Chapter 17: Why I Became a Teacher

In 1932, like almost all other children in Brooklyn about five years old, I began school at the kindergarten in the local elementary school. Mine was Public School 210, across the street from the two-bedroom apartment in which I lived with my parents, my younger brother, and my Uncle Julius. Schoolwork seemed interesting to me, and I liked my teachers. Neighborhoods in New York City tended to be homogeneous communities of about 20 square blocks. With rare exceptions, everyone was of the same race, religion, and income level—in my case, White, Jewish, and poor.

The nearest high schools, which covered a wider geographic area, were only marginally different. There was more diversity, but the informal student social groups tended to mirror those of the student’s immediate neighborhood.