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
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