doing. We are sorry only that there aren't enough interns and leaders to go around. Sixteen out of 246 Chicago schools in impoverished areas leaves 230 that could benefit by the work of the corpsmen and the expert accredited teachers that they will become.

We need a constant supply of teachers in whom enthusiasm and sensitivity are combined with specialized training in the skills that are essential for work in our inner city schools. We don't expect the National Teacher Corps alone to change the course of history but we are convinced that it can change the court of many unhappy young lives and greatly assist in the development of useful citizens.

Mr. BRADEMAS. Thank you very much, Mrs. Bergman, for that excellent statement. It occurs to me as I listen to your statement that your experience in Chicago with the Teacher Corps would in no serious way invalidate the general conclusions you may have heard me observe a few moments ago.

Mrs. BERGMAN. Not in any way, that is correct.

Mr. BRADEMAS. How many Teacher Corps teams do you have?

Mrs. BERGMAN. We have 16 teams in 16 schools, 58 interns and 16 teacher leaders. In addition, there are two teams working in one of the Chicago suburbs. They consist of two team leaders and eight interns.

Mr. BRADEMAS. With what institutions of higher learning are the teachers working?

Mrs. BERGMAN. Roosevelt, Loyola, St. Paul, Teachers College North, and Teachers College South.

Mr. BRADEMAS. Have you had any difficulty with the attitudes of schoolteachers in the system toward the Teacher Corps interns?

has

Mrs. BERGMAN. Initially there was some resistance. Any change is likely to produce that. There are some qualms but since this corps been operating it has practically disappeared. The principals are delighted and the teachers who were once fearful have found they are getting great assistance from these young interns who take youngsters out of overcrowded classrooms and take them to any little nook in the school done enormous good and improved the whole tenor of the class

room.

Mr. BRADEMAS. You say you have 58 interns. Would you happen to know if most of them are from the Chicago area or other parts of the country?

Mrs. BERGMAN. Most of them are from the Chicago area. Most are from the Middlewest, a few not from Chicago. Those trained by the consortium last summer, 16 went to Cincinnati and Minneapolis but I think they came from those areas.

Mr. BRADEMAS. Have you had any problem with respect to the delay in funding the program in terms of setting up your Teacher Corps operation?

Mrs. BERGMAN. That was one of the big obstacles. A number of them dropped out because of the uncertainty of their future. They simply couldn't wait. The program didn't start until November. Teachers expected to get in September and couldn't afford to wait.

Mr. BRADEMAS. What about Federal interference with the Teacher Corps as operated in Chicago?

Mrs. BERGMAN. To my knowledge, there has been absolutely none. The program is run entirely by the school system. The schools were

selected by the board of education, the superintendent. The programs are planned school by school by the principals and the teachers and as far as I know it is purely a local operation.

Mr. BRADEMAS. Thank you very much, indeed, Mrs. Bergman, for your excellent statement and testimony. We appreciate very much your coming and I shall assure you I will draw to the attention of the distinguished member of this committee from Chicago, Mr. Pucinski, your useful contribution to our testimony.

The Chair would like to observe that because Dean Sizer was unable to get his plane in we shall not meet this afternoon and we shall adjourn until tomorrow at 9:30 when we will hear testimony from a number of education associations and other organizations.

We are now adjourned.

(Whereupon, at 12:30 the committee recessed to reconvene at 9:30 a.m., Friday, March 17, 1967.)

ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

AMENDMENTS OF 1967

FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 1967

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR,

Washington, D.C.

The committee met at 9:30 a.m., pursuant to recess, in room 2175, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Carl D. Perkins (chairman of the committee) presiding.

Present: Representatives Perkins, Green, Ford, Meeds, Ayres, Scherle, Dellenback, Gardner, and Steiger.

Staff members present: Robert E. McCord, senior specialist; H. D. Reed, Jr., general counsel; William D. Gaul, associate general counsel; Benjamin F. Reeves, editor; Louise M. Dargans, research assistant; and Charles W. Radcliffe, special education counsel for minority.

Chairman PERKINS. The committee will come to order. A quorum is present. We have with us this morning several panels and several witnesses. The AFL-CIO representatives are here but they will be within approximately 10 minutes so we will withhold questions until all of the witnesses have had a chance to make their general state

ments.

I am going to call on the National Federation of the Blind, Prof. John F. Nagle. Would you come forward, Mr. Nagle? We would be pleased to hear your statement at the present time. I feel, like many others, that we have neglected, more or less, the blind in the past in enacting legislation here of a minimum nature for several years. I feel, like many others on this committee, that legislation should be greatly expanded and we are delighted to welcome you here, Mr. Nagle, and you may proceed.

STATEMENT OF JOHN F. NAGLE, CHIEF, WASHINGTON OFFICE, NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND

Mr. NAGLE. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my name is John F. Nagle. I am chief of the Washington office of the National Federation of the Blind. My address is 1908 Q Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20009. Provided with adequate training in the skills that have been devised to appreciably reduce, or even to entirely eliminate, the limitations of his disability-and along with this basic and most necessary preparation, provided with the same general education available to others, followed by further education in a specialized field of interest and aptitude-and most important of all,

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provided with a sound and sensible understanding, not only of the restrictions of his disability, but of the possibilities still available to him in spite of his impairment-provided with all this, Mr. Chairman, the blind person, the physically disabled person, is equipped to live a successful, self-dependent, contributory life. Denied all this, Mr. Chairman, untutored in the techniques of independent travel, the blind person is chained to a chair or the arm of his sighted family and friends.

Untrained in the competent use of braille, the blind person is illiterate, and cannot even record a telephone number or read a grocery list.

Denied the chance to share in the educational opportunities available to others, the physically impaired person remains ignorant of the wisdom and the knowledge and the experience of the ages, his intellect is untapped, his abilities and talents undeveloped and his possibilities of living a worthwhile life unrealizable.

Denied a sound and sensible understanding of his impairment, its restrictions and limitations, the problems and perplexities which it imposes upon him, the limitless possibilities of achievement still open to him-denied this philosophic orientation the blind person, the physically disabled person, will stagnate and smother beneath the fallacies and misconceptions of the past-and of the present-and he will become as helpless and as hopeless as he believes he is.

Mr. Chairman, the foregoing are not just exaggerated and overly dramatic phrases, empty of meaning, divested of reality, they are an attempt to make this committee and the Congress understand the plight of the handicapped, the possibilities of the handicapped.

And the descriptions that are give above are an effort to express the experiences of thousands and thousands of blind people, of physically disabled men and women-some of whom live successful, independent lives, while others live dependently; live futile, despairing lives.

Today, Mr. Chairman, properly trained and equipped, the blind person, the physically disabled person, has a more nearly equal chance to function constructively and fully in our society.

Improperly trained, inadequately equipped, or not trained or equipped at all, the blind person, the physically disabled person, is a nonparticipating spectator of life, just as he was 500 years ago.

Mr. Chairman, the National Federation of the Blind vigorously and unequivocally endorses and supports the provisions of H.R. 6230 to strengthen, broaden, and improve federally financed educational programs for handicapped children.

Specifically, Mr. Chairman, we support section 151 of H.R. 6230which would establish regional resource centers, to provide testing and evaluation services to determine whether a child is really physically or mentally handicapped, to accurately ascertain the nature and the extent of the handicapping condition or conditions, to correctly diagnose the special educational needs of single or multihandicapped children, to develop programs to meet these needs, to further and advance the development of special education programs in the schools, agencies, and institutions in their respective regions.

Is there a need for such regional resource centers, Mr. Chairman?