St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1959-08-28

DR.. Foster s concern seems
ly, PSI would-be Negro teachers
Waco, $50 Negro teachers Wed for
a single vacancy. So great is the
surplus of Negro teachers that
they spill over into such prosaic
jobs as mail carriers in New York,
Washington, Nashville and st.
Louis. In Jacksonville, eight of
ten Negro mail carriers hold col
lege degrees in teaching.
These figures point up a grow
ing problem for the South's Negro
colleges: They continue to channel
students into old grooves - teach
ing, the ministry, the law and
embalming where in the past
Negroes have been able to succeed
by giving services to fellow Ne
groes. They are failing, however,
to train enough students for new
job opportunities, in such fields as
engineering, opening up for Ne
groes in some quantity for the
first time.
Ironlc Stumbling
This stumbling by Negro col
leges comes ironically in the midst
of the school segregation battle.
While Negroes are struggling to
improve educational facilities at
the grade and high-school levels,
via the Indignation route, Negro
colleges are missing a big op-
portunity to move ahead, their
critics claim.
The impact is not confined to
the South. Graduates Of Negro
schools frequently migrate north
ward where demand for engineers
and other technically-trained grad
yates is keen but where holders
of teaching degrees are more plen-
tiful. The South, however, is more
deeply involved.
Listen to an officer at the Mar
tin Co. missile plant at Orlando,
Fla: I'VE have no Negro with an
engineering degree on the payroll
If a Negro candidate met the job
requirements, he'd be hired like
, anyone else"
Searching for engineers this
year, Martin representatives talked
with five Negro graduates at How
ard University, in Washington,
DC, which has the only accredited
Negro engineering school in the
nation. None of the candidates
measured up to Martins resquire-
ments, the firm reports.
Training VS.. Ability
At the Douglas Aircraft Co.
plant at Charlotte, NC, a company
spokesman reflecting on skilled
openings for Negroes comments:
During the spring and summer
around graduation time we might
have three or four Negroes a week
applying for jobs as electroniC
technicians, tool machine operators
or tool makers. Their experience
and training is limited. I'd call it
sub par" Then the spokesman en-
phasizes: I'm not talking about
abilities, but training. If the Negro
meets the job requirements we
hire him. Race is no factor"
Negro colleges and civic groups
candidly admit they're behind the
times. Few are more outspoker
than Julius Thomas, director OF
industrial relations for the Ma.
tional Urban League, a nation
wide group dedicated to social ant
economic problems in Negro urbar
communities.
Rustling through a file in his
New York office, Mr.. Thoma.
brings out these statistics: In the
nations 70 Negro colleges CT are
in the South) 709S of the 72,O0C
enrolled students in 1888 were
in training as teachers. This per.
centage has gone unchanged for IL
years." says Mr.. Thomas, land II
shows a glaring weakness in Ne.
gro education-it's too lopsided."
A Steady Ratio
Mr.. Thomas continues: OF the
26,0 engineers who were grad
uated from accredited schools II
the class of SO, only 1856 were
Negroes. This is about the ratio
for the past decade"
Why don't Negro educators steel
students away from the over,
crowded teaching profession into
technical fields? They say they
run into resistance from both stu,
dents and parents. DR.. Paul Cliff
ford, stocl<y cigar-puffing regis,
trar at Atlanta University, com.
plains: I'VE have the facilities tc
double the enrolment in our schoo
Of business administration tomor.
row, but students aren't interested
Yet, the number Of requests we
get for trained people is ten times
the candidates available"
Dr. George Gore, Jr., president
Of Florida Agricultural & Mech
anical University at Tallahassee
Fla, has similar trouble: I'VE have
difficulty selling students on other
things besides teaching" says DR.,
Gore Of his $500 students. They
don't want to change and neither
do their parents want them to-"
DR.. Gore adds that 300 of the
$40 members in the class of 1853
went into teaching, or tried to. by