European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 16, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday May 16, t994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 13 Davids. Broder once again americans Are being asked to take a gut Check on How serious we Are about our children a future. \ if we re serious almost everyone agrees we have to lift the performance of the youngsters coming out of High school so they have the skills required in the new Economy. The commitment to do that was expressed formally in the goals 2000 legislation signed by president Clinton last month. In essence it is a pledge by the governors who started tithe Congress and the president to see that world class standards become the measuring stick for americans schools by the end of this Century. The new education Law does not ensure those standards will be met. But since enacted two. Reports have suggested How we might put some Backbone in it. Those reports propose that we make the diploma mean something by awarding it on the basis of what the student knows not simply what Grade he or she has reached and that we commit to giving each student the time needed to reach that level of achievement. A Quot a a a a a a a they May seem cliches but those proposals represent a near revolutionary change in the Way we think about our Public schools. Today in most communities we Start with the Assumption that All kids will attend school roughly six hours a Day for around half the Days of the year. \. A a after 12 years of that we give them a High school diploma and Send them into the world. In far too Many cases they Are woefully unprepared. This month in a report aptly titled a prisoners of time a a National commission created by Congress said that the average american High school student spends less than half the hours on Core academic subjects As do students in Japan France and Germany. No wonder the report says that so Many of our High school graduates a have trouble Reading writing and solving simple mathematics  the Point is not a new one. It was made 11 years ago in the famous a nation at risk report but few school systems expanded their hours. Indeed a prisoners of time notes that exactly a Century ago the . Commissioner of education criticized the shortening of school time then under Way arguing that a it is scarcely necessary to look further than this for the explanation for the greater amount of work accomplished. In the German and French schools.�?�. Keeping school Days and school seasons Short has been a Way to provide part time and seasonal workers for americans farms factories and fast food restaurants. It accommodates family vacations. It satisfies the natural longing of both students and teachers to have every weekend and most of the summer off. And its a  tribe wve0a0y6at r0r  taught me. Ive. A Pant of my waking hours vat to a. A Pitt your a t Agten to me amp you re a Bap example for. Us King is face it a a Parent / Tou r e a Loo amp fire roue Model. Also a Way of controlling school costs. You done to have to heat Cool or clean the building when school Isnit in session. A a a. A a. Given All the inertial forces is there any reason to think this latest report May produce results the Hope lies in the demand of both business and parents that High school graduates be Given a better Start on life that demand was reflected in a mid april report from the National Center on education and the Economy led by school people elected officials and business executives. It proposed that states require a a certificate of initial Mastery from All students that would supplement and perhaps eventually replace the conventional diploma. Instead of measuring a scat time a the years in school a it would require a demonstration of a deep Mastery of Core academic subjects As Well As the capacity to apply this knowledge to the Complex problems that characterize modern life and  a v a \. V a a Bright students might get the certificates at 14 or 15, but no student would leave High school without one. It is not a device for sorting students into different tracks rather it is an affirmation that Given enough time and Effort All students can reach a High Standard Washington state is moving in that direction already and others May follow. But the problems to  come Are serious a especially in the big cities where. The most severe shortcomings Are to be found. Michael Casserly head of the Council of great City schools says a the rub for us is that we spend even less time on academics a because More time is required to repair the social and economic. Damage those kids suffer outside of class. Everywhere schools Are being asked to meet other legitimate demands from Drivers training to aids education to band chorus and athletics pro a a Grams. A. A a a a a a. A a. A a a. A it is expensive Quot concedes commission member Christopher Cross to expand the time for Core courses without shutting off those other needs. The International association of amusement Parks and attract Lions which wants school kids both As employees and patrons for the summer months cites estimates that each additional Day of school would Cost the nation $1 billion Quot a allowing parents voluntarily to choose Public schools that offer longer school Days or years is one Way to overcome resistance the commission says. But Multi mutely it comes Down to a question of How serious we Are about wanting a better future for our children. If the will is there the time and Money can be found. C Washington Post. A. Not Elaine Jones was a 10-year-old in Norfolk a Liberty Park elementary school when the decision came Down 40 years ago today. Naturally she did no to understand the full implications of Brown is. Board of education she recalled the other Day. A i expected that we would get better books instead of the hand me Down ones from the White schools and i thought i might have a Chance to learn about White children with whom id never interacted. I done to know exactly what i anticipated but i was certain the decision was something  she still is albeit now from the perspective of director counsel of the Legal defense fund whose lawyers led by the late Thurgood Marshall brought the Case that ended official segregation of America s Public schools. A i know people Are talking about the failure of Brown to do All the things we expected it to do and the truth is its been a rough ride Quot she said. A but As Thurgood used to say a in be been beaten and pilloried but in a still an  and i still believe this was a voyage on which we had to  she is however less certain than she once was As to where the ship is a or. Ought to be a headed. _ maybe it has something to do with the fact that by a quirk of timing the 40th anniversary of Brown coincides with the resumption of a Legal Case that threatens the survival of several historically Black colleges and universities. That Case Fordick v. Ayers is in one sense a desegregation Case like the hundreds of desegregation cases brought in the aftermath of the Brown decision. But the plaintiffs a and Elaine Jones a would like a different outcome than the Dlf usually has the routine has been to prove desegregation Legal or de Facto and then ask the court for Relief a typically busing consolidation of school districts pairing of Black and White schools a some method for reducing the racial isolation of Black students. Its a routine of which Jones the product of segregated Public education generally has approved. But she is also a product of predominantly Black Howard University where she earned her undergraduate degree before studying Law at the University of Vir William Raspberry Ginia. She loved Howard found it an Oasis of intellectual and social Comfort and sees nothing wrong with the fact that its enrolment is overwhelmingly Black. That essentially is the argument being made in the Mississippi Case though not by Jones. Not Only Are some Blacks More comfortable in predominantly Black settings but Many students who graduate from schools like Mississippi Valley state and who become successful professionals As a result would not be admitted to the majority White state schools with their higher admissions standards. What is the Point of a desegregation ruling that would reduce educational Opportunity for Black students such an. Argument would not have passed Muster in most Public school cases. The courts would have been asked to eliminate admissions requirements that barred a disproportionate number of Blacks in the interest of the greater Good integration Isnit it a contradiction in principle to seek to perpetuate historically Black institutions of higher education As such a i done to see it that Way a she says. Before Brown we had racial apartheid in this country especially in Public education. We were a subjugated people deemed inferior by those who subjugated us. That had to be changed and it was. A at the same time though it does not mean that All things White or All things Black Are to be denounced or done away with. In the area of higher education it Means that our Black institutions ought to be enhanced so that those institutions can function to serve the needs of Black and White  she is unalterably Integrationist both philosophically and practically. A we have got to buy into the notion that it is important for the nation to have a desegregated society that we have to learn How to live together work together share political Power and give our children the same Opportunity for Quality education a she says. But she is also unshakable in her belief that the role played by historically Black colleges is too vital to be sacrificed to the Integrationist principle. A if unequal Opportunity for african americans is the problem 1 Don t see the logic of eliminating our institutions and narrowing Opportunity for Black  nor do i. The question the Dlf now faces is How to use the same judicial system the same fact base and the same 40-year-old decision to achieve quite different ends. Cd Washington Post