Teachers: Learning the Streets

The "students" were junior-college teachers from big cities across the U.S. The instructors were tough street youths — blacks, Chinese and Mexican Americans — ranging in age from 14 to 25. The course, a one-month summer institute that has just been completed at City College of San Francisco, was unique. It was designed to send teach ers back to campus in the fall with a better understanding of the ghetto-bred stu dents in their classes.

At the institute, the teachers spent the morning in traditional classroom sessions on campus, hearing lectures by...