Settler colony on the Hudson: What history and theory tell us about the education crisis in East Ramapo Central School District, New York

TY - JOUR

T1 - Settler colony on the Hudson

T2 - What history and theory tell us about the education crisis in East Ramapo Central School District, New York

AU - Justice, Benjamin

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2016, © The Author(s) 2016.

PY - 2016/7/1

Y1 - 2016/7/1

N2 - Scholars typically frame the subgroup problem in education in terms of protecting religious minorities from majoritarian encroachment. This essay explores a different aspect of the subgroup problem: what happens when an antidemocratic religious minority becomes a local majority responsible for the promotion of the public good? This essay uses the takeover and plundering of a public school district by Hasidic Jews in New York State as a case study. The settler colonist orientation of the Hasidim uniquely situates them to take advantage of the legacies of nineteenth-century school districting laws, but that same orientation leads them to grossly antidemocratic behaviors that victimize children of color. In such a case, democracy demands state intervention into the much-cherished arena of democratic localism. For advocates of church-state cooperation in the management of public schooling, this case provides a cautionary tale about the critical importance of substantive commitments to democratic values.

AB - Scholars typically frame the subgroup problem in education in terms of protecting religious minorities from majoritarian encroachment. This essay explores a different aspect of the subgroup problem: what happens when an antidemocratic religious minority becomes a local majority responsible for the promotion of the public good? This essay uses the takeover and plundering of a public school district by Hasidic Jews in New York State as a case study. The settler colonist orientation of the Hasidim uniquely situates them to take advantage of the legacies of nineteenth-century school districting laws, but that same orientation leads them to grossly antidemocratic behaviors that victimize children of color. In such a case, democracy demands state intervention into the much-cherished arena of democratic localism. For advocates of church-state cooperation in the management of public schooling, this case provides a cautionary tale about the critical importance of substantive commitments to democratic values.

KW - Colonialism

KW - public education

KW - religion

KW - subgroup

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U2 - https://doi.org/10.1177/1477878515625654

DO - https://doi.org/10.1177/1477878515625654

M3 - Article

SN - 1477-8785

VL - 14

SP - 168

EP - 192

JO - Theory and Research in Education

JF - Theory and Research in Education

IS - 2

ER -