Educational Pandemonium in the Schools of Newark in the 1960’s
EDUCATIONAL PANDEMONIUM IN THE SCHOOLS OF NEWARK IN THE 1960’s
It is assumed that the sixties marked the beginning of the metamorphosis of the American education system, however it was the contrary for Newark. The decline of the educational system in Newark was a direct result of economic and political decisions on the part of federal, state and local groups. In this decade, the confluence of social class and race determined the resources made available for a child’s schooling.
Before we start with the education system we have to have an outside idea about the migration, relocation of the people who came and lived and made Newark their homes. There was a mass migration of the black rural agricultural workers to northern cities, a total about 161,000 blacks settling in Newark between 1940 and 1970. During the 1960’s over one quarter of the Newark’s census tracts changed from white majority to black majority. The 1970 U.S. Census showed that about 54% of Newark residents were African Americans, about 9% Puerto Ricans and about 36.6% of the population were whites. With 17,710 inhabitants per square mile Newark was the second most dense of all major cities. In Newark 23% of the population was living below the poverty level of 3000$ annual income and 38% had income of 5000$ or less. In 1961 The Newark Central Planning board came up with a report calling for the removal of estimated 31,400 families or about 25% of the population of Newark to make way for clearance of blighted areas and for proposed expressways to run through the city.
By the late sixties, five large housing projects, three of them high rise had been built in the Central Ward, all within a radius of three miles. Thirty percent of the city’s housing units remained substandard. Newark was overcrowded with substandard housing and was one of the reasons why it had the highest rate of new cases of tuberculosis in the nation. There were fewer than 80 doctors practicing in the city with two old hospitals
It is assumed that the sixties marked the beginning of the metamorphosis of the American education system, however it was the contrary for Newark. The decline of the educational system in Newark was a direct result of economic and political decisions on the part of federal, state and local groups. In this decade, the confluence of social class and race determined the resources made available for a child’s schooling.
Before we start with the education system we have to have an outside idea about the migration, relocation of the people who came and lived and made Newark their homes. There was a mass migration of the black rural agricultural workers to northern cities, a total about 161,000 blacks settling in Newark between 1940 and 1970. During the 1960’s over one quarter of the Newark’s census tracts changed from white majority to black majority. The 1970 U.S. Census showed that about 54% of Newark residents were African Americans, about 9% Puerto Ricans and about 36.6% of the population were whites. With 17,710 inhabitants per square mile Newark was the second most dense of all major cities. In Newark 23% of the population was living below the poverty level of 3000$ annual income and 38% had income of 5000$ or less. In 1961 The Newark Central Planning board came up with a report calling for the removal of estimated 31,400 families or about 25% of the population of Newark to make way for clearance of blighted areas and for proposed expressways to run through the city.
By the late sixties, five large housing projects, three of them high rise had been built in the Central Ward, all within a radius of three miles. Thirty percent of the city’s housing units remained substandard. Newark was overcrowded with substandard housing and was one of the reasons why it had the highest rate of new cases of tuberculosis in the nation. There were fewer than 80 doctors practicing in the city with two old hospitals
Cited: * Anyon, Jean. "Chapter 6." Ghetto Schooling: A Political Economy of Urban Educational Reform. New York: Teachers College, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1997. 98-126. Print. * Levitus, David. "The Newark Metro." Planning, Slum Clearance and the Road to Crisis in Newark .