The Inner Core; City within a city; A day in school

Good morning. If you're still in the cannon and that could be in there. Well so begins a day in school oil a day at Lincoln High in Milwaukee. Several weeks ago three of us with tape recorders arranged to visit often enough of the building drab on the outside. Amazingly well-equipped inside we met a principal respected by almost all his students. We heard teachers praised and condemned. We learned about problem specific only to Lincoln and problems common to all schools. In addition to the comments of some of the teachers and students of Lincoln High School we recorded the songs of its halls and its classrooms. Its choir and band in rehearsal and its basketball team as they practiced. The day of our Face it there was a student demonstration and its occurrence permeated the atmosphere of the whole day. There was even a hint of the issue in the principal's morning announcements. I'm very happy to announce this following item.

I've been notified by the social studies department from their main office that a companion textbook will be given to each of the students and each of the United States history classes. Now this is going to be an additional book to the one that you have in your possession at the present time. The book title is the American Negro. Our world background a new world experience that we should be. We have so much in a day's visit not of figures and percentages and subjects but of people and personalities and problems of songs and feelings and impressions and we discovered that there is much to be learned by even one day in school. God being here for 21 years I've been through some translations and because the transition were gradual it's pretty hard for me to say that any particular time to tour something dramatic has taken place.

And just to emphasize this I'm sure you deem to be a lot of the teacher's words in it are kids with this. What does having a mother for five years will substitute teacher came into a room to talk to a teacher who had to be his friend and said I see you. It's amazing all of your children are burning through this with a metals master the teacher looked up and says Well I'll be done. You're right. He never even knew this. This is the transition that I'm talking about. I cannot say that any specific time that there is a dramatic change in society it is it's a gradual thing. But if I were to compare that which took place today that would take place today with way back in 1946 there has been some changes and no question about it. But I've grown along with him and I couldn't specifically say that at this certain time certain things took place. There is a feel here. There is a very nice warm among the people. And while you do have difference in personalities I don't think there is

one person here who wouldn't go out of his way to help the fella next to him. You see the children. I didn't think you'd be beat. I don't know if you could go any place and find a nicer group. No matter where you ride there are always going to be some disagreements but there is a very nice warm. I like making I was crazy about each other over. I like my principle. I like my bicycle I want to play some of the smaller I like the overall spirit of the school. Sinking us I would say this the last couple of months our holes are nice if not today of course with an abnormal situation as are noisier than they have been in had when other people come in from out of the building the thief. I thought your holes would be I mean that there are no noisier than

anyone else. If I extend the earth we're a six year high school fix save from seventh grade. Well raised Yeah I realize the moment was fifteen hundred forty eight. But with the mobility it would take 30 on any specific date. Seventh and eighth graders roughly about two hundred and forty in about 900 do if you win one hundred thirty or the ninth and 12th graders and the rest are special places special education special Spanish and other. Last one as I say these kids move move move move now we may have a child who is in school in September and he will pull out of here in November and maybe in March will be back again and in May he may go. Now this sometimes happens with some of the white children who used to come from North and South Carolina but the fact that a child starts here in ninth grade and live someplace along the way does not mean that he has necessarily discontinued school.

That's the point. And you would have to follow each one individually to discover the cause. Especially as some of the families become more affluent they will move to what they think is a more socially acceptable neighborhood. From what they have been living in there is a huge mobility here. For instance we start out in September and we will have an exchange of kids not reporting in one of the do report from we didn't program. I close to 400 students. Of course this represents a tremendous amount of work we've got to do in programming. And the accompanying situation in terms of apt absenteeism is there also. But here are the statistics and so forth we're about a third from the bottom here about the number that are present about 82 83 percent. But you notice that we are not all with a bottom. It's interesting to note that this is not a Negro problem this is a problem which we have traced to the low social economic

situation that prevails because we make comparisons with an all white school and we buy for about the same position and we have to talk in terms of low social economic conditions. I think the thing that is the least satisfying is. We have. If you've seen our building it's well maintained it's not than it was but it's a nice building. It's fresh it's claim working. We have I think a pretty good faculty. These people are interested. And how do you draw. This interested children from the street into coming every day staying on. I'm trying to learn something while they're here. If you look at our absentee lists and in our senior division where we count our nine to 12 is senior in seventh and eighth grade in the other area. If you have children. Consistently absent that we are running about fifteen hundred now. That would mean about 900 or 900 in

the high school area. Of these at least 200 are absent every day. It may not be the same ones. Where are they what are they doing this I think is the better part here is a plant. The personnel the equipment everything for an education. But how do you draw demand and educate them that is the most frustrating thing. Sometimes I skip school because I don't agree with teachers in the student really. I don't really I mean I just stay out for 20 minutes and then come back in the class. They caught us skipping So I guess a skip would think it is really because when you do you'll be sitting back there after you have been in school could be at this and I could do it. We don't have any but I know a lot of girls who came you know when I got married they came over and they were talking about how they were going to school and go to college and I was about 13 of us and of the 13

as only 3 of us left the school. When I first have a brain concussion it causes me to feel three critics and I make it up until I had to make. So I went to summer school and there was no way to make it up other than I want to start a summer school so I took some of my friends with me to critics to graduate graduate school. It would make a difference because eventually they would have to go back to school. She dropped off her shoes and she's back in school. You see there are so many opportunities. For these youngsters to go out and get something and make something of themselves and of course you see the boys who come back from service are the ones who have been in the armed forces

and they wanted to play. Our certificate so they can get a better job or even get a job because many things demand a high school diploma are the equivalency. And some of them stand here. And I say nobody ever told me. And others will come in and they'll say if only I had listened. And one of our boys was in last year and I said I school you're going to say nobody told me you didn't stay but I can remember the day that I quit. Mr. showers kept me locked in his office all morning long and talked to me and encouraged me talked about my problems what I wanted to be what I wanted to do but he was me. I couldn't hear him I couldn't hear a word he said. And now I wish I had listened. And those are the kids you feel sorry for. Our relationship with faculty and students in the office is

entirely different from what it would be between the faculty and the students who simply can't get along in a classroom. They come down here for disciplinary purposes they'll sit on the bench maybe one period who knows how perfectly lovely a co-operative this can be. But we're not expecting all of them. What a classroom teacher is and where there would be lack of communication. I don't know I think our if there is I don't necessarily feel the lack is for want of a desire to communicate on the part of the teachers because we have some very fine people and new young and older and I think that they do have this genuine desire to reach the kids. Some kids can't be reached with Iran.

It is good enough to get me into Utopia. I can't believe that it will be right because they more or less gave me what was required for certain great Ray I didn't get it it's not my fault. It's not just because they can't make me say it again. Again he would have put all of their live poor live. So if I don't get it it's my fault. We talk about our college bound only a third of them. What's happening to the other two thirds. Those other two thirds. Really I think we try to take care of them we began in the fall. With our job training and our job fairs and our Career Day career day we had. I gave 20 some people I couldn't get it out of the files from what he was sent to us by Kiwanis Club. We do it in cooperation with them. They send us these speakers.

These people from industry and from the professionals schools also to speak to those students and we have the students sign up for whichever part they would like to go to. If you want to be an auto mechanic we have the people in there. They want to be a lawyer. We also had a group that they could go to here. Our speaker. That they could hear. We had it all the way up up and down. This year I went I talked to the person at the Kiwanis Club I tried to stress the fact. Please send us somebody that's real practical. Will tell you if you don't have this and you don't have that. You better find another field. Don't let them think. Don't give the ideas that are going to be white collar workers and alike. Be a lawyer or actor that those are two big professions. There are people like Ted B or thinks that they're going to be when they are ninth graders. And when the business caused to become a designer be a secretary

I want to be a teacher. I want to be a housewife. You're going to be dead anyway isn't it dear. A graduate job. I'm going into the poly and what I'm going to the police department is a Police say and what I want to go to school at night and get me majors degree and majors degree in psychology. I would be a colossal so before I became a link in our I was a Plymouth skipping school for the boys correctional and I got out and I had one of the best of all of that for going to business and a good game good game a lot of breaks and he showed me where I was right where I was wrong as a lot of a lot of guys don't get the benefit of a pro life so like I have you know the main reason I want to be a pro I was because I got to help I want to see if somebody else can give you some you know give someone some people that were like me that's the same after I get the rehab. Have that want to go to college and say that they do.

But they make no move to do anything about it. We publish the bulletins. We report to the homeowners last call. Get your easy t get your that safety. Get your parents financial or confidential statement. And last call of this last call has been since before Christmas but the last last call was last Friday. Because that has to be an end to the statement center by the 15th by the 15th. It takes the parents quite some time to fill em out. The student loan isn't hard to draw. But we're still having to go to them and beg them and plead them and push them and pull them to get them in here to get their forms for these various things. There have all been accustomed to people approaching them and asking them don't you want to do this.

They want a little praise. And then that is our greatest problem. The apathy with which they approach all of their problems I guess is the apathy. Last year especially you get well I thought discussions were particularly hard now I want to ask a question which I thought was a good discussion question then you get 30 blank stares or possibly you can you can get something out of out of one person but I think that was that was the and still is the biggest disappointment here. The lack of interest in anything and especially the lack of interest in what's going on in the in the news too. I ask questions which I think they should know when they have no idea like names in the news they have never heard of names unless I find that disappointing because I can't I like to talk off the cuff on those things and they don't talk anymore so therefore I can't you know and you elicit the apathy I

think that any subject can be taught only if it where it's being aired. I tell my students that I cannot teach them unless they are learning that they have the responsibility that it's only by their effort they're taken care of first of all. You have to come they think from the same background. Number one and number two anybody saying who is 24 25 years old even that person is too old. What did he know. You're just you're just not there. The negro student once competency in the class. Be a negro or be he white. They want competency. And I have already experienced this we were friends and we lost a very good weight teacher in his place we had a negro teacher and there were quite a few students that we'd like to have sown so bad because this person was a better teacher. I just because