Black Parents' Mixed Signals On Education

BLACK parents are more involved in their children's schools and optimistic about their academic futures than white parents, according to a new survey.

But these confident parents are also the strongest critics of the current school system, says the survey by Newsweek magazine and the National Parent Teachers Association (PTA). Twice as many black and Hispanic parents think there is a racial problem in the public schools as white parents. While 61 percent of white parents think their child's school is safe, only 44 percent of Hispanic and 43 percent of black parents are satisfied with school safety.

National PTA President Pat Henry says, "It is a clear example of the indomitable American spirit that those parents who are most optimistic about the future of public education are often the very same families that recognize our failure to meet the needs of America's schools."