations,” said
Reed.
Presently, Reed is a partner of
two black printing companies both
of which are the leading Afro-
American companies in the United
States. Y’Bird, a joint venture of
Reed and Al Young, was founded
in 1971. Reed and Cannon, a ven
ture of Reed and Steve Cannon
was begun in 1973. In addition to
publishing needed information
concerning black Americans, Reed
also publishes Third World
literature.
Reed has been writing all of his
life. In elementary school he wrote
essays and once wrote a fictional
account of Abraham Lincoln’s
death. He did not fully realize his
ambition to be a writer, however,
until he wrote a school play in the
seventh grade.
Reed said that he encountered a
lot of cultural racism in high
school. “I didn’t play basketball,
and I didn’t play football. I’d be
reading books, so I knew all the
words they’d say I was uppity, “he
said.
By Pamela Denise Moore
According to the results of the
Q-sort test, most members of the
Spelman family do not view the
strengthening of black identities
among its students, the enhance
ment of the image of black women,
the preparation of black women
for their roles in society, or any
development of a black conscious
ness as the most important purpose
of the college.
The Q-sort test was adminis
tered last year to eight groups of
people: 146 freshmen, 107 sopho
mores, 91 juniors, 44 seniors, 79
members of the faculty and admin
istration, 3 trustees, and 15
alumnae.
The results of the Q-Sort test
were used as a basis for the formu
lation of the schools’ purpose state
ment, which will be included in the
final draft of the self-study docu
ment. This document is required as
a part of Spelman’s current reac
creditation process. All accredited
schools^ are evaluated every 10
years by the Southern Association
of Schools and Colleges.
For the Q-Sort process,
respondents were given 84 cards,
each having a written statement of
purpose of the school. Respond
ents were asked to classify the
cards into 11 piles as the most
important and the first pile as the
least important. With the excep
tions of the first and last piles, the
others had more than one slot in
By Avy D. Long
Grades are more symbolic than
substantive for this generation,
said Dr. Blanche Curry, visiting
professor of philosophy at
Spelman.
“Many students are excessively
preoccupied with receiving the A’s
and B’s they need to get into college
or graduate school, or to obtain a
job, but they are unconcerned
about the true merit of the grade,”
she said. Dr. Curry is an assistant
professor at the University of
North Carolina at Wilmington in
the department of philosophy and
religion. Her comments concern
ing the present quality of education
first appeared in an article she
wrote for the Wilmington Star
which to place a card.
The card dealt with social, physi
cal, cultural, academic, and other
aspects of life on campus. Those
cards that ranked highest in impor
tance were those relating to intel
lectual and scholarly execellence
and career preparation.
Out of those cards that related
specifically to black females, card
13, which read, “increase the
number of eligible black women in
professional job market,” and card
11, which read, “strengthen those
qualities which enable women to
be self-supporting and independ
ent,” ranked highest with total
score of eight.
Card 19, which read, “provide
an alternative quality educational
choice for black women which
strengthens black identity and con
fidence” received a total score of
only six. Strangely, however, the
trustees were the single group of
the 8 groups to give this card a rank
of 11.
Other cards which read, “pre
pare black women for the real
world,” “prepare black women for
their roles in society,” “help black
women find their identities,” and
“enhance the image of black wom
anhood” received rankings of
seven, six, five, and five,
respectively.
Furthermore, those cards that
related to blacks in general
received even lower scores,
“Engender race pride among
News in October of last year.
As a result of this attitude
toward education, many students
are terminating this phase of their
education without mastering it
sucessfully. Another consequence
can be seen in the job screening
process. Now employers conduct
more thorough interviews because
they realize that transcripts are not
indicative of a student’s true abil
ity. The employer may want to dis
cuss the student’s major in detail or
want to see evidence other than a
transcript as proof of ability.
There are many causes for this
lack of quality education. The
emphasis placed on grades in rela
tionship to further schooling and
economic security is probably the
blacks and help students command
esteem from all races,” was the
highest ranked in this group with a
low score of 5. “Make students
aware of their black African herit
age” received an even lower rating
of 4. All other cards were concen
trated in the 5 to 1 range, with
“encouraging black students to
think from a black perspective”
ranking at 3.
Dr. Jane Aldridge, co-chairper-
person of the self-study committee,
however, did not seem too alarmed
over the results of the Q-Sort Test.
She explained the findings in this
manner.
“I think that this is a college for
black women. In other words,
when you have a certain kind of
identity you tend to think about
other kinds of goals. Students are
very much interested in receiving a
quality education with excellent
preparation in their majors so that
they can compete with graduates of
all other colleges.”
In the results of the Q-Sort test,
“provide the student with a tho
rough knowledge of their particu
lar fields was ranked highest with
the overall score of 11. Those cards
that were ranked in the second
most important pile were “strive
for academic excellence” and “pro
vide academic climate for full
development of scholarly poten
tial.” All of the cards in the third
most important pile related to aca
demic excellence and career or
graduate preparation.
primary reason. Dr. Curry consid
ers the conferring of unearned
grades and the offering of futile
courses as the second cause. While
teachers are sometimes responsible
for this cause, too often students
are responsible for it. Dr. Curry
finds that often students pressure
teachers into offering pointless
courses and giving inflated grades.
As an example of a futile course,
she cited one offered at Howard
University entitled “How to Please
Your Supervisor." The title itself is
indicative of the futility of the
course in that it places the empha
sis on the employee’s relationship
with her supervisor rather than her
ability to do the job. This course is
continued on page 4
Grades Have Lost Relevance
