Letter | Racism played no part in my parents’ decision to send me to day school
Public School No. 60, 238 Ontario St., Buffalo, N.Y. Image by Wikimedia Commons
Dear Editor,
Racism played no part in my parents’ decision for my brother, sister, and me to have a day school education. In 1949 my parents absorbed a pay cut and moved to an apartment above a store on a busy street after they learned that Cincinnati had begun a day school and Nashville hadn’t.
I grew up in a heavily Jewish neighborhood and was one of 11 in my graduating class. I entered the 7th grade in a class of over 500, almost all Protestant and Jewish as Catholics then overwhelmingly went to parochial schools. Today, I live in a mostly Jewish neighborhood. My six years of public school gave me an education, understanding, and appreciation of non-Jewish Americans that I would not have otherwise had. I feel lucky to have had both an immersive Jewish and secular education.
Sincerely,
Paul L. Newman
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism so that we can be prepared for whatever news 2025 brings.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
