Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 24 December 1992 — Page 15

The Muncie Times, Thursday, 24 December, 1992, Page 15

Muncie’s young, gifted and black students excel

Young, gifted and black. This phrase, coined by Lorraine Hansberry in her book, comes to mind when thinking of African American teens like Jimmie Sanders, Erika Page, Laura Kabadaki, Chris Moore, Steven Grey, Mundi Attinasi and Michael Reese. They are at the top of their respective high school classes. They are the recipients of numerous awards. They are gifted in academics, the arts and other fields. These students, like a few hundred others, have been handpicked from students throughout the state to attend Ball State University’s prestigious Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics and Humanities. One of only eight other residential schools for gifted and talented students in the United States, the academy is an innovative beacon to the academic establishment of Indiana and as a think tank for some of America’s brightest young people. Its students go on to become National Merit honorees and to publish papers in scholarly journals, alongside Ph.Ds. But, while the academy may stand as a symbol of a bold, new future in American education, students like Jimmie Sanders, Erika Page, Chris Moore and others think that for blacks the academy is nothing but a part of the old racist story. ‘Tt is institutionalism racism. They don’t physically or verbally abuse you, but it is present. It is like a predator just waiting to sneak up and attack you,” said Jimmie. Jimmie, a 17-year-old from Gary, Ind.,^is a senior at the academy. He has been one of the most vocal students in this veritable conflict with the faculty, staff and administrators.

“Some students come from these all-white towns and they use that as a crutch to say racial slurs. When you report this kind of situation to the administrators they won’t do anything about it. They say you’ll have to deal with racism your whole lives get used to he,” he said. ‘‘Academically it is really tough. More pressure is put on us. We have to show that we are just as good as the white students and that we belong at the academy,” said Chris, a junior from Indianapolis. ‘‘Socially it is difficult. There are a lot of whites here who are naive about blacks and then they get upset when we don’t participate in activities with them.” Junior Erika Page from Fort Wayne, Ind. said, “There is only one black teacher, one black fellow here only for a year, no black RC’s (residential counselors) of black administrators. There is no support. Usually, if we cannot solve a problem ourselves (the black students) we just drop it because we know no one will deal with it justly. The administration is doing nothing.” Erika’s major concerns, like many of her classmates, stem from a lack of minorities enrolled as students, and faculty, insensitivity of white classmates and administrators, and lack of emphasis on ethnic influences in the required curriculum. Erika and the others complain of a lack of support for African American students and their needs as well as an unequal approach in respect to blacks. “You could have the same infraction between a white and a black student and the punishment is different,” she said. Jj,mmie Sanders re^led^

an instance in which residential counselor wrote him up for allegedly violating floor privileges at the school. Two white students were accompanying him at the time, but they were not written up. Sanders later had a hearing before Assistant Director Judith Nemitz. Because the white students were not written up charges against him were dropped. The residential counselor later reportedly said that he was not a racist but that he does have “racist tendencies.” Sanders, Steven Grey and Michael Reese will become the academy’s first black male graduates since it began in 1988. The school was created because of the efforts of Ball State University graduates who observed a model residential program in North Carolina. In 1984 they began lobbying to get the General Assembly to consider the idea of an Indiana Academy. In 1988 Public Law 140 was passed creat-

ing the Indiana Academy. Now the school houses and serves about 300 gifted and talented students: 16 percent of whom are selfidentified minorities, 7 percent of them African Americans. About 150 high school juniors are admitted to the 2-year program each fall. Readers from 15 geographic zones assist in the evaluation of applicants, which is based on a five-part application, transcripts from seventh grade onward and SAT scores. Located on the campus of Ball State University, the academy shares resources with the university and the Burris Laboratory School. Students live in their own residence hall. They can enroll in college courses as electives or academy course substitutes. Extracurricular activities, such as athletics or special interest clubs are offered through a co-curricu-lar relationship with Burris. Students are required to complete a minimum of 48 semester credits to graduate.

Courses required by the academy include four semesters of-each science, math, language arts, and social studies (U.S. history, government, economics, and world civilizations). Students must complete two semesters each in colloquia and research seminar programs, 50 hours of community service and also demonstrate computer literacy through course work or testing by the end of the year. Grade point average and class rank are not calculated because, according to the academy, measures of academic success would inaccurately describe a student’s actual progress. Grading in each class is normally crite-rion-referenced. Of the 136 graduates in 1991-92, about 23 students were National Merit finalists. Overall half of the class was recognized by the National Merit association. Students from the academy go on to universities such as (cont. on pg. 21)

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