Inner-city teaching: A success story

Abstract

"Switzer school was number one in everything bad in this city. We had the highest number of fires, assaults, thefts . . you name it. We were number one. Welt, we're not number one anymore. And I guess what I 'm trying to say is that with the right kind of teachers you can do a lot for kids." Bailey Gardner switches position in his chair and talks a little louder. Classes have just broken and the noise from the hallway threatens his story telling. But Gardner won't be interrupted. He spent most of his professional life in public relations work and he enjoys telling this kind of storya success story. Switzer Elementary School serves an area of Kansas City, Missouri, sandwiched between the city's skyscrapers and its stockyards. It 's an area of poverty. "We ' re working with the poorest of the poor," continues Gardner. As a result, the school has qualified for considerable Federal assistance. " I don't think there is anything new in education that we have not had here," claims Gardner. "But without a good teacher, all these mechanical things really are not worth a damn." Fortunately, the children in Switzer school have many good teachers. And that's Gardner's success story--the success of his teachers. " I t takes a special kind of teacher to work in the inner city," maintains Gardner. " A good teacher has to get involved with the community. He has to believe in what he's doing." Gardner continues: "You have to be willing to put your arm around these people and really like them. You can't just pretend that you like them. That's going to get you into trouble, tf they ever find out that you are not sincere in what you are doing with them, they would just as soon cut your throat as look at you." Gardner has involved teachers on his staff. And most of them are CUTE teachers. CUTE is academic jargon for Cooperative Urban Teacher Education. "My CUTE teachers never hesitate to become involved with the community. They go into the children's homes. They relate to kids and by that I mean they are not negative. As far as I 'm concerned, the only real salvation for inner-city schools are teacher-training programs like CUTE." Across town, in a large, nearly all-black senior high school, Principal Arnold Davenport agrees. "We 've been very high on the CUTE program. It provides us with excellent teachers. They adjust well to our school and they relate well to our students. And these kinds of things are real important if a teacher is going to succeed in a classroom in our kind of school." This praise for the CUTE program doesn't surprise its developer, Grant Clothier. Clothier, who once played basketball for UCLA, might suggest that his program's honors are comparable to making everyone's all-America team. The program has been cited by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, the U.S. Commissioner of Education, Federally funded research and development programs, and by hundreds of practicing teachers and administrators. The CUTE program operates on a simple premise: it takes special skills to teach in inner-city schools. But most prospective teachers, white and middleclass, receive their teacher training from similar individuals. Their textbooks reflect the prevailing middle-class system. And while this exposure and training serve the individual well when entering a suburban, white, middleclass school, they do nothing for the inner-city school teacher. " I heard a speech sometime in 1964 that really got me to thinking about the problem of training teachers for the inner city. The speaker said that there's something wrong with the teaching profession because people go into a four-year teaching program with the goal of getting an easy position in a suburban school. These children learn, if not in spite of the teacher, at least without much help from them. But the profession is neglecting the inner city where large masses of children need help." In the summer of 1964 Clothier put his concerns into action. A newspaper story by the superintendent of schools in Kansas City accused area colleges of neglecting realistic teacher training for urban schools. One college responded to the challenge. It began an Inner City Teacher Education project with Clothier as its head. The college-based program was simple in concept. Originally, 13 students were selected to earn extra credit by attending special seminars and by taking field trips into Kansas City to study urban life. And Clothier's project succeeded. Students were leaving the college to