Revolt and Repair: A Comparative Study of Two University Tutorial Movements

Abstract

Tins PAPER focuses upon two university voluntary organizations engaged in tutoring lower-class Negro youngsters with the hope of increasing their intellectual capabilities and eventual achievements. The long-term goal of both groups was to boost the Negro into better educational tracks in school and eventually to better his social conditions within the community. This was to be accomplished by spending time with students after regular school hours helping them with the courses in which their performance had been considered poor. How much time a tutor spent with his tutee was determined by the particular individuals involved, for no stringent rules governed the didactic nature of the programs.1 The simplest rationale for the existence of both groups was expressed in the following citation from one of the group's leaders: We exist because the school system isn't doing its job. 2 Over one hundred men and women offered their services to one or the other of these two groups in order to tutor young people in most high-school or junior high-school subjects. Any student could work for either organization devoting as much time as he desired with no obligation to participate in the administrative functions of the respective organization. The intention of this study is to examine briefly and compare some characteristic behavioral phenomena existing within the two voluntary organizations. Specifically, we will note the forms of individual recruitment patterns, the degree to which the organization manages mechanisms of social integration, and the levels of alienation and hostility manifested by the two tutorial groups. Because membership is voluntary, we are able to study the kinds of personality types which are attracted by such forms of social engineering activities and help them to maintain their present status in society. Furthermore, as we come to better understand