Education and The Years Ahead by Huel D. Perkins How and where young Blacks should be educated seems to be a perplexing question in this present decade. For some, there are too many Blacks choosing to matriculate at predominantly white colleges. For others, not quite enough. Blacks are by no means in one accord as to what should be their posture concerning whether or not education can best take place in an integrated or a segregated setting. Are Black colleges and universities needed in this day and age? Is one who believes in segregated schools a racist — be he Black or white? Do predominantly white colleges admit Blacks as freshmen but fail to graduate them? Are white schools interested only in Black athletes? Do white universities know how to teach culturally disadvantaged students? Let us begin by looking at some nondebateable aspects of the dilemma: Education is trie means by which we train this thing called a mind. It is the process whereby we cause man to rise above his status as a mere collection of chemicals and find his union with the universe at the level of the spirit and of ideas. It was this awareness of the absolute necessity of education which prompted Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity to launch its national "Go to High School — Go To College" campaign in the twenties and the thirties. This program has sometimes been referred to as the highest public endeavor of the fraternity. Blacks, as a race are still reaping the benefits of this effort. Historically, education — or the lack of it — has affected the progress of Blacks in these United States as has no other single aspect of their existence. Following the end of the Civil War, there were four million Black people in this country with nowhere to go and nothing to do, due to the lack of education. The fact that over seventy-five percent of the historically Black colleges came into existence following the Emancipation Proclamation spoke to the need for college-trained men and women as never Defore. With these colleges we were able to put teachers in schools, wipe out illiteracy as far as possible and produce leaders for a race of people who had to be led out of the bondages of their minds and their spirits. Of paramount importance in this entire discussion is the number of significant legal changes which have talcen place in American life over the past fifty years. We are 36 years beyond the historic Brown vs. Board of Education decision which struck down The Sphinx / Winter 1980
the separate but equal doctrine; 16 years beyond the 1964 Civil Rights Act which attempted to provide equal opportunities and protection for all of the citizens of this country, and presently we find many states and the Federal government involved in litigation concerning the operation of dual systems of education. The fact that education is important to mankind if he is to progress; that historically education has been a necessary element in the upward mobility of Black people; and that there are now laws in this country aimed at eliminating segregation in all of its pernicious forms seems to shift the emphasis from "where" it takes place to "Row" it will be administered. I share with you three observations concerning present-day education: First, run from anyone who tells you that you do not have to learn to speak and write standard English. Incorrect English, as spoken by thousands of Blacks, is not a separate language but a THE MESSAGE T60M THE AGES
Cover of The Sphinx, April 1930.
"How and where young Blacks should be educated seems to be a perplexing question . . . "
corruption of a standard language which can be mastered. To say that Blacks cannot learn to speak standard English is to admit inferiority and to stigmatize an entire race. Foreigners come to these shores and learn how to speak English flawlessly and many of them come from deepest Africa. It is a cruel hoax to perpetrate upon any Black child — telling him that he must retain his use of "Black English" — in this age when everything Tie will be doing for the remainder of life will depend upon some kind of communication with a larger civilized community. English is the language spoken here in America. If we are to remain here, we would do well to speak it as well as anybody else in this country. It has always amazed me that those who write in support of retaining and teaching "Black English" always do it with the best of standard English. Run! Run! Run! Secondly, eschew any institution which declares that it has a special mission. Any college or university in these United States which calls itself an institution of higher learning, should have but one mission and that is simply to graduate the best prepared, the most articulate, the most competitive product that it can produce. The size, character, emphasis and curricula of institutions may vary, but the one thing all of them must have in common is the production of men and women who think, who can communicate and have the capacity to one day change this world. Today's youth are graduating into a world which is completely different from any that their parents could have envisioned. The options are more numerous. The demands are more intense. The competition is more formidable. Thirdly, every organization — and this certainly includes Alpha Phi Alpha — must relentlessly pursue the cause of the quality of education that Black youth will receive from elementary school through college and professional training. The place where the education takes place is not half as important as the quality of the learning experience. Education is an investment. It is an investment in an individual and in a race. From this investment come the scholars, the leaders, the thinkers of Black people. Finally, I know of no other way under the heavens whereby men might ascend to the true stature of a human being save through education. To be able to think, to be able to communicate, to be conversant with the cultures of the world as well as one's own culture, to have some sense of the past is what a good education is all about. For I am steadfastly convinced that in the years ahead, race will be longer be the mitigating factor against young Blacks claiming their fair share of the American dream. It will be EDUCATION — and the quality of that education must be uncompromised. 13