High School Proficiency Test old.
(HSPT) are well belo state _ Students must earn 110
e d beard the ve aeaits to --duate The
bypeclmedia Joe'_ East ide High Sc 001 tics maIed.... 47 of the slu-
CI r the principal of the figure are 10 er than the dents had earned SO to 100
predominantly Black and ver8FSCOI"e for theS6·· aediIs.
HlSpaDiIC· ·de· School . ted urban by the Jer- -All of the students re
hb�a.. NJ., Ole 0D0r- �y State Departmcut of Educa- cmready . 2S to SO aedds,
. ciplinary ures lion. and the 2D - year - old
. praise. B now - Scho tic Aptitude Test deIll bad eamed SO aediu aDd
is to be glorified in a (SAT) 5alI'eS are· cmready takiag 35 aedits.
W er Brothers movie, his country. In . of these facts,· .
record ho ld be carefully - The umber of alarmiog .... t the Reagan ad-
sautiD.izIed. go on to coiIeF has . JDiDistratioa, tbrougIa the media,
T e· ue of providiDg than 2% . ee Oark too over . ponra� Joe Clark·as yet
. ty e cati to .. years &om 182 to 2Uiast another OOIltemporary national
. taged year. hero. Ew:n more disturbing. he
become a national CODCUD - Readiag scores � . bas been ponrayed as a symbol
r of e rapidly the bottom third of the bon's of . good d effectiw: for
demographics in this country. high school seniors.. educating urban, minority stu-
By the � 2000,· . pl"ojeaed re is an extremely . dents. In glorifyiDg Mr. Clark,
that approximately 40 percent or Ie professioaal staff at die the D "_ft administration has
more of the A erican school . . an iDdicator of brok� rigid position of
kforce will be comprised of a astable ed cational protecting states' rights and
todays . ority students. program. . .'. . SOYere.ty by intervening in a
Joe Clark· a principal - The school lDOYIDg.to '1ocar school matter. Clark
t practices school "leadership" � m of the � � been publicly and perso!lally
with a buIlhona and baseball bat revIeW system which IS the. . praised by both the president
H'IS methods run counter to aD st ge before a con�o�er �l and the Seaetary of Education,
know effec::tM edaca- state tUeOYeI' of the district wiD William Bennett. He has also W hen a It i 0 r e ' new Iy-
tioa aDd school leadership. be a��ed. been offered a position the elected ayor Kurt Schmoke
the fo . are SOIlll; of the A�dibOnally, Clark aUeged White House. pr� to fellow yors at an
. facts behind aU of the hype that that the 66 students who he The effective school research . April25� Natioaal nferen�
reYeal the im d of his leader- re�ntly ·eliminatecr from the that targeted urban education of m yors mee ing in
ship on the cbievement and 001 re 19, 20, and 21 year proved that there are effec::tWe W . OD, D.c., t ODe Y
uaasofhisstudents: oklstudents o were not work- schoo in urbanoeigbborhoods to tbcdealhgr· in
- The state has been able to iog towards graduation. In � that student can and do the do trade bas Coua�,
determine that approximately Jersey, .the � e for pu!>1ic achieve, whe properly in- . imiu the . �
600 to 650 students drop out education 21. A statlStlcal structed, in spite of low socio- sial ted to a oatiOD-
and/or are expelled yearly. review of these udents reveak economic b ckgro It also a1 deba on a ciitical oblem.
During Clark's 6 yeai' tenure, the foUowiag: proved that schools can and do "I did to the
is � total of 3600 p stu- - or the 66 students, 1!J were make a diflere ee in the success debate,· the youthful chief ex-
are probably oa the 17 - years - old, 26 ere 18 d of these stu· eartWe . 's elected
eets 0 future. � old, 9 were 19-years- dents. Black mayor in his ry, told
-S de t test scores the old and only 1 2O-years- M result of researdt NNPA. The mayor's
been jumpiDg off the
days, and the ove belming HOWEVE BIG city mayors
majority of the c lis are like Scb oke and Barry are
favorable, he id. Ye in so daily con onted with the 00 -
quarters be is t� 0 � quences qf a lack of a firm na-
out by -meanmg - tio dnf.g policy. Baltimore's
formed people who drug-rei ted crimes - mug-
for r . iDg the· giop, . jogs, - are up, and
of exa .. his pr D.C. has stolen the dubious
own . be said. urder Capital of the rid-
In short, some peop cr from Detroit as th drug- .
killthelDC'SVllFr,toa related murders, especially
ins message. among young Af ica�
ycar-old "or who Americans have soared th
dergraduate war at firs���·li7ina drugs. ot
a la degree &om H �IIJlIU4J.--o
a Rhodes scholar Oxford, ·a pretty tradeoff," Schmo ad-
is hardly flappabl . In a . There will still be a diets
television hookup with the Dis- out there but citizens nos
tria of Columbia - isler city likely to be mugged by those
just 45 miles down pike - desperate to g t money t s�p-
Schmoke and D.C. M yor port their habit: He a said:
Marion Barry, Jr., agr there "We should DOt jus decriminal­
. an urgeotneed for Co essto ize � and walk awa . We
bold beariop on whet er illicit m spend billions to '!�t. the
drug traffic sho Id be afDic:ted and for rehabilitation.
deer imina 1ized We must also moun campaigns
I imi1ar to W now have
agaiDst drunk driving. tI Schmo e
to wants to stop the crime that
will from th - pernicious traf-
ter 08- . lick, that lures p!e·teen BIa�
into tis straglln net With
pr of easy and i money_
"We must tak the m ney - th­
profit - out of it," h
I _
1
I·
Select Committee OIl Narcotics
Abuse and Control since 1983
but unti recent a lonely voice
crying in the wilderness O\'er the
ravagiog� traflicin the Black
inneI'- . . scheduled to start
the hearings in the ea{1y fall, ,
probabl in September, NNP A
leanled
Whe he made the drug
decrlmiJlalization propo al,
Schmo e aid, til th�ught I
would e either ignored or
called 'a era pot', He has eer­
t inly n t been ignored, al-
though re may be so who
would him of not p ying
with a full deck by making the
Pl'o�
\ .
