European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 30, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Clamor for it orm in the South by Lee Mitgang and Christopher Connell associated press a few Short years ago in Houma la.,where murky bayous wind lazily through. Sugar Cane Fields toward the Gulf of Mexico a kid did t need much schooling to get by. With a fifth Grade education and some muscle Power a Young Man could make $40,000 a year Roug necking for Texaco or $50,000 working the shrimp boats like his father or his father s father. Millions of southerners streamed northward in the decades after world War ii lured by jobs in heavy Industry where poor schooling was t necessarily a Handicap. But millions stayed on in Southern farms and factories that absorbed Idle hands and paid living wages. Magazine even in the midst of academic Success stories in the South these Days chronic problems persist. A photo Carl Carlos now principal of South Terrebonne High school admits he briefly dropped out of school for those very reasons. I used to teach eighth Grade he told a visitor and the kids asked me Why should i stay in school i really did t have a Good  so it seemed across the South. The Gulf Waters yielded seemingly endless bounties of fish natural Gas and Petroleum. In textile Mills in the Carolinas few gave much thought to foreign imports. From Texas to Virginia the Rich soil produced crop after crop of sugar Cane Cotton soybeans tobacco and Winter wheat fetching Ever higher prices supported by the government. How am 601m&to 6&t education your Only recently did the Ideal of Universal Public education take Root in this agrarian part of the country. For much of their history southerners considered formal learning the nearly exclusive preserve of the wealthy and the White. Georgia along with most of the South had kind of a late Start in Public schools compared to the rest of the country said Georgia school superintendent Charles Mcdaniel. In the year 1900, in our state we Only had 10 High schools and graduated fewer than 100  Mcdaniel 63, died of a heart attack March 7, several weeks after being interviewed better schools just did t seem necessary. A lot of the parents were uneducated themselves said Therese Knecht Dozier the 1985 National teacher of the year from Irmo . In Many cases they had this hopeless feeling that Well my child is going to work in the textile factory just like i did " and voters in this relatively poor conservative Region had Little stomach for the new taxes needed to boost school Quality. With Southern Folk paying taxes is always a problem said Billy Hobbs schools superintendent in Maury county tenn., future Home of the general motors Saturn Plant which will create 6,000 jobs. But today with textiles farming Oil and Gas depressed and the fishing Industry not much better in a Region that has historically trailed the rest of the nation by practically any educational measure one hears a very different tune a clamor for school Reform. In Houma where unemployment is stuck in double digits fewer kids ask their teachers these Days Why they should stay in school. We May be uneducated but we re not stupid said Ellen still an education analyst for South Carolina which in 1984 enacted what May be the nation s most sweeping Reform package. We see what s happening to the Economy. We see what s happening with  we have a bowl of Gumbo for Public education in Louisiana lamented Lee Gary head of a task Force of new Orleans business leaders that has warned that poor schools Are costing jobs in this Good times Roll City. Louisianans treat very lightly the value of being educated. That s very  facing the problem has been painful enough. Success in solving it has varied widely from state continued on Page 14 sunday March 30, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 13