Public Schools In James Mcbride's The Color Of Water

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In the book, The Color of Water, by James McBride the author compare and contrast his public school experience with his mother’s public school experience. In the beginning of chapter 9, Ruth discusses the hardship of being a Jewish. She explains that the Jewishs were just as segregated as the blacks. The Jewish school were referred as “shul” (McBride 79) in Yiddish. Ruth goes on a stated that, “it was just the synagogue where Tateh taught Hebrew lessons and gave Bible study to children…” (79). However, Ruth attended a white school, Thomas Jefferson Elementary. Ruth says that, “...because the white kids hated the Jews in my school” (80) it was already a problem for her. They would bully her and ask her mean questions like “Ruth, when did you start being a dirty Jew?” (80). Ruth’s father was not cheap when it comes to education. Ruth changed her name to Rachel so she could fit in more. Ruth did not have a lot of friends because they were basically segregated …show more content…
Ruth tells her kids that “some Jews can’t stand you” (87). She told them this because Ruth had black kids and they would insult her and her children. The Jews were treating the black poorly just as if the white had treated the Jews poorly. Ruth would push her kids hard. James said Ruth “gave us careful instructions to bring home every single paper that the teachers handed out at school…” (88). Obviously, Ruth was a mother who cared about education just like her father. Ruth was extremely serious about education to her kids. James also had the opportunity to travel to camp. James was traveling to school by himself, taking two buses each direction every day. James was being called “negro” (89) by his fellow classmates. However, James did very well on their tests. James classmates would asked him to dance in front of the class since they thought all black people knew how to
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