Examines the scope and variety of past demands for community-controlled schools in New York, which were especially visible in the actions of three groups: Irish Catholics in the 1840s; Jews in the period surrounding the turn of the century; Italians in the middle 1930s and early 1940s. (Author/JM)

Two influences that are held to produce a lack of academic motivation in mixed minority group children are identified. (1) Minority students frequently come from families that, for a variety of reasons, do not encourage academic excellence; (2) the New Rochelle school program does not compensate for this lack by offering replacement encouragement…