Author: kashaf

Like a previous entry mentioned, the 1960s brought an educational movement that led to two distinct changes in school types- alternative schools, and bilingual educational school. The movement was created to support small schools in contrast to the traditional larger schools that dominated the educational school system. It is interesting that the bilingual school system rose out of the effort of Anthony Alvarado so late since New York City is multicultural and the El Barrio had begun expanding in the early 1950s.

Interesting, community tensions played a huge role in the chaotic educational reform during this time periods. Alvardo had an activist background in  the New York City school system that he used to introduce changes to the education that included introducing a ”

rigorous educational climate to the district,  bringing in a “traditional framework” to help develop an articulated and comprehensive reading program, .and introduce “some kind of experimentation” that would be rigorous but provide “other ways of educating kids successfully” to the district.

Alvardo actively tried to introduce diversity in the educational reform he was enacting. He knew district politics played a role in the type of leaders that were being appointed so he actively tried to reduce the appointment of such leaders through time delays, and compromises. He also made sure to appoint teacher leaders in the school bilingual and alternative schools that he advocated and ensured that most were not a part of the larger UFT.He made sure that his authority was the highest in their appointments and their leadership in the alternative schools. He ensured that he was enacting diversity in the schools through his own methods by appointing teacher(especially female) that he believed agreed with his mission. I feel that if he had less interference from other political and educational groups in the district who had conflicting interests, he would have successfully enacted the policy of diversified schools beyond his original mission. However, an alternative group such as the UFT had their own concerns that they wanted to have addressed in the new educational reform that Alvardo was bringing, and well as keep the hard-earned job protections that they earned.

The problem that occurred during this time was that both groups served a similar interest( the children).however, they had different goals of how why wanted to serve eth chairmen, and what benefits they wanted. I feel that if one group that complete control, they would have achieved more success in their efforts, without the hindrance from the other groups in the same educational sphere

“In the Paths to education or Litigation for education privilege: New York and San Francisco compared” Floyd M. Hammack talks about the discriminatory policies that can arise out of elite school education process. As a person having attended an “elite school” I can attest that this school provided me with better education opportunities compared to other schools in my district, but I do not think that the specialized high school system was intended to be inherently discriminatory. I think the problem is more prominent in the Los Angeles admission policies for Chinese students that Hammack talked about, and the honors programs that high schools offer in their schools to sprite the students that do well based on their GPA and other education measures. The specialized high school turned out to admit disproportionality Asian and white students, but I believe that it is more fair than other program in that everyone has one shot of applying through a test that does not discriminate based on prior achievements that Maye have been influenced by personal factors. The SHSAT allows all students equal chance to an “elite school” through testing policy that then allows all students in the school to pursue similar academic opportunities in the school.

However, I recognize that there is no equity in the preparation for preparation  and Hammack’s quote., “all education credentials have not been created equal, nor do all citizens have equal access to education opportunities” applies to students preparing for the elite schools admission processes where some students have more resources to prepare for these test, and other have less.

Despite protests from different communities in the United States and occurring at different times, the Jewish community’s protest against the Gray’s plan and the Harlem 9 fight are both protest against the school segregation that children’s of both community groups have to experience, and how the community, especially the mothers, have to fight against the discrimination of their children.

I believe that the Jewish response to the Gray’s plan which was initiated in 1914 was overall more organized and prepared because the Jewish community had experienced discrimination in the past in their long history in Europe so they were more familiar with how to protest effectively against institutions. Also, the Jewish community had more resources and prominent leaders that effectively organized community events and organizations to combat the “harmful” effects of the Gray Plan on their children.

The media actively tried to use all its resources to support the Gray Plan and Barrow launched a full-blown media campaign for the Plan by convincing progressive journals to write positive editorials about the Gray’s plan. In addition, local media about did not seek a stance against the Gray plan with some newspapers reporting positively about the plan, while others simply ignored protests and activism against the plan to keep the negative opinions about the Gray’s plan from spreading.

Despite the media campaign, the Jewish community rallied together against the Gray’s Plan which they viewed as “an economy scheme that turned their children into “cogs” through assimilatory and vocational curriculum that hindered academic success”.  The Jewish parents were right and the Gray Plan tried to assimilate the Jewish students into the larger school system by hindering them from activities that promoted their Jewish cultural activities such as attending Hebrew school, and participating in clubs and sports and instead infringing on their religion, overcrowded students at schools, created longer and more militarized school day, and provided inadequate teaching experiences in the classroom for the Jewish students in Gray schools

The Jewish community rallied against this plan with established Jewish organizations such as the Kebillah, the Flatbush Taxpayers Association, and prominent Jewish leaders such as Gregory Weinstein, Max Wolff, Louis H. Pink actively opposing the plan. Mothers rallied together by creating community organizations and Parents Associations where they gathered, in hundreds, to debate in  about the plan, and create resolutions for better schools for their children.

Despite the protests, the board responded negatively by either ignoring the protests or denying any meetings that would substantiate any conversations about the change. In fact, Barrow, created the Gray School league with women class women to support the Gray Plan with propaganda measures. In the end, the Jewish community realized that to get rid of the Gray plan they will have to get rid of the institution that supported and promoted it. In November 1917, Mitchell, who supported the Gray Plan, was voted out of the office in favor of Hylan who publicly announced his denouncement for the Gray Plan. The Jewish successful protest against the Gray Plan showed their successful understanding of the situation in school, their role in society, and realization of how they could use their position to rally together and fight for their causes.

Similarly, the Harlem 9 fought the unequal school system in Harlem just a few decades later. Despite the difference in racial background, time periods, and cultural background the similarities between the fight of the Jewish Community against the Gray plan and the Harlem 9 fight against “hyper-segregated, overcrowded, physically dangerous schools” show that the community rallied together in similar manner to fight against the inequality that they felt their children faced. The Harlem 9 mothers gathered because they felt their children’s school which had racial composition, 99 percent “Negro,”  and warranted a “most difficult” classification from the Board’s Bureau of Education and Vocational Guidance discriminated black children and intentionally segregated them from the better, and more well-funded majority white schools. Like the Jewish community, the board of education made it difficult for the black community to voice their complaints about the schools disregarded recommendations that the parents emotionally called for.

Despite the lack of action by the board, the black mother united, like the Jewish mothers a few  decades ago, by creating the Parents in Action Against Educational Discrimination (PAAED) and meeting in street corners, organizing petitions, organizing the advertisements of their meetings, and even broadcasting their meeting on local radio stations for those who could not attend. Uniquely, the Harlem 9 mother filed court cases against the board which may have been inspired by the Civil rights movement going on in the rest of the Country that had garnered some degree of success in school districts around the country. The Harlem 9 fight took longer to conclude and I believe it might have taken longer because it tied socially to the larger Civil rights movement that was going on in the country. Despite their difference, the Jewish mothers and African mothers fought similar battles for their children’s education and social identity in a society that placed them at the lowest rungs of the social ladder.

Looks like everything works