Negro Digest - Freedom Archives

travel to the moon a routine miracle, education in the United States
has adapted to space age demands with lethargic reluctance . Five
specific problems appear to be paramount :
1 . The demands of a space age and computer paced society for
the certifications provided by education .
2 . The sharp increase in the number of people seeking an education,
especially Black people .
3 . The unwillingness of the society to meet the costs of mass education
.
4 . The inherent inertia of the educational system .
5 . The inertia of the society itself and the racism that is so deeply
embedded in every aspect of American life .
To meet challenges to the nation of current crises in domestic as well
as foreign affairs, education will need-more than money-ideas, courage,
determination, and a new will for self-appraisal reinforced by a
will for creatively conceived change . As matters now stand, education
has not shown either the ability or the willingness for searching selfcriticism
. Neither has it been able to seize opportunities for innovations
that will help teachers achieve more in classrooms filled with distractions
and angry students . It has failed to infuse the needed knowledge
and methods required to meet the current crisis . While exhorting everyone
to change, education has remained stubbornly resistant to innovation
and new ideas .
In a larger sense, the crisis of education is the crisis of the greater
society and, thus, it is the urgent concern of all citizens committed to
the perservation of our present way of life . I firmly believe that the
crisis of education in the Black community can be overcome . A critical
self-analysis is a beginning ; a re-education and sensitizing of teachers
is a second step ; a relevance and upgrading of curriculum is a third ; an
effort to truly involve the community in school affairs is a fourth ; application
of some new theories of teaching and learning, as suggested
by repeated research findings, is a fifth ; and a new responsiveness to
conditions and to the people education purports to serve is the last I
list here, but far from the last in possibilities, if education is to provide
the answers we need so urgently .
Rather than faulting its critics who are engaged in an exercise of
love and faith, the managers of education would do better to take stock
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March 1970 NEGRO DIGEST