Between State and Private Education: the Ideological Dilemma of Argentine Progressive Jews (1955-1995)

This article reconstructs a political-educational dilemma that plagued the progressive Argentine Jews of the Yiddisher Kultur Farband (YKUF), or Federation of Jewish Cultural Entities (from now on, «the Ykufists»), between 1955 and 1995. Ideologically close to the Communists, they defended the secul...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Nerina Visacovsky
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: FahrenHouse 2020-01-01
Series:Espacio, Tiempo y Educación
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.espaciotiempoyeducacion.com/ojs/index.php/ete/article/view/252
_version_ 1818325527545511936
author Nerina Visacovsky
author_facet Nerina Visacovsky
author_sort Nerina Visacovsky
collection DOAJ
description This article reconstructs a political-educational dilemma that plagued the progressive Argentine Jews of the Yiddisher Kultur Farband (YKUF), or Federation of Jewish Cultural Entities (from now on, «the Ykufists»), between 1955 and 1995. Ideologically close to the Communists, they defended the secular, gratuitous and compulsory education principles embodied in Law 1420 (1884), and the postulates of autonomy, co-government and freedom of University Reform (1918). In 1958, faced with the «secular or free» conflict, which polarized the citizenship between those who defended a private-confessional education and those who advocated the exclusiveness of a secular state education, the Ykufists actively demonstrated their affinity with the latter. Parallel to this, they supported a network of idiomatic schools in Yiddish (shules), founded by immigrants, which played a «complementary» role. These shules declined towards the 1960s. To save them, they had to be turned into full-time private schools, but that would go against their principles in favour of a public and egalitarian education. At the 9th YKUF Congress in 1968, delegates from all over the country voted to continue with the shules for as long as possible, but not to compete with the state school. However, two decades later, in the nineties, YKUF was happy for a private secular school to be opened in one of its institutions; what social and political transformations generated this change? How did they manage to reconcile a discourse in favour of state education and then green light a private school? Based on extensive research, this article analyses, in light of the national and international context, the educational dilemmas of this progressive Jewish group, which identified with the Argentine middle classes.
first_indexed 2024-12-13T11:45:54Z
format Article
id doaj.art-d7d40ca3a7a24dfca4bca45b164955f8
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2340-7263
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-13T11:45:54Z
publishDate 2020-01-01
publisher FahrenHouse
record_format Article
series Espacio, Tiempo y Educación
spelling doaj.art-d7d40ca3a7a24dfca4bca45b164955f82022-12-21T23:47:31ZengFahrenHouseEspacio, Tiempo y Educación2340-72632020-01-017128731310.14516/ete.252180Between State and Private Education: the Ideological Dilemma of Argentine Progressive Jews (1955-1995)Nerina VisacovskyThis article reconstructs a political-educational dilemma that plagued the progressive Argentine Jews of the Yiddisher Kultur Farband (YKUF), or Federation of Jewish Cultural Entities (from now on, «the Ykufists»), between 1955 and 1995. Ideologically close to the Communists, they defended the secular, gratuitous and compulsory education principles embodied in Law 1420 (1884), and the postulates of autonomy, co-government and freedom of University Reform (1918). In 1958, faced with the «secular or free» conflict, which polarized the citizenship between those who defended a private-confessional education and those who advocated the exclusiveness of a secular state education, the Ykufists actively demonstrated their affinity with the latter. Parallel to this, they supported a network of idiomatic schools in Yiddish (shules), founded by immigrants, which played a «complementary» role. These shules declined towards the 1960s. To save them, they had to be turned into full-time private schools, but that would go against their principles in favour of a public and egalitarian education. At the 9th YKUF Congress in 1968, delegates from all over the country voted to continue with the shules for as long as possible, but not to compete with the state school. However, two decades later, in the nineties, YKUF was happy for a private secular school to be opened in one of its institutions; what social and political transformations generated this change? How did they manage to reconcile a discourse in favour of state education and then green light a private school? Based on extensive research, this article analyses, in light of the national and international context, the educational dilemmas of this progressive Jewish group, which identified with the Argentine middle classes.https://www.espaciotiempoyeducacion.com/ojs/index.php/ete/article/view/252educación argentinaconflicto «laica o libre»reformismo universitarioprivatización educativajudíos progresistasidisher cultur farband or yiddisher kultur farband (icuf or ykuf)
spellingShingle Nerina Visacovsky
Between State and Private Education: the Ideological Dilemma of Argentine Progressive Jews (1955-1995)
Espacio, Tiempo y Educación
educación argentina
conflicto «laica o libre»
reformismo universitario
privatización educativa
judíos progresistas
idisher cultur farband or yiddisher kultur farband (icuf or ykuf)
title Between State and Private Education: the Ideological Dilemma of Argentine Progressive Jews (1955-1995)
title_full Between State and Private Education: the Ideological Dilemma of Argentine Progressive Jews (1955-1995)
title_fullStr Between State and Private Education: the Ideological Dilemma of Argentine Progressive Jews (1955-1995)
title_full_unstemmed Between State and Private Education: the Ideological Dilemma of Argentine Progressive Jews (1955-1995)
title_short Between State and Private Education: the Ideological Dilemma of Argentine Progressive Jews (1955-1995)
title_sort between state and private education the ideological dilemma of argentine progressive jews 1955 1995
topic educación argentina
conflicto «laica o libre»
reformismo universitario
privatización educativa
judíos progresistas
idisher cultur farband or yiddisher kultur farband (icuf or ykuf)
url https://www.espaciotiempoyeducacion.com/ojs/index.php/ete/article/view/252
work_keys_str_mv AT nerinavisacovsky betweenstateandprivateeducationtheideologicaldilemmaofargentineprogressivejews19551995