The inner core: City within a city; Part 1 of 4

Now the structure of this is this. The teachers have no more than 15 in one class and no more than four classes. They're given two periods for preparation. We have four rooms set aside for these classes and in each of these rooms we have all of the necessary audiovisual body with visual equipment and other gadget trees that you would find normally only 300. In Roman school and on an item entry basis. Yes the anguish means that their classes are much smaller only 15 and a class the most. And its the people are selected for the program or because they have difficulties in language skills they are behind they're capable of catching up or they are hopelessly behind. And because of the small classes and the. Many extra materials are able to catch up on reading and hopefully writing. Oh writing seems to be much harder. I think a lot of permission. We take a reading seems to be. The most common problem here and the biggest problem I think in regular English classes last

year I found where you have 30 people you have one textbook. Some people find a textbook relatively simple. And other people find it hopelessly difficult and there's not much you can do when you have 15 people that can't can't even read the assignment. By far. I don't know what to do really. Frankly I didn't. And this year because of the small classes and because you can give each person reading which is suiting him individually I find myself doing I think a lot better job. And I think if you could get more special reading materials and they all English classes I think that would be true because the reading here is so you have such wide ranges in your files. Some people absolutely can't read and others course are where they should be and you need to go to slower them or too fast for the others. I found myself not doing a particularly good job Oyster because of that it was my first year and I am just baffled. And.

There are some youngsters in their class and we heard our time I didn't put it away because the main purpose of this was to get a Negro history textbooks in the high school and inner city high schools and start this morning dive because shake off and it's good to know him told him the textbook had never doubted and this would supplement the time Kurdi publications that we're now using And so I don't know. Katie had agreed and North had agreed also and he announced this so I asked him to walk I was going to be caught up with one of a few students still walking. Now they've offered us new post supplements but I myself I myself feel that you can teach the Negro history with white history and still call it Negro history and that's what they've offered us a new growth

supplement but I feel that we should have. Negro history being taught as a fulcrum. They taught us white history they would tell us white history for as long as we can we can remember. Why can't they teach us Negro history as a credit history courses in our history that I've taken with two mentions of negroes one being halibut and one being Cypress Cypress Atticus to first make you feel in the Battle of Lexington 70 75 agree the problem is they make history so young in these first 30 words. We only have one teacher really told us a mess Mr. Robinson. He didn't tell us he told us about Negro history and see some of things in the social studies book isn't too bad negroes. They they just they just making up a whole bunch a lot. Yes we need more Negro history books with the truth in a misted adda stuff

about what a white man did and still are not about what the Negro Mandaean that when the Pilgrims came over on the Mayflower they just said the white people was on a boat didn't tell of men about the niggles Well what I want to start it become the white people was in on it but they didn't. Then a name no famous negro. I think that we should know more about Negro history. They did get the book and we needed those barely anything because I remember once we were in history class and our teacher and did we know what Harriet Beecher Stowe was famous for anybody look who was there and if she was in this with grace. So I think they should know more about you know people of the people ready for national if they really want something in this

hour so they have more. Q is disappearing but Lincoln don't stick together on anything like the one thing you have to do I think for one reason and they're not really organized. You know for anything like this and they're not really ready to participate demonstrating for anything here. King was the first one of status to start with a Negro History clay and they as well clearly got what supplements to. Nor have they been pacified with supplements too. We have four players are there giving us the supplements in other words what we want is one player of Negro history. Now write history compact combines Germans Japanese at salience all of them combined are because of Iraq out of Iraq out of this office. It's rural outside and stand. In a bunch of white mean. Can you tell me who is this we

who without hearing talk to each other who's this we. Who's German who rules without in tow. What if you as if you if you as you go about Carl can you tell me who is black and who is why I write this is the point I'm trying to get over. We need our prayers not a supplement and I think it should be made and should be a required subject in our schools. Because if you ask anybody who will see who is Robert Sears and Roebuck to command him Susan Webber who is Robert and the first thing I tell you says Robert got to be way says Robert was a new groom Robert was a new growth with the general idea suicide robot was way too because he is as well. What is that song. A supplement right now our feel is not in the book you know. It's being handed out as another piece to the book. If I read what was in the supplement in the room what was in my history book I get two separate ideas are the right you know these are these are blended in a joint in that anything but just two separate ideas. If they can give us the dignity of us combined history give us

give us a. As much equal representation. And and and you know an equal train of ideas you know loved ones work with the students and takes an equal idea of each other's contributions this would be Alice a little bananas when I'm only in favor of two separate Claire says if they won't give us we will go to the book you know it was an equal deal to the book. So that you go over both sides of it you know like in in the textbooks they don't tell you what happened to our greatest civilizations. They don't mention ours that we do that one of them arrive so that there was a great though it was our greatest civilization and I have that one time when I read what they don't tell you what happened to a little. They tell you what happened to most of the greats all of those are my and it goes for it whatever the lows were destroyed but wait where oh where were you I would have little to prove civilizations is ethical. There will tell you about the great negroes that we have who we have here. I don't

tell you guys like this when they go to sleep. I certainly feel that our school has done this. Both are white and colored teachers are interested in having our youngsters know about their background. Last summer they had almost sort of a one day Institute thing down in El Reno college where that's to keep Michael's dock leaf Stuckey something like that no woman from Illinois I. One of these commissions that deals with integration and social problems and so forth spoke and they had some marvelous exhibitions of books from materials audio visual aids and so forth. And I attended this on a Saturday and got one of my friends who is now librarian in the neighborhood library in a predominantly negro area. Our principal attended we picked up things there and brought them back.

We ordered some of these things. Then this fall he can see the idea of a negro Book Fair which we had about the same time that the school board was interested in showing especially in the central city schools what things were available in the line of books about Negroes. But we have had these texts on our shelves for years. But no one bothers to take them off. This is one of my bitter feelings you know. Did you witness box they are librarian. This is her first. Her first year as our librarian she has been in a supervisory capacity throughout the city. She has been supervising here but it's her first year within our building. And you know it's a little bit disillusioning when you have all of the little jewels here. When things were really when I came here. But in saying that they didn't know how to thank you for alone with me. Can you show me where the

negro books don't have Negro books which can kind of the same books. And because and because a big book if we were interested in finding out what we have. So. I get the books that we have a battered negro. We were here before we move books about and we found that we had more than 200 books on the net. It would not surprise you to fan of Conan books but we don't have it here like any other book if according to their place in the case and that have yeah I think that maybe there's a little lack of communication letting them know what's what's available.

I don't think they haven't talked about youngsters haven't explore the possibilities of what we have in the book in the library. I give you a pretty good in Bennett's book before the Mayflower was bailable in one of the history classes. And it practically took the room in the mountain to get the youngsters to take up the books. But do you miss. But we're on our way now I think to give them the feeling and maybe this is what's going to engender a greener feeling towards research and work towards studying American history and the contributions of the Negro to American history. We have had a Negro History crowd here which every now and then go by the wayside it is a bit obscene because it's exactly that history but they weren't really discussing with me what was what was his what

was the negro's history what was the gross heritage so I tracked it just like I dropped out of more. I don't that I think is the set of bits of what the letters stand for but I dropped out of war because they weren't doing anything. I can't really seem to find IT organization that's going to do anything. Yeah I know some can complain about having clothes and stuff but you never know what they would complain they never need in a you know we have some very good clothing. Some clubs there's a lot of interest. You know the clubs there isn't that much interest. The reason there's a lot of students were of applications that are their parents let him stay or you know it's always something but. Most of the clubs are doing fairly well. And they're going to know we were talking

numbers would be tonight. The air the way the. Economy's going now we have what we call office experience. This is a 12th grade to subject given to two girls mostly one morning and they go to school in the morning and in their three credits

that they take in a morning one is office experience and then they're released in the afternoon and they work out in the community and they not only get paid but they also get a credit for this. Now that's a very successful program. And we do everything small numbers. But the school board has assured that despite the fact we do have small numbers the existence of Discourses is certainly short. We have good good teachers. We have this subject here for them we have small classes. That's one thing we do we have here at Lincoln we service everybody. Our foreign language classes and the terminal ones that is the Latin the higher math classes the advanced math classes they are strong typing classes we have built up tremendously. So we start typing in the tenth grade. And they can have three years of

it. We do not have a standard as. A class right now in skin aka free because are. Those people who would be in they are out on the job working at it and going on from there I hope. In the in the shop classes. We have they are large this year we do have a fusion of small ones because we're trying to take care. Of some of those people who have. Who say they have an interest in. Metal work and woodwork and some of the classes are. Pretty hard sometimes to get them into those places. The first thing is for them to learn to use a planning tool. And this this class sure is doing nothing but playing pool. When you are using a paper for an hour let them make your project whereby to square off a board and learn how to square a board off or used a hand plane a book rack is their first liner which is the use of

layout tools like a tri square ruler and also. Oh I say a scribe or it will you in laying out their prices and then they will also learn to use plain which is most important how to grind a plane how you know I know what the names of the parts of it. And also learn the names of all the other hands that are being used in woodworking. I have two boys in this school right now working along with me as sort of a shop foreman. They are seniors going to graduate which is an incentive for them to work with others. This is all like a little for me. There would be one of the finest band sort of these in the entire city it is with

built in where we had to work room so consequently the two arguments had to be vacated. We have two of the finest rooms now directly below that this is a real find we've had a reminding in terms of painting and new lighting in about a hundred forty thousand dollars with a real renovation and Harry and I would say that our auditorium is one of the finest an entire city. The inside of your IOM parents is X when they get it it looks very drab and very factory like me outside but inside it's nice. How structurally I would say that this building is going to be standing with some of these modern buildings were built for five years are going to be demolished. And the facilities are excellent. I do want he cried a fact we do and don't have an accompanying athletic field this is something we've been wanting. We've been trying to get and ultimately maybe we may be able to get. I don't know the word.

We're going to miss him in a hole. We start at 3:45 each day the second semester we get the boys off on a Monday. We work long and hard each and every day. So this is my reason for second semester. I don't want them to get too much basketball a second semester. Just enough to keep the interest. We've had our ups and downs this year we've had a number of boys ineligible and some discipline so we're just right now in the second week. I'm working with what we can call our first. We're at a slight disadvantage in that we're having one month to prepare for tournaments where the other teams in a city and state have had all season. Basketball is something that has been ingrained in their minds they know that we have been fortunate over the years and everyone simply wants to excel in basketball. Lincoln is noted for basketball and this is costly on the minds of youngsters. It's quite

an asset to the educational process helps a young sister to simply work harder so that they can remain eligible and they can see a future in this. After a run got out of the gym. But the surprising thing is that when the season starts. Well I have just a few boys on the varsity alone we only have 20 boys whereas you might think would have 40 or 50. What happened is that all of these choices really cut themselves before the season starts. But they work all year because I have talked with them all the time. Tell them that this sport is not a six month sport but to see a rounds boy. This is our big sport at Lincoln we have been noted many years ago as a football school but in the last 15 years weve been strictly basketball. In the. Well the mere fact that Ive been here for 21 years attests the fact that I don't want to leave and I have had a lot

of fine moments so don't think there for a moment that I don't go on talking to myself. But I'm sure this is true of all principals in all situations. Now some problems we have that are unique to a school like Lincoln I schools that are not unique to another school and I would say that the most satisfying thing is to see our kids actually come from a very deprived situation and do what they do with what they have to work with outstanding success stories Dr. Campbell who's a dentist outside the. He's terrific. We have an M.D. Chester who's just gave the commencement address at our last graduation here and in January doing fabulously well. We've got many many individuals the outstanding commentator right now in. But the port director is in high school and Wilbur Cohen in this. And the Cabinet in this

post. He says there are many Lincoln alumni who it would be nice if they had in the newspaper that so-and-so is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin. They would also think of Lincoln High School in Milwaukee. This is another thing when I comes back from service with his ribbons on and how does he come to visit. He comes to school. His mother is working his father is working his buddies or maybe they're in service maybe he comes here and walks in the uniform and he was it's his teacher and the. How I mean can I get criminal

a lawsuit of the school and how do you draw disinterested children from the street into coming everyday. Dana I'm trying to learn something while you're here. My education is good enough to get me into. You don't believe that is our greatest have the empathy with which they approach only one thing I like about school. The people as school teachers have too much power because the sounding knowledge no manual got hand. This has happened and has happened particularly from two teachers and they have never come back. The problem is they think they tee off and legalized if played in your local ignorance combined years ago in doing so.

So much for representation. There was way to store assess down and takes an idea of the angels can't do this without us a dozen children can be beat any place and no matter where you are right now is going to be from disagreement or even more on the sounds and impressions of the dames who recorded at Lincoln High School No one knows by that helper and Ralph Johnson. We think the students and faculty at Lincoln High School with their cooperation and honesty and their gracious acceptance of those who came to learn what they could a day in school. This is kind of Robert speak. The preceding was produced at age 8. The University of Wisconsin.

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