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THE ICHIGAN CITIZEN JANUARY 11 - 17. 1917
7
OPINION
eadin
Toge ber
•
Children who have become reluctant to rea,!" usually over­
come this reluctance hen they are allowed to make their
o n choices of book. This is why the library plays ch an
important role in their reading development. It offers chil­
dren a wide choice of reading material , and it also allow
them to have some say in the matter.
P rents often become dismayed, ho ever, at the choices
the children m e. Sorn c . choo boo which are 50
difficult, or so easy, or fi ith pictures that they don't
appear to offer any benefit toward th development of reading
ill.
It i n tural that parents should want the child to lect
boo hich will help ith readin ill , but it is more im­
portant that e cultivate the desire to read. Once the de ire
i firmly planted, it will gro into practice of reading which
will naturally develop into ill.
If you find th t your p tience i being verely tested when
your child m e boo lection perhap it will help to keep
in mind some of the various reasons behind children' choices.
A book for the ego: Many children especially tho ho
have become reluctant to read, choose boo s which are very
I rge, very difficult and almo t equal to their body-weight.
If their n of If-worth ha been damaged by the reading
proce ,thi impo sible book may serve as ointment to the
o. Even though they may not be able to read it, being
told to put it bac becau they can't read it i like having
t poured into the wound. Perhaps the be t way to handle
thi . uation i to sugge t an additional book, an easier one,
to t e along with the ego-booster.
A boo to know. Children have a curiosity which mu
b fed if it is to be kept alive they choose book about
ubject which fascinate them, from book on space flight to
book revealing the crets of the Bermuda Triangle. The text
in the boo may not be imple enough for the child to read
but if it stimulates the desire to read the child benefits from
having it.
A boo for the fun of it. A child may choose an easy
old favorite from the picture book ction or one which is
far below hi or her reading ability. These books may have
b n chosen simply because they are fun. A reading di t
without fun i like meal without calories! Blah!
A book to grow. That's the book with the right vocabulary
and the right reading level, which i usually cho n last by the
reluctant reader. -If, however, the other needs have been met
they'll take this one without too much grumbling!
If a child can find one boo which meets all four needs
that' great. But reluctant reader metime need more than
on book to fill these ne d . While we certainly don't want
the children to corne home from the library with an armload
of book we do want to make sure our supervision is encoura­
gin and positive. Like almost all things with children culti­
v ting the de ire to read takes a little patience and a whole
lot of under tanding, but it pays off!
BY
Black .Economic
By David Raubbeau
During the ov. 10 School
Board meeting Board president
Gloria Cobbin w again
pre d for a position about
the School Board doing busi-
ne with U.S. corporation
doing busine in South Africa.
Thi point was rai d me
month ago in an earlier
school board meeting. Board
pre 'dent Cobbin a aired us at
that meeting, that the board
would look into thi question
(a if they needed to do that).
Well at a recent E.E.O. &
Purchasing Committee meet in
the board never even brought
the topic up. ot a mention.
But what they. did do as
agree to a contract to do con­
tinue doin busine with Bur­
rough which i a U.S. cor­
poration doing busines in
South Africa.
But another intere ing and
related point also aro at the
meeting. Burroughs head­
quartered in Detroit, hardly
a mile from the Sch ols
Center Building, has what
could be called a horrible
E.E.O. record. They have
proportionally peak in , very
few Blac employees here
in good old Detroit, much
le s what they h ve in South
Africa. The former point a
discu d. But no one made
any connection with Bur-
oughs' racist practices here
and there practice in South
Africa.
That's why Gil Scott-Heron
ys in his song lyric. . . "De ...
troit just like Johannesburgh."
Once again the school board
cu d and fu d, and then
bent over.
t. t « » ... '.' .. ," • ,.�t •.. t.'1
Education
o me folks got kind
of annoyed when we wrote
in the last edition of Khepra
that the chool board was
supporting apartheid. How
could we say that? It s not
hard folks, ju follo the
bouncing ball.
Board members have said
that Black student ought to
have a little Black hi tory in
their curriculum. And hool
board employee elvin Chap­
man claimed it will make
tudent be a bit more br ther­
ly to each other and to our
community. Well, I suppo
our h I bard kno a bit
about Black hi tory and yet
it hasn't helped a damn in
term of their support of
apartheid. Or am I missin
mething?
During the meeting when
Cobbin wa ain my tified
about h to handle the
apartheid challenge she ain
looked for help and there wa
Arthur J. into the breech.
He said that the matter a
bein re arched. e don t
need to tudy apartheid. It's
clear what it i . e've been
taught that through television
the daily paper , and Bishop
Tutu. Why Randall Robin n
of frlca even came to Detroit
and gave a lecture about apar­
th id t ary Bl ckrnon'
church, the Shrine of the Blac
adonna me month ago.
0, e don't have to re arch
apartheid.
The board doesn't have to
wait on your recommendation
Arthur, they can think for
them lve. They can udy
for them lve. Or can they?
1.00 at it another
en ud nt are t ing test
can they when they e con­
fronted by a tough que tion
a the teacher to an er it
for them? ell then, why
doe our hool board pre '-
dent Cobbin and the last
one too, Harold urdock
a Jeff to answer every
tough que tion she run into?
Ho can you be even halfway
honest ab u t education when
you cribb on a te t? 0 I
don't mind it really be au
it just 0 u where you
are, but sister how are you .
going to get any respe t and
be our 'educati nal le der"
with thi kind of behavior?
Let me a each ho 1
board member one by one
. . . do you need a report to
tell you how to v te on par­
th id?
When
date' forum e rai
apartheid que tion there. 11
the candidate id in b ld