Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-09-11
By JAMES G. pEANE

colored pupils together may
lower educational standards fol
white Washington pupils.
School officials believe thii
need not happen. but no ons
knows yet whether 1t win.
The most pressing problem II
Washington school Indignation
has to do with this question oil
academic standards. The nature
Of this problem Is illustrated BIZ
an incident which occurred q
few months ago.
The principal Of a midcity
Junior high school which, unit
Q year ago, served white chill
dren only. believes that Wash
ington school children should
know something about the city
In which they live.
White House Visit
Last fall this junior high en-
rolled q large number Of colored
pupils. One day the principal
took one of the new seventh
grade classes on q visit to the
White House. In the class there
were % colored children and six
white.
TN the lobby" the principal
related, there is q large face
mask. One Of the colored boys
pointed at 1t and asked:
lis that Roosevelt
I said no. and the boy replied,
oh, is it Washington
mo-" ! answered, "it's Lin
coin"
Later the principal asked the
group who lived in the White
House and one Of the colored
seventh-graders replied:
"The king"
Year an Eye-Opener
This Junior high school, which
serves q low-income area, has
always had some pupils Of Low
achievement, q problem closely
related to living conditions and
background. But this past school
year was an eye-opener to THU
principal and his teachers.
Last September this school en-
rolled 800 new children. OF this
number 1876 had 10. scores be-
low rs. the point at which the
school system Classics q child
as subnormal. OF the 10 sew
enth-grade classes the top one
had one-fourth colored pupils
but the three lowest ranking were
all-Negro. The achievement Of
these last three groups, the prin-
cipal said. was not on the sew
enth but on the first. second and
third grade levels.
~ Six Of the colored youngsters
In the group that went to the
White House said they had never
been on Pennsylvania avenue.
I'm the National Capital not
one colored child In that group
had ever been In the White House
before" the principal said.
There Is q whole area OF
something our white children
have acquired" he added. "that
eolored children haven't"
Concern About Lag
This school Is an extreme case,
because Of the neighborhood II
serves. But in many Of the city's
integrated schools this past year
white educators reported serious
concern about evidence Of an
educational lag among many
Negro children. and about what
sort Of threat this may pose In
0 desegregated school system
The concern Is shared by many
parents.
To some Of the city's white
educators, who until last fall had
little knowledge Of the Negro
school division. the extent Of the
gap between white and colored
achievement has been surprise.
But the gap has been no real
secret.
Six years ago a published re-
port prepared under the direction
Of Or. George d. Strayer. for
merly Of Teachers College. Co
lumbia University. said there was
'retardation In fundamental
skills" in both white and colored
schools, but more so in the col
ored. Recently publicized achieve
ment test results showed q sim
liar gap between predominantly
white and predominantly colored
schools.
Reasons Offered
Why Is there q gap?
Negro educators say there are
good reasons for 1t. without fall
ing back on any suggestion that
there is any racial difference In
native ability.
These reasons include the fact
that many classes were oversize
In the former colored division,
and that the division lacked
separate classes for children of
below-normal ability.
Also, officials noted, many
Negro children came from the
South where they had poor edu-
cational preparation. And Ne
groes. they asserted. have been
handicapped by segregation it.
self. and the economic. cultural
and social deprivations that have
gone with 1t.
Test Scores Lower
DR.. John H. Fischer. superin-
tendent Of the newly integrated
public school system in Balti-
more, Md, recently was quoted
as stating:
Everyone familiar with the
evidence knows that on achieve
ment and intelligence measures,
the scores Of large numbers OF
Negro pupils tend in general to
be lower than those Of white
pupils.
1T is also recognized that nc
/ AAANn