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The Augusta News-Review ■ June 21, 1973, ■Walking Igjk ■ ■ With wS ffl ■ Dignity jOkZO ■ by Al Irby WAS ALL THE BALLY—HOO OF A FEW YEARS AGO ABOUT “NEW MATH” A LOSS OF TIME? SINCE AFTER-EXPOSURE MANY OTHERWISE BRIGHT KIDS ARE UNABLE TO ADD, SUBTRACT, MULTIPLY OR DIVIDE. 334 + 334 = 1223 IF THE BASE 5 CONCEPT IS USED. The basic theory of the so-called “New Math” isn’t really so very difficult, and youngsters of average intelligence can grasp the principles if it’s taught right. Only students with an arithmetic flair should be forced to take new math, because too many kids who are exposed to it, end up lacking in ordinary mathematic skills. For instance many educators are discovering that children taking the new math exclusively can’t divide 100 by 10. It is true that youngsters who study mathematics by this new method gain a better understanding of how numbers function and develop a basic flair for the science of mathematics. But its crystal clear that a decade or more has been given to the study of a massive movement that has infused the nation’s schools with a hodge-podge of numerical hocus-pocus. Some officials who are really interested in education have been suspicious of the modern-math movement from its inception; it certainly has not solved our arithmetic problems, but in retropection it has done harm and made things worse, especially at the elementary school level. This reflective observation was made by Dr. Russell E. Zwoyer, director of the University of Illinois Committee on School Mathematics, a group that has long been a prime mover behind the new math reform. Schools across the nation are reporting disastrous test of arithmetic students, who in other areas of their school work are highly satisfactory. Here are two glaring examples, in > 964 fifth-graders in California scored in the 70th percentile nationally, when they took state-wide math-tests. In 1969, sixth-graders scores were down to the 38th percentile level. The strikingly decline coincided with the State’s total adoption and increase usage of new math textbooks. Educators in the Golden State are worried, there is a sampling of 12,000 California pupils under way in an effort to determine whether the drop of quick computational ability was offset by an increase in mathematical problem-solving. Then in New Hampshire, eighth-graders in 1965 who were tested on their ability to compute quickly had an average grade equivalent of 8.8%. In 1967 another group of eight-graders who were given similar tests, and who had been studying the new method had an average grade equaling only 6.8%, a drop of two full grade levels. Dr. Fernand J. Prevost, Math Consultant in the U.S. office of Education, made this statement concerning the drastic drop in arithmetic knowledge of these noramally bright youngsters: “One result of all this is that school officials across the country are beginning to say that some parts of the old math might always be necessary. At the very least, they’re tampering with their various new-math programs to make sure that youngsters can quickly figure out how many times 12 goes into 84 without having to consult tables.” In New York, where test scores are declining and parents are complaining vociferously about the new math, state officials are revising both the elementary and secondary modern math programs. Dr. Frank S. Hawthorne, who haeads the New York’s Mathematics Educational Department made this succinct statement: “We do feel that the ability to add, substract, multiply and divide are the heart of any elementary mathematic curriculum, it’s essential to everyday life. It is true those that advocate the New Math put up a terrific argument for the new method. They contend that quick mastery of computational skills isn’t important. Some children do not grasp the numeral skill they should quickly enough, but taught correctly they will acquire skills plus a real depth of understanding of basic mathematics. They say that it just takes a little bit more time than traditional arithmetic for it all to sink in. Most mathematicians, teachers and parents alike seem disillusioned with the base-5 and base-10 concept. It is certainly a labyrinth of mathematical sleight-of-hand. Lee Mahon, curriculum director for the San Francisco City Schools, says: “Most San Francisco teachers have given up trying to use the complex New Math texts in their classrooms, and are substituting mimeographed math lessons they have written themselves.” Many of the text book publishers are getting rid of much of the abstract heavy theoretical content of their New-Math courses. These publishers are faced with a parent-rebellion and they are reacting in favor of the protesters. One main objection to the current new method is thatt it is too difficult for the average parent to understand. Curriculum editors point out the fact that writing quantities such as adding and multiplying in other base numbers gives the pupils a better grasp of arithmetic. But Richand M. Anderson, senior editor of mathematics texts at Ginn & Co., a Xerox subsidiary, made this broad statement to a group of New York parents: “It was not worth the pains it imposed on students and parents. Ginn’s two brand-new elementary math programs maintain much of the modern math. Parents should be able to pick up these books and understand them to help their children with their homework.” PROGRESSIVE TEACHING IS GETTING A BIG LAUGH-A few years ago there was a charge that so-called progressive teaching techniques were producing a crop of inferior readers, this condition caused widespread concern among parents and educators. PUT.LED OFF A HOAX--Back in the old days when emphasis was put on reading, writing and arithmetic; little Johnnie was a pretty-fair, teachable kid. Then came along the fanciful theories of philosopher John Dewey with his innovation sacrificing intellectual substance for pedagogical frills. Much of the better concepts of “Progressive Pedagogy” have endured. But public pressure has forced a return to phonics, which stresses the phonetic value of letters and letter-groups. Eventually all of our schools will return to basic teaching, rather than experimental philosophizing. Most teachers in elementary schools aren’t math oriented. Teaching math is a nerve-wracking for most of them, and getting modern math concepts across to them has been a big joke. Page 4 | Speaking | ■■r' From iJK Athens | gg j H y ;g;: X# Roosevelt Green, Jr. Jazz is too often neglected by Blacks who profess to be proud of their heritage. This form of music is one of the truly Black musical contributions to this country. It is therefore somewhat sad to see promoters of jazz festivals having to bring in rock and roll stars to insure adequate attendance by other Blacks and Whites. White racism has been the major reason why jazz has not been more popular in this country. This is because the white majority prefers popular and hard rock music to jazz largely because of a lack of exposure. However, there are many whites who “dig” jazz and who also play the music very well. White radio stations rarely if ever play jazz or rymthm and blues music for that matter. Black musicians of whatever music form have diffeculty selling their records because so many white stations prefer country and western or music sung by white stars who really cannot carry a tune on a wagon. Many if not most Blacks are not familiar iwth such jazz greats as Miles Davis, Clifford Brown, Charlie “Yardbird” Parker, John Coltrane, The Modern Jazz Quartet, Art Blakesly, Jelly Roll Morton, Les McCann, Cannonball Adderley, Eddie Harris, Yusef Lateef, Stanley Turretine, Lee Morgan, Max Roach, J. J. Johnson, Ella Fitzgerald, Jimmy Smith, Sarah Varghn, nd Wes Montgomery. These giants and many more deserve our support as well as appreciation for this form of music. This writer frankly prefers jazz over most other musical expressions. Some excellent white jazz artists include such notables as Stan Getz, Herbie Mann, Dave Brubeck, Kai Winding, Carl Tjader, Bennie Goodman, Buddy Rich, and Hervie Hancock to name a small number. It must be remembered that music truly trancends the color or ethnic barrier. Good musicians come in all ethnic or so called “racial” groups. One cannot go any further in discussing jazz withou mentioning such Black stars as Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, and Jonah Jones. Augusta is more fortunate than Athens since one Black station, WRDW, does play jazz on Sunday nights and during weekday noon hours. Atlanta and Savannah lead the way in exposing Georgians to jazz byway of AM-FM rodio programming. It is really delightful music that sounds good on modern stereo component systems. The new four channel hi-fi stereo component systems are truly “what’s happening” for real musical enjoyment. A jazz festival is suppose to be held in Atlanta soon. It is hoped that more Blacks will learn about this important part of our heritage in the future. There is a minority of whites who have supported jazz historically in a very devoted manner. Black and White Americans should demand that Black music be jplayed more on radio stations across the country. This writer is grateful for several very good music appreciation courses that were taught to him in high and college. Those courses helped me to accept all form of music including country and western and classical forms. It is highly significant to note that Charlie Pride is a Black country and western singing star who is one of the top male recording artists. Having grown up on a diet of Eddie Arnold and Hank Williams coupled with rhythm and Blues, the writer learned to like a variety of music. Country and western can probably be called white “soul” music. “Soul” is not necessarily limited to Blacks by any stretch of the imagination. Music has probably done more to promote racial acceptance than perhaps the Christian Church in America. It was a real pleasure to attend the live performances this year of such artists as 8.8. King, Billy Preston, and Curtis Mayfield. 8.8. King is finally gaining acceptance by many whites after all these years. King and Lucille, his guitar, deserve the super star status they now have achieved. Isaac Hayes is another great star this writer has seen in recent years. It would be gratifying to see the performances of such stars as Al Green, Roberta Flack, Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin, Arthur Prysock, Les McCann, the Ramsey Lewis Trio and Miles Davis. There are still some narrow minded Black and White christions who profess to only want to hear religious music. However, you can catch most of them “patting their feet” to securar or non-religious music if one is quite observant. There is no need to live a life of double standards in a religious straight jacket. Some of this crowd will go to hell if they do not stay but one day. Life could be more enjoyable to most of us if we could overcome our selfrighteous hang-ups and quit jiving people about how holy we are. God does not expect us to walk around with pious looks with our faces dragging the ground and only deceiving or fooling ourselves. Most people are wise to hypocrites whether they act like it or not. Music has been our focus this week as a means of escaping the insanity of Watergate and other problems. One has to get away from “heavy” things or matters once in a while for reflection or thinking in general, it is noteworthy that more of us need ot learn how to relax in our anxiety ridden times. The “rat race” can really get you down especially if you are a mouse rather than a rat. The big rats are destroying the cheese to the extent that most of us have to settle for the scent rather than the cheese. Perhaps we can one day transform the rat race into a human race if we survive our present ordeals. Our sympathy and prayers go out for singer James Brown and his family as they experience the grief of losing a beloved son recently. Brother Brown deserves our sympathy and empathy in this unfortunate period. It was a real pleasure to chat with fellow columnist Philip Waring by telephone this past week. We shared some views and experiences in an encouraging manner for both of us. He makes SEE SPEAKING FROM ATHENS Page 5 THE AUGUSTA NEWS-REVIEW PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY Mallory K. Millender Editor and Publisher Mailing Address: Box 953 Augusta, Ga. Phone 722-4555 Second Class Postage Paid Augusta, Ga. 30901 SUBSCRIPTION RATES Payable in Advance One Year in Richmond County $5.00 tax incl. 6 Months $2.50 tax incl. Ohe Year elsewhere $6.00 tax incl. ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT Classified Advertising Deadline 12 noon on Tuesday Display Advertising Deadline 12 noon On Tuesday News Items Printed Free TO BE /igW EQUAL Vcrar~E. JontaUr. fl L THE SOUTH’S PURGE OF BLACK TEACHERS There has been too much complacent self-satisfaction on the part of government officials and school administrators about the South’s progress in desegregating its dual school system. We’ve heard too much about the simple fact that more black children go to the same schools that white kids attend in the South, and not enough about the internal resegregation that occurs within schools and about the purge of black principals, administrators and teachers that is still going on. A recent conference in Atlanta, convenned by several top civil rights and education organizations, put the spotlight on this neglected purge. The conference estimated that since the 1954 Supreme Court decision that desegregated southern and border state school systems, some 31,000 black teachershave lost their jobs. In 1970 alone, the black community lost a quarter of a billion dollars in income because of this. As integrated school systems were introduced in most southern districts, many black teachers were fired or transferred to lower-level jobs. Many black principals were either forced out of the system, or had white principals placed above them while their own title and responsibilities shrank to the assistant principal level. Not only were existing black-held school jobs eliminated or stripped of their status, but new positions within the school systems have been closed off to blacks. Newly-created teaching jobs and principal jobs have gone almost exculusively to white candidates. Since 1968, over 23,000 new teaching jobs opened up in the eleven southern states, but blacks got less than 500 of them. This is bad enough, but new developments could accelerate the trend. Many black teachers and administrators have been shunted off the regular payrolls of the school districts and on to special compensatory education programs funded by the federal government. There federal programs are now victims of the wholesale budget cuts in human service programs, which means that many more black educators may become jobless. Most of the dismissals and demotions have occurred in rural school districts, but the federal cuts will affect urban programs as well, so 1973 may see the purge of black educators extended. The situation is serious enough, but another new development makes it still more dangerous. Pressures to merge the black state colleges in the south with the predominately white colleges may result in a new purge of college teachers and administrators. State and local officials used desegregation as a tool with which to purge black college teachers and administrators? This is an important question because the purge has not only damaged the economy of black citizens in the South, it has dealt a severe blow to a considerable segment of the local black leadership class. There seems to have been a determined effort to drive blacks out of the school systems of the South. Lay-offs, demotions and transfers to less desirable assignments, coupled with lack of access to administrators and district school officials have demoralized black educators and discouraged young people from careers in education. Although this is illegal and unconstitutional, the courts have been silent and the government, although it has the power to cut off funds from districts that discriminate in this way, has not done so. Public discussion about desegregation has revolved around the phony issue of busing, or about the supposed progress that has been made. It is time now to turn the spotlight on the widespread discriminatory practices that have turned surface integration into a sham, harming black children and black educators, as well as the black economy. LETTERS TO EDITOR | PRAISES COVERAGE Dear Editor: June is a good month for “catching up” and thinking back over the events of the past months. I find in those months so many occasions on which the News-Review has given fine coverage of community activities. Thank you especially for your reporting of Oglethorpe Park Developments, Arbor Day, the “1776” movie benefit, the Augusta Arts Festival, and the William S. Boyd Competition for Young Pianists. Sincerely Nancy Anderson 820 Fleming Ave. I WALLACE’S" REALESTATE 132 GWINNETT 722-8838 Swint's Discount Store WE CLOTHE THE ENTIRE FAMILY NAME BRAND MERCHANDISE 2122 Milledgeville Road Augusta. Georgia We Dow But Never Clow 24-Hour Service Jack Dempsey Professional * Office Phone 724-1204 118 Ninth St. K SUBSCRIBE | TODAY JIJ THE AUGUSTA NEWS-REVIEW P. O. BOX 953 AUGITSTA, GEORGIA 30903 NAME ADDRESS i CITY Sil One year (in county)ss.oo to| —“j One year (out of county)s6.oo • a 5 years (in County) $20.00 S' 5 years (out of county)s2s.oo GOING 1 PI ACES JMjK I Editor’s Note: We are reprinting “Going Places”, Section Number 2 published last week in the Stamford Shopper-Mail Newspaper as it highlights the status of Mr. Waring. THANK SUPPORTERS May I thank the many persons who have so kindly phoned, sent messages, cards, etc. regarding my forthcoming mid-summer retirement from my present Urban League position. Several questions have been raised as to the continuation of my weekly column, “Going Places”. Upon leaving the hospital with health permitting and God willing, “Going Places” will continue in the Stamford Weekly Mail, and also in my hometown paper, the Augusta, Ga. “News-Review” (where it has operated for the past 25 years). APPRECIATES JORDAN LETTER Last Thursday evening at a very significant Urban League fourth annual meeting I was warmly saluted by our League board, staff and members. Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., my national boss, graciously sent a letter thanking me for my professional service in the Urban League. It was read by William Haskins, NUL Eastern Regional Director, who also highlighted the success in which this affiliate had moved ahead in four short years. THANKS TO COMMUNITY May I extend warm appreciation to a hard working and dedicated board staff, guild, various community organizations, NUL and the United Fund units for their role in helping to build a new Urban League in Southwestern Fairfield County. And let’s not forget the communications media who undergirded and helped tell our story. This time four years ago in 1969 Urban League was but a dream. Now, four years later, we have what NUL describes as a successful, ongoing operation. We have an interracial board, staff and guild, there are members in the four towns where we serve, office facilities have been established in Stamford and Greenwich, hundreds of youth and adults have been helped, and our annual meetings have attracted such national figures as the late Whitney Young, Asst. Secretary of Labor Art Fletcher, Vernon Jordan and Commissioner Ersa Poston. The presence of the 63-year-old NUL has been firmly established in this part of Connecticut. PROGRAM SERVICES While we’ve had some ups and downs, some expectations far beyond our slim resources to produce, NUL informs us that we’ve moved forward. What are some of our program highlights? (1) We were one of ten Leagues chosen for a NUL voter education-registration project. As such our project, working with other groups, was able to register more than 2,000 residents, many of whom were Black and Puerto Ricans; (2) We introduced to this area new programs in minority career guidance including an annual career clinic and the BOAT youth motivation project in inner-city schools; (3) We’ve conducted (thanks to the Stamford Neighborhood Youth Corps) three Summer Greenwich summer job-training programs, which brought in over $25,000 in new money. This is important because many persons in Greenwich refuse to admit there are low income families there; (4) In 1972, thanks to financing by the American Can Company, we published an invaluable Community Resource Guide for Southwestern Fairfield County; (5) As a new affiliate, our agency garnered two “firsts”. They included placement of a graduate social work student by the University of Conn, and selection of a staff worker to speak at the NUL Conference where she described our work with Puerto Ricans; (6) Our topflight interracial guild has established scholarships and an Educational Center to assist youth to enter college; (7) We have spearheaded organization of several coalitions with other civic groups to spur civil rights and system-change, and (8) Persons placed on jobs have earned more than $50,000 in new money. We all feel that the community is better because of Urban League.