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READERS' FORUM MC MILLAN

will be high enough to fan the hopes of those who want for their children a share of the economic bounty. The movement toward community control of schools will, in effect, be fragmented much like previous political reform movements: through strategically placed economic incentives and rewards, stratification will occur, in-fighting, resentments, feelings of superiority, etc. 2) Those who now control education-Boards of Education, Teacher's Unions, economic and political interests-will not relinquish the requisite political power to community groups. The "system" of economic and political interests is too based on industrial values-hard work, obedience, conformity, etc.-to even contemplate admitting large numbers of rebellious, outspoken, non-compliant, and "uneducated" members of the urban population into their ranks. The dominant social "system" is far too rent by racism and fear to look favorably at changes which will result in equalization of economic and educational advantage.

Yet despite this pessimistic appraisal, the movement for com-munity control has already made significant inroads. In New York City, community school boards are avidly exercising their newly-won political powers. Teachers and administrators are being hired and fired; curriculum is being changed; pressure is being applied for greater financial control. If the movement can avoid being duped by those who promise more funds for "reading specialists" and "math instruction" but who tacitly condone social and economic separation of the races, "community control" is likely to become one of the most successful "educational re-form movements" in history.

References
Bowers, C.A., The Progressive Educator and the Depression: The Radical Years. New York: Random House. 1969.

Cremin, Lawrence A., The Trans-formation of the School. New York: Vintage Books. 1961.

Freire, Paulo, Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Herder and Herder. 1971

Harnett, Patrick, "Why Teachers Strike: A Lesson for Liberals." The Village Voice, October 31, 1968.

Katz, Michael B., Class, Bureaucracy, and School. New York: Praeger Publishers. 1970.

Lauter, Paul, and Howe, Florence. "How the School System is Rigged for Failure," in Democratic Legacy in Transition. Sturm, J. E., Palmer J. A. Eds. New York: Van Nostrand Rein-hold Company, 1971.

Levin, Henry M., Ed. Community Control of Schools. New York: Simon and Schuster. 1970.

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