Apartheid. USA 1988

February 26, 1987:

The New York City Board of Education had released the figure that 30.7 percent of high school students were dropouts. Now, the Educational Priorities Panel has come up with a new and more alarming figure, saying that 54 percent

[p. 38]

of students drop out along the way from the 9th to the 12th grade. The Panel said it was not accusing the Educational Board of falsifying its figures, but asserted that the Board had calculated the figures in a way that cast the best light on the school system. ‘The way you judge a school system is by whether students graduate,’ said Stanley Litow, director of the Panel. ‘The problem with putting the best foot forward is that people will assume you are doing splendidly and just need to do more of it. In fact, what we need to do is change what we are doing.’^57.

Within one month after the Reverend Jesse Jackson complained in an Op-Ed article in the Times^58. that President Reagan never bothered to meet with the national black civil rights leadership, Ronald Reagan received for 30 minutes Rev Jackson, as well as Mayor Marrison Barry Jr of Washington DC who is black, and Samuel Meyers, Executive Director of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, who is also black. Mr Meyers represented the 113 historically black colleges and universities. Actually, the meeting was requested by Mr Jackson and marked the first time in seven years Mr Reagan met prominent blacks who do not support Administration policies toward minorities and the poor.

57. The New York Times, from a report by Jane Perlez

58. The New York Times, February 18, 1987