Page Ten SCARLET AND BEACK Friday, 'April II. 1959 Vacations Spent for Relevant Education ,By SARAH ANDREW and LYNN ADAMS Grinnell students participat- . ing in the Voluntary Inner-City Urban Seminar Programs dur- ing spring break returned with new outlooks on the problems of the city’s inner core. The relative success of the pro- grams varied in each city but all otlered an exposure to a different way of life The Grinnell group in Des Moines was surprised to sea the fundamental opposition to plans which look so good in theory. In the 30% Black Mod- el Cities area the Black Pan» thers serve tree breakfasts to children; there is, at the same time, an estimated 300—400 Vigi- lantes opposing the Panthers and representing a heavy and growing backlash. Two relatively successful or- ganizations were visited by Stu< dents in Des Moines. One was a program sponsored by the Y.M.C.A. which requires that students go to school in the morning in order to obtain jobs (provided by local business- men) in the afternoons, The program has helped greatly in ‘reducing truancy among high school students. Another is the Detox Center, a model rehabili- tation center for alcoholics. Al- coholics a re treated here through a ten day detoxication period, group therapy and a two-year followvup program. The Detox Center has cut down the population 01 Des Moines‘ skid row by about 1000. In the area of housing there is a major conflict between 013.0. and the Model Cities Program in Des Moines. 0f the two programs, Model Cities seems more effective because there is more local initiative in its organization. Model Cities is now in a year of planning all over the U.S. Model Cities is thought to be better than Urban Renewal in that it rehabilitates as much as possible, whereas Urban Renewal tears down and it c a t t e r s neighborhoods, Al- though many people in the area are not reached by any pr0< gram, there is relatively much more community participation than in the past. At the St. Louis Grace Hill Settlement House, in an 80% white neighborhood, there were worries about What funds would be available from the new Nix- on administration. Funding was the most immediate worry of the organizations working in this area. Grinneli students in St. Louis actually worked for the Settle- ment House. They carried out a survey of the number of families in an area being con- sidered for Urban Renewal, ilr formed a neighborhood of a party for Head Start children and organized women to meet in their homes to discuss prob- lems with a social worker. In Deliver, the students lived in Hair-way House with re- tellabilitated alcoholics who were able to do only about two SKIRTS - SWEATERS :SLACKS Enjoy your clothes as you did when they were new. Our professional drycleaning- teamed with MAGIC FINISH by Sta*Nu makes your 1“ Q clothes look and feel like new. Come' m or call, we value every customer as a friend. Available At Both North and South Campus Cleaning Agencies EKER’S Laundry and Dry Cleaners 101 9% [ROAD hours of piecemeal labor after getting over the shakes in the morning and before beginning to drink again at night. The program aimed at helping alcos hulics to move gradually DH skid row. The center was iso- lated within the city or Denver and involved little community work. Tilt students commented that there seemed to be a limit to the pressure which anyone could bring to bear on the in- ner-city problems. The program in Denver was sponsored by an inner-city church which has no real con- gregation and functions only to provide food and clothing to the surrounding c o m m u nit y or Blacks and Mexicans. This poverty area is composed of government housing r a t h e r than tenement slums but very little community spirit existsr Education is apparently pool", for Grinllell students spent some time tutoring people to help them get their high school equivalents. The students felt that those in Denver respon< sible for the inner-City Seminar were not particularly interested in the program. Gl‘innell students in New York stayed with families alld individuals in East Harlem, which is 40% Black, 40% Puer- to Rican and 20% other. Edu- cation was considered one of the greatest problems in this inner city where 30% of the students entering high school drop out, 11 a student flunks once, he can sit and do noth- ing, scarcely attend school, and he Will be passed along with his class until he gradu- ates with a general diploma, Many Puerto Ricans, for ex- ample, otten graduate at a Grade Option Sought By MARY MALCOLM The grading system has al- ways been a rather suspicious member of the academic Cour munity. It fosters competition, blurs distinction and demon» strates a rigidity unbecoming to a friend in good standing of the liberal arts. The offices of motivation and evaluation could well be carried out in ways friendlier to the love of learning. But the grad. ing system has “connections" ill the outside world. It is a bit like a rich uncle — you may not like his values, but you keep him around in case you ever need a job reference or a loan. 50 Grinnell College keeps the grading system, though some of us may chate at its implicit values, so as not to disadvantage students who may transfer, go to graduate school. or seek employment. it would be utterly idealistic of me to suggest that Grinnell eliminate grades entirely, and we know how unpopular ideala ism is these days. But perhaps my more pragmatic colleagues would consider a proposal to reduce its hegemony some» what. After all, we took the first timid step in that very direction when we introduced the pBSSAiall option. of course pass-fail only free: a student third grade reading level be- cause they enter school unable to speak English. Efforts to m- crult bHingual teachers have not been too successful. The teachers in East Harlem are otten either those who have failed in other New York schools or those who are new and unexperienced. These teachers do not know how to reach the students of the ghet- to for whom education is not an ingrained value or an ex. pectation as in a middle class environment, Parents in the neighborhood are pressing for community control of the schools with hopes of being able to hire and fire teachers and choose cur- riculum. The potential in com- munity control was shown during the N.Y. teachers' strike when only the experimental schools, those already commua nlty-controlled, stayed open With unusually high attend- ance. Tile students were particularu 1y impressed with Phoenix House, a rehabilitation center for drug addicts which Claims 80% success. it is a center with 70 members, run on a self- help, co-op basis. All members Work within the center, at e craft, a shop, or a maintenance job. Grinnell students were sur- prised at the self—education and self-pride of the exdrug ad- diets. In the area of housing, East Harlem finds 0.13.0, and other government funds have too many strings attached, There is a growing number of auton- omous community housing or- ganizations. Although presently their programs affect only (our blocks out oi perhaps 600 these groups are looking for more funds and expect to expand their programs from grades in a particular course, and does nothing to loosen the noose of the grade point average hanging con- stantly around his neck. But it would not seem unthinkable, and Certainly not out of Keep- ing with the spirit of the liber- al arts, to now take a second bolder step: a voluntary grad- ing system. Procedurally, this would mean that a student must reg- ister especially for a grade it he wishes to receive one. Other- wise his transcript will simply record credit [or a course suc« cessfully completed, with no record of a Course not com- pleted or unsuccessfully com- plated, My own consciousness and my teacher's mat my learning was being graded be- came a real obstacle to self- motivation. I would have wel- comed (and during the Sum< mers did welcome) opportu< miles to study free from grade and develop my stunted lacul- ties for motivation and evaluat- ing my own learning. it Grin- nell opened this option to stu- dents iar whom grades are a distraction, while maintaining grades tor students who desire them as credentials, it could become a more interesting and educational place.