27
DOCUMENT RESUME ED 117 224 UD 015 617 AUTHOR Johnson, Howard TITLE The Educational System as a'Reinforcer of Institutionalized Racism. PUB DATE 75 NOTE 27p.; Not available in hard copy due to marginal legibility of original document EDPS PRICE DESCRIPTORS' MF -$C.76 Plus Postage. HC Not Available from EDRS. Educational Benefits; Educational Discrimination; Educational Equality; Educational Needs; Educational Objectives; Educational Philosophy; Educational Planning; *Educational Policy; Educational Practice; Educational Trends; *Equal Education; Racial Attitudes; Racial Discrimination; *Racism; *Reinforcers; *Sosi1lization; Social Reinforcement ABSTRACT The educational complex is se4n,to act as a subsystem of the overall societal system whose main function is said to lie in the socialization of individuals for membership in the larger society. The socialization process, including mastery of norms, beliefs, attitudes, "and behavioral patterns of the society, are seen to be permeated with institutionalized racism. As a vehicle of the socialization process,the educational system is considered to incorporate racist norms, standards, behavioral patterns, morals, an'd sense of social position in such a manner that the socializee is unaware of his absorption of a curriculum that is fundamentally racist. While American institutions contribute to institutionalized racism, the focus on the educational system has particular relevance since minority groups, ethnic minorities, and poverty groups attach high significance to educatibn, particularly as the road to upward mobility. The major conclusion formulated from the evidence presented is that a pervasive and effective institutional racism permeates the entire education system. (Author/AM) *********************************************************************** Documents acquired by EPIC include many, informal unpublished * materials not available from other sources. ERIC makes every effort * * to obtain the best copy available. Nevertheless, items of marginal * * reproducibility are often encountered and this affects the quality * * of the microfiche and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makes available * * via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS) . EDRS is not * responsible for the quality of the original document. Reproductions * * supplied by EDPS are the best that can be made from the original. ***********************************************************************

DOCUMENT RESUME ED 117 224 UD 015 617 … · This basic role of the educational system is ig-nored by the pathogenic theorists who still clutch the timeworn 19th' century shibboleth

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DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 117 224 UD 015 617

AUTHOR Johnson, HowardTITLE The Educational System as a'Reinforcer of

Institutionalized Racism.PUB DATE 75NOTE 27p.; Not available in hard copy due to marginal

legibility of original document

EDPS PRICEDESCRIPTORS'

MF -$C.76 Plus Postage. HC Not Available from EDRS.Educational Benefits; Educational Discrimination;Educational Equality; Educational Needs; EducationalObjectives; Educational Philosophy; EducationalPlanning; *Educational Policy; Educational Practice;Educational Trends; *Equal Education; RacialAttitudes; Racial Discrimination; *Racism;*Reinforcers; *Sosi1lization; Social Reinforcement

ABSTRACTThe educational complex is se4n,to act as a subsystem

of the overall societal system whose main function is said to lie inthe socialization of individuals for membership in the largersociety. The socialization process, including mastery of norms,beliefs, attitudes, "and behavioral patterns of the society, are seento be permeated with institutionalized racism. As a vehicle of thesocialization process,the educational system is considered toincorporate racist norms, standards, behavioral patterns, morals, an'dsense of social position in such a manner that the socializee isunaware of his absorption of a curriculum that is fundamentallyracist. While American institutions contribute to institutionalizedracism, the focus on the educational system has particular relevancesince minority groups, ethnic minorities, and poverty groups attachhigh significance to educatibn, particularly as the road to upwardmobility. The major conclusion formulated from the evidence presentedis that a pervasive and effective institutional racism permeates theentire education system. (Author/AM)

***********************************************************************Documents acquired by EPIC include many, informal unpublished

* materials not available from other sources. ERIC makes every effort ** to obtain the best copy available. Nevertheless, items of marginal *

* reproducibility are often encountered and this affects the quality *

* of the microfiche and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makes available *

* via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS) . EDRS is not* responsible for the quality of the original document. Reproductions ** supplied by EDPS are the best that can be made from the original.***********************************************************************

BESTAffU S DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH,

EDUCATION & WELFARENATIONAL INSTITUTE OF

EDUCATIONTHIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODuCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROMTHE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINAT !NZ. IT POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONSSTATED 00 NOT NECESSARILY RpPRESENT OFFICIAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE OFEDUCATION PS)SiTiON OR POLICY

THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEI4 AS -A REINFORCER

OF INSTITUTIONALIZED RACISM

The recent .Carnegie Commission on Higher Education

final report eritled "Prioritie's for Action""indicates.

that the perspective of the most influential forces in

higher education for the 1980's does not include any

major changes/In the role of the educational system

as a reinforcer ofjnstitutionalized racism in our

society.

:This fact is obscured in the report in a flow of

"liberal rhetor,i6" that promises an American society

"more meritocratic in its search for talent," "more

Aegalitarian in the distribution of income," "more

humane in its concern for the health, the education,

and the chance Ar development of all citizens," and

"more D,Iuralistic in its acceptance of diverse culr1 -

turesand:lifestyles."_ ,,

,

e The pdmmission'report is less obscure w14-11 it

1

c't-5

states that "'elite' institutions of all types--

incolleges :and universities--should be protected and

0 encourag&d as a source of scholarship and leadership

-.

1

fCr. Acim: ?inal Report of the Car-

nerfic! M Miter Education, New Yorkt' McGraw-

Hil; Book 'ompany, 1973.t-

UD 01507

1

2.

train.;! at the highest levels. 'Phev shoqld note,

nA7=c1 in the name of ehalitari4nj.sm." (Note: my

italics. ) ;4While elitism is not isomorphic with racism,

elitism, in its hierarchic and stratifying approach to

human beings:is the foundation of racism. Racism can

be characterized as elitism in the second degree,,2.

, .

the hierarchicizing principle .transposed from ind:,.v./.-,

duals.tocpeoples. In this context, the Commission

report, with its emphasis on the.meritocracy and'

Zaint,Aance of elite institutions, projects a: eat-. .

1.1

to the limited advances that have-been made in minor-,

ity access to higher education and ases a continu-

ation of the institutionalized #41sm that dominates

the educational system.-

The educational system, in its primary role as

the most important agent of the socialization process,

establishes the norms,,standards, behavioral patterns,

morality, social position and life chances of all who

pass through the process. Of ,all the institutions of

society, the educational system is that.kind of 5,nsti-

tution which the Kerner Commission report- Said,

What white Americans have neverunderstood- -but what the Negro cannever forget--is that white societyis deeply implicated- in the, ghetto.

e,

BEST COPY -AVAILABLE3

4

Wh;te institutions created it,white instit.utions raintain it,and white society condones it,

As a vehicle of the socialization process, the

edlicational system incorptrates racist norms, stanth..

aids, behavioralpatterns, morals, .and sense of'social

Tosition as <a matter of fact so that the socialize'e is

unaware of his or 'her 'absorption of a curriculum that

is fundamentally racist, Beginning with the textbooks,

/I-

continuing through the faculties and administrators,'

the designing and administering of:tests, grading,

selection of students and guidance and counseling of

students, the granting ofAcholar grants, fellow-

system

ships and loans and ending with final stamp of.

approval for membership in American society-.-the cre-

dential in the form of. -the diploma, the educational

functions as a relentlessly efficient stratifies

and hierarchicizer Of the American populatidn into

classes and color gradines, effectively barring lower

class, female, ethnic and color minorities from full

participation in American,society, Scores 'of studies

and research document this more often latent, but some- -

times manifest function of the educational system as

reinforcer of institutionalized racism (see Banks,

Poussaint, Seasholes, Goodman, Sizemol'e an Trambs,

072).

,`

This basic role of the educational system is ig-

nored by the pathogenic theorists who still clutch the

timeworn 19th' century shibboleth that blacks are un-

educable by virtue bf. their deficigcies.at birth (see

Jensen, 1969; Shockley, 1973; Shuey, 1966; Eysenck,

1973) and also by the more sophisticated social

science of the 20th century represented by the socio-

pathologists who advocate the view that blacks .have be-

come inferior as an end-product of social condition-*2

fbrm of Social Darwinism-in7reverse (see

1965; Glazer and Moynihan; 1963; Kardiner and

Cvesey, 1951; Moynihan, 1965; Pettigrew, 1964; Rain-

water, 1966),

The exposition .of the socializing function of

the school class by'4,"Talcott Parsons also avoids the ,

negative discriminatory aspect of the allocation of

roles and the racist aspects of the commitment.to the:

implementation 'of the "broad values".of society. How-.

ever, iMPlicit in Parsons' description of the role of

'..the school class is unmentioned racism,in

tion and inculcated values. Parsons states:

2 .

Social Darwinism-in-revorse is the c ommutation.of the formula "the survival of the fittest4 to. "thesurvivors are 'the least fit,".,

el

e

19

4

N

A

... From the functional point of view-the school lass can be treated asan agency of socialization. That ,

is to say, it is an agency throughwhich individual personalities are

4 trained to be motivationally and) technically adequate to the per-

ormance of adult roles. It isno;, ,the sole such agency, .

but, in the period extending fromentry into first grade until entryinto the labor force or marriage,7,1-:e school class may be regardedas the focal socializing agency.

In fact, fro; the point of view of results, the school

class as the producion arena of the edubational system

might be defined as the dominant.sOcializing agency.

Parsons goes on to say,

While. on the'oneNhand, the schoolclass _may be regarded as a pritlaryagency by which these differentcomponents of commitments andcapacities.are generated, on theother hand, it is, from the pointof view of" the society,-an agencyof 'F,anpower'. allocation. It iswell known that an American soci-ety-there is a very high; and prob-ably increasing, correlation betWeenone's status level in society andone's level of'educational attain-vent, '3oth/Social status and educational level ai-e obviously re-lated to the occupational statuswhich is attained.

And what are the criteria for the all7important deter-

mination of who shall be college-going and non:.

coilege-going? Parsons reveals that that decision is

made in elementary school. He states,

t)

5.

3y far the most im2ortant criter-ion is. the 2.-ecord of school,Iper-formance in elementary school.These records are evaluated byteachers and principals,, and

. there are few cases of enteringThe college preparatory courseagainst their advice.

Parsons softensrthe blow by declaring theprocess to

/ .

be "genuinely assottative" and, as In all "comparable

processes" ascriptive and achieved factors influence

outcome, with the ascriptive factor being socio-

economic status of the child's family and the

6.

achievement factor being ,the individual ability of

the child. Parsons deals lightly with the damning

evidence that the ascriptive factor 'weighs so heavily

That only 29% of laborers' sons had College intentions

compared to 89% of white coilar persons" sons in the

Top quintile of ability. At the same ability level,

in this.Boston study discussed by Parsons, the as-

criptive factor outweighs The achievement 'factor based

on individual.ability by 3 to 1, From these data,

Parsons astoundiilgly sums up,

Considerations like these lead me Toconclude that the main process of

differentiation (which from anotherpoint of view is selection) thatoccurs dpring eleplentary school'takes place on a single :gain axisof achievement.

(

7.

?arsons, with his emphasis on the achievement as-%

pacts ofl advanCemett in school, justifies and ration -

alizes the claim of the educational system's defenders

that: those who finally get to college are doing so on

their 7:1ril-s without regard for class, sex, ethnicity

or race. Fortunately, 'a new breed oi' behavioral sci-_,

ettists are challenging these unwarranted assumptions.

Bowles and Levin assemble evidence that social class is

by far the more potent factor in determining scholastic

achievement (1968); Boyle demonstrates the impact of.

,

neizhborhood and c1ollege plans (1966); Turner chal-

lenges the assumption that ascension to the elite in

the United StatAs is more democratic through the Prac-.

tice of "contest mobility'' in contrast to the moreT ,,

ascriptive "sponsored mobility" in the British schOol

system (1960); and Stein outlines the inexorable opera-

tion of racism as the selection agent in the New York

City school system (1971).

In his introduction to The tirban School: A Fac-

tory for Failure; Ray C. Kist sums 'up and defines the

socializatidh function of the educational system:

Succinctly, it may be said lthatthe system of public education inthe United States is specificallydesigned to aid` in the perpetuationof thd social and economic inequali-ties found within the society.

,

8

i

O.

e

Or, as Michael Katz suggests (19711,. . iriii),- "Schools. . 4 .

,t

are 'not great democratic* engines for identifying talent 1

and matching it with opportunity. The children-9f the

- affluent by and large.take'the best marks and the best,

jobs."

Or as'Katz'states even more penetratingly, y,

. . . The schools are fortresses infunction as well as form, protected -'outposts of the city's educationalestablishment. and the prosperous/citizens who sustain (sic!) it. .1n.

their own way, they are imperialinstitutions.designed to civilizethe,natives; they exist to do some-thing to poor children, especially,:'now,. children who: are black' or brown.

Their main purpose is to make.these.'childrenorderly, industrious, law-abiding,,and respectful of authoritY.Their literature and their spokesmenproclaim the schools to be symbols ofopportunity, but slitted or window--less walls say clearly what their ,

-history would reveal as well: theywere .designed to reflect, and con -/firvthe social structure that /

T. erected them. 'Rist, 103)

'While all Americjan institutions Contribute their unjust

due- to institutionalized racismth4/ b siness world,

the government, the police, the courts, and the enter-

."tainment world in varying degreesOur focUs on the

.educationaisystelti has a particular poignancy because

of its significance to.ethnic minorities, blacks,,

Puerto Ricans;' Chicanos, Native Americans, lower

.

9

4

9.

-,..1 middle-classe; and working class and even the much- ,,,

. 7 . 4-

Maligned WASP, whose. Appalachian co tingent ranks among'

the'poorest populations in the na ion.. All of these;

peoples hawfdlt that- the educ ional system was.the

road to. upward social'MObility, if there was one, or,. ,

at- least,. to an improvement n one's life chances. .It'

Paps6hs' thesis-that the s hool class is the focal .

/

agency of. socializat'on during the crucial years. from

1 five to sixteen or tw y-one 'is valid, most evi-

,

ti

1, , .

"deice* ; i supports that a sumption, then.tlie educktional-r

11

system becomes to key factor in determining what as-/

.

-

pects of the, cult ura l heritage are transmitted to,the iIt

I

student and also hcgff these particular aspects,4of ther .

cultural herit /ge are interpreted to the' student..

:The heavy wei ht of racist interpretations of our c1.4.-

tural heritage in the educational system Makes the

/3 - ___ . .

.

"The terms 'education' and 'socialization' should,.

be consxdered,synonymous in our society, for educationis the primary meantOf socializing all child en afterthey ,reach. the age offive. 0 . . ThiS educ ionalsystem socializes.children by teaching he know-;*ledge and Intellect. skills essential to tlll'par-:ticipation in society as well as the mores and habitg---1

of its' members.," In these certain terms, .McNeil aug--merits .Parsons' evaluation of the prime-importance ofthe educational system during these key years. eltonB. ,McNeil, Human Socialization. Belmont, California:Brooks/Cole, 1969, /3:43.8. - A

.

,.

schooling process the seed -bed for. the ideological j, d--4

. .1

tific ation o institutional racism. The educationa

system authenticated, dbcuments, organizes and raises

to the level of "science" the inchoate and' (ragmen'

racial attitude's acquired though the family, the ,peer-

group and the mother agencies of socialization.' (See

. t

YacRae, 1960; Myrdal, 1943; Baratz and Baratz, in BromT

ley, 1972; Harding, 1974; and Sizemore, 19731) Admit-

tedly these groups;play an important role,'bUt'the

1

educational *tem as socializer is our main concern,_

As Ehrlich (1973 )'Puts it, the educhtion system is the'

mechanism through whid1' our social fitage ist trans-

,mitted. Ethnoracial attitudes are transmitted acrossI

generations as a component of.the a cumulatee'knowledge

reflecting our social herit-1 Other studies strikingly

indicate white child 'en's acquisition of evaluative man-w

4"Cultural imperialism is also Dart of the rela-

tionsip; ghetto schools traditionally teach the history'of the rYlothei-Country' as if blacks had no partkin its .development, blacks,had.no identity' of

own, no culture, ndi origins *orthy afimpntIoliin the chronicles.of the world' nations a d peoples:The.dominant culture is constantly held up as good,desirable, worthy Of emulation:, The'dettr ction ofthe indiEenous-culture is an important wea an incre-aing,dependence and reinforcing control," 'William K.Tan, " :ace Relations Models and SoCial 011 nge,"Social Problems,.Vol. 18, Spring 1971, P.

)

;35. .

11.

P!

ings of white as gOod and black as bad as early as the

_ . preschool years.. The racial attitudes are almost uni-,

versally stabilized in the socialization process by the

age-Of 16. Most attitude's are acquired by 5: The pri-

!i.

many agents in this pre - school process are .the parents,

with siblings adding additional significant i luence

in. the familial social network. (See Hyman, 1959

! Radke and Traget, 195O.)

Onelof the-modalities of the socialization process

is observatlonal learning. This has a tremendous impact4

in, the clas'srobm on both white black youth. A pri=

mart' step in the acquisition of color-oriented or race-,

typed behavior, observational learning,' labeled "imita-

tiori" in experimental psychology, according to Bandura

and Walters (1963), and ilidentification".in 'personality

theory. '(Lynn4 1966; Mead, 1934; Parsons, 1954; Davis &s

,

Dollard; 1940)Yen be less ambiguously referred to as

the reproduction by the person of the actions, attitude's

and,'emoiional'responses exhibited 'by real-life or symbolic,.

iiiodels. -,

. t!

,. 1.,ii

. t

A review of 'the literature on social learning ob-., v V

'serves that imitative or identificatory learning takeS.

4,.

.

..:blace directly or vicariously and can be inhibited or,

1,

1!

ellcit4'd*by the controlling agents. The controlling agent

12

41,

* 'I

Ai

far the' educational systemiso in most instances, the. .

teacher. Note here that cross-sex identification is,

12.

associated with assumed, power in the cross-sex adUlt or. .

.

older peer, and this finding'might te'applicable to. .

cross -color identification, as.inthe case of the1 I

"Orpo" phenom non' the black-adillt or child co,

pleteiy'atsorbs all of the behavior patterns of the lin-.

structing. white, 'tepresenting the dominant oulture:

There is- considerable evidence, according-to:Festinger,,

,

(2957), that cAgnitive.ana value Changes-occur as a re-,

suit of partioular behaYioral performance. That is,

values"and cognitions are realigned to make them con-

Sister with behayiox and May-eyen be, used to jUstify

_behavior. "in individual who eats grasshoppers And can. .

:land no exernaf-justfication f.or his.behavior, feeIS

t that-they must be delicious." This,kind'Of rationale

is gen6rally adopted to explain the color- oriented be-.

haviar.in society. .

.

The.secondary modality.in the socialization propea

.4 '

. IA-.

5. .

1 A cookie tat is chocolate (read "black")on theoutside. and whit'on.the inside, hence "Ordo" connotes-a.blackAhersori who has internalized the wtilte valuesystem and successfully extirpated any evidence of

, blackness in hi's consciousness..0IA :

, A1

6

. .

13

4

, .

is characterized as a reinforcetheht approach,' ,That is,

,learning through a system of rewards and puhiShm6nts

(Yarrovi, Campbell and. Burton, 1968Y. The "shaping" or

"modeling: of ehb.vidi4; thr otigh'the arousal of positive

or negative states in the, subject Gan n-be an influential

determinant in the socialilatian process, though there.

is .orwhelming evidence, that.cognition,through oBser-'

vatioh, of the two modalities,. is the more preponderant

in its impact (Danziger, 1973 Thus, both the. obser-,

vational imliact as well as reinforcement-technique,. . .

affirm as important verbal and non::.verbai 'behavior. It.

has 'been suzgested (Banith, 1963). thatteachers frequently. . .:

a

exhibit a good deal of unconscibus discrimination.

against working class and especially lower Working

class children. This bias against the working class. .

1

child is assumed' to arise from the adherence ta middle

class values which characterizes the school teacher by

virtue of his own 'social class /position. The bias is 'f..?

intensified when the child is working, cla.ss and also

. .

iblack. Teachers aret it can be argued, middle class.

either by virtue of, their social origin, or, in tlie case

of those who have been socially mobile, because they

have addpted middle class values in ther successfula.

passage through-school:and 'college. We might also add1

4-

11.

4

to this non-verbal communication of antagonism. by ges-

ture, tone of Voice, expression on face, enlarged' body. .. .

. 6movements.- . Arecent Survey study in Psychology today

..

indicates that there are cultural differences in the4

amount p.f spate :that whites require during the. course

of conversation as contrasted with blacks. ,Dissonance' :

and 'a feeling of rejection in blacks if the white uses-

what is normally considered a white' amount of space can

_result. Blacks operate _under much 9lOser proximity, to. .

each other .and in the case of "the white -teacher it

. might be regarded as pushiness by the black. student, ife

he _attempted to maneuver to closer physical proximity td

the teacher. Thus, on- the non-verbal level, the white,

middle class teacher in a black majorit' school room

would sense non-verbal cues signalling "aggression,'"

and "pushiness" in lilack children and, if they moved 'too

close to her, might even signal ?violence."

6..

Reported. by ,Jack Horn in_kewtline on research-conducted by Patrick CCnnolly for dOctorate at Uni-versity of, Iowa. 'The same article notes:research%intiCating racialvoultural differences in staring-speaking and looking .away - listening patterns that' .might. lead to generalized disceMfort in interactionbetween blacks and whited. These findings by Mari-anne La .Prance and Clar.4 Mayo in the Department ofPsychology at Boston University could-have signifi-cant bearing on teacher-student cognitive .dissonancd.

a

"-

What Are the results of these aspects-of:the so-

eUlization'Procesi in talp.schp.ol systeM?-Whatis the

educational output? According .to Annie Stein in"the

Harvard.Educational'RevieW,,, -the'average child in 8 pera

cent' pf the black and Puerto Rican schools in New York.

City is.funotionallr illiterate after eight ,years o.J;

schooling in the.richest .city in the world, Steiri---,

ironically: maintains; ,

. a

is.a,massive accompli shment.It took the effort of ..63,600.teachers; thouSands more- admin-!istrators, scholars ancrtlocialscientists, and billiong',ef. .-

dolaars.to 'achieve. Afore,ever, the professional educatorscould not have done it.; They.needed the active suipport of ,allof the forces of business, realestate interests; trade unions,

politicians,.'city-offi-Cials: the police and the court.Perhaps an bven'grater achieve.Ant-of-the school bedhtheir,'ability to place there -*dponsitnity for this extra-ordinary record of failmre7upontheehAIdren themselves, their_°families and their\Communities.'

I,

.

fi

Stein describes the mechaniSm through which this is

developed as !'strategies for failure " -3 first, control*.

thtough containment, the system of segregation. Since

1954, Vthen the Supreme Court tssued its desegregation. .

s?gregation has 'increased in/the, school systemsdeetee,

in the major .Northern' cities, .and the average ghetto

1 G

.

/Is

ii

:x

youth has less contact with whites than his mother or

father. did.. This is probably one of the objective bale's

for thi-intensified hostility to whites that .we find,

among the black -yOunger generation.. Secondly,

strategy of training teachers to tail.by adopting the,

middle class value system as the desideratum for educa-.

'tional values and defining- the values of the 'culture of .

-Puerto Riean, black lower Class and working'class white11

II

youth as "deficit Culture, ".as "differeht, culture," i

Vi

.fi

1$

"lower class., culture t " as' "'undesirable culture" giving , 11

14

the rationale for teachers. to justify their inability'1

.,

$ i!

J.. to educate these .youngsters.ft'

!: The third 'mechanism is the institutional medhaniim-

it

li of failure arranged through tracking,. the watering down

If ,

,

.

.. of the curricUlum, .the drop-out and push-out programs;

f. -:...

,

..),

non-accountability on the pirt of the teachers as the

il

. ,

,, t, union grows in its strength; -In the five ,years from

IZ

-

1963 to 1968,. out of 60,000 teachers in 'the New York

City school 'system, only 12 were fired from their ,jobs,,

for failure .to perform thpir duty, .while at the seine time

thousands '41 children .were not being taught to read.. The

final method of institutionalization of failUre is' the'

network of compensatory educational progra wh eh have, ..

., i

been set up and,

'organized with guidelines. that tig'anted:- .

17

'1

maxiir.a.1 salaries for, educators and minimal learning Tor

students. iThas is true of bilingual education, migra-,

tOry workers' education, correctional education,, andr,8t her compensatory .education programs with bUilt-in

-."Self-destruct" outlooks. #.

.

/

,What 's. -happening in secondary education? In the

fall of 1972, the: darnegie Con- .Commission .states , "Black$*.

were repreented among, the new enrollees in almost the ,

same proportion as they were represented among high1.

_ . i:

. school graduates." ,And it then obseryes that the pro-k.ir, .

portion ten-wears ago was or 3 to 1 rather,than 1 to 1. I:

,.. . . .

This observation fails _to ntion that high school dtoilt-

ut figures are increasing absolutelx where the per-.1

.-4 -outscentage gtfcvo-uts declines.. ,In.1967 the number of

. ,

bladks whS v'tere high school drOp-o4ts:of the ages of 18. .

"and 19, big.0 males,, was..-30.6%; this has been reduced to

1. A. / '

'f27:170 in. 1 w2 , Among white -males in the same years, i T.

.15.4% wera.d.roy.-oxits and 13.0: 'Thdales from 20 to 24,

black males 42., ,5% in 1.967, black males in 1072 rOdticed

to 27,1 per cent dropping out. White, 18.8% in 1967,

15.370 in 1972. Among females the figures are more

equal, Black .I'maleS had 36.1% drop-outs in 1967; White

feniCles 1.9 Per cent, )31ack female! in 1972 had 27.3%o

drop-outs-.;

18

1-8,

Id higher education the- following statistics would

indicate the situation. . Lra.mps Bryant, -in a study of .

black dipotorateS in, education (073), states that there

are outside- of,14.11. is, and. D.V.M.'se 2280ti

blak Ph.D.'s ir. the ;United States, While, in, the. past

50 year's; the e.ducational system has produced only 2280

Ph.t.''s who are black, there are 50,-000 Ph,,p.'s produced

annually: i n our - country, and- 360,000 A.. S We have

336,000. full-time teacheiss, 'of which only four and_ a- ' I

half per cent are black in -the entire. edUcational system.A.

Bryant figures that at the 1940 to 1960 rate it will

take 530 years to gain proportiOnal representation on

the part of minorities in profeisional, -technical anda.

kindred professi9ns; or from 1960 to 2490.: In the. mana-'

genial, 'officials and-proprietary ranks,. it will take

450 years, o' blacks will reach 'equity by 2375. Blauner,

ein his article on white professors, gives estimates that

e, r, in universities of high and medium quality, less than':::

.005 pel- cent are black. In four. -year colleges of high

or medium quality, less' than 1 per cent are black. In

uniwkrsities, of low quality,' 1.8 per cent are black.

And the highest ratio of black profesSors are in-the cora-

raunity colleges, -where the figure is- 5.4 per aent.

f

An examination ()if two or the disciplines most attract-

1Q

19.

ive to blacks is even .more revealing. In _psychology, in

the ten leading departments that produced 376?4

only 8 were black; 7iarvard, Stanford, Yale, Illinois,

CornellBrown Iowa, V.C.L..A. and Cornell produced none. I am,

reminded of a' bitter story that eih Clark, the only

black member of-the State Board .o Regents, once told.

W:eieri he applied for graduate school. at Cornell for his -

doctoral training he was refused with'a lengthy letter

froth the Dean of Admissions stating that' they-felt that

he would not be comfOrtable on the Cornell Campus. -ThiS;,:-

was standard operational procedure for most of the'ivy

A'leagUe-universiiies, to which blacks had the temerity to

apply. "1

It shAld be obvious that the issue is not incat-

pacity or lack of desire on the part pf blacks to get

higher ,education, but racist refusal on the part of most- .

institutions of higher learning to admit blackS: When

they are adthitted, standards are Imposed, that result ini

)

the majority .of'black'pPh.,D.ts

taking from, .5 to ;4 years" 1 /

getto ethetdoctorate, Whereas the averagewhiteloh.D.. _ ..

tales from 4 to,s6 years. ,

In sociology,, th4 entire socioiogy,industry*has

produ 'ced less than 200 black sociologists, or a rate'

since 196Q of about 1.0 per year. There were just a

2( rr .

\t :

r.

f

4.-"'" -

20.'

handful before i960e_ I± would take, at that rate of 10'-"

per year, until the

logist with a Ph.D.

year 2075,'tc get one black. socio-.

in each sociology department nation-.

-ally; assuming that there are abotit 1500 sociology de-

.partments in, the xiniversitysystem;II;ts on .this basis

that the Caucus of Black Soeioloisis, at the .1971 Ameri-

cam complained that black=

Scholarg are substantially excluded fiom the life of

their professional societies. This exclusion includes'

publisliing.# sociological journalsr researCh%.

funds, and consultantships, positions ofYleadershipland

positions,on convention programs,:"The exenItie was given

\

that the convention panel oll'race at the 1971 A.S.k., con-

venti was com, etely .did not.00nL-

e to invite one black sociologist on asider it desira

panel that was discussing race.

The major conclusion from this evidence is that.

..

. .

from childhood through the elementary education systeM,-. .

. . ..

through' secondary education, -and- post - secondary educa-. - . . - ,

..

tion, we 'have an institutional racism that

effective and permeates the entire system.

what irOn5,o that in the face of this situation, whites'

is pervasiVe,

It is some-

are accusinguniverSities of "racism in the reverse."

In the .Biblical phrase, theses Whites are "strain-.

trig at gnats and swallowing camels" if,they are naive.

21;

-24ore likely, these whites are engaged in the iophisti-

cated Watergate technique of trivializing the extent.

of racism and exaggerating .the extent of injustice

that might take place when racism is challenged., Such

a "racism reverse" Situation is an improbable hypo

thesis for a future that seems highly unlikely. from

the realities' of institutional racism in AMericin

cation today,

r

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e

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22

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e-'

111

IS' St 090. 40 ..., MOW ///./.1,... low

22 .

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