1970 NCTE Annual Business Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia

Background

With the increasing awareness of the need to decentralize many direct services to the profession, it is important that NCTE perform much of its work through state and local affiliates.

It is to NCTE’s advantage, then, to lend all possible support to strengthen these affiliates. The benefit to the profession, to the affiliates, and to NCTE of such increased local effectiveness will be immeasurable.

Currently many potential affiliate leaders are going directly to responsible NCTE posts without having contributed their leadership to local affiliates. Moreover, some NCTE leaders with national responsibilities are not directly involved with the work of their local affiliate. This practice weakens affiliates by depriving them of a source of vigorous, responsive leadership, and at the same time deprives the National Council of leaders keenly attuned to the needs and insights of the field. It further serves to downgrade affiliates and therefore to undermine all NCTE objectives. Be it therefore

Resolution

Resolved, that the National Council of Teachers of English direct all persons responsible for nominations and appointments to offices, commissions, and other responsibilities to give heavy consideration to prior service in affiliates—unless some overwhelming special technical competence (as in research, for example) for a particular position be involved;

that the NCTE direct all current officers, commission members, and other leaders to recognize their responsibility to participate in at least one of the local affiliates; and

that all affiliates make every effort through their publications and their conferences to interest representatives from all levels of education and from racial and religious groups who have not been sufficiently involved in the past, and to reflect this diversity in their leadership.

This position statement may be printed, copied, and disseminated without permission from NCTE.