.' Reverend Jesse Jac on, recently returned from a trip to Africa, is urging us to put aside the word I"Black" and call oursel­ ves "African-American." I see nothing wrong with this term as a way to describe peoples of African heritage; I often use it myself when writing or speak­ ing. But we need to be careful not to misuse it. Often the folks who advocate using the term "African-American" sound very militant. They emphasize the African part of African­ American, and say that using it will m e us remember who we are and where we come frotn. But in fact e term is often to make a statement about as­ similation - the real emphasis being on American. The mes- Educati • • • I A I sage is that we're exactly like all other Americans, except for the fact that we just happen to be African-Americans. Historically, such "integra­ tion by hypenation" has been used to dilute the identity of op­ pressed people. When Jews in this ��try, for example, began calhng themselves "Jewish­ Americans" after World War IT it wasn't to call attention to their Jewish identity but to downplay it - to give expression (0 the myth that anti-Semitism would go away if Jews would only for­ get that they were Jewish and look, talk and act like "everyone else," meaning middle class white Americans. . Thl Way or Black Empo ent By Dr. Lenora Fulanl Similarly, there are attempts to bamboozle people of African heritage into believing that racism in this country would go away if only we all turned oursel­ ves into members of the Cosby family. They're asking u to make a deal; call yourself African, but don't make any demands; glorify the past, but deny the present and ignore" the future; do "culture" but f get about politics - unless it's the tweedle-dum or tweedle-dee kind of politics which doesn't challenge the white supremacist bi-partisan political monopoly Time to discard 0 By W· The first grad ting class of the 21st century is now in the first grade. We cannot prepare them to compete in the future if our id about education are rooted in the past. It is time to . discard the following outdated ideas about educating our children, and rep ce them with an approach to education that reflects today's - tomorrows - realities. Outdated Idea #1: "A child's education begins at age 6 and ends at age 18: WRONG. Every child needs a strong early childhood esxperience, to lay a foundation for later learning. And to compete strongly in today's economy, adults need to continu their education after high school - at college, voca­ tional or technical schools, or extra classes to develop new skills. Outdated Idea 2: "Educa­ tion is just reading, writing and artimetic." WRONG. Our young people have a range of other learning needs that schools must help meet, from family life education to posjtive involvement in thecommunity. Outdated Idea #3: wEduca­ tion on Iy happens in schools, in classrooms, ,at desks." WRONG. "S I business and school community partnership have shown us that young people do some of their most important learning in hands-on, active projects and tasks. Outdated Idea #4:. "Educa­ tion happens when teachers talk." WRO G. Education hap­ pens when students listen. Stu- dents listen when teachers care. We need to show our support for .m