Title: Committed to High-Quality Education for All Children: An Interview with Hugh Price
Abstract: Throughout his career, Hugh Price has dedicated himself to the goal of social and economic equality for African Americans. As president of the National Urban League, he stresses that the goal will be achieved only through ensuring high-quality education for all children. HUGH PRICE has been president and chief executive officer of the National Urban League since 1 July 1994. Founded in 1910, the National Urban League is 'the premier social service and civil rights organization in America.' The organization occupies two handsomely decorated floors in a historic building at the foot of New York City's Wall Street, overlooking the East River. There are also 114 affiliate offices in 34 states. The National Urban League has a great deal on its plate ' issues ranging from the profiling of African Americans by police for criminal investigation and the controversy surrounding the February 1999 killing of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed and innocent black man in New York City, to helping African Americans gain economic power through equalization of earnings, investment in stocks, and home ownership. However, in the past two years education ' always a fundamental concern for the Urban League ' has in many ways become the centerpiece of the organization's effort 'to assist African Americans in the achievement of social and economic equality.' The motto (almost a mantra) 'Our Children = Our Destiny' is displayed on the wall of the Urban League's headquarters and in Urban League publications, leaving no doubt that young people are the primary focus of this organization. In several public statements he has made since 1997, Price has reiterated a set of rights for 'every child in America.' First, each child has the right to a high-quality preschool education. Second, all children should have highly qualified teachers who believe that they can learn. Third, all children should have access to challenging courses of study. Fourth, schools and communities should be organized for learning and not just for maintaining order. And finally, schools should provide high-quality academic and social programs after school and in the summer that keep children out of harm's way. Under Price's leadership, the National Urban League ' working in concert with the Congress of National Black Churches, black sororities and fraternities, and some 25 other African American organizations ' fleshed out these rights by initiating, in August 1997, a major campaign for recognition of educational achievement by African Americans. For example, a black national honor society, the Thurgood Marshall Achievers Society, was established, and in the spring of 1998 it inducted the first 4,000 young African Americans in ceremonies held in 36 black churches across the country. Gen. Colin Powell addressed one group of young achievers in the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., as part of the Urban League's effort to 'spread the gospel that achievement matters.' Another important effort aims to make young African Americans aware of the importance of the SAT and of what they must do to score well on that examination. 'September has been established as Achievement Month,' Price points out, 'and on the third Saturday in September events are held all over the country.' In 1998, 40,000 black youngsters participated. In Columbia, South Carolina, for example, 700 black students and their parents showed up for an SAT Awareness Assembly sponsored by the local affiliate, the Columbia Urban League, which took place in the chapel at Benedict College. The 700 youngsters heard again and again that 'achievement matters' and that they control their own destiny through their academic efforts; they also received information and resources that would help them prepare for the SAT. Performance on that college admissions examination and all other forms of academic accomplishment are very important to Price, who cites one study on urban education showing that 'the vast majority of black boys scarcely care about achievement by the time they hit high school. …
Publication Year: 2000
Publication Date: 2000-04-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 4
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