1961 US Commission on Civil Rights Report Book 2 - University of ...

should be kept in mind when we speak frankly of the poorer facilities
that a number of private schools will be able to offer for some
time.
Dr. Donald R. Green of Emory University, Georgia, in a prepared
statement for the <strong>Commission</strong>'s Williamsburg conference, stressed the
difficulties inherent in a plan to substitute private schools for the public
school system: 124
. . . The residents of most Southern States face a tremendous
task if they wish to build a set of private nonsectarian schools
parallel to the public school system. Good private schools are not
only expensive but take time to develop. In short it is doubtful
that any move to expand the number of private schools will be able
to eliminate the distress of more than a handful of those opposed
to desegregation. . . .
Private schools have an important role to play in the educational
system of the country, and for the most part they have played it
well. . . . But this role in no way can be said to include . . . any
real possibility that the replacement of public schools with private
schools would adequately meet the needs of the county, State, or
locality. . . .
Private schools typically offer a single program suited to the needs
of some children. As long as they enroll only such children, they can
make a valuable contribution. If private schools are to serve all
children, they must broaden their program substantially, an expensive
undertaking.
In Dr. Green's opinion, a system of private schools cannot compete
with a public system of schools either in cost or quality of instruction.
He noted the high tuition rates in established private schools of good
quality as well as hidden costs in the form of special assessments, donation
requests, and other charges. Even more important, perhaps, would
be the loss of Federal aid for vocational education, school construction,
and libraries. 125
Even if the financial problem could be overcome (and he feels this is
doubtful), he believes it is "unlikely that the education offered by an
all-private set of schools would meet [even] the somewhat less than ideal
standards our public schools now maintain." 126 Dr. Green conceded
that private schools are superior to public schools in many instances.
He suggested, however, that the continued presence and competition of
the public schools might have been a substantial factor in forcing private
schools to maintain their higher standards; that if this were the case
there is a dangerous possibility of deterioration of these standards once
95