|
The
Case For Appalachian Studies
page 12
Community
People and the Demand for Appalachian Studies
Critics of Appalachian Studies say that the idea comes from radicals
more concerned about social reform than students' well-being. The
following description of educational problems, and the response of the
parents to these problems in Blackey, Kentucky, should help dispel this
notion.
Blackey, Kentucky is a small town on the North Fork of the Kentucky
River. Like most eastern Kentucky towns, which in many ways it is,
since it was once a coal
"boom" town. The turn of the century prosperity is no
longer visible, however. The remnants of the underground mining
industry are everywhere: abandoned tipples, slag heaps, railroad spurs,
and decayed buildings. The overloaded coal trucks hauling strip
mine coal now ply Route 7 - a narrow, twisting road between Whitesburg
and Hazard -- as if it were their own highway, which in many ways it is
since the Appalachian Regional Commission built its own dangerous and
twisting three lane "developmental highway" between the
"growth centers" of Hazard and Whitesburg, bypassing Blackey
altogether. Despite the welfare economy of the area and the
devastation wrought by the strip miners and their supporters in
government, the people of Blackey are still a fighting people, a people
still willing to wade against the torrents of bureaucratic naysaying to
preserve what they feel is the last thing they own -- "their"
school.
On Sunday morning, March 5, 1972, the Blackey Elementary School was
totally destroyed by fire. By 2:00 p.m. on the same day, largely
due to the efforts of Gaynelle Begley, the store clerk, more than 200
persons from the community gathered to decide what to do. As a
temporary measure, the 130 students and their seven teachers were
transferred to a nearby school. After meeting with representatives
of the State Department of Education, the parents won a concession to
renovate three structures in Blackey - a store, the former bank
building, and the back rooms of the Presbyterian Church -- and in less
than three weeks they had their children back in Blackey.
Sensing that the state bureaucrats were not willing to provide funds to
rebuild their school in Blackey, the community appointed a committee of
twenty-five to draft a proposal defending the need for a school in
Blackey, rather than busing the children to one of two large
consolidated schools in other areas of the county. That proposal,
"A School in Search of a House," eloquently puts forth the
parents' feeling about their school:
next
- page 13 |
