Table Of ContentOUTSIDE IN
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OUTSIDE IN
Minorities and the Transformation
of American Education
PAULA S. PASS
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York Oxford
Oxford University Press
Oxford New York Toronto
Delhi Bombay Calcutta Madras Karachi
Petaling Jaya Singapore Hong Kong Tokyo
Nairobi Dar es Salaam Cape Town
Melbourne Auckland
and associated companies in
Berlin Ibadan
Copyright © 1989 by Paula S. Pass
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.,
2.00 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pass, Paula S.
Outside in : minorities and the transformation of American education / Paula S. Pass
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-19-503790-1
ISBN 0-19-507135-1 PBK
I. Education— U nited States— H istory— loth century.
2.. Minorities —E ducation —U nited States— H istory'— zoth century.
3. Americanization— History — loth century. 4. High schools— U nited
States —H istory— zoth century. I. Title.
LA2.I7-F38 1989 88-31953
370973---oc19
Grateful thanks is given to the University of Chicago
Press for permission to use the author's article
"The IQ: A Cultural and Historical Framework," published
in American Journal of Education, 88 (Aug. 1980): 431—458,
as a basis for part of Chapter z of this book.
2 . 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
For Jack
mon amour et mon confrere
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Acknowledgements
In researching and writing this book, I have had the good fortune to re-
ceive various kinds of assistance. A Fellowship in the Humanities from the
Rockefeller Foundation allowed me to begin in 1976—77 what was des-
tined to become a long period of study and investigation of twentieth-
century American educational institutions and experience. Subsequently,
fellowships and grants from the National Institute of Education (project
number NIE-G-8i-oo68), the Humanities Research Committee of the Uni-
versity of California at Berkeley, and the National Endowment for the
Humanities (1984-85) permitted me to take the teaching leaves without
which the work on this book could not have proceeded. I have also bene-
fitted from summer funds and research money which greatly facilitated my
progress—a summer stipend from the National Endowment for the Hu-
manities; money for computer services and research assistance from the
Institute for Human Development at Berkeley, through the kind offices of
Guy Swanson; repeated grants for research and typing assistance from the
Committee on Research at Berkeley; and a special subvention during the
summer of 1986 from the Spencer Foundation, administered through the
auspices of Dean Bernard Gifford of the Graduate School of Education at
Berkeley. I am extremely grateful for this assistance and to those who made
it possible.
The kindness and hospitality of individuals and several institutions made
my work a pleasure as they provided necessary and invaluable access to
special resources. I would like to thank the staffs of the principals' offices
and of the libraries of the following New York City high schools: Evander
Childs High School, Theodore Roosevelt High School, Seward Park High
viiAcknowledgements Ackafldjfaosidtraiethmaentsackouosaeuefrncufcujujujyuijkoolklfdaefafafaasdfadafdafafafdafaddfdasfasdfda
School, George Washington High School, Louis Brandeis High School
(formerly the High School of Commerce), New Utrecht High School, and
Bay Ridge High School. I am also grateful for the courtesy extended to me
by the staff at the archives of Teachers College, Columbia University, es-
pecially Robert Morris; the librarians at the Education-Psychology Library
at the University of California, Berkeley; the staff at the U.S. Army Center
of Military History in Washington, D.C., especially Morris MacGregor
who gave me a good, quick introduction to the nature of military organi-
zation; the staffs of the Military Reference Branch and of the Judicial,
Fiscal, and Social Branch of the National Archives in Washington, D.C.;
the librarians at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.;
and the faculty and staff of the Center for Studies in Higher Education at
Berkeley, especially Janet Ruyle. I am also indebted to the members of the
History Department of Teachers College, Columbia University, especially
Hazel Hertzberg and Frederick Kerschner for sharing their offices and their
lives with me during an important period in the development of my project
and my ideas. The staff of the History Department of the University of
California at Berkeley often made my life livable, and I thank them for
their efficiency and friendliness. I am especially grateful to Janet Weitz
who did a splendid job typing the manuscript and to Ramona Levi who is
simply splendid.
My friends and colleagues have been generous with their time in reading
this manuscript at various points in its development and in encouraging
my efforts. Sheldon Rothblatt, Reginald Zelnik, Richard Abrams, Lynn
Hunt, Winthrop Jordan, and Randolph Starn gave me good advice after
reading all or portions of this book during its evolution. Several conver-
sations with Carl Degler helped to sharpen my ideas. Richard Salvucci
allowed me to pick his well-stocked mind when I was trying to figure out
what my numbers meant. David Kirp, with whom I was fortunate to par-
ticipate in an excellent Berkeley-Stanford seminar on the finance and gov-
ernance of education, gave me the courage to change the form of my orig-
inal project and to move in new directions. The late Allan Sharlin shrewdly
suggested that I exchange the pencil for a computer in analyzing my data
in Chapter Three and introduced me to the resources of that technology.
Michael Katz read the manuscript with care and concern despite the fact
that we sometimes disagreed about interpretations. Geraldine Clifford read
Chapter Five with her usual insight and extraordinary knowledge of the
course of American educational development. Steven Schlossman read and
commented on the book with great acumen at a significant time, and I
have benefitted from his advice. Harold Wechsler, whom I delight in call-
ing an old friend, has given of himself so often in this enterprise that my
Acknowledgements ix
thanks to him must be couched in the broadest terms. My stay in New
York during a critical time in my research and in my life was facilitated
by another old friend, Howard Leon. Lizabeth Cohen, as a student, a friend,
and a colleague, has been fundamental in my development as a historian.
Her generosity in reading and commenting on my work and her stimulat-
ing suggestions and unwavering support have been invaluable. I have also
been extremely fortunate in my choice of research assistants. Their help
has taken many forms, from a rigorous demonstration of research skills
and impeccable work habits to encouragement in periods of sagging mo-
rale, and it is a real treat to be able to thank them all: Julia Liss, Barbara
Loomis, Robyn Lipner, Bruce Nelson, Theodore Feldman, Eyal Naveh,
Steven Leikin, Kelly Schrum, and Jesse Berrett.
Sheldon Meyer of Oxford University Press encouraged me from the in-
ception of my research. He has seen the project change form and direction,
and he has continued to support me with patience, kindness, and friend-
ship. I appreciate this deeply and hope his trust has not been misplaced.
Scott Lenz has been an excellent editor. Careful, judicious, and courteous,
he also has the skills and humor which make an author's task easier and
the book better.
Chapters z and 3 contain materials which I have published elsewhere
and in different form. "The IQ: A Cultural and Historical Framework,"
was published in the American Journal of Education, 8 8 (August 1980):
437-458; "Without Design: Education Policy in the New Deal," appeared
in the American Journal of Education, 9i(November 1982.): 36-64; "Be-
fore Legalism: The New Deal and American Education," was included in
School Days, Rule Days: The Legalization and Regulation of Education,
edited by David L. Kirp and Donald N. Jensen (The Falmer Press, 1986).
This book was composed in the eight years defined by my pregnancies
and by the births and infancies of my two children, Bluma (Bibi) and Charles.
Though it is the usual fashion to absolve others of responsibility for an
author's shortcomings, I would like to reverse that tradition. My children
have played a critical role in all aspects of the following book, good and
bad. They have reshaped my life while they have gotten into my hair and
into my heart. This book is inseparable from that experience. My lovely
Bibi, especially, has shown forbearance well beyond her years and has given
me one more reason to love and admire her. Unfortunately, my father did
not live to see this book completed. Formally uneducated, but knowledge-
able and wise in many things, he came to this country in middle age, com-
mitted to providing his children with the schooling he lacked. He probably
could not have read this book, but he would have understood and sup-
ported its pleas for equal education and for social justice.
