As more and more blacks migrated to New York City, the schools enrolled a greater number of black children and, because of the city's "opposition" to segregation, the schools contained both black and white children. However, despite the city's policy on segregation, a number of schools maintained an all black population. Reasoning for the maintenance of segregated schools included the notion that principles did not welcome black students in their schools, and the black students experienced racial slurs from both the other children and the teachers. Aside from the verbal abuse received by the students, external situations affected the morale of the children and the schools as well. Actual school buildings existed as dilapidated structures, for minimum funding limited the improvements which could be made to the grounds. Furthermore, the lack of health care, guidance, and recreational services greatly inhibited morale of the schools. Many of them did not even have playgrounds for the children. Home life played a role in the conditions of schools as well, for many children tended to live in single-parent households, and many also had the responsibility of various tasks around the house, often keeping them up late hours and overworking them.
After the Harlem race riot of 1935, an investigation of the status of the schools in the city began in an attempt to discover why delinquency among the youth of the city seemed so rampant. Carried out in several schools throughout the city, the investigation implemented experimental services to the test schools in order to test the effectiveness of different academic and community programs. P.S. 194 set up an All-Day Neighborhood School in Harlem, stressing the importance of recreation and community living in an attempt to bring the school and community close together. After-school clubs developed, and licensed teachers, appointed by the Board of Education, worked with classroom teachers and helped with the after school programs.
The conditions which make Harlem conducive to to delinquency must not be permitted to continue -- the overcrowded,
unsanitary housing, the job and salary inequities, the inadequate health care, and limited play space. Nor, in
a community that boasts of democracy, should the unique problem of Harlem continue -- its isolation from the rest
of the city because its members are denied the opportunity to live where they please, to make friends on the basis
of mutual interests, and to work at jobs of their own choosing according to their abilities.
As a result of the study performed, acknowledgement of the problematic nature of the school system in relation to black students transpired. This statement urged the necessity for a reduction in class size, curriculum modified to the needs of the student, teacher participation in the development of curriculum, appropriate and plentiful materials (as well as up to date), availability of remedial instruction, and teacher training (specializing in special needs of different children). This acknowledgement, however, did not arrive until the 1940s, when city officials concluded that there existed "the need for a greatly expanded budget for education by the city and the state."
The hour is growing late for this help to materialize in the services needed. The public must raise its voice and insist that these services, which can help to make our children whole, be put into effect by the Board of Education, and that the Board of Education receive whole-hearted and realistic support from both the State and the City of New York upon whom it is dependent for effective action.
