Education, history and the State of the Union

Black Issues in Higher Education, Feb 20, 1997 by Julianne Malveaux

Here we go again. George Bush described himself as the

"education president" a few years back, and now

President Bill Clinton seeks to top him at his game.

During the 1997 State of the Union address,

Clinton forwarded a number of education proposals, all which

have special implications for those who could be described as

"educationally disadvantaged." At the same time, the

light-touch federal approach that Mr. Clinton has suggested

may mean that some states will embrace his educational

reforms with more fervor than others.

Higher education benefits most from the tax credit of

$1500 that President Clinton has pledged to provide, along

with the tax deduction of $10,000 for college tuition. To

address concerns that these credits and deductions do little for

the low income, the President has also proposed expanded Pell

grants for lower-income students. Further, the president's

exhortation that every student who wants to should have a

college education, especially through the community college

system, is a good one. But the HOPE scholarships he

proposes may not offer sufficient resources to move every

student to higher education.

The higher education pipeline benefits from efforts to

improve K-12 education, with proposals that range from the

certification of 100,000 more ``master teachers to the

enlistment of a million volunteer tutors. Given the physical

organization of inner city schools, school construction is a

laudable goal for an administration that has targeted so many

dollars toward prison constructions. Less laudable is the

expansion of charter schools in the name of "choice." How will

these chatter schools be funded? What will they teach? Are

there tax implications for this form of educational

organization?

The State of the Union Address, though, was vintage

Clinton. There was fluff and rhetoric, but also a set of solid

proposals in his speech. His goals--that every child be able to

read by the third grade, that every home and classroom be

connected to the Internet by the year 2000, and that the

communications potential of the Internet include hospitals and

other sites--are important.

Education is important, but it is a necessary--not a

sufficient - condition to erasing the gaps between African

Americans and whites, and to leveling playing fields in

employment and access. As animated as the president was

about education reform, he was somber

about issues of our nation's racial divide. His rather

pensive tribute to diversity was marred by his own

misreading of history and that, perhaps, accounts for

my look askance at the entire State of the Union

address.

Said President Clinton: "America has always been

a nation of immigrants. From the start, a steady

stream of people in search of freedom and

opportunity have left their own lands to make this

land their home. We started as an experiment in

democracy fueled by Europeans. We have grown

into an experiment in democratic diversity fueled

by openness and promise."

Does this statement reflect our nation's reality? We are a

nation of both voluntary and involuntary immigrants. Some of

us weren't in search of "freedom and opportunity," we were

snatched from a home country to serve those who sought to

exploit us. The democratic experiment fueled by Europeans

was flawed at its very core because the experiment relied on

the service of some for the survival and the pleasure of others.

To be sure, President Clinton was editing history--and

there are those who would have chafed had he spoken truth in

the context of diversity. But in coming up with an inclusive

historical myth, he gave the history of African American

presence in this country short shrift. And then he topped it off

with a Biblical verse, as if that cleans it up. Not!

Like presidents before him, Clinton ended his State of the

Union Address with nods to the various stripes of the

rainbow--the Chinese American governor of Washington state,

the Mexican American Congressman who was recently buried,

the African American student whose accomplishments were

touted. The inclusive rainbow approach, tied in with the

earnestness of Clinton's rhetoric, makes us all nod in agreement

when he exhorts us to be shapers--not observers--of events.

Still, in the arena of racial reconciliation, the president has fallen

far short of providing exemplary leadership.

For example, in his quest to deal with education issues,

President Clinton might well take on the education of our

nation about racial oppression. It is not helpful for him to use

the immigrant metaphor without explanation. It might be most

helpful for him to take on the task of constructing a monument

to African slaves somewhere on the Mall in our nation's

capital. We've built statues to veterans, Holocaust victims, and

others. But our slave past is ignored. The ignorance the

country's racial history is compounded by these immigrant

statements white politicians benignly throw into the mix, as if

the price of the ticket on a ship was the same if one came as

cargo or as a passenger.

President Clinton says that he placed his hand on the

biblical verse Isaiah 58:12 when he took his oath of office on