0:00 - Introductions. The interview with Alice Young takes place at IS 131. Alice begins with her family background growing up in Gravesend, Brooklyn in a laundry factory that was owned by her father and describes her father’s arrival to the United States at age thirteen. Originally, they stayed in Scarsdale but moved into NYC Chinatown before ultimately settling in Brooklyn. Alice would describe her father’s travels back and forth between China and the US to get married and have children.
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6:48 - Alice describes growing up and going to school in Gravesend and being the only Chinese student in the entire school. She describes her parents’ strict rules and expectations that she go to school, go home, do homework, and help with her father’s laundry business. Alice recalls that they were only permitted to speak Chinese at home because her father feared that the language would be lost to Alice and her younger sister.
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10:15 - Alice is asked about her Chinese dialect and where her family is from, to which she answers Cantonese or more specifically Hoksanese, as her family is from Hoksan, Guangzhou, China. This discussion about language segues into Chinese school, which Alice attended every Sunday in Chinatown. She described Sunday school as a weekly ritual where the family goes out to Chinatown for recreation. Alice also describes the size of her father’s laundry factory and operations.
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14:53 - Alice describes her college years at Brooklyn College. Her father believed that education was very important for a better life in the United States. Alice recalls asking her father for access to a library but her father did not let her go and instead purchased an entire set of the encyclopedia for her and her sister to use at home. Alice mentions that while her father would get anything they needed for school, it was often difficult to explain to him what it was that they needed.
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20:03 - Alice recalls beginning to have friends starting in high school and college. Most of her friends from college were from the Chinese club and she mentions that many of them had similar family backgrounds. Her major in college was education and she describes her interest in teaching as sparked by taking care of a nephew who stayed at her home after his parents separated. Alice began her teaching career in 1972.
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25:08 - Alice describes her career journey leading up to becoming principal. Alice recalls her mentor telling her about the potential significance of a Chinese American principal in a Chinatown public school. Alice would eventually be certified as principal through a City College of New York and Department of Education grant. She would remember the difficulties of becoming a new principal asking for advice from other principals and dealing with pushback when changes were made to the school.
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31:30 - Alice describes what a “traditional school” is, defining it as a style of teaching where the teacher lectures in the front and students learn in rows with little conversation between students and teacher. She believes in a more progressive approach where the teacher serves as the facilitator of learning and encourages students to engage, ask questions and seek knowledge rather than be given the answers. Alice also goes into detail about the demographics and challenges of the school.
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36:28 - Alice talks about the difficulty of connecting with Asian parents due to cultural differences, work obligations, and language barriers. She describes Asian parents as often deferring to teachers to handle all matters related to education rather than personally participating. Alice talks about the introduction of a “Parent Coordinator” position in schools and their job in notifying parents to promote engagement with their child’s school.
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39:27 - Alice describes other changes at the school during her time as principal, describing increased student engagement and the schools' connections to many local organizations such as MOCA and Elders Share the Arts. Alice goes into more detail about the initial resistance that parents had against her teaching methods, recalling times when parents were upset that there were no textbooks in school or that their children were going on field trips.
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46:46 - Alice begins talking about her experience during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Alice remembers reassuring the students and staff to keep calm as the towers were collapsing. She remembers receiving a directive to not let students leave the building unless they were picked up by their parents and she had one of her board members call the local Chinese radio to send out the notice to all parents. The school itself would serve as a Red Cross relief center for families even after classes resumed.
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53:31 - Alice describes the effects of 9/11 on the families and students that attended her school and the $90,000 funding from FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency], which she used to fund extracurricular activities proposed by staff. These activities included Saturday cooking class, an oral history project, poetry writing, guitar and violin lessons, photography, and chess. Overall, Alice believed that it helped the families get over the difficulties at home when the parents were jobless.
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61:30 - The interview continues on the topic of her family. Alice reminisces about her parents’ words of wisdom regarding living life and working hard. This conversation leads to Alice talking about her children and whether they were able to learn Chinese. She then talks about her life philosophy and how it changed following 9/11. Alice also talks about how 9/11 affected her thoughts about school and how it can serve as more than a place for learning.
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70:53 - When asked to compare the 9/11 attacks to the Oklahoma bombing, Alice says that it feels different as the impact of 9/11 was much closer to home. Alice mentions that her children were away from home during that time. Alice continues the previous topics regarding funding following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, mentioning funding from other organizations such as The World Journal, which was used to help children get extracurricular activities and study hours.
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80:36 - Alice reflects on the fact that 9/11 has affected how she identifies herself as she now is proud to call herself Chinese American. The interviewer then inquires about whether the American government was at fault for failing to protect its people. Alice would relate this responsibility to protect it to her emergency plans for potential school disasters, making a point that while plans are in place, they might not necessarily execute as planned and many things would be thought of in hindsight.
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