Eva S. Moskowitz (less commonly Eva Sarah Moskowitz^[1] and born March 4, 1964) runs Success Academy Charter Schools^[2] and was a City Councilmember, both in New York City.^[3]

Her recent work has generally centered on education. Besides founding Success Academy Charter Schools^[4] (originally Harlem Success Academy), she has worked with the Harlem Education Fair,^[5] the Great Public Schools PAC,^[6] StudentsFirstNY,^[7] and the New York City Charter School Center.^[8] She coauthored Mission Possible (2012),^[9] mainly a guide to running charter schools.^[9] She said that American education does not fare well in international comparisons,^[10] that Black and Hispanic high school satudents were allowed to graduate without passing statewide tests,^[11] that even in affluent districts public education is not as good as parents think it is,^[12] that education can be more rigorous,^[13] that schools should be "free from crushing bureaucracy and outlandish labor contracts",^[14] that class sizes may be a little larger so more funds are available for each class for better teaching and technology,^[15] that business managers can let principals concentrate on instructional issues,^[16] that charter schools should be placed in public noncharter school buildings to make comparisons more visible to parents,^[14] that New York City public noncharter schools may need a turnaround rather than mere reform,^[17] and that charter schools can provide a model for public noncharter schools to replicate.^[12] Replication, she said, can be based on close parental involvement in their children's education,^[18] a parent–school partnership,^[18] reading,^[18] "high-quality teaching",^[18] and "highly effective principal[s]".^[10]

In earlier work, she received a Ph.D. in history,^[19] taught in universities,^[20][21] authored In Therapy We Trust,^[22] and wrote a scholarly study of Betty Friedan's work.^[23]

In Moskowitz' electoral political career, while in the City Council she chaired the Education Committee^[3] and she later lost a primary election to be the Democratic party nominee for Manhattan Borough President.^[24] She has been opposed by the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), a union, in every election.^[25] She has had support from parents of students in her charter schools.^[26] She may run to be Mayor in 2017.^[9]

Education, teaching, and family

Moskowitz grew up in Harlem^[20] and went to school at P.S. 6 on Manhattan's Upper East Side and to school in the city's District 5.^[27] She graduated from Stuyvesant High School,^[28] where "she thought half of the teachers were incompetent", according to Steven Brill,^[29] found widespread student cheating and a coverup by the principal, according to Jeff Coplon,^[30] and began to consider that teachers' ability to choose where they would teach based on their seniority meant that they chose Stuyvesant, where, according to Brill, "the students could teach themselves."^[3] Moskowitz was an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania,^[19] where, she said, a professor criticized Moskowitz' writing ability and she studied writing until she did it well,^[31] getting a B.A. with honors in history^[32] and influencing her prioritizing writing by her students at Success Academy Charter Schools.^[33] She received a Ph.D. in American history from Johns Hopkins University.^[34]

She taught women's history^[35] at University of Virginia^[21] as a visiting professor of communications and mass culture in 1989–1990,^[36] Vanderbilt University^[20] as an assistant professor of history in 1992–1993,^[36] and City University of New York^[21] (College of Staten Island)^[20] as an assistant professor of history in 1994–1995^[36] and she chaired the faculty seminar in American studies at Columbia University in 1996–1999.^[36] She was the director of the children's literacy program ReadNet^[21][37] and taught civics at the Prep for Prep school,^[37] where she was also the director of public affairs.^[38]

She married Eric Grannis and they have 3 children, Culver, Dillon, and Hannah.^[39] Moskowitz has a brother.^[40] According to Winnie Hu, Moskowitz and her husband have cycled over 7,000 miles on 2 continents.^[41]

Contemporary education leadership

Success Academy Charter Schools

Moskowitz is a founder^[4] and the Chief Executive Officer of Success Academy Charter Schools.^[2] She moved to within a 10-minute walk of three of the schools^[20] and enrolled two of her children in one of the schools.^[42][43]

Other organizations

Before entering electoral politics, Moskowitz applied to start a charter school in the Upper East Side, more recently telling Kyle Spencer "you can live on a posh street and be zoned for a very terrible school."^[44] Moskowitz withdrew the application before holding electoral office.^[44]

Moskowitz organized the Harlem Education Fair in 2009 so that students and parents could select from many charter and noncharter public schools. Success Academy Charter Schools (then known as Harlem Success Academy) and many other schools were represented there, each making their own appeals to families.^[5]

Great Public Schools Political Action Committee is run by Moskowitz;^[6] according to Brill, Moskowitz founded a PAC after a pro-Success Academy candidate lost an election.^[45] The Great Public Schools PAC supports charter schools.^[6] In the year 2011–2012,^[46] it gave $50,000 to Andrew Cuomo 2014, Inc.^[6]

Moskowitz is on the board of StudentsFirstNY,^[7] a local branch of a political campaign regarding schools nationwide.^[47][48]

With the New York City Charter School Center, in mid-2011, Moskowitz led a parents' and students' rally to protest against the NAACP's involvement in a teachers' union's lawsuit against collocation of charter schools in noncharter public school buildings.^[8]

Views

Inadequacy of common education

Moskowitz said, on international comparisons of education, "even our highest-performing students are doing worse than many other countries' lowest-performing students",^[10] there's "'an international crisis,' affecting the affluent neighborhoods she's now [2012] targeting just as seriously as it affects poor ones", according to Greg Hanlon partly quoting Moskowitz,^[9] and Moskowitz said that "[she doesn't] think that Americans have totally digested the global competition that we're facing."^[49]

She disclosed that, in 2004, 90% of Black and Hispanic students graduated from City high schools with local instead of Regents diplomas, the local diplomas not requiring passing statewide tests, according to Tanangachi Mfuni;^[11] while, differing somewhat, Elissa Gootman said the city reported that fewer than 1 in 10 Black and Hispanic students graduated in 2004 with Regents diplomas and Gootman said that Moskowitz criticized the city's solutions as inadequate when "this is a monumental civil rights crisis"^[50] and that issuing 3 kinds of diplomas is confusing because "the rules keep changing".^[50] In mid-2012, Moskowitz told the N.Y. Times that "67 percent of the 1,071 elementary and middle schools in New York State have fewer than 50 percent of children passing the state reading exam."^[51] She believed in a "great, free public education",^[52] but that even in middle-class and more affluent districts public noncharter schools are not as good as parents think they are.^[12] She disagreed with requiring children to go to where they are zoned.^[53][54][55]

According to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's speechwriter and policy advisor Francis S. Barry, in 2003 or 2004 Moskowitz objected to the Mayor's proposal to keep 3rd-graders in 3rd grade if their math and English scores on citywide tests were "the lowest possible".^[56] According to David M. Herszenhorn, in early 2004, Moskowitz questioned whether holding failing 3rd-graders back would boost 4th-grade test scores the next year, because the lower-performing students would still be in the 3rd grade and not taking the 4th-grade tests, just when the Mayor would run for reelection,^[57] but city officials called her criticism, in Herszenhorn's word, "cynical".^[57] Moskowitz, wrote Herszenhorn, arguing that "there is a consensus among educators that policies against social promotion don't work",^[58] called for, in Herszenhorn's paraphrasing of Moskowitz, "the city ... to be more creative in its efforts to help struggling students, by improving prekindergarten programs, identifying learning disabilities earlier and perhaps having more nuanced grade levels, like a first grade-plus for students repeating first grade."^[59] According to Joyce Mayer Perry, in 2004, Moskowitz did not oppose having a failing student repeat a grade but believed that intervention needed to be earlier so that children will succeed.^[60]

According to Moskowitz, collocating charters in buildings with noncharters lets parents more easily compare how well their children do in one and how badly in the other and so find out that noncharter schools can be better.^[14] She opposed conditioning collocation on letting noncharter schools get credit for charter students' higher test scores, referring to a law in Ohio, because it denies accountability and a quid pro quo has to be more carefully chosen.^[12]

According to Brill and as interpreted by Boykin Curry, Moskowitz doubted that the New York City public school system can simply be reformed, because it may need a complete turnaround, a replacing of the traditional model with a model derived from charters.^[61] Moskowitz wrote that "[while] much of the growth in excellent public schools has occurred in low-income communities .... [m]iddle-class neighborhoods [also] need more rigorous schools."^[62] She chose to start charter schools "to demonstrate the incredible difference it truly makes when a school is run free from crushing bureaucracy and outlandish labor contracts."^[14]

She said that public elementary school curricula are not challenging enough for students,^[63] who are bored.^[64] She, with Arin Lavinia, wrote that math curricula are paced to be taught too slowly, as if they're designed for dysfunctional schools and all schools are expected to be just as slow, and Moskowitz and Lavinia argued for speeding the teaching.^[65]

Moskowitz said, in 2009, that state tests are "too easy"^[66] and, in 2012, that test success would predict economic success^[10] and that "if kids do not do well on the tests, they certainly won't do well in life"^[10] but that "I wouldn't want a school that only focused on testing, partly because the tests are a low bar."^[67]

She favored closing failing public schools,^[68] including charter schools,^[69] not all charter schools being good.^[12] She posited that a charter is not a guarantee of success, as it is only a grant of freedom to try for success.^[12]

Challenges confronting teachers

Moskowitz criticized education schools for years of graduating teachers who are unable to meet urban challenges,^[70] including master's programs.^[63] She argued against lengthy, detailed, and relatively inflexible teachers' union contracts and "ossified, bureaucratic management",^[10] as overly constraining principals.^[71] She said teachers are asked "to fill out too much paperwork. We have a compliance-driven system, and that is not a design that organizes the school around teaching and learning."^[15]

Parental participation

Moskowitz believed in parental choice for where children go to school,^[12][53] including parochial and other schools.^[12] She does not want to "eradicate" noncharter schools,^[72] believing they need to be modernized "educationally, operationally, financially",^[73] and she argued for competition to improve failing public schools nationwide.^[74] She supported parents at noncharter schools raising money to hire teaching assistants of their choice, opposing the teachers' union's objections.^[75] Moskowitz said she's "never met an apathetic mom."^[76]

Governmental role

Moskowitz advocated for charter schools to be funded per pupil as fully as public noncharters are,^[69] stating "a kid is a kid is a kid and therefore the funding should be the same".^[12] She favored "a federal role in education.... especially in the area of parent choice"^[77] and thought that President Obama's offering substantial money contingent on charter-centered reforms brought "the fight out" into public view,^[12] contributing to New York and some other states "lift[ing] ... caps on the creation of new charter schools".^[78]

Diversity

Moskowitz objected to "a tendency in the charter school movement to celebrate a lack of socio-economic diversity."^[12] She said, "I think we need many more charters that have socio-economic integration. I also think that we need to get charter schools into more affluent districts because I think many middle-class and upper middle-class parents think their schools are better than they are ... their schools are very complacent."^[79] She described New York City schools as "shockingly segregated",^[40] most ... either more than 90 percent minority or less than 10 percent",^[40] with some schools, by offering dual-language or gifted-and-talented programs attracting white middle-class students^[40] while "overwhelmingly poor minority students"^[40] take general education,^[40] exhibiting "fake integration".^[40] She added that the city's "racial and socio-economic segregation ... [is] hard to change", impeding efforts to make charter schools into neighborhood schools and still have diversity among students,^[12] but continued that "I think we will change it [the segregation] eventually because our program is so appealing to middle-class families."^[12] However, she added, "whether people can put their racial discomforts aside, I do not know",^[12] but later said "parents of all races and classes truly want diversity as long as it is also accompanied by academic excellence."^[40]

Design of model

Moskowitz said children "are short but they are not stupid"^[13] and they "are incredibly smart",^[13] their minds "agile",^[64] that the need is to raise intellectual standards after which "the kids will rise to our expectation",^[13] and that "to raise the rigor bar" doesn't cost money.^[13]

She argued that, although replication is "difficult",^[12] "educational opportunity ... [is not] rocket science".^[18] Part of success was "old-fashioned parental involvement.... It has to be a partnership between parents and the school."^[18] Another was reading. She said, "our children read constantly."^[18] She said, "and the third ingredient is high-quality teaching. We have to have the very best in our school system and we have to invest in teachers so that they can get better."^[18] She favored modernization, rigor, accountability, "highly effective teacher[s,] and ... highly effective principal[s]".^[10] She argued for teachers and school leaders to have more flexibility to innovate in classrooms.^[69] She advocated for principals to be able to hire and fire teachers and to attract the best teachers.^[69] She supported decentralization in favor of teachers.^[27] She called for more disclosure and increasing principals' accountability.^[11] She said, "what you want to teach kids is to think critically, mathematically, scientifically. You want them to be great writers."^[10] According to Nat Hentoff, when Moskowitz was a City Councilmember she argued for education in civics, on how government works.^[80]

She argued that class sizes should be reconsidered,^[15] and that allowing a few more students in a class may help in educating the students while being economical.^[15] She argued that, when a school is funded on the basis of how many students it has, a larger class size may allow paying the teacher "exceedingly well"^[15] and having "really talented" principals,^[81] business managers so principals focus on instructional matters,^[16] more supplies and field trips for students and teachers,^[15][16] computers and e-books for students,^[16] more professional development,^[15][16] more tutoring,^[15] and more teaching staff, such as assistant teachers.^[15] She said that students having computers and online books leads to their reading more books.^[15][16] On the other hand, she agreed that a too-large class would be "absurd."^[15] Overall, she posited that class size is a factor in students' success.^[16]

She believed schools were responsible for safety, so that, when Nixzmary Brown died (largely due to Brown's parents) after substantial absence from school, Moskowitz said that the child's school was minimally compliant with rules, if that, and did not do enough for the child's safety and therefore for the child's education.^[82]

Book Mission Possible

In Mission Possible (2012), which Moskowitz coauthored, according to Hanlon Moskowitz argued for the importance of charter schools because public noncharter education "never put[s] the customer first"^[9] and fails to "boost productivity and innovate."^[9] Hanlon said, "most of the book is a pedagogical how-to".^[9]

Liberalism and personal role

Among Moskowitz's personal views relevant to education, according to Lisa M. Collins Moskowitz "says social justice drives her"^[83] and, according to Coplon, Moskowitz said "really fundamental to social justice ... [is] to have choices in life."^[84] According to Rich Lowry in the conservative National Review,^[85] Moskowitz is a liberal.^[86] Moskowitz described herself as "controversial".^[87] According to Josh Rogers, Moskowitz said "it's actually quite unnerving to be the subject of attacks, .... [but] I'm willing to have them call me names if I can deliver for kids and families."^[88]

Opposition

Moskowitz in 2010 said that the chief opponent of charters like hers was "the union-political-educational complex",^[89] "the teachers' union and the elected officials .... [who] together can ... stop you from doing a lot of ... good things for kids."^[89] She argued that charters are more threatening than when they began, partly because there are more charters,^[12] even given that not all charters are good.^[12]

Electoral offices

Moskowitz is a Democrat.^[90] The UFT has supported a candidate against Moskowitz in every race she has run.^[25]

City Council

In 1995 or 1996, Moskowitz volunteered in Gifford Miller's City Council campaign,^[21][41] becoming his field director,^[21] in 1997 Moskowitz, according to Vivian S. Toy, ran a "strong"^[91] campaign for but lost a City Council election,^[91] and, in 1999, she was elected as New York City Councilmember for the Upper East Side of Manhattan.^[3] In 2002–2005, she chaired the Council Education Committee^[3][92] and held over "100 oversight hearings".^[93] According to Joe Williams, "in December 2003, [UFT union then-president Randi] Weingarten declared war on Moskowitz's political career" and urged union members to vote against her.^[94]

According to Hu in 2004, Moskowitz' staff turnover was substantial, she expected them to work hours not limited to "government hours", and she provided them with BlackBerry wireless devices when not all Councilmembers had them.^[41] According to Alex Mindlin, one student starting as a volunteer continued with Moskowitz for 5 years, including as a constituent liaison, organizing campaign letter-writing, and coordinating 75 volunteer petitioners.^[95]

During Moskowitz' time as a Councilmember, she had two young sons and said she "did lunchroom duty in my son's school"^[96] and that "most male politicians I know who have children don't do lunchroom duty."^[96]

Issues

Education

According to Hu, in 2003–2004, Moskowitz, with an "aggressive, confrontational style",^[41] had "emerged as one of the most influential [Council] members ..., largely by parlaying her role as head of the Education Committee into a crusade for the city's troubled public schools."^[41] According to Jonathan P. Hicks, she was "considered an expert in the Council on education issues"^[38] and as "a frequent critic of the school system".^[38] In 2004, according to Hu, Moskowitz had "many" critics^[41] and city schools then-chancellor Joel Klein described her as "tough-minded" and "determined";^[97] according to Coplon, in an undated comment Klein said Moskowitz was "up there in the top five ["thorns in his side"], or the top three";^[93] and, according to Hu, in 2004, Miller described her as "a very determined person and very focused, and sometimes that determination can rub people the wrong way".^[98] According to Michael Winerip, in 2005, Moskowitz "has been one of the few checks on the school system under mayoral control and said it was often a battle getting information and sometimes required a subpoena"^[99] and, according to Coplon and Lizzy Ratner, Moskowitz was known as an aggressive advocate for education reform.^[21][93]

The Board of Education in 2001 leased a building for a new high school for the opening of which Moskowitz had "lobbied hard", according to Anemona Hartocollis.^[100]

According to Susan Saulny and Winerip, in 2005, Moskowitz questioned whether higher math and reading test scores reflected higher student achievement or were misleading, presenting professors who raised uncertainty.^[101]

Also in 2005, wrote Saulny, Moskowitz said "science education ... has been treated with second-class status for decades"^[102] and that "the level of concern I think we should have"^[102] is still lacking.^[102] Moskowitz held hearings on the shortage of science classes^[20] and the inability to pay experienced science and math teachers well.^[21]

In 2003, Moskowitz called arts education across the city "completely hodgepodge".^[103]

Wrote Winerip, in 2005 Moskowitz criticized city management of special education for students with disabilities for arrogance, refusal to listen, and failure to collaborate.^[99]

Moskowitz held hearings in 2003 on the teachers' union contracts, which, according to Hu, "landed ... [Moskowitz] in the headlines for weeks"^[41] and, according to Ratner, "attracted reporters and produced headlines."^[21] Moskowitz also criticized contracts with principals and custodians.^[86] According to Williams, Moskowitz' "public hearings on the impact of work rules and job protections for teachers, principals, and custodians ... [showed] that it took far too long to unload incompetent employees from the system"^[104] and that "other rules were silly and counterproductive", namely some for custodians.^[105] Williams said Moskowitz' "hearings attracted hoards [sic] of reporters and columnists"^[105] and that the then-president of the UFT, Weingarten, "furious"^[106] that the Council leadership had even permitted the hearings,^[107] testified with an "often caustic exchange" with Moskowitz.^[106] A secret list of witnesses was known to the UFT, some witnesses testified only after their identities were concealed, and some others refused to testify after agreeing to, according to Williams.^[106] "At the time, Moskowitz was the only Democratic official in New York City who was elected without the UFT's endorsement", wrote Williams,^[106] who also reported that Moskowitz was privately warned that the hearings could end her political career^[108] and that she recognized that winning citywide office in the future would be easier if she was supported and not opposed by the union.^[94] Miller, then the Council speaker, let Moskowitz go forward with the hearings,^[108] Brian McLaughlin, leader of the New York City Central Labor Council, opposed them,^[109] and Bloomberg went from calling Moskowitz a "gadfly" the night before the hearings^[108] to praising her courage and criticizing her critics who were Council colleagues, according to Williams.^[110] There was an effort to replace Moskowitz as committee chair, said Williams,^[108] but she served her full term.^[92]

She also held hearings on the seeming absence of toilet paper;^[20][93] she reported many parents' complaints about toilets being dirty, broken, or closed citywide and her own experience as a high school student with having to go across the street to a medical facility.^[111]

According to Hicks, Moskowitz was the "author of a law, passed ... over ... Bloomberg's veto, that holds the School Construction Authority accountable for delays and budget overruns."^[112]

Various

According to Hu, in ca. 2002–2004 Moskowitz wrote 6 laws, including on health care and campaign finance reform.^[41]

According to Kelly Crow, in 2002, in response to public housing tenants' security concerns at the Stanley Isaacs Houses, Moskowitz arranged for funding for cameras but the money was never spent by the city, and the police offered more patrols but said crime was worse uptown.^[113]

In 2003, Moskowitz introduced a gun control bill.^[41]

She introduced a bill to require baby diaper-changing stations in some buildings, at pools, and in parks^[114] and a bill to ban the sale and installing of audible car alarms.^[115]

She also tried to increase voter registration among young people through the schools.^[116]

Borough President primary campaign

In 2005, Moskowitz decided not to run again for the Council and entered the race for the Democratic party nomination to be the Manhattan Borough President to succeed C. Virginia Fields,^[117] according to Hicks emphasizing education and transportation issues.^[38] The teachers' union campaigned heavily for Scott Stringer and against Moskowitz, based on Moskowitz' hearings about the teachers' contract^[118] and on other education issues,^[119] and so did the Working Families Party.^[118] According to Francis Barry, the Working Families Party spent most of the approximately $100,000 it spent on the race "to attack ... Moskowitz, who had made her name by challenging the teachers' union."^[120] Moskowitz raised almost $1 million and qualified for another $600,000 in city matching funds during the campaign, according to Hicks,^[38] and ultimately Moskowitz raised the most money of any Democratic candidate, but finished second^[24] to Stringer.^[118]

Mayoralty

Endorsement of Bloomberg

In 2005, Moskowitz endorsed Bloomberg for Mayor, joining many Democrats in doing so over Freddy Ferrer, because of the start the Mayor had made in reforming education.^[25] In 2010, she credited Bloomberg and his appointee Klein as schools chancellor with education improvements.^[69]

Possible future campaign

Moskowitz stated her intention to run for Mayor of New York,^[121] with, she said, a "70 to 80 percent chance"^[9] she will run in 2017,^[9] but not 2013.^[26][122] Previously, she had hinted at running,^[20][21] in late 2011 she left open the possibility of running,^[123] in early 2012 a rumor about her running was circulating,^[124] and in mid-2012 Republicans were considering supporting her if she runs and if one of the Republicans' first choices doesn't enter the race.^[125]

In mid-2012, Moskowitz said, "the field is not as strong as I would like it to be"^[26] and, according to Colin Campbell, "Moskowitz argued that the leading 2013 mayoral candidates have failed to articulate an educational platform"^[122] and hinted that the teachers' union "may be the controlling interest"^[122] shaping campaign platforms.^[122] According to Lisa Fleisher, "Moskowitz has been able to show wide support from among the parents who send students to the [Success Academy charter] schools, and she recently helped fuel a rally of thousands of parents outside City Hall."^[126]

According to Adam Dickter, a possible issue Moskowitz may raise is tax relief to offset part of the tuition for parochial and private school students, although she did not favor a voucher program such as one rejected in early 2006 by a Florida court.^[25]

Historian

Book In Therapy We Trust

Moskowitz wrote the book, In Therapy We Trust. According to Jesse Eisinger, Moskowitz identified "three tenets: happiness is the supreme goal, problems stem from psychological causes, and those psychological problems are treatable"^[127] and labeled this set "the therapeutic gospel, a doctrine so ingrained in American society that few of us consciously recognize it".^[127]

Summary

In the book, Moskowitz made several points: "We are ... bound together by a gospel of psychological happiness.... Americans turn to psychological cures as reflexively as they once turned to God. But our relationship to the psyche appears to have exceeded that of believers and become more like that of cult members."^[128] In the mid-19th to late 20th centuries, "Americans developed an intense preoccupation with psychological well-being. Today this obsession knows no bounds."^[129] By 1859, Phineas Pankhurst Quimby developed the application of psychology in his medical practice.^[130] "In the 1890s, ... mind cure, or mental therapeutics, became the rage."^[131] In the early 20th century, "an entire group of reformers began to psychologize the social problems of the day."^[132] "In their view, only by applying new psychological principles could the nation hope to solve the problems of crime, education, and home life", affecting the national "provision of social services",^[133] leading to "the extraordinary expansion of the state".^[133] Reformers recommended hiring "visiting teachers" who would understand children^[134] when some school principals still believed in "more drill".^[135] In the 1920s–1930s, marriage was to become "the fount of all human happiness",^[136] not just important,^[137] happiness requiring psychological self-awareness in both spouses^[136] and being "a matter of being free from emotional complexes and possessing a fully integrated personality."^[138] In those decades, "marriage counseling" began^[139] and marriage as a college subject was recommended for preparation for marriage,^[140] apart from graduate-level training of counselors.^[141] Scholarship led to "hundreds of books" on marriage.^[142] World War II preparation included psychologists and psychiatrists "organizing for total war";^[143] then, with the war's end, the government was widely believed responsible for veterans' mental health.^[144] During the Cold War, therapeutics reached "the American home",^[145] including in advertising^[146] and women's magazines.^[147] In 1960–'75, "social movements ... relied heavily on the authority of psychological experts and the tenets of the therapeutic gospel"^[148] despite^[148] claims of "hostility to conventional psychological wisdom" .... [and of being] anti-expert",^[149] as when "racial prejudice" was found to be a "social disease".^[150] President Kennedy, supporting mental wellness,^[151] signed into law Federal funding for "communities coping with the psychological effects of various social problems."^[152] E.g., "the Black Power movement was political drama with a therapeutic goal. The Black Panthers believed that it was good for the Black community to see a Black man stand up publicly to the police and declare himself unwilling to be subjected to wrongful treatment. It helped to assuage two centuries of mistreatment. It was, in a sense, a treatment for the afflictions of the Black personality".^[153] Abbie Hoffman was guided by the lessons of Abraham Maslow;^[154] Hoffman was "thoroughly immersed in the psychological thinking of the day"^[155] as a "a psychology major"^[154] and "is best known for his political antics."^[156] In feminism, "central ... were the key concepts of identity and fulfillment.... Feminists of this generation ... focused on the psychological nature of women's oppression. The colonization they discovered was interior."^[157] "The postwar culture ... was infused with a strong faith in the psyche."^[157] In the 1970s, "America's obsession [was] with feelings".^[158] The me generation tried to discard "emotional inhibition".^[159] Also in the '70s, over 15% "of all bestseller books were self-help books".^[160] "Never had there been so many ways of 'getting one's head together.'"^[161] In the 1980s–'90s, "all prohibitions against private or intimate matters seem to have been declared null and void."^[162] In the 1980s, the U.S. "'discovered' a virtual epidemic of addiction."^[163] Then, therapy and social service programs began to be replaced by cheaper recovery programs.^[164] Television talk shows featuring guests' personal revelations were hosted by Phil Donahue, Oprah Winfrey, Ricki Lake, and others with large viewerships.^[165] Online providers of therapy, support, advice, and news are, as of 2001, numerous, round-the-clock, and popular.^[166] "Reducing the [Bill Clinton] presidency to a destructive relationship could only have happened in a country in which personal problems had become a national obsession."^[167] "The persistence of Americans' faith in psychological happiness is troubling.... [R]ather than offering real psychological insight, these cures are vapid therapies. There is little rigorous psychological thinking in our culture."^[168] "Psychological interpretations tend to crowd out social, economic, and political ones."^[169] "While I have no argument with psychological contentment as an important standard for individuals and no argument with in-depth psychological investigation as a means, when a whole society makes happiness and self-realization its rallying cry, clearly something is lost in the process."^[168] In the late 20th century, "while we worried about self-esteem, the children in America who died from gunshots outnumbered the American soldiers who died in the Vietnam War.... Starvation, illness, and warfare ravage the world while we obsess about anxiety, shyness, and denial. We must somehow shift our outlook so that we may be socially responsible."^[170] Finally, "psychological standards are insufficient to overturn the exigencies of class, race, and gender. While feminism's emphasis on women's failure to be happy in the home was helpful for upper-middle-class White women, its limitations for women of color and poor women who had already worked outside the home quickly became evident.... We need a politics and a therapeutics that are not mutually exclusive"^[171] and "we must remain critical of a therapeutics that easily displaces real solutions to pressing social problems."^[169]

Documentary, study, and protest

Moskowitz directed and produced a documentary (1997) on post-World War II women's roles.^[172] The video Some Spirit in Me (VHS 1993), authored, produced, and directed by Moskowitz,^[173] showed how the women's movement in the 1960s–1970s affected "an African-American editor at a high-profile financial magazine, a Jewish housewife, and a Hispanic social worker", among others, as women's roles were changing from those of the 1950s.^[174]

Moskowitz wrote a scholarly study of Betty Friedan's work, one of only a few.^[175] It was cited as a "note[worthy]" study by Deborah Siegel.^[176]

Moskowitz protested a store sign that said that unattended children will be sold as slaves, apparently resulting in the sign's removal.^[177]

Works

Books

• Coauthored by Arin Lavinia, Mission Possible: How the Secrets of the Success Academies Can Work in Any School (Jossey-Bass (imprint of Wiley), 2012) (coauthor literacy coach, Success Academy Charter Schools)^[74]
• In Therapy We Trust: America's Obsession with Self-Fulfllment (Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 2001 (ISBN 0-8018-6403-8))

Newspapers and websites

• Another Charter School Test Passed, in The Wall Street Journal, vol. CCLX, no. 94, October 20–21, 2012, p. A11, [§] Opinion.
• Seeking Real Diversity In New Schools, in SchoolBook (Viewpoint), August 16, 2012, 1:14 p.m.^[40]
• Eva Moskowitz: Feds Can Urge the Nation to Think Bigger, Be Bolder, Move Faster, in redefinED, August 16, 2012 (opinion)^[77]
• Charter-School Envy: Spotlight on District Dysfunction, in N.Y. Post, last updated July 22, 2012, 11:41 p.m. (opinion column)^[14]
• Charter School's Goal, in N.Y. Times, July 3, 2012 (letter of June 28, 2012) (a print version July 4, 2012 (N.Y. ed.), p. A22)^[51]
• Unions vs. Charters, When It's Convenient, in Daily News (New York, N.Y.), June 22, 2012, 4:19 a.m. (opinion), as accessed June 23, 2012
• The Cost of Small Class Size, in The Washington Post, March 27, 2011 (opinion), as accessed May 19, 2012
• A To-Do List For N.Y.C. Schools Chancellor Cathie Black: Eva Moskowitz Lays Out Her Priorities (online), in Daily News (New York, N.Y.), November 15, 2010, 4:00 a.m. (opinion) (author not staff writer (newspaper byline erroneous)), as accessed May 11, 2012
• Why West Side Needs Charters, in N.Y. Post, posted October 24, 2010, 10:42 p.m., last updated October 25, 2010, 11:04 a.m. (op-ed opinion), as accessed May 19, 2012
• It's the UFT vs. City Parents: By Stopping Hiring of Teaching Assistants, the Union Sells Out Kids, in Daily News (New York, N.Y.), July 28, 2009 (opinion)^[75]

Reports, documentary, journals, video, and dissertation

• Coauthored with Miller & coauthored by New York City Council, Capital Punishment: The Decay of New York City's Public School Buildings (N.Y.: N.Y.C. Council, October, 2003)^[178]
• City Council reports:
  • Lost in Space: Science Instruction in New York City Public Schools^[179]
  • Keeping Score: Can You Judge a School by its Report Card?^[179]
  • Reading in New York City Schools^[179]
  • Good Apples: Recruiting and Retaining Quality Teachers in New York City^[179]
  • A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: Arts Education in New York City Public Schools^[179]
  • Too Little, Too Late: Special Education in New York City^[179]
  • Fair or Foul? Physical Education in New York City Public School^[179]
  • Correcting Juvenile Injustice: A Bill of Rights for Children Released from Custody^[179]
  • From The Mouths of Babes: New York City Public School Kids Speak Out^[179]
  • The Education Budget Guide for Parents^[179]
  • The Chancellor's Regulations Guide for Parents^[179]
  • Breaking Through the Static: How to Find Information about the Safety of Your Cell Phone^[179]
  • At an Unhappy Hour: The Ten Noisiest Bars in Manhattan^[179]
• Appeared in Council 51 (TV news series, filmed at City Hall, New York, N.Y., broadcast daily)^[180]
• A documentary on post-World War II women's roles (1997) (Moskowitz director and producer)^[172]
• It's Good to Blow Your Top: Women's Magazines and a Discourse of Discontent, 1945–1965, in Journal of Women's History, vol. 8, no. 3 (1996), pp. 66–98
• The Therapeutic Gospel: Religious Medicine and the Birth of Pop Psychology, 1850–1910^[181]
• Feminism as Performance, 1963–1970 (1995)^[182]
• Coauthored by Thinking Eye Productions & Filmakers Library, Some Spirit in Me (N.Y.: Filmakers Library, VHS 1/2" tape video 1993) (58 minutes; cinematography by Sarah Nazimova; as stated in WorldCat's entry for responsibility, "Thinking Eye Productions presents ... a historical documentary produced and directed by Eva Moskowitz") (as stated in WorldCat's abstract, "[a] look at the feminist movement from the point of view of women who were not high-profile activitists [sic], but whose lives were affected by the changes in society.")^[173]
• Naming the Problem: How Popular Culture and Experts Paved the Way For "personal politics" (Md.: Johns Hopkins Univ., 1992 (ProQuest document ID 303994013)) (Ph.D. dissertation)^[183]

See also

References and notes

External links

• Facebook (alternative secure Facebook link)
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• Flickr (photography)
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