Speaker talks on woes of America's schools

Stressing the inequalities and structural problems of the American educational system, Columbia University's Linda Darling-Hammond addressed about 50 students, faculty and high school teachers in Stiteler Hall Thursday afternoon. Darling-Hammond, co-director of the National Center for the Restructuring of Education, Schools and Teaching at Columbia, used statistics and dramatic historical facts to build a case for public school reform. "P.S. 261 in New York City has no playground and East St. Louis Senior High [in Illinois] has no dissection tables, while nearby suburban schools have hookups to the Dow Jones Information System," she said, describing the racial and ethnic inequities of the current system. Discussing the historic inequality of education in the United States, Darling-Hammond pointed out that in 1857, New York spent $16 on each white student in its school system while spending only a penny per black student. She also emphasized that Southern states didn't allow slaves to be taught to read. Darling-Hammond then proceeded to argue that in the late 20th century little has changed. In 1967, Washington, D.C. ruled that blacks received unequal resources in the schools, she said. And, in 1990, the Los Angeles school district was sued because it placed inexperienced teachers in minority-dominated districts. After addressing the socioeconomic inequalities in detail, Darling-Hammond discussed the relationship of education to the new global economy of the late 20th century and the decline of manufacturing jobs. "Whereas 50 years ago, there were plenty of manufacturing jobs that employed many semi-skilled and unskilled workers, over the next decade 50 percent of new jobs will require post-secondary education," she said. "However, only 75 percent of American students graduate high school," she continued. "You can't make a good salary without a high level of education today." Although Darling-Hammond spoke about current problems in public education in America, she said she sees opportunities for improvement in the future. Darling-Hammond said she perceives a strong desire in America to restructure schools and is encouraged by the support of many states for the equalization of school funding. "There is a window of opportunity for the restructuring of schools," she said. Darling-Hammond's lecture was the keynote speech of the first annual Gordon Bodek Lecture of Distinguished Scholars.