Abstract

This thesis attempts to illustrate the relatively successful adaptation by Jewish immigrants to American life by focusing on the experiences of Eastern European Jewish immigrants who moved to New York City between 1881-1914. It examines, in particular, the role of the public education system in this process. Jews used the public education system for their socialization and advancement in New York society by introducing community participation through innovation, adult education programs and transition curricula for teaching language and good citizenship notions. In the final analysis, initiatives by the Jewish community, broke the total hegemonic control described in most revisionist historians' writings. The concept of "voluntary and involuntary minorities" developed by Ogbu is helpful in explaining the Jewish case as an exception from the revisionist interpretation of the role of schooling in America at the turn of the century.