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New York Schools
This article was written by a mother whose children are forced to attend a ghetto school in Chinatown where the teachers are completely unconcerned about the education of ghetto children.
The article expresses deep anger at the American educational system. This is an almost literal translation from the original that waswritten in Chinese.
The school frequently summons me to meet with the principal and vice-principal. This enables me to directly observ e their attitudes and methods of work. No matter whether the summons is from the principal or the teacher, it is always an act of relieving themselves of responsibilities. The purpose is to first let the parents know how naughty their children are; thus relieving the school or the teachers of any responsibilities if anything bad comes up later.
May I ask if it is true that everything that teachers do is correct? When they were studying to be teacher, did the textbooks. tell them that the only ones the American educational system aims to teach are those who act and talk like rich kids" Can't they forgive students who are poor and do not speak good English, instead of pretending that they do not exist, or furiously attacking them and shutting them up by the sidedoor of the school?
Several weeks ago, the teacher gave me a lecture saying that my son has not been doing his homework, and was getting very poor grades and that she is not going to let him go on to high school. I am very much depressed each time they lecture me, I ponder deeply about their method of teaching. How can these teachers who do not put in any effort into loving the children expect the children to get a correct development of their mind and heart? Don't they know that the salary they are pocketing is from the taxes that people pay out of hard work, and thus that they should seriously make the effort to find a good way of educating the children who are future pillars of the country?
American students are each generation worse than the one before. The students are not frightened by the severeness of the teacher. Just the opposite, students have turned the school they built into a dope-smoking den to repay them for their kind- hearted "education." Let me tell you: The American education system is crumbling.
-A New York mother.
Section 3: Working Women
Women in Chinatown
New York Schools
Interview with a Garment Worker
A Credit to Your Race
Interview with an Ex-Secretary
GI's and Asian Women
Section 2: Present Workers' Conditions
A Life of Struggle, The Bitter Sadness
Things I Saw and Heard Working in A Restaurant
Interview - Account of An Injured Chinese Restaurant Worker
Restaurant Workers Unite
Working in a Packing House
The Best or the Worst
Story of an "illegal" Immigrant Worker