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FREEDOMWAYS
THIRD QUARTER 1973

to any Black person (not just scholars) seem evident-in speaking of new cognitive traits. Jencks: "People who have spent a great deal of time in school vote differently, have different political attitudes and score different on a wide variety of psychological tests. They tend to go to psychiatrists more than uneducated people and to go to jail less."
 
If it's news to anyone in this racist society-going to a psychiatrist costs huge sums that the poor can't afford (including most Blacks) and going to jail has a lot to do with poverty and an unjust, politically oriented system directed against Blacks and the poor.
 
In this discussion on "Inequality-in Educational Attainment" one conclusion states, "students who plan to drop out usually assume they have to take low-status jobs - but such jobs evidently seem more acceptable to workingclass students than to upper middle class children."

This is an economic reality for Black youth (many of whom are not drop-outs) because of the racist American Society. A fact that Mr. Jencks should be aware of!

In the chapter, "From Equal Opportunity to Equal Results," Jencks argues "that no one should be allowed to fall too far below the norm for his community, since this could lead to serious social problems." What if the community norm is below that of the average norm for a good American community? Who determines such norms?

Many take education to help persons become aware of what Jencks terms the crucial problem, that of viewing income inequality as a serious problem. Blacks, I know, view equality of opportunity as a first step in solving income inequality.
 
One of the weaknesses of this book is its failure to place income inequality and schooling and/or education in the larger context of the American society and show the implications of social, political and economic consequences on these.
 
For Blacks, a major factor in inequality is racism in American life that overrides educational credentials, occupational status, income and job satisfaction. This tormenting social reality-present in attitudes and policies everywhere-seems to have come in only for slight attention by Jencks in what he calls "social and cultural factors outside the school setting."

Jencks sits in a distinguished university - Harvard. It is the purpose of a university community to help persons to find their way to purposeful lives-and discover ways to best serve the aspirations of the human community.

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