Page Ten

SCARLET AND BEACK

Friday, 'April II. 1959

 

Vacations Spent for Relevant Education

,By SARAH ANDREW
and LYNN ADAMS

Grinnell students participat-

. ing in the Voluntary Inner-City

Urban Seminar Programs dur-
ing spring break returned with
new outlooks on the problems
of the city’s inner core. The
relative success of the pro-
grams varied in each city but
all otlered an exposure to a
different way of life

The Grinnell group in Des
Moines was surprised to sea
the fundamental opposition to
plans which look so good in
theory. In the 30% Black Mod-
el Cities area the Black Pan»
thers serve tree breakfasts to
children; there is, at the same
time, an estimated 300—400 Vigi-
lantes opposing the Panthers
and representing a heavy and
growing backlash.

Two relatively successful or-
ganizations were visited by Stu<
dents in Des Moines. One was
a program sponsored by the
Y.M.C.A. which requires that

students go to school in the
morning in order to obtain jobs
(provided by local business-
men) in the afternoons, The
program has helped greatly in

‘reducing truancy among high

school students. Another is the
Detox Center, a model rehabili-
tation center for alcoholics. Al-
coholics a re treated here
through a ten day detoxication
period, group therapy and a
two-year followvup program.
The Detox Center has cut down
the population 01 Des Moines‘
skid row by about 1000.

In the area of housing there
is a major conflict between
013.0. and the Model Cities
Program in Des Moines. 0f the
two programs, Model Cities
seems more effective because
there is more local initiative in
its organization. Model Cities is
now in a year of planning all
over the U.S. Model Cities is
thought to be better than Urban
Renewal in that it rehabilitates
as much as possible, whereas
Urban Renewal tears down and

it c a t t e r s neighborhoods, Al-
though many people in the area
are not reached by any pr0<
gram, there is relatively much
more community participation
than in the past.

At the St. Louis Grace Hill
Settlement House, in an 80%
white neighborhood, there were
worries about What funds would
be available from the new Nix-
on administration. Funding was
the most immediate worry of
the organizations working in
this area.

Grinneli students in St. Louis
actually worked for the Settle-
ment House. They carried out
a survey of the number of
families in an area being con-
sidered for Urban Renewal, ilr
formed a neighborhood of a
party for Head Start children
and organized women to meet
in their homes to discuss prob-
lems with a social worker.

In Deliver, the students lived
in Hair-way House with re-
tellabilitated alcoholics who

were able to do only about two

 

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hours of piecemeal labor after
getting over the shakes in the
morning and before beginning
to drink again at night. The
program aimed at helping alcos
hulics to move gradually DH
skid row. The center was iso-
lated within the city or Denver
and involved little community
work. Tilt students commented
that there seemed to be a limit
to the pressure which anyone
could bring to bear on the in-
ner-city problems.

The program in Denver was
sponsored by an inner-city
church which has no real con-
gregation and functions only to
provide food and clothing to the
surrounding c o m m u nit y or
Blacks and Mexicans. This
poverty area is composed of
government housing r a t h e r
than tenement slums but very
little community spirit existsr

Education is apparently pool",
for Grinllell students spent
some time tutoring people to
help them get their high school
equivalents. The students felt
that those in Denver respon<
sible for the inner-City Seminar
were not particularly interested
in the program.

Gl‘innell students in New
York stayed with families alld
individuals in East Harlem,
which is 40% Black, 40% Puer-
to Rican and 20% other. Edu-
cation was considered one of
the greatest problems in this
inner city where 30% of the
students entering high school
drop out, 11 a student ﬂunks
once, he can sit and do noth-
ing, scarcely attend school,
and he Will be passed along
with his class until he gradu-
ates with a general diploma,
Many Puerto Ricans, for ex-
ample, otten graduate at a

Grade Option Sought

By MARY MALCOLM

The grading system has al-
ways been a rather suspicious
member of the academic Cour
munity. It fosters competition,
blurs distinction and demon»
strates a rigidity unbecoming
to a friend in good standing of
the liberal arts.

The offices of motivation and
evaluation could well be carried
out in ways friendlier to the
love of learning. But the grad.
ing system has “connections"
ill the outside world. It is a
bit like a rich uncle — you
may not like his values, but
you keep him around in case
you ever need a job reference
or a loan. 50 Grinnell College
keeps the grading system,
though some of us may chate
at its implicit values, so as not
to disadvantage students who
may transfer, go to graduate
school. or seek employment.

it would be utterly idealistic
of me to suggest that Grinnell
eliminate grades entirely, and
we know how unpopular ideala
ism is these days. But perhaps
my more pragmatic colleagues
would consider a proposal to
reduce its hegemony some»
what. After all, we took the
ﬁrst timid step in that very
direction when we introduced
the pBSSAiall option. of course
pass-fail only free: a student

third grade reading level be-
cause they enter school unable
to speak English. Efforts to m-
crult bHingual teachers have
not been too successful. The
teachers in East Harlem are
otten either those who have
failed in other New York
schools or those who are new
and unexperienced. These
teachers do not know how to
reach the students of the ghet-
to for whom education is not
an ingrained value or an ex.
pectation as in a middle class
environment,

Parents in the neighborhood
are pressing for community
control of the schools with
hopes of being able to hire and
fire teachers and choose cur-
riculum. The potential in com-
munity control was shown
during the N.Y. teachers' strike
when only the experimental
schools, those already commua
nlty-controlled, stayed open
With unusually high attend-
ance.

Tile students were particularu
1y impressed with Phoenix
House, a rehabilitation center
for drug addicts which Claims
80% success. it is a center
with 70 members, run on a self-
help, co-op basis. All members
Work within the center, at e
craft, a shop, or a maintenance
job. Grinnell students were sur-
prised at the self—education and
self-pride of the exdrug ad-
diets.

In the area of housing, East
Harlem finds 0.13.0, and other
government funds have too
many strings attached, There
is a growing number of auton-
omous community housing or-
ganizations. Although presently
their programs affect only (our
blocks out oi perhaps 600 these
groups are looking for more
funds and expect to expand
their programs

from grades in a particular
course, and does nothing to
loosen the noose of the grade
point average hanging con-
stantly around his neck. But it
would not seem unthinkable,
and Certainly not out of Keep-
ing with the spirit of the liber-
al arts, to now take a second
bolder step: a voluntary grad-
ing system.

Procedurally, this would
mean that a student must reg-
ister especially for a grade it
he wishes to receive one. Other-
wise his transcript will simply
record credit [or a course suc«
cessfully completed, with no
record of a Course not com-
pleted or unsuccessfully com-
plated,

My own consciousness
and my teacher's mat my
learning was being graded be-
came a real obstacle to self-
motivation. I would have wel-
comed (and during the Sum<
mers did welcome) opportu<
miles to study free from grade
and develop my stunted lacul-
ties for motivation and evaluat-
ing my own learning. it Grin-
nell opened this option to stu-
dents iar whom grades are a
distraction, while maintaining
grades tor students who desire
them as credentials, it could
become a more interesting and
educational place.

 

