Condemnation of the proposal to put religion into the public schools was voiced in an address Tuesday evening by Ben Rosen, president of the National Council for Jewish Education, at the Fifth Annual Conference of the organization, at a mass meeting held at Congregation Emanu-El. Experts in education and directors of important Jewish institutions, as well as prominent men and women active in Jewish work attended.
Dr. Lee K. Frankel presided, and an address was delivered by Dr. William H. Kilpatrich on “The Inadequacy of Science in Coping with the Fullness of Life.”
Whatever the attitude of the Protestants and the Catholics is to the proposal of instituting religious instructions into the public schools, the Jews have a special reason for opposing this plan, Mr. Rosen declared. The development of Jewish education in this country, he emphasized, shows conclusively “that we have always reckoned with the American public school system. That is why we have developed a supplementary system of Jewish education. The supplementary Jewish school is a distinct contribution of Jews to our system of American education. To discard this plan now will be a confession of weakness of the Jewish school system. The way to win our young people is not to make them feel that the public school and the state are a conspiracy to drive them into the religious schools and synagogue or church.”
It was Mr. Rosen’s opinion that the adoption of such a proposal would create a dissension and chaos in the administration of the public school system. Religious differences among children would be emphasized, he pointed out, and misunderstanding and tactlessness, he stated, might lead to irritation of sensibilities. The board of education, he declared, would then, in reality, become a board of censors, passing on the length of instruction, qualifications of the instruction and suitability of the facilities in which the instructions are to be given.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
