When I was a kid, moving out a Jewish neighborhood was like moving to another planet. For white Protestants, evangelizing (converting others) is their mission in life, a source of pride and a requirement of acceptance and approval among white Protestants.
Every morning in school, we had to pledge allegiance to a flag that flew under the white Protestant G-d, sing a song about the white Protestant G-d’s country, then bow our heads and listen to prayers to the white Protestant G-d. I can’t count the number of times I heard “we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen” in school. Even Catholic students who accidentally, by habit, crossed themselves at the end of a prayer were considered outsiders.
We had to learn white Protestant history, read, write and speak white Protestant English, and accept white Protestant dominance.
All year long, our families organized our lives around Protestant holidays. All year long we had to learn white Protestant morals and values, rituals and traditions, and sing white Protestant songs. All kids were required to participate in, or attend, white Protestant plays where white Protestant kids starred in lead roles while the “other” kids were assigned their traditional, subservient roles.
To avoid unpleasant attention and unfairness “other” kids tried to fit in by copying white Protestant’s clothing, hairstyles, slang, dances, music, mannerisms, etc. Since white Protestant parents approved of, even rewarded behaviour that “other” parents punished their kids for (e.g. intolerance and racism) families had to keep those incidents private.
White Protestant kids were chosen as hall monitors, teacher’s assistants, served as class presidents and ran student council where they spoke for “others”. White Protestant kids decided where everyone sat on the bus, in the cafeteria, and assemblies in the auditorium. On the playground, white Protestant kids were the team captains who got to choose their own players for games like baseball, softball, football and basketball.
White Protestant kids competed with each other, and no one else. Any “other” kid who got an A+, or 100%, or straight As, was treated badly. A really high grade changed the grading curve, making it harder on white Protestant kids to earn high grades. If there were too many “other” high performing students in one classroom, they were divided up and sent to different classrooms. If that didn’t work, teachers threw out the highest and lowest scores, until the grading curve returned to “normal.” Until they changed the grading curve system, the better “other” kids did, the worse white Protestant kids did.
For a while, schools tried to even things up for white Protestants, by dividing grades into A and B levels. The best white Protestant students were put in the A-level, while the best “other” students were put in the B-level along with low-performing white Protestant students. Trouble was, the schoolwork in the B-level was so easy, the “other” students earned straight A’s (without studying). Unfortunately, white Protestant students in the A-level struggled to earn Bs and Cs.
Protestant culture places a very high value on athletic ability. However, white Protestants believe that good grades are supposed to come as naturally as athletic ability. As a result, white Protestant parents fret and worry, even ridicule and punish children, who must study to get good grades. White Protestant parents are good at helping their children memorize names and dates in elementary school, but they do not understand, or know how to study. As a result, white Protestant children rarely develop good study habits. As these students fall further and further behind in schoolwork, sports become the center of school life. Football team captains who are failing their classes, are given “passing grades.” The dumbing down of American schools is real.
While it may have seemed that Jews were moving out and up, there was nothing good or easy about being an “other” in white Protestant culture.
