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FREEDOMWAYS                 THIRD QUARTER 1973

The author is not a newcomer to the complexities of large urban school systems. A former teacher in the New York City school system, she explains that it was not until she became involved as a parent of a child in the public schools that she fully began to understand and appreciate the position of the parent, and to see as well what forces and actions would be necessary to produce the changes needed in these schools.

Along with the widespread dissatisfaction of parents, of varying economic status and ethnic background, with the school's lack of educational relevancy and effectiveness, there was an accompanying sympathy among a number of teachers in the school of the need to create a more positive and relevant educational program structured to the children's needs.

Ms. Hess describes the attempts of these teachers to work out an alternate educational climate, mainly based on the experience and research of the British Infant School Movement. When teachers sought to move towards this form of change, while there was substantial antagonism directed towards them from the school's administration, there were considerable support and encouragement from many of the parent body. I believe that one of the most important lessons to be learned from Hannah Hess's book is that parents will support teachers who are really interested in children and in the improvement of educational opportunities for them. Teachers who are struggling to create expanded opportunities for learning and educational alternatives in the children's behalf will gain parental support within their individual school.

The attempt by parents to develop an exacting educational profile of the school, and to use this profile as an evaluation tool for viewing the school's educational capabilities and status, was another manner in which parents became involved in the school's development. These early attempts by parents to initiate major changes within the school were initially scoffed at by the school administration and then later actively opposed.

The description of these activities takes in the period of the 1968 New York City Teacher's Strike which was opposed by large numbers of parents in the school. A major outgrowth of this experience was a deeper involvement on the part of many parents in the affairs of the school. This marked a major breakthrough in the degree of parent involvement in the schools, especially in areas heretofore prescribed solely for professionals. As the author states: "Parents have to stop being scared off by the thought of their own powers, if they

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