The Education of a WASP

Afterword-1988

AFTERWORD-1988 Over the years, so many readers have written asking what has happened to me and to my family. I take special pleasure in answering. When the book ended in 1970, I could only hope that I had made the right choices for Spike, then 14, Noah, 12, and 10-year-old Sarah. At age 15, Spike made his own choice: to attend our enormous public high school where he would be the only white student in his classes. During the first week, my racist fears surged. Three years later, he graduated with good memories and a good education. During his first year at Penn State, I could finally ask my grown-up son ifhe might have preferred growing up with "his own kind" in a "good suburban school." I cherish his answer. "Mom, the suburban kids up here are maybe three months ahead of me academically. I can catch up. But they'll never be able to catch up with what I know about all kinds of people." Noah, at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, was shocked and angry when he first confronted an unfamiliar prejudice . He raged, "The cops up here treat Lee (a Navajo friend) the same bad way they treated Steve (a black friend) in -329- Philadelphia!" Noah is now a juvenile probation officer in Flagstaff, especially concerned with minority offenders. Noah and Debi plan to send their daughter Amanda to an integrated public school. Sarah, at the University of Florida, chose a black roommate during her first year there. She wrote me, "If my white friends don't like this, then maybe they aren't the people I want as friends." She is now completing her graduate studies to become a counselor to elementary school children and is already battling bigotry when she spots it in schools. In 1974, I tried to battle bigotry in education by writing another book, Getting Ready (Morrow/Bantam). In it, I described the damage I had seen being done to my children's classmates who were not white. In 1976, I began to teach at the Community College of Philadelphia, a mostly black school. As a writing instructor and advisor to the college newspaper, I wanted to test my belief that teachers could build-or destroy-a student's self-esteem. Black friends predicted I would' 'last maybe a month" with my "radical"theories on teaching ill-prepared students to write and to use the freedom of the press. Two years later, with the support of CCP' s (white) president, Allan Bonnell, our previously all-white newspaper had a black editor and I had the satisfaction of proving that students can blossom when teachers believe they can. In 1984, with a nudge from Noah's wife, Debi, I began teaching a summer course, "The White World of Racism," at Northern Arizona University. Again, I had a theory. Ifwhite, black, and Native American students spent five weeks together , learning the history of racism, its present dynamics, and, most importantly, learning to know each other, then perhaps permanent personal change could occur. Now, each summer, I look forward to the miracles I see in that classroom as suspicion turns into sensitivity, and fears turn into friendships . Familiarity, as I have come to believe, does breed commitment . -33 0 - Recently, I conducted a seminar for a group of college athletes , the kind of black (and white) students who were eased through high schools unprepared for college. Because I learned long ago how badly some students were cheated, I hope I helped them regain their self-esteem and learn the academic survival skills their parents were unable to impart. And so, opportunities to continue my education seem always to be there. "Barbara Hamilton" and I have remained close friends. She is now dean of faculty at a mostly white college. We no longer talk about racism, I realize. We talk about our work and our children. When I reread this book and think of all that Barbara-and black friends then and since-have taught me, I cannot help but feel I still owe a debt for that education. Yes, the wall between blacks and whites is thicker than I knew, but I keep finding my own personal stones to loosen and pull away. I still hope to prove Mrs. Kozarik wrong. Americans, when we know the truth, do care about others. LOIS MARK STALVEY January 1988 -33 1 - [18...