Hotel Pennsylvania Meeting Learns of Harlem School Ills (text)
Teachers’ Union Hears of Crowded Conditions, “Vicious” Zoning, Outworn Facilities, and “Biased,” Vocational Advice.
The plate of the Negro school children in Harlem was put squarely up to the Teachers Union of New York Saturday by the Rev. Adam C. Powell Jr., assistant pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church; Dr. Otto Klineberg of Columbia University and other speakers at a conference held by the union in the Hotel Pennsylvania.
The problems of the Harlem schools and their pupils were discussed under these headings: “Do Negro children require special consideration?” “Are there factors within the educational system which reflect race prejudice?” “How do facilities in Harlem compare with other schools?” “How far can the problem of the Negro in the schools be treated independently of the special economic conditions of the Negro population in Harlem?”
Reverend Mr. Powell, praising the Teachers Union for devoting one of its discussion periods to the school conditions in Harlem said it is timely that the Teachers Union is dedicating one of its discussions to the school conditions in Harlem said: “It is timely that the Teachers Union is dedicating one of its discussions to the problem of education in Harlem. These problems have gone unheeded too long and can only be solved by a mass attack of both Negros and whites.”
Condemns discrimination.
“Race prejudice is rampant in the school system,” he continued, vigorously condemning the school system because of discrimination. “It is seen in the attitude towards and treatment of the school children in Harlem, as well as in the inordinately poor school facilities in that section. Mass action on the part of all the people, regardless of color, is the only solution of the serious problems in the Harlem schools.”
Dr. Kleinberg, noted psychologist at Columbia, said: “The problem of liberal racial attitudes rests mainly upon the teachers, who instruct children in their most formative years. It is during childhood that lasting impressions are made and we cannot start too early with any program of education.”
There are a few existing situations more unreasonable in their implications are more dangerous in their possibilities than the racial, particularly the Negro problem in the United States." He declared.
Sees Principles Violated.
Miss Lucille Spence, instructor of biology in Wadleigh High School and chairman of the Teachers Union Harlem Committee said: “The present conditions in Harlem violate the principles of democracy and are creating fertile ground for the seeds of race prejudice. The Board of Education has met conditions in the Harlem schools and a peculiar way: crowded classes without outworn facilities, a vicious zoning regulation for high school and junior high school students and biased and restricted vocational advice for pupils with reduced vocational opportunities.
“The result of the continued neglect of this group in the heart of New York presents a challenging situation for the educator who sees the fruits of such neglect.