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Mayor's Comments to Atlanta Service-Learning Conference
June 30, 1969
White Houge Motor Inn
70 Houston Street, N. E.
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
Total Attendance: 300
Purpose of Conference
To explore existing service programs involving youth
and government in urban, domestic, and foreign setting
and develop a metro-Atlanta model of service-learning
between area colleges, government units, agencies and
students.
Two day Conference sponsored by:
Urban Corps
VISTA
Peace Corps
Atlanta Colleges
Economic Opportuntty Atlanta, Inc.
Teacher Corps
Southern Regional Education Board
-DRAFT =
Introductory remarks - welcome to Atlanta, etc.
‘We cannot, any more than past generations, see the face of the guture,"
Ralph McGill has writeen. "But we know that written across it is the word Educa-
tion." Education today is repidly changing from the old monolithic forms of
yesteryear, Todaya youth are demanding educational reforms. Many of you young
people are in fact creating a new kind of education through your off-campus setvice
activigies. The service-learning concept ia not new but its youthful appdicationa
are having a new affect on both domestic and foreign problems. Whether young
people are serving in the Peace Corps in Zambia or workigg in Cabbage Town as a
VISTA Volunteer they are having a learning experience.
They are learning that education doesn't end at the classroom door. In
fact those of you that are Urban Corps interns will probably be amazed at your own
learning experience after this brief summer.
The Urban Corps is an excellend example of educatiomlinnovation coupled
with service. Interns will see the problems of our city by actually participating
in city government as well as private agencies. They will be learning through a
pagatical extension of their academic studies. In short, they help the city, expand
their education, and help pay college expenses ~ all in one.
This Urban Corps is truly a student program. I first heard of this idea
of relevant internships in city government when a group of student leaders from
varioue Atlanta colleges came to City Hall with the idea more then a year ago. These
students wanted a way to learn about the city and perform a service by actually work-
ing in it.
After many meetings and a great deal of encouragement by Dan Sweat of my
staff and Bill Ramsay of the Southern Regional Education Board, we provided a group
young activists some support to see if this program would work. Almost all of
the planning, development of jobs and placement was actually done by students.
From what I hear, the intern jobs are very challenging and exciting. Juat the
physical appearance of City Hall has been greatly improved by ail these young
faces. Naturally there will be some disappointments and I'1l assure you that
you'll become frustrated and you'll see that we do have some almost un-solvable
problems. I urge you not to become discouraged but to help us find new ways of
correcting the ills of our seemingly archaic system. We need your youthful
enthusiasm and you'd be surprised how it will change the attitude of those in
our city who have been laboring, almost alone at times, for change and progress.
We in the city hope that this brief exposure to our problems and potentials
will attract some of you young people to return after graduation and pursve this
as a career. Governing our cities ia this nations greatest problem. It is an
exhaustive but rewarding experience that you young people must now begin to take
responsibility for.
I hope the Urban Corps is only a beginning. Already we're hating pre-
dictions of three-fold expansion of this intern program for next year. Just the
fact that nearly 1,000 students applied this year is astounding, and when one
considerg that Atlanta has almost 40,000 students and nearly 35 colleges we can
begin to see the potential. We need this focused, aggressive concern of young
people. We need move movement between the two worlds of academia and city.
In New York, an outgrowth cf their intern program has been a rapid exchange
of ideas and personnel between city government and universities. We need this
amiable relationship of university and city in Atlanta. We have just begun an Urban
Life Center at Georgia State which all local colleges are being asked to partici-
pate in. We in the cities must take greater advantage of our universities and
vice versa.
As John Gardder has said, the three main purposes of the university are
research, teaching, and service to the community. We've seen how students are
gerving the community already but there are still many unexploited potentials
inside our college gates.
Tf we look at the history of higher education we note that the greatest
impetus was with the Land-Grant University almost 100 years ago - a system built
to aid our agricultural society. Today our society is urban. But by comparison,
our education system has not properly responded to our change in society. We need
more people working on our cities problems. If the discipline of city planning
can be used as an example, we will recognize the dramatic crisis. In all our
universities combined we graduate legs than 400 planners per year. More greduates
of Medieval History are put on the job market than are urban experts.
What do we in the cities do for manpower? We must innovate and try to
compete with industry for talent and we are in the disadvantage. Hence another
reason why our cities are ungovernable.
Key urban persuasion posts are occupied by lawyers, déeeotey undettakers,
clergyment, businessmen, bankdrs and social workers. These professionals have been
produced by universities. These people are usually consulted on a technical or
specialized problems, but the solving of ehese problems depends on related matters
almost always falling outside the expertise of the consultath. In other words,
the key experés in our urban society = through the exercise of their expertise -
enter a realm of generalization for which they haven't been properly prepared by
undergraduate or professional education. Therefore, universities should try to
expose their professionala in urban areas to some type of urben education. The
The simplest method is by practical experience such as the Urban Corps, and the
eventual solution is more teaching in urban concepts.
We must not neglect the professor in our plan for community involvement
of our universities. Ways Bhould be found to involve professors in areas of their
academic prowness in the city. Perhaps we should have an Urban Corps for
poofessors too: I am sure that there are needed areas of reaearch in the city
that would interest many college instructors. This would insure that teaching
does indeed remain relevant to our actual needs. In order to facilitate this
dialogue, we must have more cooper&tion between colleves, Students and faculty
should be able to more freely move between campuses. Atlana@a colleges are unique
and should keep their individual identity, but should encourage exchanges. We
have great medical schools, law schools, schools of urban design and the greatest
predominantely Negro college complex in the world.
We've only looked at the city as a laboratory, let's see how the city
can help the university. Many young innovators on the urban scene could serve as
gueas lecturers or associate professors in ovr colleges. A vivid example of this
is Bill Allison, now Director of TOA, who serves as an associate professor at
Georgia Tech. This type of exchange should be greatly encouraged and ways should
be found to foster and develop both professor=-city exchanges and administrator-
campus exchanges
We must not only research problema but we must implément them too. Often
times a very good report is written - only to gather duet - or ig written not with
an eye for implémentation. It is the same with residents in our deprived neighbor-
hoods. They are tired of being studied. They want help. Research must be balanced
by practicality and kept veievant.
Our cities will not go away. They will expand and multiply. We must
plan &0@ that. We must demand hélp from our universities.
The Urban Corps should only be a beginning. We need youthful enthusiasm
of young people in VISTA, returning Peace Corps volunteers, Neighborhood Youth Corps
enrollees, service groups on campus, adult education tutoring by students in the
dozena of service projects. We need more exchange between our city and our campuses
- & «
on all levels. I hope this Service-Learming Conference explores all these
possibilities and presents them to people who will actoto develop and carry
them out.
Ralph McGill always said the South was the most exciting area of the
country and the most exciting part of the South was to be young and taking part
in its development. Those of you who are stddents today must except this challegge
of developing the South and our city, and those of you who are educators must
help them.