Little Rock Superintendent Reacts to Early Integration Proposal

Letter from Little Rock School Superintendent Harry Little critiquing report from Little Rock Council on Schools.To the Board--2/20/52--2 9. The report also says that Dunbar does not have modern sewing machines, which are in use at tother schools. The Dunbar machines have all been replaced since those in white schools. It is true that they do not take care of them as well, but they certainly should be in as good shape as the older ones in the white schools. We have also recently completely redone the foods section of the Home Economics Department at Dunbar, and we have not been able to do that at any of the other schools. We have also completely redone a science room at Dunbar, and this has not been done at the white schools. 10. It is true that the colored pupils do not make the same progress as do the white pupils. It is my opinion that this is due to three causes: (a) Lack of regular attendance, (b) Poor home conditions, (c) A poor quality of instruction. In this connection, many of the colored teachers who are average teachers for their race could not qualify for teachers in comparison with our white schools. With the exception of Gibbs, which is now on the drafting board, facilities for Negro elementary children are on the average superior to those for children in the Little Rock School District. 11. Our most crowded conditions, as far as elementary schools are concerned, are in the white schools. All of this does not belittle the fact that we must continue to work for better school facilities for white and Negro pupils. It does seem to me that when we look at the picture, we should look at the entire picture and not just part of it. It is true that Little Rock spends somewhat less per Negro pupil that for white. This is due solely to the fact that not as high a percentage of Negro teachers are grad- uates of accredited institutions. Our salary scale is the same. Our allotments for supplies and other services are the same, and when Negro teachers avail themselves of the opportunities for securing approved college credit, our expenditures per pupil will be the same. I, personally, believe that the solution to our educational problem does not lie in the mixing of the two races with different backgrounds and different interests in our schools, but in the building up of both school systems to the highest possible efficiency and the stimulation of the parents of all children to provide the necessary home incentive for good work; and further, the employment of educational staff mem- bers who are well qualified by training, interest, and desire, to do effective work. It might be cheaper on the Little Rock School District to provide an integrated educational program, but we should not be concerned with the cheapest program, but the best. White parents believe in schools enough that ther are willing to provide extra equipment such as choir robees, musical instruments, books, etc., for their children. Negro parents seem unwilling or unable to provide such facilities. If Negro children were placed immediately in white schools, they would be so over-shadowed by white pupils that they would lose all opportunity for training in leadership and in social qualities which they now get in their own schools. These are just some of my opinions, given to you for that they are worth. I may be entirely wrong, as I sometimes am. Very truly yours, [Signature included] Harry A. Little, Superintenden