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THE NEW LITERATURE
ON EDUCATION OF THE
BLACK CHILD

EDWARD K. WEAVER

During the 1960's a "new" literature emerged based in a concern for the education of the disadvantaged, and especially compensatory education for black ghetto children.  This literature has been written mostly by whitesand, to some extent, is directed towards white audiences.  Funding for the programs and projects has come from both private and public sectors, and the programs are usually directed by white professionals. The purpose of this article is to try and answer the following questions:

1. Are the books about the education of the black ghetto child too hurriedly written?  Do they have overall value?
2. Why is the problem of educating black ghetto children being brought to the public at this time if, as implied by the "new" literature, the condition has existed for thirty or more years?
3. Does what is presented in these books reflect a form of planned retardation for black ghetto children on the parts of boards of education?
4. Inasmuch as these books were written about the education of the black ghetto child in the northern urban ghetto, should comparative studies be made of the black child in the North as against the South?

Attempts to answer these questions will be in a holistic frame-that i all four questions will be dealt with at once. At the end of the analysis, specific answers will begiven for each question.  The following assumptions operated as hypotheses or biases in the remainder of this article:


[bottom margin]Dr. Edward K. Weaver, now Dean of the School of Education, Atlanta University (Ga.), has been a teacher in the field of education over the past twenty years.[/bottom margin]]

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