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Kenneth ClarkKenneth Clark
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appropriate form of reform. They could not hope to compete going in the direction of the Board of Examiners and that kind of restrictive approach, even though that might have been quite appropriate 40, 50 years before. Now, we had to have other methods.

And it just so happened, I never believed that the selection process, in terms of Boards of Examiners, led to any increase in the efficiency of the personnel -- you know. And my evidence for that was, looking at the reading scores.

In fact, if you looked at the evidence, you could say that there was an inverse relationship between the increasing severity of the standards of selecting of teachers, and the performance of the teachers, as measured by the academic achievement of the youngsters. And I interpreted, and said, that the examination procedure, as it was then practiced, had an exclusionary effect, without any related beneficial effect, in terms of the needs of our children.

So my argument was never one that I saw as “displacement.” My argument was one of making the necessary modifications of governance and operation of the schools that would meet contemporary realities.

Now, other people interpreted it as displacement. They said that -- I was called names.

As you can see, Edwin, I'm not particularly well liked by people with whom I come in conflict, nor do I have any illusions that I am.

Q:

Yes, but you've been put at the head of an organization like





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