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LESSONS OF THE 201 COMPLEX IN HARLEM

CHARLES E. WILSON

AMERICANS,BLACK AND WHITE ALIKE, are people who do not call things by their right names. Most often they prefer to deal with the world through slogans. As a people they like to term a product or an object "new" which is just a modification of something of yesteryear. As a people they enjoy labeling and mislabeling their problems and contradictions so that they will not have to deal with those problems. Finally they are deeply pragmatic people who cannot or will not face the consequences of the breakdown of their urban systems. And because the public education system reflects the values, attitudes, goals and contradictions of a people, many American urban public school systems today face a major crisis. Intermediate School 201 in New York City is synonymous with that crisis in education. This school has been the site of repeated broken promises of integrated quality and developing cultural heritage. All have dried up like raisins. I.S. 201, with its new architectural design (windowless), could not hide organizational chaos and teachers apathy. I.S. 201, the alleged scene of extremist action and anti-white activities. That these "rites" never took place is of small import for the charges were of "irregularities" which where enough to arouse all the latent fears and hostilities. I.S. 201-- the school, the complex and the complex surrounding that "demonstration district"-- is a symbol and a symptom of the kind of problem that is likely to emerge in every area where the people, most often the victims of the present order, demand a voice in affecting the lives of "their children." For in those cases, parents and their allies find themselves in conflict with an Educational Establishment which can brook no interference in its performance (or rather the bungling) of their sacred trust; nor do these educators believe in sharing power

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Charles E. Wilson, New York writer and educator, is now Unit Administrator, Governing Board of the Intermediate School 201 Complex. 

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---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-12 17:59:33 Reopened to add book page number.