C.A.F.E.: Its History and Impact on the Nightingale Curriculum

When I started teaching at Nightingale in the late 1960’s I found my home. It was filled with bright engaged students and a cosmopolitan faculty with colleagues such as Miss von Herriman, who had come from Germany during World War II;Miss Vicary, from England; Mrs. Winklehorn and Miss Basilevsky were Russians; Madame Schless came from France; and Mrs. Chu, the head of the science department, from China. All had led varied and interesting lives and were dedicated to teaching. It was a stimulating professional community. Our students came from typical independent school families and our classical curriculum was deeply rooted in the Anglo-American tradition. We sang Episcopalian hymns at “Prayers” and community service played an important role in the life of the school. Our students studied French and Latin, and American and European history and literature. There was a formality to the school that no longer exists. It was a school of its time but it was unique in its sense of community. Our society was changing, however, and so was Nightingale.

Nightingale started to enroll students of color in the 1970s. Some came through Prep for Prep and ABC. A good number of those who entered in the Middle and Upper School struggled because they were poorly prepared academically or came from disadvantaged families, sometimes both; they had long commutes and did not feel comfortable in their new school; it was alien to their world. Mrs. Rosenfeld, our school nurse from 1977 until 1992 (and the mother of Raquel Rosenfeld ’80) served a critical role as advisor and supporter to these students and their parents; she said that as the enrollment grew, “the girls started to sit together and share their experiences.”

Cultural Awareness for Everyone (C.A.F.E.) started as a student club 25 years ago, in 1986. According to The Spectator, “minority students” formed a club where they would discuss their problems integrating into Nightingale, share cultural perspectives, and celebrate the many cultures that enrich our community. “It is not until we hear what everyone else has to say that we can really start understanding,” explained Michelle Toro ’88 to the paper.

C.A.F.E. grew into a large and dynamic student organization welcoming all students regardless of their background; Cultural Night, its keynote event, has grown into one of the highlights of the school year. In the words of Arianna Sylvan-Grau ’11, one of the current co-heads, “C.A.F.E. promotes discussions on the eight core cultural identifiers and investigates how these identifiers impact students at Nightingale, all of us in New York City, and people around the world. Leaders and participants of C.A.F.E. seek to create a safe space where students can express themselves freely and not feel judged in any way.”

Mrs. Rosenfeld describes the 1980s as a time when “parents would pass other parents at school and not know who they were. When they had a concern they did not know who to speak to or were reluctant to speak to anyone. That is when the parents of students of color began meeting in people’s homes.” Over time meetings became larger, were held at school, and began including administrators from the school. Parents of C.A.F.E. came into being in the 1990s and by 2000 had grown into a dynamic group inviting speakers (such as Sandra Nieto, an authority on multicultural education) and sponsoring informational evenings such as “C.A.F.E. and You: Building a Community for the 21st Century.” Under trustee and past parent Wendy van Amson’s leadership, Parents of C.A.F.E. formalized its goals and set priorities, and now organizes an array of cultural activities and meetings. Wonderful leaders over the past ten years have helped enrich our community: Sonia Batten, Christine Campbell, Daniel Katz, Kim Jordan ’76, Paul Lachman, Helen Song, Awilda Martinez, Raja Clark, and Nadine Dlodlo, to name a few.

Meanwhile, the Nightingale curriculum evolved to reflect our changing world.

In the Lower School, our students present to their classmates about their family heritage and they learn about different cultures in reading and English classes. In social studies, they study neighborhoods in the US, Mexico, China, and Japan—and explore the boroughs of New York City. When they study the colonial period, they focus on religious persecution and the role of women. Students also start the study of French, Spanish, or Mandarin in Class III and can pursue one or two languages throughout their school career.

Throughout Nightingale, our English department has redefined the literary canon by combining traditional books with multicultural and modern titles. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry; Homeless Bird; A Raisin in the Sun; The House on Mango Street; Typical American; and short stories by international writers have become staples of the Middle School curriculum. Students in Classes IX and X study the Harlem Renaissance and read Their Eyes Were Watching God; the English department also teaches an Asian- or Latin-American writer every year and offers electives in Classes XI and XII that include Indo-Anglian literature, Modern International Drama, and Contemporary American Drama.

The history curriculum incorporates world history in its core curriculum and offers electives such as World Religions, Women around the World, the Modern Middle East, Modern China, and World Now, a current affairs seminar. It also places emphasis on geography and being well informed about current events. Be it student painting, photography, sculpture, or woodworking; the many museum trips and the visual education lessons that are imbedded into our teaching; music class, choral, and instrumental concerts—all reflect the breadth of cultural exposure and the influence thereof that is the hallmark of our visual and performing arts programs. It is also part of daily school life. For instance, Professor John Arucci of Princeton University recently presented percussion instruments from around the world to Lower School assembly, and last week a group of juniors and seniors went to a performance of Chinglish thanks to the drama grant.

Our program is complemented by popular off-campus trips, exchanges, and programs. In Classes VII and VIII, students can go on a joint exchange with St. Bernard’s to the Dragon School where they divide their time between Oxford and London; students also have the option of going on a field study trip to Costa Rica. The Upper School offers a wide range of trips, exchanges, and off-campus programs starting with the Class IX London trip, the chorus trip to Italy, the French exchange, and the Ascham School exchanges. Nightingale has forged a partnership with a school in China that involves exchange of educational materials and an exchange with home stays.

The values of C.A.F.E. have become integral to Nightingale and are incorporated into our vision of the Nightingale graduate of 2020 who will: “Be aware of her place in the world, embracing global diversity and aiming to work across barriers, whether of ideology, language, culture, or faith.” Our curriculum is a work in progress that balances tradition with the modern world and we approach diversity across the curriculum. The founders of C.A.F.E. should be happy with what they started; their vision has played a defining role in our school community.

—Kitty Gordan, Associate Head of School