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Show TheSalt Lake Tribune AA5 OPINION Sunday, August 9 1998 King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech By Rights Belongs to All Americans BY KAREN GRIGSBY BATES That wish list was deliveredin the classic cadence of the Southern preacher, great FOR THELOS ANGELES TIM waves of metaphors washing over the This month will mark the 35th anni- versary of the March on Washington and the debut of the speech most associated with it, Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” address. Even if you weren't old enough to rememberseeing theoriginal speech ontelevision, you doubtless will remember watching it in retrospec- tives of Americanhistoryor in the celebrated PBS series on the civil rights movement, “Eyes on the Prize.” “I Have a Dream” wasa fine piece of oratory, drawing on King’s sweeping vi sion of Americans joinedbylove of coun. try and of their fellow citizens, the be sweltering crowds. The verbal pictures King painted of freedomringing “from the mighty mountains of New York the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsyl- vania from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado ... the curvaceousslopesofCal- ifornia ... from Stone Mountain of Georgia’ and “every hill and molehill of Mis- sissippi” are still vivid today. It is a speech that belongs to history, to the ages King's survivors say it belongs to them. When CBS, in conjunction with the Arts & Entertainment Network, decided to include a segment of the 1963 march loved community of which he spoke so with excerpts of King’s speech in frequently, undivided by the barriers of social caste, color, gender or religion 20th Century With Mike King’s family sued for cop; fringement. (Thespeech had been copyrighted, though some days after it was given and the text had been distributed widely to the news media.) The family arguedthat King’s speechesand writings were private property, the only legacy left them, and they were determinedto notsee it squandered. CBS protested that the speech had been news, had been covered as news and was part of the public domain. Judge William C. O’Kelley, ruling for the Federal District Court in Atlanta, agreed So do I. “I Have a Dream” came at a pivotal point in America’s evolution, at a time when the countryhad to decide be- BRIDG! NEWS HOUSTON — Urban school tems can be reformed. In Houston we're doingit, and Hous- strong leadership, they can and will improvepublic schools. Afourthlesson from Houstonis that the focus of school reform should be onresults, not on meth- Churchill's “This was their finest hour” is ers everywhere. The Houston Independent SchoolDistrict, with 212,000 students,is the nation’s seventh largest. The student population is 87 percent minority and overwhelm- ly, I believe, focused on standards, accountability, management systems, personnel managementpolicies and operational effectiveness. Policy-makers who tell educa- tors howto getresults areas like- board's mandatethat schools in- ly to be wrong as right, and by cludea significant amount of phonics in reading instruction — an issue so important that an excep- tion was made — the board wise- prescribing methods they inescapably transfer responsibility for results from educators to themselves. one andinsisted that there was only one well after King’s famous address, pro. tects authors without requiring them to right way toreact. While King was notanelectedofficial like Rooseyelt and Churchill, whose in sheltering intellectual property. But “fair use” stipulation assumes that mostly low-performing. recently, In November 1989, I was oneof four newtrustees elected to the nine- memberboard of education. Within a few months, the four of us and a previously elected trustee had bonded as a group and de- termined to turn the district upside down. Eight and a half yearslater, we can see that we have halfwaysuc- ceeded. Schoolviolenceis greatly reduced. Scores on the state ac- countability test are up significantly, outpacing the improvement in state scores. How did wedoit? Thereal key has been that a boardof education physicallyregister their works, a big step “mostuses will be part of an educational words are, automatically, part of the public domain, “I Have a Dream” is similar in memorable impact, and it should or newsworthy event.” Argue, if you like, over the remainder of King’s moreclearly copyrighted mate: be available to as many people as pos sible, for as long as possible. Without rials; but this soaring visionof possibility should be left, free, to whomever can charge. Civil rights leaders didn't make much make useof it to inspire, prod and cajole money doing the work theydid. Conse- us to reach the summit he so eloquently pictured Karen Grigsby Bates is a free-lance and thelate Betty Shabazz, Coretta King Thefifth lessonis that the core issue in urban school reform is governance. Only thosein charge can mandate and effect change Don McAdams isa former president of Southwestern Adventist College and authorof a book on Houston school reform, “Children Come in Last,” to be published next year by Teachers College Press, Columbia University. writer in Southern California LENNOX Natural Gas Systems Scratch & Dent End of Season Sale Save Hundrede of Doitars. it ig the end of the 98 year and we are cleaning out the Inventory to make room for ‘our shipment of new energy ingly poor. Like most schools in urban America, Houston’s are run down and, until Hecker, a New York lawyer who special izes in copyright law, says that today’s Have a er addr Notwithstanding the Houston ton’s experience provides some lessons for urban school reform- “I copyright legislation, passed in 1978 Houston Writes Lesson Plan for Saving Nation’s City Schools BY DONALD R. MCADAMS speeches, Dream” acknowledged crisis, pointed out that the task ahead was a difficult their families rich in memories and veneration, but poor in working capital Likeher sisters in sorrow, Myrlie Evers marks in modernhistory. Like Winston I is fear itself’ quently, civil rights martyrs often left as one of the high-water Her childrenfeel their father’s words can assist in that. But whereshould the line be drawn? Joel L or FDR’s “Theonlything we have to fear tween two clear-cut moral alternatives. It stands, with perhapshalf a dozen oth- er family together spir NEW STUDY FOR PSORIASIS New oral medication for the treatment of plaque psoriasis. You must be 18 years or older, in good general health and haveat least 10% of your body involved with disease (about 10 palm sized areas of involved skin}. Medication, labwork and examsare free of charge. There are a minimumof7 visits over a 4 monthperiod of time. For more information or to schedule an appointment, please call: 581-6477 Department of Dermatology University of Utah Health Sciences Center. efficient natural gas systems. What we have avaiiable is high efficient Lennox gas furnaces and highefficient Air Conditioners in different sizes and quantities. These Lennox systems have been slightly damaged through shipping, and all have their full factory warranties. Because sizes and quantities are very limited we suggest you call now and a representative from Air Comfort will come to your home to find out which one For example for an average 1200 sqft. home you could have a new Lennox furnace install for as low as $1260.00. We have the same saving on ‘our Air Conditioners. Also with good credit you can finance these systems with our Lennox financing 90 day same as cash program, or Questar Home Works financing. Call today at 466-3583. 50 West Truman Ave. (2320 So.) This is a very limited offer, first come first served. of these will fit your needs. majority and a strong superintendent have worked together with mutual trust to achieve a shared vision. The key reform principles, I believe, are simple: a solid core cur- riculum, high standards, school Whenyou've had enough of empowerment and accountabil- ity, parental involvement, admin- istrative decentralization,flexible life’s monotony, youneed thecity. personnel policies to support employee accountability, outsoureing of most business functions, Andyouneedit now. We suggest charter schools (Houston's dis- youget out and enjoy thecity’s trict has granted 23 charters) and contracts with private for-profit companies for management of energy, andelectricity. someschools. We suggest you gotothe theater. Putting these principles into policy, building the necessary management infrastructure and trying to change the district's work culture has been a struggle We had to buy out onesuperin- Andthe symphony. Andtotheart galleries, the opera, andthe ballet. tendent’s contract, overcomeethnic conflict, contend almost end- Better still, do your ownelectrify- lessly with a tough teacher union president and resist the pressure of numerous special-interest ing dance with dinner. We suggest youget out toa Jazz game,a jazz groups, From timeto time, we've also festival, a movie. had to confront the jobs-before- children agenda of some board Actually, we insist you come to members. Almost every victory has been a thecity. See for yourself how much standing the uniqueness of the lighter you'll feel after a dayin or a tough political fight. Notwith Houston experience, I believe there are lessons for the nation’s night out on the town. urban school reformers ‘The first lesson is that urban school reform is not possible un- less the superintendent and a ma- jority of the board share a com- monvision and work together for an extended period of time School reform takes time. ‘Yhe second lesson is that non: traditional superintendents might be the most effective reformers. The superintendent who has turned around Houston’s district is Rod Paige, formerly deanof an education school, a former NCAA Division I football coach and, up until 1994, a member of the Hous: ton boardof education. Schoolreform is political action and good management. A strong leader with broad ex perience, political and manage ment skills and enough knowl edge of education to face confidently the bureaucracy of a big city school system is, in my opinion, morelikely to be a re form leader than a superinten dent whohas spent his or her en tire professional life working within that very system The third lesson is that school district administrators and build ing principals are the people who (prt implement reform policies Educrats,” as they are some: times derisively called, can be part of the problem. But with | Wart a story printed a few years | ago in The Salt Lake Tribune? It's available to you now through the | World Wide Web For more infomation, o-mait r tribagoons @ altelb.com COPY} ere’sOnly One Downtown www.onedowntown. citysearch.com DOWNTOWN ALUANCE ih |