Category: Response 4

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.

In “Power, Protest, and the Public Schools,” Melissa F. Weiner writes about two protest movements in the history of New York City schools. Specifically she writes about the Gary Plan, which “was guided by the necessity of Americanizing the 63.4 percent of the children in the schools with immigrant parents, and the Harlem 9, which sought to increase experienced teachers and funding for African American students in schools (pg 35). The Gary Plan was defined almost entirely by the Jewish immigrants/community, meanwhile the Harlem 9 was defined by the African Americans. I believe that Weiner wrote about these two protest movements together like this in order to compare and contrast the struggles that two different ethnic/racial groups had to go through. Writing about these two protest movements together is powerful because it covers more flaws with the educational system in New York City schools than talking about each event separately would.

The Gary Plan “was designed to shape children’s behavior and produce what later critics called ‘loyal citizens and docile workers'” (pg 35).  The plan saved money by utilizing the entire the entire school building by having students rotate through classrooms, playgrounds, auditoriums, etc. Each specialized teacher would teach in one room, and then send the students to another room, with another specialized teacher, for their next class; however, the plan did not preserve the language and cultures of the Jewish students, so the plan did not sit well with Jewish parents. Jewish parents began to worry about what their students would be learning in school, and if their religion would be preserved.

The Harlem 9 was designed to better the education system for African American students in New York City schools. African Americans were put in schools with “inexperienced teachers, district gerrymandering to promote segregation, overcrowded classes, dilapidated schools, and 103 classes for ‘retarded’ children to which African American children were assigned, illegally, based on the entire group’s test scores (rather than the individuals), but not a single gifted class” (pg 52). Not only were African American students provided with such low quality education, but also African Americans received almost a third of the funding that white students received.

A similarity among these two historical moments and groups is that the parents were fed up with the low quality of education their children were receiving, and realized that they had to fight (protest) for their children’s education and schooling situations. Jewish immigrants wanted the right to preserve their culture, and not have the schooling system force their children to learn the New Testament. Likewise, the African Americans wanted their children to have just as much access to a good education as white students did. Although both ethnic/racial groups were fighting for a better education, they were fighting for it in different ways; Jewish immigrants wanted the right to practice their religion in school, meanwhile, African Americans wanted funding for better resources to improve the quality of schooling. This difference is crucial because not having the ability or availability of resources to learn hinders education differently than course content does.

Although decades apart, two different groups of people had a similar struggle in the fight to education against the New York Board of Education. In 1917, a school plan known as the Gary Plan , implemented requirements in schooling, for Jews. In 1954, African American schools also had rules implemented regulating education. Power, Protests, and the Public Schools : Jewish and African American Struggles in New York, Weiner speaks about the struggles of Jews in 1915 and African Americans in these systems.

From the outside –or even looking at the situation from the current time period–one could say that African Americans are worse off than Jews and that Jews, in fact, hold all the power in their communities that they are apart of. Going back a few decades, however, the two groups become comparable in power, or lack thereof. This is especially the case when it comes to economic and political power; they have no voice in total. In their respective time periods, both groups were considered the minority in all aspects, and had no control over anything. This trend continued over into their schooling, having no input into its implementation and little to no ability to effectively critique and change it. In both cases, the minority groups were put into extremely overpopulated schools seeming to lack the best interest of the students. African Americans were unable to receive adequate academic educations attended schools with inadequate resources; those that tried to integrate into schools once finally given open enrollment were unable to get their children to those schools.

Under the Gary Plan four decades earlier, Jews weren’t even given academic educations, but were only offered vocational education. Many times this didn’t even prove to be true as older children lacked classroom time overseeing the younger children in these understaffed schools. School days were unreasonably lengthen, which did not allow Jews time to practice their religion of Judaism. On top of that, they were forced to take part in Christianity,

When parents in both cases appealed to the Board, it seemed that little to no improvements were made. In the early 1900s, there were even times when the Board completed decided to not even review cases or to hear out the parents at all. The minorities seemed to be stuck in a situation that was not improving.

I believe Weiner speaking about both situations in the schools–although decades apart–made the cases and issues within them more prominent. Although two different groups of people, both were minorities and inferior in the towns and situations in which these riots took place. They had little to no voice in the situations and, definitely, had no power. Comparing these two groups that from the outside would look like they have little in common shows how inferiority can impact the lives of thee inferior negatively if they are not able to stand up for themselves.

This weeks Readings “Power, Protests, and the Public Schools: Jewish and African American struggles in New York City” by Melissa Weiner explains in depth the history of how school in New York City were segregated against jewish and African American citizens as well as how these methods of segregation were enforced by the governance, fought by the parents and communities, and eventually changed due to the massive backlash by these minorities.  these examples provide interesting context and examples we can use for our research projects as it shows how these disenfranchising systems came into place and how they were eventually overthrown.

in the case of the jewish community, most of their subjugation and mistreatment was at the hands of the Gary plan which was initiated in the early 1900’s and basically aimed to train jewish and other disenfranchised minorities into disposable interchangeable workers only useful because of their easily trainable skill with zero upwards mobility. the plan also noticeably tried to americanize students and subdue the culture of their (usually immigrant) parents and in some cases tried to teach jewish children the new testament.  the plan was eventually discontinued when the jewish community started making it into a major political issue and refusing to vote for any mayoral candidate who wouldn’t promise to change the system.

African American students were also treated terribly in school systems a little later in the century, as their school were often very rundown placed with heavily overcrowded classes and poor teachers. The Harlem 9 tried to increase the amount of experienced and qualified teachers as well as the budget of the schools, as at the time, budget per black student was less than a third of the budget per white student, but the battle for these changes was long fought and took many years to bear significant results.

comparing the 2 disenfranchised groups, it is interesting how much more quickly and effectively the jewish rallied and were heard by those in governance and got the changes they desired compared to their African American counterparts. perhaps it is because the jews, although often treated as if they are second class citizens and shouldn’t be considered such, are still white and harder to distinguish and alienate than the African Americans. these examples will probably prove useful for us in our projects and when we attempt to find a positive change for schools in New York City.

Power, Protest and the Public School by Melissa F. Weiner address the struggles that Jewish and African Americans students went through in the NYC Public School system. Implemented in 1907, the Gary Plan introduced by William Wirt, the Superintendent of Gary, Indiana Schools sought to Americanize 63.4% of students with immigrant backgrounds. It was designed to shape student’s behaviors and equip them with the necessary tools to be successful in a factory environment. “Children were stripped of their languages and cultures and subjected to industrial and manual training classes such as math, history, cooking sewing etc.” In schools, the Gary Plan utilized all sectors of the schools allowing students to rotate from class to class in order to save money.

This plan was eventually introduced to NYC public schools by Mayor John Purroy Mitchel by 1914. With the guidance of Wirt, two schools: P.S. 45 and P.s. 89 were converted to implement the program. As the plan progressed, NYC board added, military training and lengthened the school day, hindering students from working and going to Hebrew schools. Jewish parents in particularly were extremely angry as this hindered their children to attend Hebrew School and practice their religion. Jewish parents were scared that their children may face proselytization and forced to learn the New Testament.  Additionally, religion in public schools would change student’s perspective of practicing a religion that deemed fit. By combining religion in schools and stripping student’s cultural backgrounds away, we are limiting their right to think for themselves and practice a religion important to them.

For African Americans, students were faced with segregation, overcrowded classes and dilapidated schools and retarded classes based on test scores. The school system spent $65.10 on white students and only $21.10 on minority students which increased the gap of the type of education received. Schools were unable to provide enough resources and provide adequate education which resulted in the huge gap of test scores. The Harlem 9 set out to increase experienced teachers and raise more funding for African American students. However much of it was unsuccessful. It took multiple tries and confrontation with legislation but it still took years.

From these two ethic groups we can see a similar struggle in which certain rights were violated. Jewish people were not given teh access to practice religion which African Americans did not have the resources to receive a better education. One thing I noticed was that Jewish people are not minorities and can be similarly classified as white. As a result, I personally felt they had a better chance of voicing their opinions and bringing change into the school system. Their voices had more power and it resonated with a majority of the parents. Meanwhile, it was harder for the African Americans to get their wishes. It took multiple attempts and confrontations and there was still little progress. This largely has to do with the fact that they are still minority and their role in society was not important compared to others. This article showcases how different ethnic groups are perceived differently and how they are able to get what they want.