Dr. Manford Byrd is upset that The Tribune has taken note of the
”cynical attitude” of the Chicago public school administrators under his command.
He defends his administration`s record in regard to solving the problem of school dropouts, attacks The Tribune for undermining the morale of his students by its criticisms and asks for more money. He emphasizes that he has hired more administrators and more ”remedial” teachers.
The constant need to hire more remedial teachers is an open admission that his administration and its predecessors have been incompetent.
In the Soviet Union, a large multi-ethnic state like our own, 97 percent of the children can read in one of the 47 national languages by the end of 1st grade, 2 percent repeat 1st grade and 1 percent are found to be mentally retarded. There is no reading instruction per se after 1st grade in the USSR.
Why can`t Dr. Byrd even approach success on this scale?
