ERIC Number: EJ1107369
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016-Jul
Pages: 25
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1477-8785
EISSN: N/A
Settler Colony on the Hudson: What History and Theory Tell Us about the Education Crisis in East Ramapo Central School District, New York
Justice, Benjamin
Theory and Research in Education, v14 n2 p168-192 Jul 2016
Scholars typically frame the subgroup problem in education in terms of protecting religious minorities from majoritarian encroachment. This essay explores a different aspect of the subgroup problem: what happens when an antidemocratic religious minority becomes a local majority responsible for the promotion of the public good? This essay uses the takeover and plundering of a public school district by Hasidic Jews in New York State as a case study. The settler colonist orientation of the Hasidim uniquely situates them to take advantage of the legacies of nineteenth-century school districting laws, but that same orientation leads them to grossly antidemocratic behaviors that victimize children of color. In such a case, democracy demands state intervention into the much-cherished arena of democratic localism. For advocates of church-state cooperation in the management of public schooling, this case provides a cautionary tale about the critical importance of substantive commitments to democratic values.
Descriptors: School Districts, Public Schools, Jews, Minority Groups, Case Studies, Land Settlement, State Church Separation, Democracy, Suburban Schools, Educational Change, Boards of Education, School Law, History, Theories, Racial Bias
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: New York
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A