By Seymour Ien,
PhD
From the outside it
appears like any other city school but once you get past the very tight
security and inside, even the most ardent critic of our public schools
would be pleasantly surprised.
PS 161 serves approximately 1400 students from Kindergarten to the 6th grade and is located on Crown Street in Brooklyn. The school's hall ways are sparkling clean, quiet, and free of loitering students, The staff members appear contented and order prevails everywhere. It is no wonder that the records show a very low teacher turnover which attest to the high morale of personnel at the school.
Over 97% of the students wear uniforms on a daily basis and the attendance is over 92% . Of special interest is the high level of parent involvement as evidenced by the large turnout at PTA meetings.
Students are very disciplined and participate in a myriad of extra-curricular activities all woven into the curriculum. They learn to play musical instruments; work on computers; help prepare a newspaper which is distributed to parents; participate in drama, ballet, and dance clubs; visit educational centers like the Hall Of Science, the Gateway and the Taconic Environmental Centers, and Museums, where they learn about forestry, pollution, energy conversation, plant and animal life.
In the classroom, apart from learning their regular subjects, they work on recycling, fire prevention, and hands-on science projects; they study their heritage like works of Frederick Douglas, inventors, the seven principles of Kwanzaa, the Chinese New Year and customs, and other cultures.
The students are attuned to politics as well. They send letters to Government officials asking very interesting questions of them. "Can you help us run our City? Can you make the world a better place? We have a great school. Why don't you send your daughter here? - they asked President Clinton.
"Do you get an allowance? Do you go to school on a scholarship?" they inquired of Chelsea, the President's daughter. To Mayor Dinkins they expressed concerns regarding racial harmony in the City. To Senator Carol Mosley Braun (the first African-American female senator) they wrote, "You are a role model for us."
Every activity including the pen-pal club, involves reading and writing. Above all, there is the Principal's reading club where students, based on their grade, must read one to five books, write a synopsis of each book, and demonstrate their literacy to the Principal.
It is not at all surprising
that the students at PS 161 score as high as they usually do on the reading
and writing City-Wide tests. educational outcome of the student.
This school deserves much credit for supplying a breath of fresh air lacking
in our Public Schools.
