|
the State of Maryland has to continue to
promote or to foster, if you will, or to en-
courage unequal educational opportunity.
I know what is bothering the delegates:
you have the specter of New York in front
of you. You do not want to make a con-
stitution that the papers will say is going
to cost billions of dollars. I agree with you,
but I do think that you can set a policy for
this day that no children suffer because
another child gets more.
I do not think that this means what you
are attempting to read into it. It does not
mean locked in education, but it does mean
that we would go at it in such a way that
we would make an honest and earnest effort
to spread the educational opportunities for
all children. I think, whether we change
the words, and as I sit on the Committee
on Style and Drafting I would be perfectly
willing to consider this, and I think it is
understood on this floor that the meaning
of "promote" is to foster, to act in that
way that will try to reach toward accom-
plishing a goal. Not that we want this
today or tomorrow, but to reach for this
goal, and as such I urge you to accept the
majority report.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are you ready for
the question? Delegate Bard.
DELEGATE BARD: A parliamentary
question. Will we be voting on the so-called
Lord amendment or the amendment that
was submitted by Delegate Wheatley?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Wheatley
has not submitted an amendment. The Com-
mittee recommendation has been changed
by the Chairman. It is not an amendment
to be voted on. It is in that form before
you. The question now arises on Amend-
ment No. 3, the amendment submitted by
Delegate Lord. Delegate Gill.
DELEGATE GILL: Mr. Chairman and
fellow delegates, I would like to speak
against the amendment and for the Majority
Report.
A few of the delegates referred to dol-
lars and cents. One delegate spoke about
the aim of the amendment of the Majority
Report. They seem to go together. When
Delegate Cardin and Delegate Borom made
examples or cited examples, that would
prove that we could not have equal oppor-
tunity, educational opportunity because of
those reasons, those were the reasons that
proved that you can have it. It does not
say that everybody must have a certain
amount of money to spend on them. It
does not say they must have the same kind
|
of education, but it says, "Give them a
chance to be educated, equally/' and I
think this is the least that we can do, to
put this in the constitution. We will try
to give everybody, regardless of where they
live, regardless of their background, an
equal chance for education, not an equal
amount of money for the same kind of
education.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Willis.
DELEGATE WILLIS: Mr. Chairman, I
would like to say just a few words against
the amendment.
The greatest job of any generation is
taking care of the next generation; even
the birds of the forests and beasts in the
field live on this principle. Can we do any
less? At no time in the history of our
country has education been more important
than it is today. Nothing we have done in
this Convention will be worthwhile if we
do not properly educate the million and a
quarter children of this State, those who
are in our public schools now and those
who are under public school attendance age
and already born. Our action here today
will extend far beyond these children to
the many generations who will have to live
under this constitution.
I therefore urge defeat of this amend-
ment.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does any delegate
desire to speak in favor of the amend-
ment? Delegate Borom.
DELEGATE BOROM: Mr. Chairman, I
really hate to speak again. I spoke once as
minority spokesman, but in the three min-
utes I spoke before, I did not have an op-
portunity to elaborate entirely on some of
the references —
THE CHAIRMAN: May I interrupt you?
There is remaining just four minutes. There
are two speakers who want to speak in
favor. If you could limit yourself to two
minutes.
DELEGATE BOROM: I will be very
brief. I would say this: I mentioned a work-
shop, in which I worked very intensively
last summer. I was then talking about edu-
cators in elementary, public high schools,
or even in undergraduate schools. This was
a drop of graduate school educators, and
one of their problems was they were get-
ting applicants who had even been through
undergraduate school and the weaknesses
of a so-called equal education system across
this nation were still sticking out. I only
wanted to say that just to remind you
|
