Opinion. (ununcuturv � l.cttvrx. Yil'WS
?' .
e.
\.
. youth, aying, ey are truly
our hope for tomorro and our
hope fot today, too." .
Campaign rkers left noth­
ing to chance. Under Ms.
Bint 's direction they gathered
. the names of every potential
vo er nd canvassed door-to- .
door. On Election Day they in­
stituted a sophisticated car pool
and had baby itters and hot
food available for the vo ers.
Their organization paid off.
The entire concerned Citizens'
slate won, with the excep ion of
one write-in candidate who lost .
by only t)Vo vote . At the joyous.
rally hich was held in an over­
flow African American chur­
chon election night, Mrs .
Gresham warmJy thanked the
people of Keysville for their-sup­
port and their had work. She
also thanked God, saying, "God
truly has � timetable and this is
Keysville's time."
•
m yor of Ke ville, erted,
e met every 0 day .t
inee 1985. Even if didn't
have but four people in the
roo never opped meet­
ing. And then the meetings
• ed getting bigger and big­
ger. Befo e you could have had
them in my living room. 0 we
h ve to hold em in the com­
munity center."
rs. Gre ham lso tal ed
about the voter education mar­
che held every S tutd y by
Rep. Tyrone 'Broo , the
African American tate repre­
sen tive from their district. She
also talked bout the istance
of the' Southern Christian
. Le de hip Conference, par-
. tic arly their youth members
. a d their Executive Director,
Dr. Joseph Lowry.
S e po . th pride of the
erious com itment of local
claims made by this I test w N'e
of educational reform: that
professionalization of te c ers
is the' ey ingredient to improv­
ing the quality of education.
In f ct, there is every
re n 0 believe tbat change in
the structure of the taching
profe ion such tho e recom­
mended by the.Carnegie Forum
T k Force on Teaching as a
Prof ion, The Holmes Group,
and others might just as easily
lead to increased in-equality of
educational opportunity - par­
ticul rly for Black, poor, and
minority chi dren concentrated
in our nation's urban centers.
The ame could be aid for
rur I children of II descrip­
. tions. � voiding this outcome re­
quires realistic ppraisal of
thi country's future teachers
nd in titutional r ourccs.,
We t e i ue here with th t
propo ition, because "profes-
ionalization" Will not nece .-
Iy result in an educational ystem
th t is cce sible, re ponsive,
and respo ible to all American
children.
I Even more important will be
our willingn and determina­
tion to direct immediately both
effort and resources to those
p of the teacher preparatio
system - concep al, program­
ma!i� and institutional - that
e\'ery
If these " eak link " are
strengthened, Am�tica's
children can be efit, if they are
not trengthe ed, then future
reforme rJ U 00 to 1988
the year American bepn the
I COIlStruc:tiOll of its secoad dual
cd· em.
I·