Candidates for the post of assistant director of foreign languages, now open in the New York City school system, are being permitted to offer a knowledge of Hebrew toward satisfaction of the requirements for the position, it was learned Friday.
Aspirants are expected to be familiar with no less than six languages, excluding English, and according to officials at the Board of Education offices, Fifty-ninth street and Park avenue, this is the first time that the ancient Jewish tongue has been ruled acceptable in applications for a language supervisory post.
Associate Superintendent of Schools Jacob Greenberg informed a reporter for the Jewish Daily Bulletin that the new departure is an outgrowth of the teaching of Hebrew in the city’s high schools on an equal footing with other foreign languages. Courses in Hebrew have been given here for the last three years, he said.
Seven candidates who were called before the Board of Superintendents and interviewed on their qualifications for the post they seek were questioned concerning their familiarity with French, German, Spanish, Latin, Italian and Hebrew.
“The candidates are not under any compulsion to present Hebrew, of course,” Mr. Greenberg explained. “They may do so or they may not. The point is that, if they desire to, they can now offer Hebrew, whereas in the past this was not possible.”
Asked what proportion of the persons seeking the position offered Hebrew, Mr. Greenberg said that three of the seven interviewed by the Board of Superintendents had seized the opportunity to introduce their grasp of the Biblical tongue.
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.
