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Filthy Notes. Every child was located in a class or program in which he could achieve a modicum of success—and then spurred to achieve his maximum. Explains Counselor Schaller: "We don't care if he's a fast or a slow learner as long as he is made to feel that—at what ever rate he does it—he is succeeding." A case in point is the 17-year-old Negro girl who arrived from the Deep South two years ago with little faith in herself. "She was a real caution," recalls Miss Schaller. "She wrote the filthiest notes to classmates I have ever read in my life. She was a truant, always in trouble and right on the brink of being expelled." Calling her in for a scathing, last-ditch conference, Principal Boyd got the girl to promise to try. She tried, and the results were dramatic. She wound up with sophomore grades of S (superior) and M (medium). Says Boyd: "I don't think anyone before me had ever given her any reason to believe that she had any potential."
Equally remarkable was Central's Star Runner Ernest McCraney, 18. Last year he quit in the middle of a crucial relay race. "You can count yourself out of the state meet," snapped Coach Slaymaker. "After what you just did, I would rather finish twelfth without you than first with you." That barb struck home. Last spring Negro Runner McCraney defeated everyone in sight, broke one state record and as captain carried Central's team to the 1961 city championship.
Personal Challenge. The same hard pitch runs all through Central's classrooms. "I am very frank with my Negro boys and girls," says English Teacher Ila Maude Kite, who is white herself and came to Central in 1928. "When I get someone who isn't doing the work he could do, I say to him: 'You wanted integration. Now you have it. What are you going to do with it? You have certain new responsibilities, and one of them is to maintain a standard you said you wanted.' I appeal to their nature, their potential, their pride and their sense of obligation. They respond."
Last week Central totted up the response with a dramatic report. This June's crop of college-bound graduates was bigger than in some all-white years. Despite its falling socio-economic level, Central's youngsters are marching not only into junior colleges but also to Yale, Smith, Vassar, Oberlin and Chicago. "Don't misunderstand me," cautions Counselor Schaller. "It isn't all peaches and cream by a long shot." But, if Central's old hands frankly wish they could do better, they know how far they have come. "I could have gone to another school," recalls Miss Kite, "but it was a challenge to me personally." Adds Miss Schaller: "When my chance came, I couldn't go. I'm glad I stayed."