Mental Testing and Tracking for the Social Adjustment of an Urban Underclass, 1920-1930

1986 ◽  
Vol 168 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
William B. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Special Education ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Social Control ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Social Adjustment ◽  
Black Children ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Mental Testing

This essay examines the mechanisms used by the public school for socially adjusting an underclass of Italian, Polish, and southern black children who immigrated to Buffalo, New York, in the 1920s. It describes in some detail the activities and goals associated with the institutionalization of mental testing and tracking programs in those public schools serving these young members of an underclass. This essay suggests that as a tool of social control, testing and tracking into special education classes may have discriminated against the unassimilated newcomers who teachers and administrators feared were destined for a life of crime. Finally, the essay illustrates the reactions of interest groups to the school's tracking program, in order to show that members of and advocates for this underclass did not all passively accept the school's treatment of these pupils.

THE PEDIATRICIAN AND THE PUBLIC

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1953 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-95
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York Times ◽  
World Health ◽  
Executive Board ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Council ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Press ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Emergency Fund

The General Assembly, the Social Commission and the Economic and Social Council of the World Health Organization are to discuss the future of the United Nations' International Children's Emergency Fund during this year of 1953. Editorials have appeared in the press (New York Times, Apr. 6, 1953 and Chicago Daily Sun-Times, May 27, 1953) criticizing our government for not having paid U.N.I.C.E.F. its 1953 voluntary contribution of $9,814,000. A number of Fellows of the American Academy of Pediatrics have become concerned as to the plight in which U.N.I.C.E.F. finds itself and requested the matter be brought to the attention of the Executive Board at its meeting May 28-31, 1953 in Evanston. It was the opinion of the members contacting the Board that the work of the U.N.I.C.E.F. should be continued. The presence of this item on the agenda inspired the preparation of the enclosed resume of the evolution of W.H.O. and U.N.I.C.E.F. As the Executive Board found this information of value, they have suggested that it might be made available to other Fellows through publication in your section in Pediatrics. Our members may also be interested in the resolution passed by the Executive Board after deliberating on this subject.

The 49th Annual PDK Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools

2017 ◽  
Vol 99 (1) ◽  
pp. NP1-NP32 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
School Quality ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Academic Preparation ◽  
After School ◽  
The Public ◽  
Annual Survey ◽  
Public Money ◽  
Landline Telephone

The 2017 PDK Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools finds that Americans overwhelmingly want schools to do more than educate students in academic subjects. While they value traditional academic preparation, Americans say they want schools to substantially help position students for their working lives after school, which means both more direct career preparation and efforts to develop students’ interpersonal skills. In addition, as in past years, the 2017 poll also shows little public support for using public money to send children to private schools. The more Americans know about how voucher programs work, the less likely they are to support them or to say they’d participate in them. The poll also asked Americans about valuing diversity in schools, measuring school quality, wrapping support around students, grading the public schools, and expecting students to attend college. The 2017 poll is PDK’s 49th annual survey. It is based on a random, representative, 50-state sample of 1,588 adults interviewed by cell or landline telephone, in English or Spanish, in May 2017. For the first time, this year’s study also includes a pair of statewide samples — focusing on Georgia and New York — which are covered in separate reports that were not published in the magazine but are available at the organization’s poll web site. Langer Research Associates of New York, N.Y., produced this year’s poll.

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