The only dissatisfied teacher I ever encountered was a girl of old
Knickerbocker blood, who was considered by her relatives to be too
fragile and refined to teach any children except the darlings of the
upper West side, where some of the rich are democratic enough to
patronize the public school. From what we heard of her experiences,
"patronize" is quite the proper word to use in this connection. A group
of us, classmates, had been comparing notes and asked her from what
country her charges came. "Oh, they are just kids," she answered
dejectedly, "ordinary every-day kids, with Dutch cut hair, Russian
blouses, belts at the knee line, sandals, and nurses to convey them to
and from school. You never saw anything so tiresome."
It grew finally so tiresome that she applied for a transfer, and took
the Knickerbocker spirit down to the Jewish quarter, where it gladdened
the young Jacobs, Rachaels, Isadors and Rebeccas entrusted to her care.
Her place among the nursery pets was taken by a dark-eyed Russian girl,
who found the uptown babies, the despised "just kids," as entertaining,
as lovable, and as instructive as the Knickerbocker girl found the Jews.
Well, and so they are all of them, lovable, entertaining and
instructive, and the man or woman who goes among them with an open heart
and eye will find much material for thought and humility, and one
function of the public school is to promote this understanding and
appreciation. It has done wonders in the past, and every year finds it
better equipped for its work of amalgamation. The making of an American
citizen is its stated function, but its graduates will be citizens not
only of America. In sympathy, at least, they will be citizens of the
world.
FINIS
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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