Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 15 November 2002 — Page 6

PAGE A6

THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER IS, 2002

IPS principal pleads for help from African-American community

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Continuing with the theme from last week, we are in dire need of more attention being focused on our minority students and their performance, or lack there of, in the classroom. This low academic achievement is coupled with horrendous and unruly behavior. There are a variety of issues that plague our community, and some gamer much more public attention than others, but the trends that are taking shape in our public school classrooms will soon take our community down a much more destructive path. * Sure there consistently seems to be an influx of drugs and guns in our communities, of which we manufacture neither, but no outside sources are making us use and abuse them. Sure the Black on Black murders and the criminal behavior upon our own people are mainly due to the lack of proper guidance and parenting, but that doesn’t mean that we cannot step up and be surrogate parents and guidance counselors to childreA other than our own. And yes, the public school system is not doing everything possible to educate every child, regardless of race, ethnicity, or social class, but no one says.that we cannot educate them outside of the system. What is saddening and disheartening is the enormous amount of feedback that came in regarding the column about the white science teacher Mr. Phelps and his observations about African-American students. To briefly recap his comments, Phejps observed that the majority of his behavior problems, those students who are the most disrespectful and most unruly, consistently seem to be African American. He also

observed that those same students are the ones who consistently are the lowest performing students in his science class. When Phelps brought this to the attention of his community and staff members, he was suspended pending an internal investigation. The feedback that was received from this topic came from many African-American educators, parents, and interested parties. There was a wide range of opinions, views, and comments. The most ridiculous comments were that Phelps was racist The sanest comments focused on the facts as they were presented and the message, not the messenger. Most of the African-American educators reluctantly had to agree with the observations of Phelps. Many of them agreed that they too faced the same daily frustrations in dealing with the unruly AfricanAmerican students. They all made it clear that these are not the only disruptive students, but the percentage of African Americans who cause the most problems, is much higher than their percentage in the student population. Our community leaders seem to come out in droves when there is some personal political, economic, or media gain. White cop shoots Black male, the Black leaders come

out. Crack house to be demolished under community pressure. Black leaders invited the media and attend in huge numbers. White owned restaurant lags behind in serving Black customers; the Black pressure is on. During election time, they all come out, seeking YOU to endorse the candidate that THEY choose. Nationwide, thousands of Black students under-performing in the classroom, causing havoc in the hallways, and having total disregard for the educational environment, and there’s silence. Each of the negative stereotypes that are relegated to our community could be reversed if our children were properly educated. The proper education that is needed shouldcome from the home, the community, and the school. The home has failed our children, the community has failed and woefully misguided our children, and the school is attempting to survive our children. The saddest commentary of all is that the thousands of African-Ameri-can educators, community leaders, politicians, and concerned clergy know that our young people are headed for self-destruction and that their demise equates to a further decline in our entire community. And it takes a white teacher, a Mr. Phelps, to bring the concerns of OUR children into the public arena. Where are our leaders really leading us? Dr. Eugene White, superintendent of Washington Township schools, has the idea and so does Principal Phyllis Coe of Cold Spring Middle School. She was one of those who responded to last week’s column. Her comments are below: “I am looking for an African-

Americarfmale to talk to my 45 male students, of which 90 percent are African American. We are approximately 85 percent African American with a poverty level of 64 percent. “I need some African-American role models, male and female, to come into my school and help with my parents (majority who are equally concerned) and studepts. I need for them to understand that it is ’right’ not white to be a student. “I have left messages at two leading African-American agencies two weeks ago to contact me. I have heard nothing. Will I hear from you? “I have the desire and commitment from the teaching staff to educate our students with a hands on, experiential curriculum that creates life long learners who know the habits of democracy and have an opportunity to practice those habits. . “We cannot get beyond the behavior of too many students. I need our leaders to show their commitment to our youth and join me in helping our future see their responsibility to become students with a goal to ‘uplift our community and our entire nation.’ “I love my students and I want for them what their parent’s want — a better future no matter the income level. But the community needs to show their commitment to the future of the youth and bring resources to the commitment.” For speaking engagements or education workshops, contact me at: educationdoesmatter® hotmail.com or write me at: 9701E. 63rd St., Indianapolis, IN. 46236. M\ contact number is (317) 5020272.

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TWo aspiring artists enjoy themselves painting a mural at the Atkins Boys & Girls Club to celebrate “Lights On After School”, which was a nationwide rally to call attention to the importance of after school programs. (Photo/C. Guynn)

Caltech has 3 Black freshmen, nation's lowest number

(Special to the NNPA) — The California Institute of Technology currently has the lowest percentage of Black freshmen among the nation’s top 25 universities, according to a new survey conducted five years after affirmative action was banned in the state’s college admissions. The survey, conducted by the “Journal of Blacks in Higher Education,” found that only three of 13 prospective Black students that were accepted by Caltech actually enrolled. The school is still trying to recover from Proposition2090which changed admissions requirements. “If a prospective African-Ameri-can student comes and sees very few peers, that makes it more difficult.

We initially had a very similar problem with women,” Caltech mathematics professor Gary Lorden told reporters. Caltech has made numerous attempts to boost minority enrollment over the years, including the establishment of a presidential scholarship that considered diversity. However, the largest class of African Americans never exceeded eight. In contrast, 63 Black students enrolled at academic rival Massachusetts Institute of Technology this year. A staggering 443 Black applicants applied to the institution, compared to only 44 at Caltech. Caltech officials say there are new measures to increase the numbers, including new staff to focus on mi-

nority affairs, help administrators create scholarships and expanded faculty and student outreach. “Change doesn’t happen overnight,” Miriam Feldblum, a special assistant to Caltech President David Baltimore told reporters. “But we are very optimistic about all the different initiatives we’ve put in place.” The survey also found that Black enrollment declined by 6.6 percent at the University of Califomia-Ber-keley, where 142 Black freshmen are 3.9 percent of the class. . The leading schools in the survey were Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Stanford University, all with Black freshman classes of more than 10 percent.

Urban League’s National Achievers Honor Society adds 47 new inductees

Special to The Recorder The largest organization of African-American student achievers in the Indianapolis area continued to grow as 47 more high school students were inducted into the Indianapolischapter of the National Achievers Society. The National Achievers Society (NAS) honors outstanding achievements of African-Ameri-can and minority high school scholars. The 47 young scholars were inducted into the society during a ceremony last Saturday at the Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center on the campus of the University of Indianapolis.

Keynote speaker was Superior Court Judge-elect David Shaheed. The National Achievement Society is a component of the National Urban League’s Campaign for African-American Achievement, a major initiative launched in 2001 with a multi-million dollar JJlly Endowment grant. African-American and other minority high school juniors and seniors who have achieved at least a 3.0 grade point average and who have excelled in academic and community activities are eligible to be inducted into the National Achievement Society. Since the first induction in June 2001, a total of 581 high school students have been inducted into to the National Achievement Society.

The latest members of the Indianapolis Chapter included students from Arlington, Arsenal Technical, Ben Davis, Brebeuf Preparatory, Broad Ripple, Cathedral, Emmerich Manual, Indianapolis Christian, North Central, Northwest, Pike and Warren Central high schools. Indianapolis is one of 22 Urban League offices across the country participating in this program designed to nurture and encourage academic excellence among Afri-can-American youth. For more information about the National Achievement Society and the Campaign for African-Amerij can Achievement, contact the Indianapolis Urban League at693-7603*