Helene and Stanley Schlesinger Oral History

Both Helene and Stanley Schlesinger sat for this interview, however, most answers were given by Helene. Helene talks about moving to Kew Gardens, attending Queens College in 1948 and earning her undergraduate degree in psychology and a master's degree in education, and a second master’s in special education from Adelphi University; attending the 1939 New York World's Fair as a child and recalling the trains coming in from Kew Gardens, the parachute jump, the Billy Rose Aquacade Swim Show, and the Charlie McCarthy Show, the Russian pavilion, and the General Motors and RCA exhibits; her time as a Queens College student, the campus buildings, the tuition, the experience of registering for courses, her psychology and graduate coursework; her experiences, starting in 1971 at P.S. 219, as a reading teacher, 3rd, 5th and 6th grade teacher, and Special Education teacher; her memories of African American children bused in from South Jamaica Queens and her opinions about the practice of busing; moving her family to Kew Gardens for because it was integrated, and her children’s schools P.S. 164, Campbell Junior High School, and John Bowne High School where her husband was on the board; teaching immigrants from Afghanistan, Russia, and South America in her 5th grade classroom and pairing non-English-speaking students with bilingual students who would help them in the classroom.